Newsletter Date: February 2013
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You will recall that Dennis
Beagen, who served the university for more than 45 years, stepped down from his administra ve roles last spring. This fall Dennis decided that it was me to re re and spend well ‐ deserved me with his wife, Charline, their family and pursuing golf and travel. Dennis was celebrated by both the
University and the CMTA family in December.
The University recognized
Dennis’ enormous contribu ons for nearly fi ve decades by awarding him
Emeritus Professor status.
The Department and the
University family then gathered several days later in the Sponberg Theatre to let Dennis know what he has meant to so many, for so long.
Speakers included
President Susan Mar n,
Ken Stevens, Ray Quiel,
Jane Olilla, Wendy Kivi and
Steve Mar n. A musical fl ourish was provided by theatre students who sang about the ‘many faces of
Dennis’ over the years.
Good wishes and gi s were presented. Notable among them was a stone birdhouse that John Charles constructed and a ‘Bright
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Idea’ box constructed by
Steve Mar n.
“Thank You” for all you’ve done seems hardly enough, Dennis.
But it’s the best we have. Best wishes from all who respect, admire
and love you.
“See   highlights   of   the          celebra on   courtesy   of   alumni   Dale   Leslie   and   Art
Vuolo,   Jr.,   on   Dale’s   web   site:    blip.tv/ watchmano hetracks
Best   wishes   and   thank   you   to   my    CMTA    colleagues…
With   the   start   of   the   new   year,
I   wanted   to   again   thank   all   of   you   for   your   support   and        kindness   in   my   transi on   to   a
"new"   career.
EMU,   and   in     par cular   CMTA,   has   been   a   huge   part   of   my   life.
I   will        always   treasure   the   wonderful   memories   working   with            students   and   colleagues   on   so   many   endeavors.
The   successes   we   enjoyed   were   certainly   due   to   dedicated   faculty   and   sta ff ,   as   well   as   our   amazing             students.
The   re rement   celebra ons   were   awesome!
The   cards,   gi s,   kind   remarks   and   warm   hugs   were   truly   special.
Char   and   I   will   be   forever   thankful   for   your   caring,   your   friendship,   and   all   you   have   meant   to   us.
Hope   to   see   you   soon.
You   were   all   the   best!!!
Cheers,   Dennis   &   Charline~
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What do you get when superla ve speakers come back to the home of their forensics experience? A love ‐ fest celebra on of what all that success back then means to
Dennis Beagen was recognized for
Life me Achievement in Forensics them today.
Five former championship members of the our
EMU Forensics Team returned home to EMU on
December 1st to be inducted into the Hall of
Fame. The fourth such Induc on in our long and storied history, this year’s event featured compe tors from a more recent me.
Current team director, Nick Romerhausen was the Master of Ceremonies
Judy Sturgis Hill led the audience in singing
Whether or not you ever par cipated in forensics, it would be impossible not to be moved by the stories of their experiences while at EMU and how they were changed forever by them. All successful in a wide variety of professional endeavors, the recipients each spoke about the power of the ac vity to change lives. More importantly, all spoke about the importance of rela onships, then and now. of the EMU Forensics Team Song
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Annalisa Esposito Bluhm, 2003 Na onal Champion in Informa ve Speaking Introduced by Ray Quiel
LaTonya Mason, 1997 Na onal Champion in Poetry
Interpreta on Introduced by Michael Tew
Chris Griesinger, 2007 Na onal Champion in A er
Dinner, Persuasion, Prose Interpreta on and I
Interstate Oratory Introduced by Ray Quiel
Nina Brennan, 2004 Na onal Champion in Duo
Interpreta on Introduced by Suzie Staley
Amber Neueschwander Price, 2000 Na onal Champion in A er Dinner Speaking Introduced by Ray Quiel
Jacob Hodgson, 2004 Na onal Champion in Prose
Interpreta on Introduced by Lee S lle & Michael Marion
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Upcoming Forensics Schedule
February
1 ‐ 3 Tower Invita onal
9 ‐ 10 MISL Novice Championship &
U of M/CMU Swing @U of M
22 ‐ 24 BGSU
March
8 ‐ 9 MISL State Tournament @
EMU
April
4 ‐ 9 AFA Championship @
Hutchinson CC, Kansas
13 Team leaves for NFA Prep
18 ‐ 21 NFA Championship @
Marshall University, WV
26 ‐ 28 Interstate Oratory
Championship @ LSU Shreveport, LA
Con nuing in the long and storied tradi on of excellence, this year’s team con nues to impress at tournaments across the country. And, recently, in Canada.
