Arts & Humanities Archives | Syracuse University Today https://news-test.syr.edu/section/arts-humanities/ Mon, 24 Aug 2026 19:37:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 /wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cropped-apple-touch-icon-120x120.png Arts & Humanities Archives | Syracuse University Today https://news-test.syr.edu/section/arts-humanities/ 32 32 Build Modular Furniture That Grows With Your Space /2026/08/24/build-modular-furniture-that-grows-with-your-space/ Mon, 24 Aug 2026 19:37:13 +0000 /?p=341750 Professor Ralf Schneider's Gridwerk rethinks how furniture can adapt when rooms, routines and needs keep shifting.

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Gridwerk is an innovative modular furniture system that can be taken apart and rebuilt as rooms and routines change, so pieces get reused instead of thrown out.

Build Modular Furniture That Grows With Your Space

Professor Ralf Schneider's Gridwerk rethinks how furniture can adapt when rooms, routines and needs keep shifting.
John Boccacino Aug. 24, 2026

As homes increasingly double as offices, studios and gathering spaces, furniture must do more than sit still.

has been designing for that reality for years.  Recognizing the growing need for flexible, customizable spaces, he blended his knowledge of industrial design while improving how spaces function.

The result is , an innovative modular furniture system that can be taken apart and rebuilt as rooms and routines change, so pieces get reused instead of thrown out.

“Most furniture is designed as a fixed, finished object and rarely adapts as our lives and spaces change,” says Schneider, an associate professor of industrial and interaction design in the School of Design. “I wanted to design a system rather than a single piece, built on a consistent grid of interchangeable components that people can reconfigure as their needs evolve.”

Schneider has designed a collection of components that owners can reorganize into entirely different furniture configurations to meet their changing needs.

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Ralf Schneider

“My vision for Gridwerk was adaptable, long-lasting furniture that respects both the user and the material,” Schneider says. “Gridwerk mattered to me because it brings together what I care about most as a designer and educator: systems thinking, craftsmanship and designing for change rather than disposability.”

Schneider’s sustainable and modular furniture system was recently featured at the emerging talent (Wanted: Launch Pad) portion of the in New York City.

Schneider sat down with Syracuse University Today to explain the benefits of a modular furniture system and how the principles behind Gridwerk carry over to his industrial and interaction design classes.

Q:
What does the concept of a modular furniture system mean to you?
A:

A modular system means the whole is designed before the parts, so every component is dimensioned to work with every other component. What makes Gridwerk distinct is that the grid is not just an assembly trick; it is the design language itself, so the system stays coherent no matter how you scale or rearrange it. All parts are connected with fasteners and form-fitting shapes using no adhesives.

A sideboard with sliding doors

Q:
How would you describe your furniture?
A:

Gridwerk is a family of clean, geometric pieces built from a shared set of standardized parts. Think of it as construction logic you can see: shelving, seating and storage that all speak the same visual and structural language. They can be combined, expanded or reconfigured over time. The frame is made of extruded aluminum profiles, and the surfaces of the cubes are filled with walnut-veneered plywood. Premium hardware adds a satisfying opening and closing experience. The sideboard design utilizes custom 3D-printed hardware for the sliding doors.

Q:
Why are these types of standardized interchangeable furniture components so popular for modern homeowners and renters?
A:

People move more often and live in smaller, changing spaces. Interchangeable components let them take furniture with them, adapt it to a new room and add to it over time instead of replacing it. It is flexibility, value and a bit of creative ownership all at once.

Sustainability is built into the logic of the system. Because pieces are modular and repairable, they can be reconfigured or expanded instead of discarded, which extends their life and reduces waste. Thoughtful material choices and efficient, low-waste fabrication reinforce that from the start.

A wall-mounted shelf

Q:
How do you bring the principles found in Gridwerk and apply them to your classroom teachings in industrial and interaction design?
A:

The biggest transferable principles are problem solving within systems thinking, designing with constraints and iteration. I also share how I created the Computer-Aided Design file. In the studio, I ask students to consider systems and relationships—not just designing objects—and to treat a shared constraint like the grid as a source of creativity rather than a limitation.

Gridwerk is a live example of that mindset. To expand on the notion of industrial and interaction design, I vibe coded [built quickly using AI tools] an interactive website that allows the user to enter custom Gridwerk dimensions that are then rendered as an interactive object in real time. I connected the idea to my teachings to show how emerging tools, including AI, can support rather than replace disciplined design thinking.

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Walnut GridWerk credenza with sliding doors beside desk and teal chairs in home office
Syracuse University Art Museum Opens Fall Season With 5 Exhibitions /2026/08/17/syracuse-university-art-museum-opens-fall-season-with-5-exhibitions/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:34:12 +0000 /?p=341872 Four new exhibitions and the return of Human/Environment span recycled art, faith and space, and community.

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Arts & Humanities Syracuse

"Pandora’s Box," 2005. Andrew Junge. Neon, toolbox, 13.75 x 19.25 x 11.5 in. (Courtesy of Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program)

Syracuse University Art Museum Opens Fall Season With 5 Exhibitions

Four new exhibitions and the return of "Human/Environment" span recycled art, faith and space, and community.
Taylor Westerlund Aug. 17, 2026

The Syracuse University Art Museum opens its fall season this month with four new exhibitions and the return of its permanent collection exhibition, each exploring in its own way what it means to be human.

Those exhibitions range from Letterio Calapai’s prints exploring faith and outer space, to Helen Zughaib’s large-scale installation on the mosaic of American migration, to works of art built from recycled materials, to four millennia of humanity’s evolving relationship with the environment. The museum invites the campus and Syracuse communities to consider the richness and complexity of the human experience today.

‘Reclaimed: The Art of Recology’

In the Joe and Emily Lowe Galleries, “Reclaimed” gathers the work of 33 artists who found their materials in an unlikely place: Recology San Francisco’s Public Reuse and Recycling area.  Each artist was selected to participate in Recology’s coveted artist-in-residence program, in operation since 1990 with the belief that art plays a unique role in educating and inspiring the public. The premise behind the residency is that art can change how we see waste, consumption, and the possibility of sustainable communities.

Featuring 51 objects, “Reclaimed shows artwork that is varied, unusual, yet familiar: from paintings produced with recycled house paint to tapestries made from used ties, shirts and other fabrics to sculptural vases crafted from Ethernet and coaxial cables. The hybrid concoctions are highly creative in execution and form.

“Reclaimed” offers a different way into the conversation around ecology and a sustainable future, not through data or policymaking, but through objects that ask us to look again at what we discard and consider the possibility of what it could become.

This exhibition is curated by Emilee Enders. The exhibition tour is organized by Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, California.

‘Space and the Sacred: Letterio Calapai’s Prints’

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“Creation,” 1984. Letterio Calapai (1902–1993). Color woodcut with watercolor, oil pastel. (Gift of Joel S. Dryer. 2023.195.)

From the 1940s until his death in 1993, Letterio Calapai returned again and again to two subjects that would seem to have nothing to do with each other. One was religion, personal and rooted in centuries of Catholic tradition. The other was the Space Race, public and grounded in science and technology.

Calapai spent nearly half a century exploring these subjects side by side and in doing so illuminated the very human impulse of reaching toward something vast and unseen.

“Space and the Sacred” examines how Calapai’s prints transformed as the conversations around these subjects evolved during his lifetime. He watched humanity leave the earth and set foot on the moon for the first time, while also witnessing the Church modernize itself around him. This exhibition reveals how one man understood the changing world around him.

“Much of what Calapai explored in these works remains relevant today,” says curator Julia Neufeld. “My hope is that visitors come away examining the parallels between the present day and the mid-20th century, and considering what we can learn from looking back at our history.”

This exhibition was curated by Julia Neufeld G’23, G’24.

‘The Art Wall Project: Helen Zughaib: Patterns of Migration’

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“Syrian Migration 58,” 2025. Helen Zughaib (born 1959). Gouache on paper. (Courtesy of the artist)

In December 1975, months into the Lebanese Civil War, Helen Zughaib and her family left their home in Beirut. She would go on to study art at Syracuse University and earn a B.F.A. from the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

This fall, the now Washington, D.C.,-based artist returns to campus with “Patterns of Migration,” the sixth installation of the SU Art Museum’s Art Wall Project.

The installation leads with Zughaib’s own family history. In “Stories My Father Told Me,” she paints her father’s childhood across Syria and Lebanon and his journey to the United States.

