UNCSA announces Excellence in Teaching Awards

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has bestowed its Excellence in Teaching Awards for 2022-’23 to six permanent faculty members and one adjunct faculty member.

“When UNCSA was established 60 years ago, the enabling legislation spelled out that the ‘chief criteria’ for faculty members was to be ‘their excellence in the performing arts and their professional standing therein,’” explained UNCSA executive vice chancellor and provost Patrick J. Sims. “Though many things have changed, that fact has not. I am pleased to name the recipients of this year’s Excellence in Teaching Awards at UNCSA. These faculty members represent the very best of their respective areas of expertise serving as the foundation on which our students will build as they continue that tradition of excellence in the classroom and beyond. We congratulate them and are happy to laud them for their achievements.”

Tamara Akinbo (High School Academic Program) joined the High School Academic Program teaching Spanish in 2021 and added African Diaspora Studies the next year. She embodies caring along with rigor when teaching, her philosophy being: “Teaching, for me, has always been a vehicle for me to operate in my true calling, which is inspiring, uplifting, and speaking into the lives of my students. Students, like all human beings, have a need to be seen, heard, appreciated, and loved.”

Christopher Dorr (School of Filmmaking) joined the School of Filmmaking’s graduate creative producing faculty in 2018, serves as the president of Dorr Media, and previously produced the feature films Clay Pigeons (1998) starring Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix, Where the Money Is (2000) starring Paul Newman and Linda Fiorentino, and The Deal (2005) starring Christian Slater, Selma Blair, and Robert Loggia.

Ilya Kozadayev (School of Dance) was born into a family of ballet dancers in St. Petersburg, Russia. He began perform- ing and touring with the esteemed Mikhailovsky Theater alongside his parents at age five. At age nine, he was accepted into the prestigious Academy of Russian Ballet (Vaganova Academy). Having experienced the religious discrimination and economic hardships endemic to Russian society, Kozadayev and his family defected to the United States, where his career accelerated at the School of American Ballet in New York City, the Academy of Colorado Ballet, and the John Cranko Ballet Academy in Stuttgart, Germany. He joined the UNCSA School of Dance faculty in 2017, where he became the choreographer and artistic director of UNCSA’s perennially popular production of The Nutcracker. He wrote, choreographed, and co-directed the film version, which aired on PBS North Carolina.

Eduardo Sicangco (School of Design of Production) joined the scene design faculty in 2011, after having served as an adjunct professor since 2005. He held the title of Master Teacher of Design at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts for eight years before joining UNCSA and is the 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology. His 40-year career as a set and costume designer is the foundation for his love of teaching and his desire to support and challenge his students to grow into their best selves as artists. “Essentially, I strive to instill in my stu- dents, by example, three qualities that I believe a successful artist must have: Curiosity, joy, and tenacity.”

Noted cellist Brooks Whitehouse (School of Music) joined the string faculty in 2006, having earned his B.A. from Harvard University and an M.M.A. and D.M.A. from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. Along with fellow UNCSA faculty member Paul Sharpe, Whitehouse is the co-creator of the popular cello/bass duo Low & Lower, which tours the United States with innovative programs of musical storytelling and comedy. “It is my strong belief that music-making is first and foremost about building a sense of community through the creation of art,” he said. “In my studio and master classes, I do my best to foster a sense of camaraderie and mutual support, encouraging students to play for each other frequently, and modeling how to give and receive constructive criticism with goodwill and good humor.”

Jennet Zerbe (School of Dance) has served on the ballet faculty since 2014. Having trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, she was invited to join the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she danced for eight years under the artistic direction of no less than Mikhail Baryshnikov. She danced in the American premieres of such ballets by Sir Kenneth MacMillan as Anastasia, Sleeping Beauty, and Requiem, as well as the premieres of Baryshnikov’s Swan

Lake, Cinderella, and Don Quixote.

Ann-Louise Wolf (School of Drama) is the inaugural adjunct-faculty Excellence in Teaching Award winner. She received her BFA from the UNCSA School of Design and Production in stage management and is in her ninth year as an adjunct faculty member in voice and speech at the School of Drama. Her duties have since expanded from an initial three-course assignment to encompass a wider range of teaching opportunities and roles, including stage management adviser in the School of Design and Production, School of Dance public service communicator, arts research fellow, and a founding organizer of last December’s inaugural PickleCon.

“For the first time this year, we included adjunct faculty members in the nomination process to pay homage to the expertise, passion, and dedication of our many adjunct faculty,” Sims said. “This inclusion was initiated by our faculty who recognized that excellent teaching is excellent teaching and we should reward it regardless of job category. While a small gesture, the impacts of it will be profound for our community and I couldn’t wait to endorse the inclusion of adjunct faculty in this process.”

The official UNCSA website is https:// www.uncsa.edu/. !

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