WINSTON-SALEM – The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has recognized six faculty members with UNCSA Excellence in Teaching Awards.

The award recipients, in alphabetical order, are: Wayne Crawford, School of Filmmaking; Michael Dodds, School of Music; Dayna Fox, School of Dance; Lynda Moss, High School Academic Program; David E. Smith, School of Design and Production; and Marilyn Taylor, School of Music.

The University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors established a series of “Excellence in Teaching” awards in 1994. At UNCSA, six teachers are chosen each year from those current, full-time faculty members who are nominated to receive an Excellence in Teaching Award; one of them is then forwarded on to the UNC Board of Governors to receive a system-wide teaching award.

UNCSA’s Marilyn Taylor received one of the UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching this spring, and was honored at UNCSA’s 2009 commencement exercises on May 30: http://www.uncsa.edu/pressreleases/Releases2009/May09/AwardsTeaching.htm

Nominations for the Excellence in Teaching Awards are submitted by faculty, students and alumni. The award recognizes teachers who have demonstrated: personal interest and concern for the students; enthusiasm for and interest in the subject they teach; the ability to stimulate and motivate student effort; the ability to fairly critique student effort and communicate that critique to the student; organization and/or demonstration of knowledge for student use; good command of the subject being taught; up-to-date scholarship and/or creative work and awareness of recent developments in their field; ability to integrate professional development into curriculum development and classroom teaching; and a commitment to the entire school community as well as to the greater community.

For more information about the winners of the UNCSA Excellence in Teaching Awards, see below:

Wayne Crawford, School of Filmmaking

Wayne Crawford has been a member of the directing faculty in the School of Filmmaking since 2002. Having followed the path of being an independent filmmaker, he came to UNCSA with a number of feature film credits, including VALLEY GIRL, NIGHT OF THE COMET, JAKE SPEED, and SNAKE ISLAND, as well as TV credits such as "Okavango," "On the Loose...In Wildest Africa," "Kid Safari," and "Animal Planet" specials.  He has experimented with different pedagogies, courses and course material and he went back to school and earned an M.F.A. in screenwriting from Spaulding University in Louisville, Ky., to add to his B.A. from Florida Atlantic University. He is a member of Motion Picture Academy, Screen Actors Guild, and Writers Guild of America.

In his philosophy of teaching statement, Crawford says that he thinks of himself as a coach who preaches three life lessons to his students: Finish what you start, live up to your deals, and just because you have the power to do something, it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. Not only is he working to turn out better directors, he is also working to form better thinkers and self-starters who will have the tools to succeed in their lives even if they don’t ever make another film. His students say that he is critical, but understanding, and that he encourages every student to learn as much as possible. 

Michael Dodds, School of Music

Michael Dodds, who studied at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music in Illinois and holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music in Musicology, has taught music history in the UNCSA School of Music since 2005.  He is the author of many essays and articles and has presented many papers at numerous conferences and is frequently invited as a guest lecturer at schools from UNC-Greensboro to the University of Zagreb. He has won a number of awards and grants, including being named as a Fulbright Research Fellow and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. He is a Baroque music scholar.

In his philosophy of teaching statement, Dodds says that he is a co-learner with his students, helping them make meaningful connections with musical works and their contexts. He notes that we study music history for the same reason that we study music [or anything else]: to connect more deeply with what it means to be human. Therefore, he models what it means to be a lifelong student of music, respects each student as a unique person, employs participatory teaching strategies, and gains new perspectives on music through interdisciplinary approaches.  His students, remarking on his enthusiasm and passion for what he teaches, note that he is brilliant and that he inspires them to learn. 

Dayna Fox, School of Dance

Now in her second year as a full-time member of the ballet faculty of the UNCSA School of Dance, Dayna Fox has been the director of the school’s Preparatory Dance Program and a member of the ballet faculty of the School of Dance Summer Session for the last 20 years.  A former featured dancer with the North Carolina Dance Theater, Fox performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe in such venues as The Kennedy Center and the American Dance Festival. She also performed soloist and principal roles in an eclectic repertoire including such works as Aiello’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Balanchine’s Pas de Dix and Nebrada’s Pentimento. She holds a B.F.A. in dance from UNCSA.

In her teaching philosophy statement, Fox says she works to share her knowledge and professional experience with young students while instilling in them a strong sense of self and the understanding that success comes through discipline and hard work -- no matter where life takes you. Her students note that Fox pays equal attention to all of them and is very encouraging when she knows that they are working. One of them wrote, “She gives 100 percent in every class; even if she’s sick or sore, she demonstrates combinations and gives corrections and commands with enthusiasm. She also takes a genuine interest in each student and knows their strengths and weaknesses.”  