From there, it expands to follow the people displaced in the years around Arab Spring and the new communities they’ve forged far from home.

‘Collection Spotlight: Jill Nathanson, Contrapuntal’

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“Contrapuntal,” 2025. Jill Nathanson (born 1955). Acrylic and polymers with oil. (Gift of the artist and Berry Campbell Gallery. 2025.299)

The title “Contrapuntal” comes from the world of music and roughly means “counterpoint,” or the art of composing two independent melodies distinct from one another but bound into a single harmony.

Working in the Color Field tradition, artist Jill Nathanason pours translucent layers of pigmented polymer and acrylic onto panel, one color settling over another creating different hues from the interacting colors. Before she paints, Nathanson composes her studies from cut pieces of theatrical lighting gels, translucent colored films that change the appearance of a stage light.

“Contrapuntal” celebrates a recent gift to the University from the artist and Berry Campbell Gallery and is the seed of an entire year of exploration. The museum will build a year of programming around this one painting to invite as many interdisciplinary conversations as possible, weaving together music, physics, materials science and beyond.

‘Human/Environment: 4,000 Years of Art’

Ancient
[Ishtar], circa 2100 – 1500 BCE. Bisque clay. (Gift of Jacob M. and Alice M. Kaplan. 1965.0026)

Back for its second year, “Human/Environment: 4,000 Years of Art” continues the four millennia long dialogue between humanity and its environment. The exhibition draws from the museum’s collection of over 45,000 works of art ranging from the ancient to the contemporary.

It is organized around themes such as landscape, the home, places of gathering and the human figure. “Human/Environment” asks the viewers to consider how physical, cultural and material environments shape artistic expression, and vice versa.

“This is a season with real breadth, and we can’t wait for our community to see it. What I love is how these exhibitions speak to what our students and faculty are already thinking about across the sciences, the arts, and everything in between,” says director Emily Dittman.

On View This Fall

“Space and the Sacred: Letterio Calapai’s Prints,” “The Art Wall Project: Helen Zughaib, Patterns of Migration,” “Spotlight: Jill Nathanson, Contrapuntal” and “Human/Environment: 4,000 Years of Art” open Aug. 25. “Reclaimed: The Art of Recology” opens Sept. 1. Celebrate the season at Opening Night on Wednesday, Sept. 10, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

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Syracuse University Art Museum Opens Fall Season With 5 Exhibitions
NEH Grant-Funded Project Will Digitize Pre-Revolutionary War Papers /2026/08/17/neh-grant-funded-project-will-digitize-pre-revolutionary-war-papers/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:30:24 +0000 /?p=341784 A trip to The National Archive in London in 2025 helped faculty members Sebastian Modrow and Philip P. Arnold form their National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project to digitize the Jeffrey Amherst Papers. Visiting the Archive are, from left, Sandra Bigtree (Akwesasne Mohawk), of the Indigenous Values Initiative, which has supported the research since 2023; Modrow; and Sean Cunningham, the Archives’ head of collections (Medieval, Early Modern, Legal). At right is Betty Hill (Lyons) (Onondaga) of the American Indian Law Alliance, which helped to sponsor the U.K. trip in 2025. (Photo by Philip P. Arnold)

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Arts & Humanities NEH

A trip to The National Archive in London in 2025 helped faculty members Sebastian Modrow and Philip P. Arnold form their National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project to digitize the Jeffrey Amherst Papers. Visiting the Archive are, from left, Sandra Bigtree (Akwesasne Mohawk), of the Indigenous Values Initiative, which has supported the research since 2023; Modrow; and Sean Cunningham, the Archives’ head of collections (Medieval, Early Modern, Legal). At right is Betty Hill (Lyons) (Onondaga) of the American Indian Law Alliance, which helped to sponsor the U.K. trip in 2025. (Photo by Philip P. Arnold)

NEH Grant-Funded Project Will Digitize Pre-Revolutionary War Papers

University faculty will digitize the Jeffrey Amherst Papers and make them full-text-searchable for easier access to documents revealing key colonial-era relationships.
Diane Stirling Aug. 17, 2026

Two Syracuse University faculty members have received a (NEH) grant to digitize portions of the —a rare, 54-volume trove of 18th-century documents charting , and relations in the years surrounding the .

, principal investigator and assistant professor in the , and , co-principal investigator and professor of in the , received nearly $350,000 for their two-year project, “E Pluribus Unum: The American Revolution at the Intersection of Ideas and Interests.” Their project is one of to mark the country’s 250th anniversary, including 33 grants awarded under NEH’s new funding opportunity.

Amherst commanded British forces in North America during the , helping secure Britain’s victory. Housed at the , the 54 volumes span the 1740s to 1790s and include military correspondence, orders and reports from the war, including Amherst’s letters to and from , and .

Three-Way Relations

The collection captures the three-way relationship among British officials, colonial American leaders and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in the years before the American Revolution. Their content illuminates how ideas of liberty, sovereignty and democracy developed amid diplomacy, conflict and negotiation in that era.

The archived materials have long been largely inaccessible to the public, somewhat because of their bulk and a lack of freely accessible digital surrogates of the materials, apart from some cumbersome digitized WWII-era microfilm, Modrow says.

This project aims to change that. In 2026, Modrow and Arnold will travel to London to photograph each document individually, producing high-resolution digital surrogates. They’ll then tag the images with metadata and use the AI-powered app to make them full-text-searchable by name, date and subject. That will let researchers search tens of thousands of pages in seconds, rather than leafing through folders by hand.

Student Helpers

Once digitized, Modrow will recruit a project coordinator and iSchool and Arts and Sciences students to fact-check the AI-generated transcriptions, comparing the descriptions against the original 18th-century handwriting for accuracy.

After vetting, the collection will be uploaded to an Omeka-based, open-source platform hosted on the iSchool’s servers, Modrow says.

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Detail of the “Map of North America according to the Treaty of Paris, 1763” is among the archived Amherst Papers. It shows land distribution following the Seven Years’ War in a much-different configuration than today’s state and Indigenous boundaries. (Photo: CO 700/AmericaNorthAndSouth35, The National Archives, UK)

Window to Relations

Amherst’s papers offer an underused window into the alliances, rivalries and negotiations that shaped American independence, Arnold says. While British and colonial-patriot perspectives of this time are well documented, these papers can help remedy missing Haudenosaunee Confederacy viewpoints, material Arnold plans to bring into his classes and offer at public workshops to broaden understanding of the era’s varied perspectives, he says.

“Despite the confederacy’s influence on the era’s diplomacy, conflict and the development of Western democratic ideas, the Haudenosaunee viewpoint has remained comparatively obscure. This is a critically important collection. It is a continuation of many decades of work around the and how Haudenosaunee, British and American actions 250 years ago interacted to create the world we inhabit today.”

Modrow, Arnold and other members of the Doctrine of Discovery research group participated in a British National Archives exhibit about the entire War of Independence, “,” while in London in 2025 to research the Amherst Papers.

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Four people examine archival boxes and a rolled document at a table, with one person taking notes
A Cooperative Approach to Reproductive Success /2026/08/04/a-cooperative-approach-to-reproductive-success/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:41:14 +0000 /?p=341286 A new study from biologists in the College of Arts and Sciences examines how sperm cooperation has evolved over the past 500 million years.

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Microscopic view of sperm cells joined together in a cooperative group, illustrating how teamwork can shape reproductive success. (Courtesy: Romano Dallai, Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy)

A Cooperative Approach to Reproductive Success

A new study from biologists in the College of Arts and Sciences examines how sperm cooperation has evolved over the past 500 million years.
Dan Bernardi Aug. 4, 2026

Fertilization is often imagined as a frantic race, with millions of sperm competing for a single prize. But new research by a team of evolutionary biologists from Syracuse University, University of Siena, Italy, and University of Szeged, Hungary, reveals a more surprising reality, where success can depend less on competition and more on cooperation.

The group focused their study on organisms called arthropods, a large and diverse part of the animal kingdom that includes spiders, crabs, insects and centipedes. The scientists explored instances throughout history where arthropod sperm worked together in coordinated groups, forming structures to improve their chances of reaching and fertilizing an egg. This process, known as sperm conjugation, is reshaping what researchers thought they understood about reproduction and evolution.

A Different Way to Win

To visualize sperm conjugation, think of a coordinated team of rowers. Although first described more than a century ago, the phenomenon was long assumed to be rare. The team’s new findings, published in , suggest it is widespread across arthropods and has evolved repeatedly over time.

