Today at WOU

The Mario and Alma Pastega Awards of Excellence were given in June 2021, but because of timing issues, three faculty profiles were not included in the Commencement program. They are offered here instead and on the Pastega Award web page. —- The Award for Excellence in Service recognizes faculty accomplishment in service, honoring work that engages [more…]

The Mario and Alma Pastega Awards of Excellence were given in June 2021, but because of timing issues, three faculty profiles were not included in the Commencement program. They are offered here instead and on the Pastega Award web page. —- The Mario and Alma Pastega Award for Excellence in Teaching honors a full-time faculty member [more…]

The Mario and Alma Pastega Awards of Excellence were given in June 2021, but because of timing issues, three faculty profiles were not included in the Commencement program. They are offered here instead and on the Pastega Award web page. —- The Mario and Alma Pastega Award for Excellence in Scholarship honors a full-time faculty member [more…]

The above photograph is of Western Oregon University Chamber Singers.  Western Oregon University is home to many talented musicians. With 14 different ensembles, WOU is bursting with musical performers from many different backgrounds, all showcasing their unique talents. Recently, two of these ensembles were awarded as finalists in prestigious categories: Western Oregon University Chamber Singers [more…]

The time-jumping play The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeleine George will come to Western Oregon University’s Black Box Studio stage Feb. 8-10. The piece, which was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, will be directed by student Matthew Miller ’18. The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence takes a [more…]

The Incidental Fees Committee does a large variety of things around campus including bringing in a guest artist once a year. This year they have brought in the magnificent Stephanie Morin-Robert to perform her show Blindside. Due to a type cancer called retinoblastoma, she lost her left eye when she was only two years of [more…]

The Apple Box Children’s Theater production of Arabian Nights makes its debut tonight in the amphitheater near Rice Auditorium, when more than local 40 children will bring to life playwright Maren Bradley Anderson’s magical vision. Anderson, an adjunct writing and English instructor at Western Oregon University, based the play on the classic tale One Thousand [more…]

The Western Oregon University Theatre’s final production of the academic year will be This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, and although the play by Finegan Kruckemeyer is often described as being “fairy tale-like,” guest director Jen Rowe is quick to indicate her preference for “fable.” “I try not to go down [more…]

On March 3, Western Oregon University welcomed about 2,200 students, school staff and chaperones for the 27th annual César E. Chávez Leadership Conference (CECLC), an all-day event meant to inspire Hispanic students to seek leadership roles. The day’s events started with a welcome and keynote address in the New P.E. building, where the bleachers overflowed [more…]

Plenty of theatrical works involve a play within a play, but “Shakespeare in Hollywood” takes the concept to a new, hilarious level. Not only is there a movie within a play, but there also are characters from a Shakespearean comedy thrust into roles in a 1930s film. Confused? Don’t worry, said director Ted deChatelet. Just [more…]

Showing two nights this upcoming week, the Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project is sure to be a hit in the Smith’s Fine Art Series. The Lomax Project was inspired by Alan Lomax, who documented the intimate history of remote places of the U.S., Caribbean, Europe, and North Africa. By recording the voices of people around diverse [more…]

Director Kent Neely describes All in the Timing simply as a “ridiculous comedy.” The title, which comprises six short plays, doesn’t lean toward social commentary, parody or satire. It’s just pure fun with a heavy focus on wordplay, absurdity and the examination of personal relationships, all set in a comedy club-type atmosphere. “The interactions and [more…]

If you are finding it hard to relax as the end of the term approaches and need an evening of escape, no worries WOU’s Music Department understands. Here are the free upcoming concerts from now until the end of the term to help you unwind. Nov. 14 – 7:30 p.m. – Smith Music Hall 121 [more…]

On November 10, the WOU Theatre Department will be putting on Machinal, a play written by Sophie Treadwell and directed by theater professor Michael Phillips. This play seems like a hollowing echo of the struggle of women through the decades to be more than just a household necessity and instead their own person. The story of Machinal is [more…]

