Arts Leadership and Scholarship

Faculty, students and alumni in the arts at BGSU are internationally recognized for their scholarship and creative work.

The BGSU College of Musical Arts:

Creative work and research in composition, jazz studies, music education—choral, classroom, instrumental, music history and literature, performance in guitar, instrumental, keyboard, organ, voice, woodwind and world music.

The BGSU School of Art:

Creative work and research in art education, art history, animation, ceramics, digital imaging, drawing, glass, graphic design, interactive media, jewelry/metals, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture.

The BGSU Department of Theatre and Film:

Creative work and research in acting/directing, film production, film studies, musical theatre, performance studies, theatre design and technology, youth theatre/puppetry, theatre education, theatre history and theory.

The BGSU Creative Writing Program:

Creative work and research in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, modern and contemporary literature, and the pedagogy of creative writing.

Selected examples of BGSU arts achievements include:

• The BGSU MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (MACCM) promotes the creation, performance and research of new music; MACCM hosts the annual New Music & Art Festival and Forefront Series featuring international guest artists;
• Cavalli Opera projects: collaborative Baroque opera performances based on original scholarship from BGSU; partners included the Department of Theatre and Film, College of Musical Arts, and Eastman School of Music;
• Creative works of BGSU artists held in the White House, Smithsonian, the Bibliothéque Nationale de France, and other leading national and international collections;
• Creative writing faculty awarded prestigious Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships;
• Studio Art faculty boast international exhibitions, awards and fellowships;
• Art History faculty hold international awards and fellowships;
• Academic collaborations in arts management, musical theatre and entrepreneurship.

Selected examples of student and alumni success include:

• Digital arts students win most important international digital animation contest (FJORG);
• Music students compete in and win national and international competitions;
• Rick Valicenti, graphic design alumnus, recipient of AIGA Gold medal and Cooper-Hewitt Design Award;
• Eva Marie Saint, theatre alumna, Oscar winner;
• Bernie Casey, Hollywood actor and School of Art alumnus;
• James Pickens Jr, Hollywood actor and School of Art alumnus;
• Tim Conway, Emmy award-winning comedian;
• Jennifer Higdon, one of today’s most recognized young composers;
• Arts alumni on Broadway, in major orchestras, opera houses and international exhibitions;
• Kisma Jordan, BGSU soprano, selected for master class with Marilyn Horne at Carnegie Hall;
• Anthony Doerr, MFA in Creative Writing, winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Award and the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize;
• J.L. Murdoch, a theatre doctoral student, received international Fulbright Research Award.