“Fertilization is often viewed as a competition among individual sperm, but in many species we see cells working together in ways that can influence reproductive success,” says , professor of biology at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and co-author of the study.

In numerous species, this coordination depends on sperm-associated material (SAM), a membrane-bound substance that can bind sperm together or form external structures that organize them into groups. Researchers believe SAM may have played a key role in the origin of sperm conjugation, first evolving as a way to package or protect sperm.

Alone, a sperm cell faces a complex and demanding journey through the female reproductive tract. Together, grouped sperm may gain advantages in movement, coordination or function, turning reproduction into a team effort rather than a solo race.

That insight challenges long-standing assumptions about fertility. Instead of focusing solely on the performance of individual sperm, researchers must now consider how collective behavior influences reproductive success.

Watch the video below to see sperm conjugation in action.

Evolution’s Experimentation Lab

Part of what makes this discovery so striking, according to the research team, is evidence of how often sperm conjugation has arisen, and disappeared, throughout evolutionary history. It first appeared hundreds of millions of years ago and has been gained and lost many times across species. In fact, this study found the ancestor of all insects had conjugated sperm.

To uncover these patterns, the researchers conducted a large-scale comparative analysis of sperm from across arthropods, drawing on decades of published studies. By comparing sperm traits across hundreds of diverse species and mapping them onto an evolutionary family tree, the team reconstructed when different forms of sperm cooperation likely evolved and how often they were lost or regained over time.

“Evolution has effectively run the same experiment over and over again across different groups of arthropods,” says R. Antonio Gomez, postdoctoral scholar in A&S’ Department of Biology and lead author of the study. “That allows us to see not only when sperm cooperation emerges, but also when it disappears and reappears under different evolutionary conditions.”

For the study’s authors, that pattern highlights evolution’s trial-and-error nature.

“Sperm are the most rapidly evolving cell type,” says , Weeden Professor of Biology in A&S and senior author of the study. “They are shaped by the unique challenge of operating outside the body in the complex environment of the female reproductive tract.”

Circular
This evolutionary timeline shows how sperm conjugation and sperm-associated material (SAM) have appeared across major animal groups over the past 600 million years, revealing a pattern of repeated innovation and loss.

Why It Matters Beyond Biology

While the research is rooted in evolutionary biology, its implications extend far beyond it. For example, these findings could reshape how scientists think about fertility across the animal kingdom. Fertilization, Pitnick says, is more like an obstacle course than a simple race, and it involves complex interactions between sperm and the female reproductive tract. Understanding how sperm cooperate or rely on shared structures could reveal new approaches to human reproductive challenges.

The work is also opening new avenues for pest control. Researchers are exploring how sperm conjugation and SAM might be used to disrupt reproduction in harmful species. This includes the invasive spotted lanternfly, a growing agricultural threat in New York and other eastern states.

Unlike other species, lanternfly sperm do not form cooperative groups. Instead, each sperm is encased in a thick coating of SAM.

“Their sperm are highly unusual,” Pitnick says. “They do not have conjugation, but each individual sperm is completely embedded in this material, and we do not even know how they are motile.”

How these sperm actually function remains a mystery, but this unusual biology may offer an opportunity. If SAM is critical to reproduction, disrupting it could provide a highly targeted control strategy.

Future Directions

One question remains especially fundamental: Why does sperm cooperation evolve in the first place?

Current hypotheses suggest cooperation might improve movement or help deliver important molecules to specific locations within the reproductive tract. But testing those ideas is difficult, in part because sperm behave differently on glass slides, where they are easily observed, than they do in the complex environment of the female reproductive tract.

Future research aims to address that gap by observing how sperm groups function inside reproductive systems and by identifying the specific advantages or trade-offs of working together.

A New Perspective on Cooperation

The team’s findings highlight an important biological insight, showing that cooperation and competition are not opposites but partners. Even at the microscopic level, success often depends on striking the right balance between the two.

“What makes this pattern so fascinating is that evolution keeps arriving at similar cooperative solutions in very different groups and across vast expanses of time,” says Dorus. “These examples remind us that cooperation can be just as important as competition in shaping biological success.”

By uncovering how tiny cells collaborate to overcome challenges, scientists are gaining new insights into evolution, reproduction and the hidden strategies that sustain life. In doing so, they are helping fill a long-standing gap in understanding how complex reproductive traits evolve and diversify over hundreds of millions of years.

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Microscope image of a slender nematode curled into loops, appearing bright blue against a gray background, with a 100 µm scale bar.
A Newhouse Film Thesis Gets Its Hollywood Ending /2026/07/28/a-newhouse-film-thesis-gets-its-hollywood-ending/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:12:37 +0000 /?p=341167 Matt Sacca ’19 never gave up on his screenplay. Nine years after writing the comedy Second First Date, Sacca’s dream is set to become a movie.

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Arts & Humanities A

(Photo by Samantha Burkardt/SXSW Conference and Festivals via Getty Images)

A Newhouse Film Thesis Gets Its Hollywood Ending

Matt Sacca ’19 never gave up on his screenplay. Nine years after writing the comedy "Second First Date," Sacca’s dream is set to become a movie.
John Boccacino July 28, 2026

In “Second First Date,” the first full-length movie script from Matt Sacca ’19, protagonist Nora falls for the man of her dreams at a house party, only for her love interest, Charlie, to suffer a concussion and forget her entirely.

For the rest of the movie, Nora schemes to recreate each magical moment of their chance encounter to win back Charlie’s affection. Nora and Sacca, the brainchild behind the project, share the same personality trait to never give up on a dream.

That mentality helps explain how Sacca is now on the verge of having his script picked up by movie production company American High. It comes nine years after “Second First Date” was submitted as a project in a “Script-to-Screen” course offered through a partnership between the and .

“Who would have ever thought my thesis project would turn into my first feature film? I’m excited thinking about where this can go,” says Sacca, who wrote the original “Second First Date” script as part of a Newhouse senior thesis with Fallon Siegler ’19 and Daniel Walters ’19.

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Matt Sacca (far right) was an associate producer on the 2025 Hulu movie “Summer of 69,” which was featured at the SXSW Film and TV Festival.

Finding a Hollywood Ending

The “Script-to-Screen” class was designed for students to develop feature-length films in collaboration with writer-director-producer Jeremy Garelick and his independent movie production company, American High, through its first-look deal with Hulu.

Garelick, along with , an assistant professor of television, radio and film in the Newhouse School, taught the course. Sacca credits that connection with turning his idea into reality.

“This has been an incredible journey,” says Sacca, who has expanded American High’s reach on college campuses across the country and mentored hundreds of emerging writers. “I wouldn’t be equipped to take this on without the experience of taking notes, getting actionable feedback and learning how to produce scripts that get made.”

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Matt Sacca (center) listens during the inaugural “Script-to-Screen” course in the Spring 2019 semester.

‘The Idea Just Lingered’

Sacca is currently “head down” in revisions, transforming the story’s bones into something more relatable.

Sacca wants to include as many jokes as possible using “plant and payoff,” a screenwriting technique that adds depth and meaning to a few moments in a story, rewarding the audience for paying attention to a particular bit or detail later on.

Into the fall, American High and Sacca will focus on securing financing to accelerate the movie’s development and turn their attention to production.

Sacca is no stranger to the industry’s ups and downs. He was American High’s first intern. After graduating, he worked as Garelick’s executive assistant, sifting through and giving feedback on hundreds of scripts from aspiring filmmakers before being promoted to head of development in summer of 2021.

When Sacca was working as Garelick’s assistant, the project started to gain momentum when the original draft received positive coverage from American High’s script readers.

“The idea for ‘Second First Date’ just lingered. It was sticky,” Sacca says. “It didn’t just fade as soon as we graduated. I thought about this film often.”

Creating Industry-Connected Opportunities for Students

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Ben Frahm

Frahm knew Garelick from their time together in a Los Angeles screenwriter’s group, reviewing and giving feedback on each other’s projects.

When Frahm learned Garelick and American High were setting up shop in Syracuse, he saw a chance to collaborate on how to “create wonderful opportunities for our students.”

“This partnership is unique to any other film program perhaps in the nation,” says Frahm, who meets weekly with Sacca and remains an integral part of Sacca’s film project. “We’re building industry-connected opportunities at Newhouse, creating classes and pipelines that connect students directly with professional filmmakers and tangible career outcomes.”