The Cannon Gallery of Art is opening its second exhibition of the year on Wednesday. The exhibition is called New Ventures: Student Design Exhibition and was originally created for the 2014 Portland AIGA Design Educators Conference. This will be the second showing of these pieces that were compiled from students all over Oregon and parts [more…]

This week the Cannon Gallery of Art in Campbell hall will be opening its first exhibition of the year titled “Whomever Brought Me Here is Going to Have to Take me Home.” This exhibition is full of paintings from Tim Timmerman who has been an artist starting from a very young age. Timmerman continued his art [more…]

Staying around Monmouth this summer with nothing to do? Don’t worry, Western Oregon University is having a Summer Heatwave Concert Series. This open to all ages concert series is sponsored by Student Leadership and Activities. It starts this week and runs every Wednesday until the end of July. The concerts run from noon until the party [more…]

The sounds of the host drums boomed off the walls and reverberated in the hearts of all who were present at this year’s Powwow. The Powwow is put on by Multicultural Student Union (MSU) and includes so much more than just the campus community. The Powwow is free and open to all ages and walks [more…]

On Friday, April 8, 2016, jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek will be performing with the American Metropole Orchestra at 7:30 pm in Rice Auditorium. The American Metropole Orchestra is a professional group of local musicians that includes WOU faculty and students. The concert will feature music from Gazarek’s album Blossom and Bee, as well as music [more…]

The film studio Body in the Window Seat will be presenting their feature film “Misfortune County” Friday January 29 at 6:15 pm in Hamersly Library, room 107. The film studio is based out of Central Oregon, and was co-founded by WOU students Nathaniel Dunaway, Burke De Boer and Darien Campo. Filmed in Oregon, Misfortune County is [more…]

“What does it all mean?” Each November, hundreds of thousands of crazy people (325,000 in 2014) get together online to participate in NaNoWriMo to try to write 50,000 words of the first draft of a novel in 30 days. That’s 1,667 words a day for those who are wondering. I have completed the 50K in 30 days challenge [more…]

On November 12 at 7:30 p.m., Western Oregon University’s Theatre and Dance Department’s fall production Book of Days, written by Lanford Wilson and directed by David Janoviak, opens at Rice Auditorium. When murder roars through a small Missouri town, Ruth Hoch begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small town jealousies, religion, greed and [more…]

Interested in watching a concert? Want to engage in a community outreach program? Attend a picnic? Enjoy music and dance? The Smith Fine Arts Series provides all of that and more to the Monmouth community. The Smith Fine Arts Series brings world-class entertainment to Western Oregon University each year. Currently celebrating its 39th season, the [more…]

For the music history final he gave in December, Dr. Charles Mueller entertained his students by perching a furry, red and green octopus on the table in front of them. The octopus, Mueller explained, was given to him by a colleague while he was living in Florida and volunteering at an aquarium in Tampa. He [more…]

Greg Poulin‘s office is home to both his profession and his hobby. Hanging on the walls and collected on the floor is an eclectic mix of paintings, some of them created for his own diversion and others as examples for his classes. From the model of a figure painting to the classic portrait of a [more…]

Janeanne Rockwell-Kincanon, public services librarian at Western Oregon University, has been a singer all her life, but she purposefully chose not to make music her career. Singing with the Willamette Master Chorus when her day at the library is finished allows her to pursue her hobby seriously, but not so seriously that it destroys her [more…]

Dr. Gavin Keulks is the director of the Honors Program and a professor of English literature at Western Oregon University. He brings a great deal of enthusiasm to his job, and while he could talk indefinitely about the Honors Program, the classes, and the activities, what he loves most is working with the students. Their [more…]

MONMOUTH — Jenni Bowker tried to stay true to herself as she choreographed, “Where the Wind Goes,” to be performed at Western Oregon University’s Spring Dance concert. The annual concert opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday at Rice Auditorium. This is Bowker’s second time choreographing a piece for the show — something [more…]