Team Director Nick
Romerhausen reports that with over 50 slots, we are ahead of quali fi ca on slots for the na onal championships in
April. With a balanced team that has not only senior leadership but novice energy, success has been frequent this year.
There have been signi fi cant fi nals quali fi ers in all tournaments and the team has done extremely well. The team has traveled with a full complement only a few mes and when they have done so, they have won. Tournament championships include
Bowling Green and the Fall MISL championship. O en the team takes a smaller number ‐‐ whoever can pack into a van ‐‐ and yet has done very well. This happened at both the Bradley Fall and Winter tournaments where the team took 5th place each me.
Looking far ahead into the future, Nick announced recently that EMU will host the 2014 NFA
Championship from April 18 ‐ 21. We hosted previously in 1995 and 1999. Past Team Director
Brendan Kelly is the director of the Na onal Tournament and Past Team Director Michael Tew will be working closely with Nick and Brendan to ensure an outstanding event.
We wish the team con nued success this winter and into the championships in April.
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While no di ff erent than most every fall semester of theatrical performances, re fl ec ng on the many shows and presenta ons makes one realize how busy and successful this area of our department is each year.
Scenes from T he   Merchant   of   Venice , directed by Lee S lle
Scenes from White   as   Snow,   Red   as   Blood:    The   Story   of   Snow   White
Wri en by Professor Emeritus Virginia Glasgow Koste and directed by Jenny Koppera
Actors in our Drama and Theatre For the
Young area took Patricia   Polacco’s   Union
City on the road and performed for over
3,500 K ‐ 5 students from October through
December. Based on the stories of
Michigan resident Patricia Polacco, CMTA alumni Charles S. Burr and Robert James wrote the stage adapta on which touched on the joy or reading, family, adventure, facing fears and overcoming bullying.
Campus outreach was frequent, helpful and fun for the members of AMP, who are in our Arts Manage ‐ ment Program. In addi on to face pain ng under the alumni tent at Homecoming, the members reached out to the campus by doing a presenta on bene fi ng local charity Growing Hope.
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For   more   informa on:    www.emich.edu/emutheatre
For   Tickets:    www.emu x.com
or   734 ‐ 487 ‐ 2282
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For   being   honored   by   the   Alumni   Associa on   as   one   of   seven   outstanding   faculty   members   at   the   22nd   Annual
Teaching   Excellence   Awards!
Thank   you   to   all   that   came   out   and   supported
John   in   this   very   special   honor!
Congratula ons   Melissa!
Melissa   Mantei   has   been   named   faculty   advisor   for   the   newly   formed    EMU   Rugby   Club!
Congratula ons   Don!
Don Ritzenhein has been elected to serve on the Board of
Directors of the Detroit Ins tute of Arts. He will be one of two people represen ng Macomb County as part of the recent
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Brendan Kelly, former EMU Forensics Assistant Team Director, has been teaching at the University of West Florida for the last eight years.
He is now the Director of the School of Fine, Performing and
Communica on Arts at UWF. Brendan reports that he enjoys the “many interes ng challenges and opportuni es.” In addi on to his departmental leadership, he is the director of the UWF Speech and De ‐ bate program. He teaches courses in poli cal communica on, speech communica on, communica on ethics and rhetoric. Brendan is also the
Chair of the Argumenta on and Forensics Division of the Na onal Communica on
Associa on and is the Na onal Tournament Director for the Na onal Forensics
Associa on. Brendan will be a cri cal person in assis ng us to be successful in hos ng the 2014 NFA Na onal Championship in April of next year. You might remember reading about Brendan in past issues of our CMTA Alumni Chapter newsle er as he has been inducted into the EMU Forensics Hall of Fame and was the recipient of an Outstanding Young Alumnus award from the EMU Alumni
Associa on.
Michael Page completed his BS in theatre arts and English literature at EMU in 2002, and went on to earn an MFA in theatre from Ohio Univer ‐ sity in 2006. Since then he has worked as the general manager on both commercial and not ‐ for ‐ pro fi t produc ons in NYC and regionally.
For the past fi ve years Michael has been the managing director/general manager at NYC’s Barrow Street Theatre where he managed the 2012 Dra ‐ ma Desk Award winning produc on of Nina Raine's Tribes ; David Cromer's landmark produc on of Our   Town ; Nilaja Sun's No   Child ... (also at the Edinburgh
Fes val Fringe, Dublin Interna onal Theatre Fes val); and Craig Wright's Mistakes
Were   Made, featuring Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon. Prior to that he served as the marke ng director for Abingdon Theatre Company and Drama Desk
Award winning Pearl Theatre Company.