Never Gave Up on a Dream

From the fall of 2021 through December 2022, Sacca was constantly tweaking the script during consultations with Frahm, Garelick and actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee, a former Disney Channel star who was attached to play Nora and serve as a producer.

Hulu passed on the script initially in January 2023, but that initial rejection further motivated Sacca. In 2025, when American High released “Pizza Movie,” which starred Lee and held the top spot for a week on both Hulu and Disney+, Sacca, Garelick and Frahm revived the project, which was optioned in March. The film project and Lee’s involvement were announced .

“After the initial Hulu pass, I started to accept that maybe the script wouldn’t be brought to life, but this story truly never left my mind,” Sacca says.

“Matt was able to deal with the frustrations and the rejections. He kept working hard and that’s a big reason why this project is being made,” adds Frahm.

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A person smiles in a sport coat and dress shirt while standing in front of a yellow SXSW promotional banner.
Student Gets Hands-On Lesson in Exhibition Design With Drumlins Gallery /2026/07/27/student-gets-hands-on-lesson-in-exhibition-design-with-drumlins-gallery/ Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:39:43 +0000 /?p=341046 The University-owned club’s centennial celebration gave one architecture major a firsthand look at curating and preserving campus and community history.

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Arts & Humanities Student

(Photo by Andrew Saluti)

Student Gets Hands-On Lesson in Exhibition Design With Drumlins Gallery

The University-owned club’s centennial celebration gave one architecture major a firsthand look at curating and preserving campus and community history.
Dialynn Dwyer July 27, 2026

A hand-drawn architectural rendering from 1926. Photos of the toboggan run and multiple hockey rinks. Postcards from the 1950s capturing skiers posing as they went off a jump.

Those are just a few of the items in an exhibition celebrating the history of Drumlins Country Club. The University-owned club is marking its centennial with monthly events, including an exhibition that offers a chance to step back in time.  Visitors can witness the evolution of the club from a 260-acre chicken farm to a facility that offered students and the local community outdoor recreation opportunities year-round, from golf and swimming in the warm months to skiing, skating and sledding in the winter.

The exhibition came together in just a few months, pairing Drumlins’ in-house archive with the expertise of , associate professor and program coordinator for museum studies in the , and Morgan Clarke ’29, an undergraduate and museum studies minor.

Joseph Sidoni, interim director of Drumlins, reached out to Saluti in February, knowing the professor was both a member and neighbor to the club, to help organize the club’s photos and artifacts into a gallery.

“Because we have a lot of historical photos and artifacts and architectural drawings, etcetera, we thought it’d be a great idea to set it up and outline the history of Drumlins,” says Sidoni.

For Saluti, whose home was originally part of the same farm that was purchased in 1926 for the development of Drumlins, the interest in participating was more than just professional.

“I live directly across the street, so for me this was a project that was very personal,” he says. “It was something I felt I really wanted to do, and then, being able to make it a curricular experience with students was even better. But the history of the area, the history of the connection to SU, a lot of that to me it was a story that I’ve always loved and I was excited to be a part of making a little display.”

A Unique Learning Experience

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Morgan Clarke works to install the exhibition. (Photo by Andrew Saluti)

Clarke was excited when she learned about the opportunity to assist with the exhibition. She declared a minor in museum studies in the spring, after learning of a career path in exhibition design, and was eager to gain experience.

“I was like, ‘Wait, this is the perfect position for me,’” she says.

Clarke used her experience as an architecture student to create a 3D model of the gallery space. Saluti says she also did the majority of the digitization of the artifacts and helped install the exhibition in late April.

Saluti and Clarke also drew on the for documentation on the club’s ties to the University.

“It was really cool to just go through the collections and think about how we could show the story through both objects—for example, we had golf clubs and old tournament trophies and plaques—and then also visually through photographs,” says Clarke. “Typically there’s more text in an exhibit, but we focused on the visual aspects of the story.”

The quick turnaround for the project offered Clarke, who didn’t have any experience in curatorial research or exhibition design, a unique hands-on opportunity to do archival research, digitization of original material and design the exhibition’s storytelling.

Saluti says Clarke “dove right in.”

“These are the experiences that get faculty excited,” he says. “They get us excited to be able to share that experience with students, but also they help to inspire the students to rethink how they might use that academic degree.”

Clarke says working on the project felt like the first step toward exhibition design.

“I took a museum studies class this past semester, but it was more focused on practice and the collection and preservation of museum artifacts,” she says. “It was really exciting to get that actual hands-on experience and think about how this career path could be an exciting opportunity for me.”

An Opportunity to Discover and Reminisce

Museum
(Photo by Andrew Saluti)

Saluti says he learned a lot about the club’s history as a hub for both the University and the broader community.

“I want people to come into the display and remember their experiences the same way I do,” Saluti says. “One of the objects that we have in the exhibition is the announcement of the new pool from 1981. I have neighbors who grew up with that pool. So to have an exhibition that helps you navigate that history and helps you think back, it’s really nostalgic.”

Some club members even loaned items for use in the gallery.

“There are folks whose families have been at Drumlins for 50-plus years, and then you have University folks who don’t know anything about Drumlins,” Sidoni says. “It’s nice to get them in the gallery and have them take a look at how far we’ve come.”

The exhibition will remain on view through the year as Drumlins approaches two flagship centennial events: an and a .

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Museum exhibit about Drumlins in the 1940s-50s, featuring historic photos, golf clubs, and archival documents in a display case.
Syracuse University Art Museum Names 4 Faculty Fellows for 2026-27   /2026/07/23/syracuse-university-art-museum-names-four-faculty-fellows-for-2026-27/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:15:53 +0000 /?p=341026 The program pairs faculty with museum curators and staff to build object-based teaching into courses across the University.

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Syracuse University Art Museum Names 4 Faculty Fellows for 2026-27  

The program pairs faculty with museum curators and staff to build object-based teaching into courses across the University.
Taylor Westerlund July 23, 2026

Four faculty members have been named Faculty Fellows for the 2026-27 academic year. Now in its fifth year, the program pairs faculty with museum curators and staff to build object-based teaching into courses across the University. The fellows integrate the museum’s collection into their courses and ask students to consider how a photograph or a hand-thrown sake bottle offers its own kind of insight, much like a passage in a textbook.

The fellows this year come from four very different corners of the University including law, economics, music composition and geography, and each is putting the collection to a different use. Together, their projects show just how many doors the museum’s collection can open.

“This year’s cohort shows just how interdisciplinary the uses of the museum’s collection can be and the possibilities it holds for object-based teaching across wildly different, yet interconnected, fields,” says Emily Dittman, director of the Syracuse University Art Museum. “The same collection, in the hands of these faculty, provides opportunities for four completely different conversations. That is at the heart of this program: showing that the museum belongs to every discipline.”

The 2026-27 Faculty Fellows are:

Head-and-shoulders
John Cawley

, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Policy and professor of economics and public affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences

Cawley will integrate the museum’s collection into his course, The Economics and Regulation of Risky Health Behaviors. This course uses the social science of economics to understand the causes and consequences of risky health behaviors such as poor diet, alcohol and drug abuse and smoking. He identified more than a dozen objects, ranging from tobacco advertising posters, Prohibition-era cartoons, photographs romanticizing alcohol and more, to engage students with the ideas presented in the course. Cawley says that the collection highlights the contrast between the marketing of these behaviors and their real-world consequences, arguing that tangible, visual evidence reaches students in ways readings alone can’t.

Professional
Kristen Barnes

, professor of law and associate dean for faculty research, in the  College of Law

This fall, Barnes will bring museum objects into her Housing Law course. She identified photographs and prints for her students to examine that touch on subjects including worker housing, environmental injustice and high-pollution sites located next to residential communities. During class visits to the museum, she will ask students to think about the interconnectedness of housing and climate.

Head-and-shoulders
Loren Loiacono

, assistant professor of music theory and composition,  in the Setnor School of Music, College of Visual and Performing Arts

As part of her course, Class Composition, Loiacono will ask her students to compose two different works in response to objects from the museum’s collection, building on historical examples like Feldman’s “Rothko Chapel” and Rachmaninoff’s “Isle of the Dead,” both inspired by visual art. Students will complete a short in-class response after an initial museum visit, then return independently to choose a work for a longer piece that will be performed at the end of the semester.