MONMOUTH — Singer-songwriter Jose James has always been on the quest for new musical horizons, constantly evolving and blurring the lines between genres in the process. James keeps his trademark soulful baritone at the forefront and adeptly weaves elements of indie rock, folk, funk, blues, hip hop and R&B into an experience journeying from desire [more…]

MONMOUTH — The master of the Hammond B-3 organ is coming to Monmouth. Dr. Lonnie Smith will let his fingers and feet do the talking when he and the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio perform Friday night at Rice Auditorium as part of the Western Oregon University Smith Fine Arts Series. Smith, 72, is an unparalleled [more…]

MONMOUTH — The road to love can be fast and simple, or it can be long and rocky. For Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley, love clicks in place as easily as puzzle pieces. But for Jane’s sister, Elizabeth, and Mr. Bingley’s friend, Mr. Darcy, things of the heart are more complicated. Jane, Elizabeth and their [more…]

MONMOUTH — Students at Western Oregon University have designed new logos for the Monmouth-Independence-WOU area, including creating some catchy mottos. “Combined efforts, shared triumphs,” was one student’s idea of what the three communities could use to market themselves as one unit. “Heart of the Willamette Valley,” was another. About 20 different students in Jen Bracy’s [more…]

The diverse nature of conflict and rebellion is on display at two of Western Oregon University’s Hamersly Library art exhibit spaces for several weeks. The Boycott exhibit is housed in the second floor and the Great War display is on the third floor of the building. Jerrie Lee Parpart, the library’s archives and exhibits coordinator, [more…]

“Work & More Work: Robert² / Fragments & Paper,” showcasing the mixed-media sculptures, drawings and installations of Robert Tomlinson and Robert Schlegel, is on exhibit through Feb. 6 at the Dan and Gail Cannon Gallery of Art at Western Oregon University, 345 N Monmouth Ave., Monmouth. The artists will speak about their work Friday, Jan. [more…]

When David Balakrishnan was 13, he saw a picture that changed his life. The photo showed Jerry Goodman of the jazz-rock band The Flock playing violin. Goodman’s hair dangled down his back past his waistline. It was the ’60s. Balakrishnan had been playing classical violin for four years. Goodman was playing music from India on [more…]

Two art exhibits will open Jan. 5 at Western Oregon University’s Hamersly Library, 345 N. Monmouth Ave., Monmouth. There will be a reception from 4:30-6 p.m. Jan. 14. “Reverberations of the Great War” is a traveling exhibit of posters and poetry presented by SirS, Inc. and the Library of Congress. It will be on exhibit [more…]

MONMOUTH — He’s the last guy you’d want on your side in a bar fight, but the first you’d call to make sure no one got hurt on stage. “I can make it look like I’m totally kicking your (butt), but it’ll be completely safe,” said Ted deChatelet, adjunct professor of theater at Western Oregon [more…]

MONMOUTH — Legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint visits Monmouth Saturday night for a return performance as part of the Western Oregon University Smith Fine Arts Series. Toussaint, who appeared in Monmouth in June 2011 during the SFAS, will be joined onstage this time by the 35-piece Western Hemisphere Orchestra for the 7:30 p.m. concert [more…]

MONMOUTH — JennyLynn Dutrich moves around the set of “Death by Design” like she owns the stage. One would never guess she is completely blind in her left eye. “I can’t see hardly anything,” she said. “In my right eye, I can see pretty good, but not enough to legally drive, darn it!” Dutrich, 40, [more…]

MONMOUTH — What do you get when you mix eccentrics with a conservative politician, a liberal and a sleuthing Irish maid? “Death by Design,” a witty comedy whodunit by Rob Urbinati that takes audience members through two acts of mystery madness — a little heavier on the madness — as an English country house fills [more…]