Lynda Moss, High School Academic Program

Lynda Moss has taught social studies in the High School Academic Program since 1994.  She holds a B.A. from George Washington University, an M.A. from the City University of New York, and is a Ph.D. candidate at UNC-G. She has won a number of awards and grants, including a Fulbright Foundation Program Fellowship to India. She was named a “Master Teacher” in international studies by the Southern Center for International Studies. In 2008, she was named to the N.C. Council on the Holocaust and was selected by the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching to participate in a European seminar titled “Becoming Witnesses: Primary Sites of the Holocaust.” 

In her philosophy of teaching statement, Moss says that our national preoccupation with increased test scores and higher academic competencies leaves too little serious space in schools for consideration of students learning what it means to be human and developing selves that have the moral and cognitive capacity to live in just, compassionate, and responsible communities. Her major goal in teaching history is to help students find meaning in the past and recognize the need for participation and responsible decision-making.  Her students note that they don’t just discuss facts -- they discuss the reasons behind them, the cause and effect. One student, who echoed the sentiments of many, stated, “She not only has helped expand my knowledge of history, (but) she has also made a lasting impression on my character.” 

David E. Smith, School of Design and Production

Director of the Sound Design Program at UNCSA, David E. Smith has taught sound design and technology in the School of Design and Production since 1996. While at UNCSA, he has designed and built a cutting-edge theatre sound laboratory -- the largest in the United States. He was one of the early collaborators on the Center for Design Innovation here in Winston-Salem. Smith holds a B.A. from the University of Kent in Canterbury. Before coming to the United States, he spent eight years as the senior sound designer/engineer at the Royal National Theatre in London. In the States, he has designed sound for Arena Stage in D.C., the North Shore Music Theatre in Massachusetts, Trinity Repertory Theatre in Rhode Island, the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and Triad Stage in Greensboro. A commissioner for the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology Sound Commission, he is theatre sound editor for Live Sound International magazine.  

In his philosophy of teaching statement, Smith says that his first goal is to prepare his students for a lifelong career in theatre sound design and engineering and then to ensure that they learn by actually doing it. But how do you do that when the world changes so rapidly? Smith now designs his classes to focus on processes and principles, using whatever the current technology is as the current tool to implement these processes and principles. His goal is to teach skills and techniques that will guide students to be able to teach themselves for the rest of their lives. His students reinforce his emphasis on hands-on learning, noting that they have opportunities to apply what they learned in the productions on which they work.

Marilyn Taylor, School of Music

Chair of the Voice Department at UNCSA, soprano Marilyn Taylor has been a voice teacher in the School of Music since 1992. To date, two of her students have been National Winners in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. These and other of her students have performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the Spoleto Festival, Zurich Opera, Hamburg Opera, and other opera companies and orchestras throughout the world.  A 2005 winner of the UNCSA Excellence in Teaching Award, she was also chosen in 2008 to serve as a Master Teacher for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Mentoring Program. 

Taylor studied at Indiana University with Virginia Zeani, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, and Giorgio Tozzi. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Louisville. She completed her Doctor of Music from Indiana in 2005. Beginning her professional opera career as artist-in-residence with Kentucky Opera, she received accolades for leading roles there and with the Des Moines Metro Opera, Dayton Opera, Nashville Opera, Lyric Opera Kansas City, Piedmont Opera, and Chattanooga Opera. Her concert repertoire has ranged from the Baroque to the avant-garde both abroad (the Bonn Orchestra, Alba Music Festival, the Flannéries Musicales d’été de Reims, Prague Chamber Orchestra) and at home (Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Gallery in Washington, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall). A proponent of contemporary music, she has collaborated with composers William Bolcom, Robert Ward, Warren Benson, John Harbison, and UNCSA composers Kenneth Frazelle and Lawrence Dillon. Her solo CD, Return: Art Songs from Carolina (Albany), received critical acclaim.  She has also recorded with Koch, G. Schirmer, and with South Carolina ED-TV, where she filmed the role of Alida in Robert Ward’s Roman Fever for DVD production. 

In her philosophy of teaching statement, Taylor says that she is interested in teaching singing to those who are “hungry to learn.”  Always seeking to foster the total development of the artist, she continues to perform because performing informs her teaching. As a performer and teacher, her ultimate goal is to communicate, to make people feel and think. Her belief is that excellence in communication means that voice, mind and body must all be trained in order to accommodate this art form’s possibilities, and towards that end she has become an expert in the anatomy and physiology of singing. Her students note that she is a fantastic teacher and a wealth of wisdom, relentlessly supportive of her students. They say that because she is a confident musician herself, she is able to inspire students to pursue loftier goals. One student even said, “She knows everything I need and can even read our minds!”

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of the Arts”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. Internationally renowned conductor John Mauceri has been chancellor of UNCSA since 2006. UNCSA is located at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

                                          

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