Headshot
Meghan Kelly

, assistant professor of geography and the environment, in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences

Kelly will bring object-based teaching to her course, Transformative Cartographies, a graduate seminar exploring feminist, decolonial and social-justice approaches to mapping. Students will spend the semester with weekly readings that will be paired with hands-on analysis of map-based objects, such as 1965 satirical map of global disease by Boris Artzybasheff. Kelly sees synergy between object-based teaching and geography and cartography, as the disciplines blend theoretical and hands-on training.

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Modern brick and glass university museum building with curved cylindrical tower, glass entrance doors, and contemporary architectural design featuring red brick facades, large windows, and geometric elements under a partly cloudy blue sky.
Students Bring Faculty-Led Pavilion to Life at Bernheim Forest /2026/07/20/students-bring-faculty-led-pavilion-to-life-at-bernheim-forest/ Mon, 20 Jul 2026 21:04:11 +0000 /?p=340853 Five School of Architecture students joined faculty member Ekin Erar to build an infinite mirrored pavilion at Bernheim Forest in Kentucky.

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Arts & Humanities Students

(Photo by Ekin Erar)

Students Bring Faculty-Led Pavilion to Life at Bernheim Forest

Five School of Architecture students joined faculty member Ekin Erar to build an infinite mirrored pavilion at Bernheim Forest in Kentucky.
Julie Sharkey July 20, 2026

In late May, five School of Architecture students traveled to in Clermont, Kentucky, where they joined School of Architecture faculty member to construct 10⁶ (Ten to the Power of Six), an immersive mirrored pavilion that transforms visitors and the surrounding landscape into an infinite series of reflections.

Constructed over a four-day period between May 28 and June 6, the project offered students a rare opportunity to participate in the realization of a full-scale architectural installation, engaging directly with fabrication, construction and on-site problem-solving.

Participating students were Alexander Barney ’26, Clark Dong ’27, Grace Hong ’26, Gia Lettieri ’27 and Nicole Trubsky ’27, alongside Riley Wines ’26, a student collaborator from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

The pavilion was selected through a competitive open-call process organized by Bernheim Forest and Arboretum’s initiative, which commissions immersive outdoor installations exploring the relationship between people, nature and the built environment. More than 160 proposals were submitted for consideration, with 10⁶ selected as one of only two projects chosen for construction.

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The Syracuse team works on the pavilion. (Photo by Jenny Zeller)

“10⁶ exemplifies what we hope to achieve through L+A+N+D by bringing together innovative design, environmental awareness and public engagement,” says Jenny Zeller, curator of the L+A+N+D program. “Beyond creating a remarkable visitor experience, the project has provided Syracuse Architecture students with the rare opportunity to take a design from concept to a full-scale installation within a living landscape.”

The title 10⁶ references founder Isaac W. Bernheim’s vision for the forest as a place with “a million things to see and do.” Reflecting that history, the pavilion’s mirrored interior creates an immersive environment that blurs the boundaries between visitor, landscape and reflection.

“The name is a direct response to this history, and so is the pavilion,” says Erar. “The interior is clad in mirrors on all sides, acting as an infinity room and multiplying the image of visitors by a million, just like the offerings of nature in the forest.”

Built Without a Single Nail

The project also served as a testing ground for Erar’s research into construction methodologies. Constructed from flat-packed, CNC-milled plywood components, 10⁶ was assembled on site using a custom joinery system that relies on wooden pegs rather than metal hardware.

Early prototyping and milling tests were conducted in Slocum Hall with student research assistant Clark Dong, while the pavilion’s components were prefabricated in Syracuse and Ithaca before being transported to Kentucky for installation.

Designed for a four-day assembly, the reversible system minimized site disturbance while limiting the need for power tools, creating a quieter construction process responsive to the surrounding forest.

“Being part of both the fabrication and build team was a rewarding experience because it allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge I gained through years of studio in a practical setting,” says Dong. “From early prototyping and fabrication through the final installation, I gained a much deeper understanding of how architectural ideas become built reality.”

The project also reflected Erar’s approach to teaching, which treats the construction site as an extension of the classroom.

A Classroom in the Forest

“I view the construction site as an extension of my classroom, where typical classroom structures and hierarchies are dissolved to make way for a more democratic, collaborative learning environment,” says Erar. “I see my students as collaborators as we problem-solve and troubleshoot collectively on the building site.”

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Five School of Architecture students joined faculty member Ekin Erar to construct an immersive mirrored pavilion in the Bernhein Forest and Arboretum in Kentucky. (Photo by Ekin Erar)

For Lettieri, the experience bridged the gap between design and construction.

“My studio experience with Professor Erar helped me develop a strong foundation in design detailing, but I wanted to better understand the construction side of architecture,” says Lettieri. “Working on 10⁶ gave me the opportunity to help build a project at full scale. The biggest lesson I learned was the importance of being flexible and adapting when things don’t go as planned.”

The experience also challenged students to reconsider the relationship between design and construction.

“Working on 10⁶ showed me the importance of prototyping, iteration and adaptability when moving from design to construction,” says Barney. “In school, we spend so much time designing structures on a computer, where every measurement aligns perfectly. Building a structure intended to exist outdoors rewrites that process and forces you to respond to the realities of the physical world.”

As part of Bernheim’s expanding L+A+N+D collection, the pavilion joins a series of site-responsive installations that invite visitors to experience the forest through art, architecture and design.

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A row of mirrored panels reflects the surrounding forest canopy and a tall, straight tree trunk, blurring the line between the real trees above and their reflection below.
Architecture Faculty Receive 2026 Graham Foundation Grants /2026/06/15/architecture-faculty-receive-2026-graham-foundation-grants/ Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:43:17 +0000 /?p=339749 Lori A. Brown and Li Han and Hu Yan with Drawing Architecture Studio were among the 86 individuals awarded grants to expand architecture and design.

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Arts & Humanities Architecture

Drawing Architecture Studio partners (from left) Li Han, Hu Yan and Zhang Xintong (Photo courtesy of Drawing Architecture Studio)

Architecture Faculty Receive 2026 Graham Foundation Grants

Lori A. Brown and Li Han and Hu Yan with Drawing Architecture Studio were among the 86 individuals awarded grants to expand architecture and design.
Julie Sharkey June 15, 2026

As part of their 2026 grant cycle funding ideas to expand architecture and design, the Chicago-based Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts recently announced , totaling $506,000, to individuals, including awards to School of Architecture faculty member , and to  (DAS), the collaborative practice led by School of Architecture faculty members Ի in partnership with Zhang Xintong.

Selected from more than 600 submissions, 86 individuals—including established and emerging architects, artists, curators, designers, filmmakers, historians, scholars and writers—were given the prestigious annual grants for their exhibitions, films, publications, research, site-specific installations and digital initiatives that contribute new interdisciplinary ideas on architecture and design to publics around the world.

“Congratulations to distinguished professor Brown and visiting professors Li and Hu,” says Michael Speaks, School of Architecture dean. “These honors are among the most distinguished in architecture and the fine arts, and they will help further the recipients’ research and scholarship while strengthening our school’s broader academic mission.”

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Lori A. Brown (Photo by Laura Heyman)

Brown and , associate director of public programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and founder of Point Line Projects, were awarded funding to support their book project, “Now What?! A Call for Advocacy, Activism and Alliances in US Architecture,” which critically examines architects’ engagement with political and social movements since 1968, drawing lessons from the past to chart new ways forward.

Building from the exhibition, “Now What?! Advocacy, Activism and Alliances in American Architecture Since 1968” that traveled around the country and abroad from 2018 to 2024, the book uncovers the little-known history of grassroots advocacy and activism within architecture, tracing the connections between the design profession and broader social and political movements. Grounded in historical reflection, it explores how architects have challenged prevailing norms, built alliances and expanded their influence beyond traditional practice. More than a historical account, the book serves as a call to action for architects seeking to engage more meaningfully with the social and political issues of their time.

The book highlights the stories of architects working at the margins who recognized their agency and used it to reshape both the profession and the communities they served. By examining the successes, setbacks and lasting impact of advocacy efforts since the late 1960s, the authors assess their relevance and potential for addressing contemporary challenges.

“Receiving a Graham Foundation grant affirms the critical importance of raising awareness about the rich and dynamic history of how architects have engaged and responded to pressing social and political issues of their time,” says Brown. “Sarah and I hope that publishing this book at this particular moment in time will be a rallying call for architects and designers to fight for social justice in the built environment and become an invaluable and inspiring resource for students and practitioners alike.”

