UCI Arts Summer 2025 Faculty Highlights

A look at faculty news and creative activity from summer 2025

From curating thought-provoking exhibitions and premiering new choreography to receiving national awards and fellowships, faculty across the UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts (UCI Arts) remained active throughout the summer. Highlights include faculty leading The Inoperative Community exhibition at UC Irvine’s University Art Galleries, new works developed through the National Choreographers Initiative, major recognitions such as the Rome Prize and the Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize and honors for excellence in teaching and mentorship. Below are a few highlights by department. Visit our news page for additional stories and updates.

Department of Art

• Kevin Appel, chair of the department, and Juli Carson, professor and director of the University Art Galleries, co-curated The Inoperative Community: Exhibition X Practice, UC Irvine 1965-2025 alongside Sasha Ussef, associate director of the galleries. The exhibition opened on September 27 with a reception to follow on October 11. Read more.
• Coleman Collins was named a 2025-26 Hellman Fellow, supporting his research as an assistant professor. Read more.
• Amanda Ross-Ho received the 2025 Trellis Art Fund Milestone Grant, which provides $100,000 to sustain her artistic and caregiving practice. Read more.
• Joe Lewis, professor and former dean of UCI Arts, joined the live performance de las sombras / from the shadows, blending sound, story, and social commentary. Read more.
• Professors Jennifer Bornstein and Liz Glynn were awarded the 2025-26 Rome Prize in Visual Arts, a prestigious residency hosted by the American Academy in Rome. Read more.
• Simon Penny announced that his book Making Sense: Cognition, Computing, Art and Embodiment (MIT Press, 2017) has been translated into Chinese and will be released by Huazhong Academic Press.

Image: Archival display from The Inoperative Community: Exhibition X Practice, UC Irvine 1965-2025, SITE TWO: CRITICAL AESTHETICS PROGRAM. Photo by Yubo Dong.

Department of Dance

• The National Choreographers Initiative, founded by Professor Molly Lynch, hosted its annual three-week summer program at UCI, culminating in a showcase of four new works. Read more.

Image: The National Choreographers Initiative, courtesy of the NCI.

Department of Drama

• The drama department was recognized with the 2025 Excellence Award from Undergraduate Training from the University Resident Theatre Association  (URTA) for its commitment to developing future theater professionals. Read more.
• Myrona DeLaney was named a 2025 Dean’s Honoree for her dedication to cultivating emerging artists. Read more.
• Tara Rodman, associate professor of doctoral studies, received the 2025 Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize for Fantasies of Ito Michio, which explores the dancer’s transnational career. Read more.
• Juliette Carrillo was named a 2025 MacDowell Spring-Summer Fellow, joining a legacy of artists and writers supported by the residency program. Read more.
• Andrew Palermo, was recently profiled in Bold Journey (read more) and will choreograph Sweet Smell of Success at Lincoln Center in New York City this November. Read more.
• Distinguished Professor Bryan Reynolds continued developing LifeLines: Blavatsky Freud Experience with professors Vincent Olivieri and Lonnie Alcaraz for a tour in the Czech Republic and Poland. He also presented lectures on arts activism in conflict zones and delivered a keynote at the Syrian Academic Summit in Damascus. This was Syria’s first conference of any kind in academia since the liberation.
• Lonnie Alcaraz, professor of lighting design, designed Comedy of Errors and served as co-associate artistic director at the Great River Shakespeare Festival. He also designed Tchaikovsky: A Love Story at Chapman’s Musco Center and Million Dollar Quartet at South Coast Repertory, while preparing for the opening of Estancia High School’s new $42 million theater complex.
• Vincent Olivieri, head of sound design, prepared his score for LifeLines while assuming a new role as co-chair of the Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association.

Image: Bryan Reynolds in Damascus, Syria, presenting at the Syrian Academic Summit, Reforming Higher Education in Syria after Liberation, held at Damascus University.

Department of Music

• Eric Lindsay was named UC Irvine’s 2025 Lecturer of the Year, recognized for his exceptional contributions to undergraduate teaching. Read more.
• Mari Kimura, professor of music, was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal for her invention MUGIC (Music/User Gesture Interface Control), which enables performers to control music software through physical gestures and has been used to support artists with disabilities. Read more.
• David Brodbeck published a new monograph, Brahms Patriotic and Political (University of Rochester Press) and contributed chapters to Vienna: A Musical History (Cambridge University Press) and Bedřich Smetana and European Opera (Königshausen & Neumann).
• Professors Geoffrey Pope, Sarah Koo Freeman and Lorna Griffitt traveled to Ireland, presenting concerts and a lecture-recital at Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Their performances featured chamber works and programming by women composers while fostering international collaborations.

Image: (left to right) Harotune Bedelian, Lorna Griffitt, Geoffrey Pope, Nicole Grimes, Sarah Koo Freeman and Nina Scolnik as guests at Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Ireland.

Claire Trevor School of the Arts faculty are invited to share their updates. Please send news to Diana Kalaji at dkalaji@uci.edu to be included in future roundups. To learn more about news at UCI Arts, visit arts.uci.edu/news.