Peter Sears, Oregon’s seventh poet laureate, will read at Western Oregon University at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Hamersly Library 107, Western Oregon University, 345 Monmouth Ave. N, Monmouth. He will be joined by special guest Dawn Diez Willis. One of Oregon’s most active poets, educators and literary advocates, Sears founded the Oregon Literary Coalition, [more…]

MONMOUTH — This year’s Edgar H. Smith Fine Arts Series promises another season of world-class performances in Monmouth at Western Oregon University. “Judging from the phone calls I have received, folks are very excited about our season,” said Sandy Newland, program manager. “We have patrons coming all the way from Newport, Corvallis, Albany, McMinnville, Portland, [more…]

INDEPENDENCE — In the Central High School gym, students move together — well, nearly altogether — on command. One, two, three. They are following directions from a sixth-generation Chinese martial arts Shun- style master, Hu Fang. “I was born in a Wushu family,” Fang, 34, said. “I am sixth generation of the family style. Our [more…]

MONMOUTH — Rifts drift through the halls. Every nook and cranny is filled with musicians, young and old, jamming together, practicing, learning from each other. Campers are sleep deprived, living, breathing music all day, every day during the annual Mel Brown Jazz Camp at Western Oregon University. During vocalist warmups on Thursday morning, teacher Sherry [more…]

Enjoy a fly-on-the-wall peek into the lives of four developmentally disabled men and their social worker in Western Oregon’s summer production, “The Boys Next Door.” “It’s a light, fluffy play despite the serious topic,” said director David Janoviak with the WOU Department of Theatre and Dance. “It will be a dang fun night at the [more…]

Polk-County Itemizer-Observer Staff Report June 3, 2014   MONMOUTH — Acclaimed American trumpet player Dave Douglas will perform Saturday at Western Oregon University as the 2013-14 Smith Fine Arts Series season draws to a close. Douglas, a prolific trumpeter, composer and music educator from New York City, will perform with the Western Hemisphere Orchestra during [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Emily Mentzer March 27, 2014   MONMOUTH — Tia Laulusa, 22, is too young to be the mother of a 9-year-old boy with attention deficit disorder, but she plays one in “Distracted,” the spring theater production at Western Oregon University. The play, written by American playwright Lisa Loomer, explores not only [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Emily Mentzer May 06, 2014   MONMOUTH — Students move around the stage during a rehearsal of Rendezvous, choreographed by Professor Deborah Jones. “They’re always in search of a dance,” she said, as dancers couldn’t stand still, waiting for the light and sound crew to catch up. The dance is one [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer April 2, 2014   MONMOUTH — Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling brings his jazz sounds to Rice Auditorium on the Western Oregon University campus for a concert Saturday at 7:30 p.m. His performance is part of the 2013-14 WOU Smith Fine Arts Series. Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists, notes [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer Staff Report March 4th, 2014 MONMOUTH — The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! But this invasion should prove to be music to your ears. Founder and music director Misha Rachlevsky brings some of Russian’s finest young string players to Monmouth this weekend, as the Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin performs [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Emily Mentzer March 4th, 2014   MONMOUTH — Adam Fyffe walked around a room at MaMere’s Bed and Breakfast looking at submissions for Ash Creek Arts Center’s new logo. The Western Oregon University senior in visual communications design was a student in Jen Bracy’s graphic design: form and communication course. He [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Emily Mentzer February 25th, 2014   MONMOUTH — Western Oregon University’s department of theater and dance will present “Spring Awakening,” a rock musical, opening Friday at 7:30 p.m. The show is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended — the show contains adult content. “It touches on ideas [more…]

Statesman Journal By Barbara Curtin February 1st, 2014   Waiting for one’s big break can mean years of waiting tables, say some of the young performers who have left the Mid-Valley to seek fame. Western Oregon University alums Sam Benedict (2011) and Josiah Bania (2009) are trying to build their acting careers in New York [more…]

Statesman Journal By Carlee Wright January 23rd, 2014   There is an energy that resonates in the distinct sound of the fiddle; and tomorrow, you can experience an evening of spirited performances with notable musicians Andrea Beaton and Kevin Burke during Fiddler’s Night at Western Oregon University’s Rice Auditorium. Beaton, a fiddler, composer and step [more…]