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“Now What! Advocacy, Activism and Alliances of American Architecture Since 1968“ exhibition at the Boston Society of Architects. (Photo by Janna Mach, Artists for Humanity)

DAS partners Li Han and Hu Yan, who serve as visiting professors in the School of Architecture, along with Zhang Xintong have received funding for “The Death and Life of an Apartment Building,” an exhibition that explores how small business operators—from shopkeepers to street vendors—informally reshape China’s built environment through adaptation, negotiation and reinvention.

Based on 17 years of observation, the project traces urban transformations: from apartments converted into bars and shops to vehicles repurposed as mobile storefronts, revealing how individuals respond to economic pressures, urban redevelopment, and tighter regulations with ingenuity. These transformations mark a turning point in China’s urban development. As expansion slows, informal spaces are increasingly displaced by more regulated forms of urban development.

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“The Samsara of Building No. 42 on Dirty Street” (Photo courtesy of Drawing Architecture Studio)

The exhibition visualizes these fleeting spaces through drawings, hand-built models, comics and animations, reflecting how people claim, occupy and transform them. In doing so, it offers new ways of reading the city from the bottom up, foregrounding informal practice as a source of spatial intelligence and highlighting the ingenuity inherent in everyday interventions. The project draws on the team’s long-standing observations about the vitality and adaptability of everyday urban life.

The exhibition will be presented at A83 in New York in fall 2027. In the city where Jane Jacobs authored “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” the exhibition brings reflections from the other side of the globe into dialogue with the intellectual context that first shaped that work.

“We are incredibly honored to receive support from the Graham Foundation. The grant offers an opportunity to look back on nearly 20 years of work devoted to a single subject and to reconsider it as a coherent body of research and creative practice,” say Li, Hu and Zhang. “It also enables us to present architectural drawing not simply as a means of representation, but as a medium that can take many forms and engage with a wide range of cultural and social questions. We are grateful for the Foundation’s support, which will help bring this project to life and share it with a broader audience.”

The 2026 grantees join a worldwide network of individuals and organizations that the  has supported over the past 70 years. In that time, the Foundation has awarded more than $46 million in direct support to over 5,300 projects by individuals and organizations around the world.

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Three people pose outdoors near a yellow railing
Art Museum to Showcase Alumnus John Thompson in Manhattan Exhibition /2026/06/09/art-museum-to-showcase-alumnus-john-thompson-in-manhattan-exhibition/ Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:44:56 +0000 /?p=339448 Thompson's matrix-reuse method transforms a single composition into an ever-evolving body of work.

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Arts & Humanities Art

Detail of "Stowe XXXIII," 2021, by John Thompson; relief and intaglio on paper mounted on panels (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Art Museum to Showcase Alumnus John Thompson in Manhattan Exhibition

Thompson's matrix-reuse method transforms a single composition into an ever-evolving body of work.
Taylor Westerlund June 9, 2026

The presents “John Thompson ’72: Infinite Variation” at the Bernard and Louise Palitz Gallery in New York City through Sept. 29. Featuring works that span Thompson’s entire career, from his roots at Syracuse University to his most recent prints, the exhibition examines his distinct approach to nature and printmaking.

Traditional printmakers create custom matrices for each new print, whereas Thompson re-uses existing matrices as building blocks, recombining and reimagining them across compositions. It’s an approach rooted in the studio culture he encountered at Syracuse as a student, where, as he puts it, the message was “experiment, experiment, experiment.”

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“Ginger,” 2002, by John Thompson; relief on paper (Photo courtesy of the artist)

The practice, which inspired the exhibition’s title, surfaces a sustained, close observation of nature. Notably, Thompson highlights the waving grasses, vertiginous stalks, and rippling ponds seen throughout the natural world, but specifically in the gardens—including his own—that he loves.

“To think about a world without gardens and flowers and art and music—why bother?” says Thompson. ”There’s an enduring quality in creating artwork … it provides hope for society.”

The exhibition holds a particular significance for the Art Museum, which presents the work of an alumnus on a New York City stage. “Many printmakers treat the matrix as a means to an end. John treats it as a collaborator,” says curator Melissa Yuen. “Each new composition is in dialogue with everything he has made before.” Thompson received a B.F.A. from Syracuse’s in 1972 and the exhibition traces the arc of his career which began here and has since earned international recognition.

Thompson holds additional degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A.), Babson College (MBA) and Massachusetts College of Art and Design (M.F.A.), where he has also taught.

He maintains studios in Waltham, Massachusetts, and Harpswell, Maine, and collaborates with master printers Peter and James Pettengill at Wingate Studio in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and Susan Oehme at Oehme Graphics in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

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“Putney I,” 2019, by John Thompson; etching on paper (Photo courtesy of the artist)

His work is held in public collections, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center and Mt. Auburn Hospital, and has been exhibited at Adelson Galleries, Childs Gallery and the Sunshine Museum in Beijing, among venues nationally and internationally.

Reflecting on the opportunity to share his work in New York, Thompson returned to a theme that has guided his practice: generosity. “A successful piece of art on the wall should be thought about the same way we do concerts and things,” he says. “It’s something to be shared amongst many, not to be hidden away.”

The Syracuse University Art Museum stewards a collection of more than 45,000 works spanning 4,000 years. Located in the Shaffer Art Building on the Syracuse University campus, the museum serves as a museum-laboratory for teaching, research and community engagement and provides free admission for all. The museum’s Bernard and Louise Palitz Gallery in New York City extends that mission to a wider audience. For more information and gallery hours, please visit .

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Detail of an abstract print artwork featuring layered brushstrokes and splatters in blue, green, gold, and cream.
2 University Programs Receive National Endowment for the Arts Grants /2026/06/04/2-university-programs-receive-national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants/ Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:29:11 +0000 /?p=339346 The grants fund arts programs that enrich student learning and bring creative experiences to the community.

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Arts & Humanities 2

The Community Folk Art Center, at 805 East Genesee Street in Syracuse, and a unit of the University's College of Arts and Sciences, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022.

2 University Programs Receive National Endowment for the Arts Grants

The grants fund arts programs that enrich student learning and bring creative experiences to the community.
Diane Stirling June 4, 2026

Faculty in the (VPA) and the (A&S) have received (NEA) grants to support their community-engaged creative arts programs.

The awards—$20,000 for a collaborative filmmaking production program aimed at Syracuse City youth and $18,200 for two years of artist residencies at a campus-affiliated cultural center—reflect the University’s commitment to connecting academic and creative work with the Central New York community.

Teens With a Movie Camera

Now in its third year, “” brings about a dozen local high school students to campus each summer for a three-week media arts production collaboration. Working with film faculty and University students, teens ages 13 to 18 make original short films using smartphones and everyday objects and then present them publicly.

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Three 2025 program participants found that imagination and smartphones were the essential movie-making ingredients for “Teens With a Movie Camera.” (Photo by Amy Manley)

Their work has been shown at the and at . It has also been screened in national and international film festivals, including the Thomas Edison Film festival, where “” won an honorable mention; and in the New Year/New Work Film Festival at The Film-Makers’ Cooperative in NYC.

The program is co-led by , associate professor in VPA’s Department of Film and Media Arts; VPA film program alumnus G’23 and , a Guggenheim fellow and adjunct professor of photography at Onondaga Community College.

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Led by film, media arts and photography faculty, the “Teens With a Movie Camera” program invites local teenagers to make movies using their creative ideas, their smartphones and everyday objects such as oranges, foil fabric and handmade posters. (Photo by Amy Manley)

The trio is assisted by undergraduate and graduate film and media arts students. The program aims to empower teens by voicing their ideas through images and public presentation, according to Mišo Suchý. He says production relies heavily on improvisation “because it is undertaken as a zero-budget creative production based on the ethos of the tradition of independent cinema and low-budget experimental filmmaking.”

This summer’s program will explore themes of “defying gravity” and “overcoming the impossible.” Interested teens can apply on the program’s .

Community Folk Art Center

A second NEA grant of $18,200 will support “Rooted & Rising,” an artist residency program at the (CFAC), a University-affiliated cultural hub dedicated to promoting artists of the African Diaspora.

The residency is directed by , executive director of CFAC and assistant professor of African American studies in A&S. The grant will allow a program beginning in summer 2026 continuing through the end of 2027 that will support four artists over the two-year period. In addition to interacting with students in A&S programs, the artists will develop workshops, exhibitions, talks and free public events.

