College of Visual and Performing Arts Welcomes New Full-Time Faculty

Sixteen new full-time faculty joined the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) for the 2023-24 academic year. Two of the faculty members are also new department chairs in the college.

The College of Visual and Performing Arts is pleased to welcome 16 new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. Top row, left to right: Gregg Barron, Harry Castle, Richard Dent IV, Rachel Dubrofsky, Jason Eppink. Middle row: Tamika Galanis, Alex Jainchill, SeWoong Kim, Kira Marshall-McKelvey, Sandy Siquier. Bottom row: Christina Sisson, Hannah Tabrizi, David Tarleton, Guinevere Turner, Ekaterina Vanovskaya, and Andrew Zhou.

• Gregg Barron, assistant teaching professor of music industry in the Setnor School of Music, is a seasoned music licensing executive with over 25 years’ of experience at some of the world’s most prestigious music companies. Most recently, Barron led the licensing teams of Touchtunes and PlayNetwork, working with labels, publishers, PROs and CMOs around the globe.
• Harry Castle is an assistant teaching professor of musical theater in the Department of Drama. He works at the intersection of contemporary classical, pop, jazz and musical theater genres. He is particularly drawn to musical storytelling, and as an LGBTQ+ creative he is especially interested in telling stories that center queer and marginalized narratives.
• Richard Dent IV is a visiting assistant teaching professor of acting in the Department of Drama. He has a background in movement/Alexander Technique; commedia dell’arte/clown; and mask history, design and construction. He has built customized masks for various artists in the United States.
• Rachel E. Dubrofsky is a professor and the new chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. Her research — rooted in a critical/cultural studies tradition and attuned to popular culture (reality TV, television, social media, film, selfies, music videos news) — emphasizes issues of race and gender with a focus on surveillance, whiteness and authenticity. A few of the topics she has written about are Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, MeToo, “The Bachelor,” Karens and “The Hunger Games.”
• Jason Eppink, visiting assistant teaching professor of computer art and animation in the Department of Film and Media Arts, creates projects that emphasize participation, mischief, surprise, wonder, generosity, transgression, free culture and anti-consumerism; they are frequently staged in public spaces and online as street art, urban interventions and playful online services and hoaxes, often for non-consenting audiences.
• Tamika Galanis, assistant professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is a documentarian and multimedia visual artist. A Bahamian native, her work examines the complexities of living in a place shrouded in tourism’s ideal during the age of climate concerns.
• Alex Jainchill is an assistant teaching professor of theater design and technology (lighting design) in the Department of Drama. He has created lighting environments for theater (off Broadway and regional), opera and other live events. His industrial/commercial work has included work for IMCD and Rob Ross Designs.
• SeWoong Kim is an assistant professor of environmental and interior design in the School of Design. He has published peer-reviewed articles in such journals as Science of The Total Environment, Landscape and Urban Planning, Open House International, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews and Atmosphere.
• Kira Marshall-McKelvey is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. Her research focuses on digital feminism, specifically feminist issues on YouTube and other new media. She has presented her research at conferences of the National Communication Association and Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
• Sandy Siquier, assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is an actor and creative writer who has worked in a broad range of film, television, theater and radio productions in the United States and Latin America. She has led numerous film productions that have been recognized at more than 40 major international film festivals.
• Christina Sisson, assistant teaching professor of music education in the Setnor School of Music and School of Education, has teaching experiences that include middle and high school band, middle school steel pan, K-12 general music and K-5 general education classes. Her research interests center around diversity, equity and inclusion, with a focus on meeting the diverse needs of all students in the music classroom.
• Hannah Tabrizi is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies whose research explores the intersections of race, gender and posthumanism using critical rhetorical methods. They have presented papers at conferences of the National Communication Association, Rhetoric Society of America and Southern States Communication Association.
• David Tarleton, professor of film, is the new chair of the Department of Film and Media Arts. As an award-winning producer, director and editor, Tarleton has created programs for Sony Pictures, the Muppets, Apple TV+, Syfy, Walt Disney Pictures, 3Net, Fox, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, Tokyopop, Mattel, Universal, Warner Brothers, Baby Einstein, Showtime, Learn360, Random Media and more. He also co-founded the award-winning production company Tarleton/Dawn Productions, which has produced over 20 films, numerous plays, a streaming series and boasts an education division.
• Guinevere Turner, visiting assistant teaching professor of film in the Department of Film and Media Arts, is a writer, director and actor. She teamed up with director Mary Harron to write the films “American Psycho,” “The Notorious Bettie Page” and “Charlie Says.” She has written and directed seven short films, two of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
• Ekaterina Vanovskaya, an assistant teaching professor of studio arts (painting) in the School of Art, has exhibited nationally including New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago. She has held a number of residencies, most recently at HARP Horse and Art Research Program in Hungary, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska and Artist in the Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York.
• Andrew Zhou, assistant teaching professor of music composition and theory in the Setnor School of Music, composes and writes on sundry topics intersecting the musical, social and literary. He is a fierce proponent of recovering and performing historically erased works, while his performances make the most complex contemporary scores accessible to audiences.