Statesman Journal By Carlee Wright January 9th, 2013   Five years ago, the California Honeydrops got their start in the subway stations of Oakland where they would set out a tip jar and play for people. As tribute to their street roots, they call their style of music “Street Corner Soul,” and they bring their [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Emily Mentzer MONMOUTH — Equipment for a drumline sat at Western Oregon University unused for years until Ben Prothero, percussion major, decided to dust it off last year. “That’s my specialty, drumline,” he said. He and fellow student Ryan Chapman recruited about half a dozen others to get started. Now the [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Aaron Newton MONMOUTH — When Western Oregon University debuts the first production of fall term, “The Government Inspector,” Thursday at Rice Auditorium, it may seem surprising that the play was written almost 200 years ago. The satirical comedy, published by Nikolai Gogol in 1836, focuses on a small Russian town being [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer By Aaron Newton October 1st, 2013 MONMOUTH — The 2013-14 Western Oregon University Smith Fine Arts Series is a veritable who’s who in the world of acclaimed and celebrated musicians. Featuring the world-renowned Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin, Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, esteemed Celtic fiddler Kevin Burke and venerated jazz [more…]

    Statesman Journal  By Barbara Curtin May 4th, 2013   MONMOUTH — When the lights go out, a new world opens for Rainbow Dance Theatre. Neon-traced owls flutter and seem to fly in the blackness of Rice Auditorium. Three serpents glide by, cobralike hoods flaring. Dancers vanish, reappear or change character in the blink of [more…]

Best Of Quarterflash, 1997 (Craig Allen photo) New Jersey 101.5  By Craig Allen April 20th, 2013 Quarterflash is a husband and wife band, from Portland Oregon, that formed in the late 1970′s. Rindy and Marv Ross first performed together in the 1970′s at Western Oregon University where they fell in love and got married. While [more…]

  Grammy award-winning saxophonist Joe Lavano will perform with the American Metropole Orchestra Saturday night as part of WOU’s Fine Arts Series. // Photo courtesy of JoeLavano.com Statesman Journal By Kurt Holland April 10, 2013 MONMOUTH — One of the world’s premiere tenor saxophone players will pay a visit to Monmouth this weekend as part [more…]

Statesman Journal Barbara Curtin Nearly a year to the day since they arrived from Iran, two young artists are opening their first show at Western Oregon University. Sahar Fattahi, 30, and her husband, Ahmad Rafiei, 34, won two of the 50,000 “diversity visas” that the state department grants yearly to applicants from countries that aren’t [more…]

Western Oregon University’s Hamersly Library is featuring ‘Alumni Art: Remembering Western’ as its Winter 2013 exhibit. / JUSTIN MUCH / Statesman Journal The Statesman Journal By Geoff Parks A diverse group of artists representing several decades of Western Oregon University graduating classes returned to the campus last week to reflect on, and revel in, their [more…]

Western Oregon University music professor Kevin Helppie gives some direction to the cast of “animals” at a rehearsal of “Noye’s Fludde” in Salem on Jan. 5. // Photos by Pete Strong Polk County Itemizer-Observer Tuning violins, cellos and a piano create an ominous cloud of sound as Kevin Helppie steps onto the podium at Our [more…]

Polk County Itemizer-Observer Craig Coleman If variety is the spice of life, the schedule for the 2012-13 Smith Fine Arts Series indicates there won’t be a hotter place to be in the mid-Willamette Valley than Western Oregon University’s Rice Auditorium as far as performing arts go. Need an example? Vagabond Opera, a Portland-based ensemble, will [more…]

By David Stabler The Oregonian Kevin Walczyk, professor of music at Western Oregon University, has won the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize. The competition, organized by the University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts, promotes composers and their music. The international award comes with $25,000 and presents public performances and  recordings. Walczyk was [more…]