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Assistant Professor Tanisha Jackson leads the CFAC.

Jackson says the residencies will create meaningful opportunities for Syracuse University students to engage directly with working artists while also expanding access to arts programming for the Central New York community. They also offer the artists “the time, space and institutional support to develop new work grounded in public engagement and cultural dialogue,” Jackson says.

The project reflects CFAC’s mission to bridge scholarship, creative expression and community wellness through support of multidisciplinary artists.

More information about NEA grants and their impact on communities is available on the .

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The colorful exterior of the Community Folk Art Center on East Genesee Street
A&S Professor Recognized for Community-Engaged Writing Initiative /2026/05/28/as-professor-recognized-for-community-engaged-writing-initiative/ Thu, 28 May 2026 16:50:17 +0000 /?p=339114 Patrick W. Berry, associate professor of writing and rhetoric, won a $10,000 prize from CNY Arts for his work with Project Mend.

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Arts & Humanities A&S

Patrick Berry (back row, center) pictured with other Syracuse Prize nominees.

A&S Professor Recognized for Community-Engaged Writing Initiative

Patrick W. Berry, associate professor of writing and rhetoric, won a $10,000 prize from CNY Arts for his work with Project Mend.
Dan Bernardi May 28, 2026

, associate professor of writing and rhetoric in the (A&S), has been awarded the $10,000 Syracuse Prize from CNY Arts. Berry was recognized for his work with , a community-engaged writing and multimodal publishing initiative that supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families.

The inaugural Syracuse Prize honors community members who have made significant contributions to the cultural vitality and civic life of the City of Syracuse. Berry accepted the award at a ceremony on May 14, with the recognition receiving coverage from regional media outlets, including and NewsChannel 9, both during a  and on its Dz.

Founded by Berry in 2022, Project Mend is an open-access national archive developed in partnership with the  in Syracuse. The initiative centers the creative and scholarly work of people directly impacted by incarceration, offering paid editorial and design apprenticeships that provide participants with professional skills and pathways to future opportunity.

“I believe the arts should be accessible to everyone, including those rebuilding their lives after prison,” says Berry. “Initiatives like Project Mend remind us that creativity, storytelling and multimodal publishing are powerful forms of education, healing and community.”

A central component of the initiative is “Mend,” a print and digital journal that publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art by incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. This spring, Project Mend celebrated the release of “Mend’s” , marking a significant milestone in the project’s continued growth and national reach.

Project Mend also serves as a high-impact experiential learning site for students. Many students first encounter the project through Berry’s courses in A&S and continue through internships and apprenticeships, translating their work with “Mend” into career pathways in publishing, communications, social services, nonprofit leadership and graduate study.

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Patrick Berry (center) poses with members of the Project Mend team at the CNY Arts recognition ceremony.

The Syracuse Prize is the latest in a series of honors recognizing Berry’s leadership on Project Mend. In 2025, he received the Outstanding College–Community Partnership Award from the Coalition for Community Writing, which recognized Project Mend’s collaborative and reciprocal engagement with justice-impacted communities. Berry has also received support through the University’s Office of Research’s Good to Great Grant Program, which supports high-impact initiatives with strong potential for national reach.

Additional funding has come from a Humanities New York Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the CNY Humanities Corridor. On campus, the project is further supported by the Engaged Humanities Network, the Humanities Center, the SOURCE, Syracuse University Libraries and the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition.

As the initiative continues to expand, so do opportunities for innovative forms of engagement. In spring 2026, Berry launched “,” a podcast that offers members of the team a space to reflect on themes explored in “Mend.” The first episode, released in March and titled “Mental Health and Solidarity in Prison,” was inspired by Rebekha Nilsen’s 2026 “Mend” article “,” extending the essay’s exploration of loss, care and resistance through collective conversation.

Berry is also developing a book, “Literacy and the Humanities After Prison,” which examines how literacy and humanities-based practices shape the lives of people impacted by the criminal legal system.

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Five Syracuse Prize recipients hold Certificates of Recognition in front of a CNY Arts step-and-repeat.
Remembering a Pioneer of Medieval Stained Glass /2026/05/27/remembering-a-pioneer-of-medieval-stained-glass/ Wed, 27 May 2026 13:38:56 +0000 /?p=339027 Meredith Lillich redefined a global field of study and carried that scholarship into more than four decades of teaching on campus.

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Arts & Humanities Remembering

Meredith Lillich (Photo courtesy of Schmitt Shoots!!)

Remembering a Pioneer of Medieval Stained Glass

Meredith Lillich redefined a global field of study and carried that scholarship into more than four decades of teaching on campus.
Dan Bernardi May 27, 2026

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) mourns the passing of Meredith Lillich, professor emerita of art history, who died on March 18, 2026, at the age of 94. A member of the University’s faculty for more than four decades, Lillich was an internationally recognized scholar of medieval stained glass, a dedicated teacher and mentor and a foundational figure in the modern study of Gothic art.

Born in Chicago, Lillich demonstrated an early devotion to intellectual pursuits. After double majoring in English and art history at Oberlin College and graduating in 1953, she traveled to Europe on a Fulbright fellowship, taking part in a formative abroad experience that sparked what would become her life’s scholarly focus: medieval stained glass.

Lillich would go on to earn a master’s degree in art history from Cornell University in 1957 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1969. While finishing her dissertation, “The Stained Glass of Saint-Père de Chartres,” she joined the A&S faculty in 1968. She remained at the University until her retirement in 2010, shaping generations of students and playing a central role in establishing A&S as a hub for research and teaching on medieval art.

Her research took her frequently to Europe, where she was known for her determination and fearlessness in the field. Undeterred by cramped staircases, great heights or the less hospitable corners of medieval buildings, Lillich, her , climbed into hard-to-reach spaces in churches (i.e., triforia, towers and clerestory levels) to study stained glass up close. These efforts yielded landmark publications, including “The Armor of Light: Stained Glass in Western France, 1250–1325” and “The Gothic Stained Glass of Reims Cathedral,” along with numerous influential articles.

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Meredith Lillich uses binoculars to get an up-close view of stained glass in Strasbourg, France. (Photo by Andreas Krüger)

Among her many honors, Lillich received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies and multiple Fulbright awards. At Syracuse, she was recognized with the Wasserstrom Prize for Outstanding Graduate Teaching (1987), the Arts and Sciences Special Service Award for Service to Field (1989) and the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement (1999).

, Distinguished Professor of Art History and Chair of the  in A&S, recalls Lillich’s immense scholarly stature and international reputation. “Her colleagues used to call her the ‘Queen Bee of Medieval Art,’ and for good reason,” Franits says. “Meredith received prestigious academic recognition abroad, particularly in France, where her scholarship was widely respected and influential.”

Beyond her scholarly achievements, Lillich was deeply revered as a mentor, and her influence extended far beyond Syracuse through the students she trained. Former student , now an associate professor of medieval art history at the University of Virginia, credits Lillich with shaping both his intellectual orientation and professional ethos. “I affectionately refer to Meredith as my ‘medieval momma,’” he says. “Her model of academic excellence, devotion to family and research output are a model for anyone to follow. Her passion for stained glass studies was unrivaled.”

Her colleagues and former students describe Lillich as a scholar whose curiosity was tireless. By understanding both the people behind the art and the meaning embedded in their work, Lillich believed society could gain deeper insight into the cultures that shaped these artworks and the values they still reflect.

Lillich’s expertise made her a sought-after authority worldwide. She was a central and foundational figure in the American chapter of the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, an international scholarly initiative devoted to the study, documentation and preservation of medieval stained glass. Her influential work on subjects such as Cistercian grisaille, band windows (which are clerestory windows featuring horizontal narrative strips) and collaborative research at institutions including the Corning Museum of Glass continues to shape the field. Colleagues across the discipline described her as “fiercely brilliant,” a “force of nature,” and one of the founding mothers of American stained-glass scholarship.

Meredith Lillich leaves behind a legacy of rigorous research and devoted teaching. Her influence endures not only through her work and students, but also through her family. She is survived by two daughters, Victoria A. Lillich and Olivia P.L. Hilton; and four grandchildren, Rebecca Lillich Krüger, Miles Hilton (Lis Meiss), Rupert Krüger and Aaron Hilton (Enjolique).

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A person rests her chin on her hand in front of a bookshelf filled with books.
Research Professional Cited for Growing Arts and Humanities Support Network /2026/05/20/research-professional-cited-for-growing-arts-and-humanities-support-network/ Wed, 20 May 2026 14:03:28 +0000 /?p=338873 Sarah Workman’s efforts building a community of arts and humanities research development professionals is recognized for innovation.

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Arts & Humanities Research

Sarah Workman (right) receives the NORDP Innovation Award at the organization's 2026 annual conference in Indianapolis. Presenting the national honor is Petrina Suiter, NORDP awards official. (Photo courtesy NORDP/Studio 13)

Research Professional Cited for Growing Arts and Humanities Support Network

Sarah Workman’s efforts building a community of arts and humanities research development professionals is recognized for innovation.
Diane Stirling May 20, 2026

, director of research development for the arts and humanities in the and the (A&S), has been recognized with the 2026 Innovation Award from the (NORDP).

The award recognizes professionals who advance research development through partnerships, new tools and techniques or the creation and sharing of knowledge that produces demonstrable results. Workman and her NORDP colleague, Allison DeVries of Chapman University, received the award in recognition of the evolution of the (CASSH) affinity group, which they founded in 2022. The group, which has grown to more than 150 NORDP members across the country, helps them marshal and create collective resources and share best practices, case studies and challenges in support of faculty in the humanities, creative arts and social sciences areas.

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Sarah Workman

“I’m honored to receive this award and proud to have had a part in bringing the CASSH group together four years ago when it seemed rare to have a designated arts and humanities research development staff member housed in an R1 institution,” Workman says. The group has gained momentum “because higher education recognizes the value of this support nationwide as integral to the national research landscape and vital to an individual institution’s research ecosystem,” she says.

Workman came to Syracuse in 2019 and built a dedicated arts and humanities research development infrastructure from scratch. She now connects with more than 200 faculty across eight schools and colleges and partners with and several University-affiliated arts organizations.

Beyond campus, she is part of the , an 11-university consortium for collaborative research, teaching and programming. She co-leads its HF4 Corridor Futures and Initiatives working group with program manager Aimee Germain to offer professional development opportunities for faculty.

Impact on Faculty and Funding

Prior to Workman’s arrival, scholars navigated grant funding alone or through informal networks, often missing critical opportunities, says , senior director of research development in the Office of Research, who co-nominated Workman for the award.

She says Workman has contributed to faculty winning prestigious awards, including summer stipends, a and a grant. Workman has also supported a fellowship, an digital justice grant and several successful applications.

In 2025, Workman supported 64 grant proposals seeking $44 million in funding. She recently helped nine arts faculty and five organizations secure awards, making Syracuse the only university in the state to receive multiple awards in that cycle, Chianese says.

, professor of women’s and gender studies and director of the Syracuse University Humanities Center and the Central New York Humanities Corridor, says Workman’s Corridor support has deepened scholarly community across the region and has had significant impact on Syracuse faculty success.

“Sarah has been instrumental in several prestigious Mellon awards, including our first and ensuing New Directions fellowships and many other highly competitive awards and grants,” says May, who co-nominated Workman for the award. “Many of these awards have been substantial enough to transform individual career trajectories and drive transformational work at the University and in  wider communities locally and nationally.” May says faculty frequently remark about how much they enjoy collaborating with Workman and appreciate her support.

, assistant professor of music history and cultures in A&S, credits Workman with helping her secure a , a first for Syracuse among 200 competing institutions. “I am deeply grateful for her thoughtful engagement with my research and for helping make its relevance accessible to a broader interdisciplinary readership,” Peñate says.

, associate professor in women’s and gender studies in A&S, says Workman’s guidance “proved instrumental in shaping two grant proposals into competitive, fundable projects. Her careful feedback led to key revisions that directly contributed to securing a major award from a private funder. In a context of shrinking funding, Sarah’s leadership has been indispensable for the success of humanities’ interdisciplinary, social justice-centered research.”

While Workman focuses on the arts and humanities, the Office of Research supports faculty across disciplines through a broader research development team. Researchers across campus partner with team members on proposal development, funding searches, cohort writing programs for competitive federal awards and strategic guidance on funding opportunities. Faculty interested in support for their projects can learn more about .

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Sarah Workman’s efforts building a community of arts and humanities research development professionals is recognized for innovation.
Dennis Sola Named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2026-27 /2026/05/18/dennis-sola-named-harry-der-boghosian-fellow-for-2026-27/ Mon, 18 May 2026 14:19:12 +0000 /?p=338748 The year-long architecture residency, established in 2015 in memory of Harry der Boghosian '54, supports emerging creatives in developing design research.

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Dennis Sola Named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2026-27

The year-long architecture residency, established in 2015 in memory of Harry der Boghosian '54, supports emerging creatives in developing design research.
Julie Sharkey May 18, 2026

The School of Architecture has announced that architect is the Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2026–27. Sola will succeed current fellow, Tiffany Xu and become the eleventh fellow in the program’s history.

The Boghosian Fellowship at the School of Architecture—established in early 2015 in memory of Harry der Boghosian ’54 by his sister Paula der Boghosian ’64—is a year-long residency designed to give emerging independent creatives the opportunity to spend a year developing a body of design research based on an area of interest while teaching at the School of Architecture.

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Dennis Sola

Fellows play a significant role at the school by enhancing student instruction and faculty discourse, while supporting both research and the development of research-related curriculum relevant to architectural education and practice.

As the 2026–27 Harry der Boghosian Fellow, Sola will develop a year-long body of design research centered on time, finitude, maintenance and architecture’s relation to absence. His investigation will examine how architecture enters duration, how it persists through maintenance and transformation and how buildings might anticipate their own disappearance as part of their conception.

Drawing from a reading of absence against essence, the fellowship will ask how architecture can be understood through exposure, use, alteration and withdrawal, allowing form to register an awareness of its own lifespan. The research is informed by construction cultures in which adaptation and transformation often take precedence over permanence, and where continuity is secured through ongoing modification.

During the fall semester, Sola will teach a seminar focused on maintenance as a cultural, spatial and expressive practice. The course will examine repair, replacement, weathering, material aging and protocols of intervention as forces that reshape existing structures and sustain them over time. Students will consider how these operations can become drivers of architectural expression and use, positioning maintenance as a generative design framework.

In the spring, Sola will lead a studio and companion seminar organized around the design and production of a single field object. Developed at one-to-one scale and deployed either in Latin America or the United States, the object will operate as a built research instrument, testing how architecture can register environmental force, logistical conditions, civic use and temporal change through direct construction.

Investigating ‘Geometries of Tendency’

Sola’s year-long investigation will connect seminar, studio and built work through a sustained investigation into what he describes as “geometries of tendency,” where form emerges through pressures, inclinations, durations and the productive incompletion of architecture over time.

“Moving between research and deployment, the year will test architecture as protocol, artifact and field condition at once, seeking precision through measured engagement with finitude, withdrawal, territories and the cultural life of construction,” says Sola.

Like the ten previous Boghosian Fellows, Sola will work closely not only with faculty and students at the School of Architecture but will also explore interdisciplinary collaborations within the University and its various centers and colleges, while also anchoring fieldwork to nearby landscapes such as Onondaga Lake and Green Lakes State Park.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dennis Sola as the next Harry der Boghosian Fellow,” says School of Architecture Dean Michael Speaks. “His work challenges conventional ideas of permanence in architecture and will offer our students an extraordinary opportunity to engage questions of construction, adaptation and change through both research and making.”

Prior to joining Syracuse Architecture, Sola co-founded and led Ídem, a former Quito-based architectural practice whose residential work unfolded across the Andean highlands and rainforests of Ecuador, while its cultural and infrastructural projects engaged Quito and other territories. These projects shaped a practice attentive to logistics, construction protocols, material duration, environmental exposure and the temporal life of buildings. Sola’s work has been featured internationally and exhibited.

Sola earned his architecture degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and holds a master’s in architecture II from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The Boghosian Fellowship has helped the School of Architecture attract the best and the brightest emerging professors. Previous fellows include Maya Alam (2016–17), Linda Zhang (2017–18), James Leng (2018–19), Benjamin Vanmuysen (2019–20), Liang Wang (2020–21), Leen Katrib (2021–22), Lily Chishan Wong (2022–23), Christina Chi Zhang (2023–24), Erin Cuevas (2024–25) and Tiffany Xu (2026–27).

To learn more about the Harry der Boghosian Fellowship, visit the .

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