Michael is now the general manager of the Tony Award ‐ winning Vineyard Theatre, home of Broadway's Avenue   Q and Sco sboro   Boys . He just recently wrapped on the world premiere of Douglas McGrath's   Checkers   with Anthony LaPaglia and
Kathryn Erbe. Upcoming projects include the New York premiere of The   North
Pool,   by Pulitzer Prize fi nalist Rajiv Joseph ( Broadway's   Bengal   Tiger   at   the   Baghdad
Zoo ) beginning in February and Somewhere   Fun,   by Jenny Schwartz, in May.
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Dale R. Leslie graduated from EMU in 1970. His life ‐ long dream was to become a radio/TV broadcaster, his area of study in our department.
His family business in Ann Arbor ul mately led him in a di ff erent direc on. His journey included an MA at Michigan and a M.Ed. at Ohio
University. Dale taught for many years, including at the University of
Alaska as well as here at EMU. He also worked with the EMU legends
John Fountain and Jim Streeter, both in Informa on Services and Sports
Informa on. Dale’s fondest memories of our department involve his rela onships with his professors, notably Dennis Beagen and Harry Bowen. Dale o en comes to EMU/CMTA events, as was the case this past December when he arranged for another of our EMU alums, Arthur Vuolo, Jr., ’70, to tape the celebra on of Dennis Beagen’s re rement. You can access that video at blip.tv/ watchmano hetracks .
Joe Misiewicz was a student and teaching assistant with our department back in the 1960s ‐ 1970s. A er earning his BA in ’68 and MA in ’70 at EMU,
Joe went down the road a bit, earning his PhD at Michigan. Joe made his career in broadcas ng as a prac oner, teacher, and department head. Joe spent 19 years teaching at four colleges, including EMU, and 22 years at Ball
State. He re red from Ball State last year but con nues to be involved with public broadcas ng, having been elected to the presidency of the Indiana
Broadcasters Associa on in July, 2012. Joe served EMU, as well, by spend ‐ ing six years on the EMU Alumni Associa on Board of Directors. During that me
Joe was the chairman of the Chapters Commi ee, helping dedicated alumni create chapters to support their interests and the interests of EMU.
Sco Ʃ Reynolds , ’95, is now a producer and writer on the TV show
Dexter.
Last year he wrote two episodes and is now preparing for his eighth season, which begins June 30. He is also wri ng the Dexter   web series this year. You can view episodes at h p://www.sho.com/ sho/dexter/video/webisodes . Beginning this past September, Sco is hos ng the o ffi cial Dexter   podcast where he is interviewing the ac ‐ tors, editors, writers and composers of the show. He says it’s a lot of fun. His work has gained a en on, as well, as he has been nominat ‐ ed by both the WGA and the PGA for best web series for his Dexter
Early   Cuts:    All   in   the   Family.
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Jim and Karen Schaefer have con nued to be be quite busy.
They are in their 16th year of producing Riprap:    The   Academic
Book   Television   Program.
Recent guests have included EMU’s
Randal Baier, sociologist Arlie Hochschild from the University of
California and U of M business professor Marina Whitman. Jim also con nues to teach college speech and is nearing comple on of his PhD in Higher Educa on Administra on.
Karen has been promoted to Inves gator Liaison for the Michigan Ins tute for Clinical and Health Research at U of M.
Richard Thiede is our most senior CMTA Alumni Chapter member. He graduated from EMU in 1961, proceeded to the
University of Illinois for his M.A. in 1963 and earned his PhD in
1977 from the University of Missouri. Richard has taught speech and English full me at the high school and college lev ‐ el for 30 years and has taught part me for over 22 years for nine ins tu ons as well. At 76, he is currently teaching public speaking and English at Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio.
Richard performed in the fi rst theatrical produc on   ever presented in the Quirk
Theatre.
Whether you were an EMU Eagle or Huron, please drop us a line and let us know what you are doing today! Your CMTA friends and instructors would love to know!
Send   your   update   to:    cmta_alumni@emich.edu
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Mark Gallup, an alumnus and long ‐ me member of the CMTA instruc onal family, passed away suddenly on December 11, 2012.
Mark came to our department later in life a er a successful career in retail store management.
Long ‐ me Detroiters will remember Crowley’s
Department Store, where Mark was a store manager. Mark earned his MA in
Communica on with us and then stayed on as a full me lecturer for many years. He planned to stay with us many more ‐‐ even buying a house right o ff campus ‐‐ un l Lansing Community College o ff ered him a faculty teaching posi on which later turned into a supervisory one, as well. He con nued to live here and teach part me with us, though, because he loved our department and our university students. Mark taught many classes, including
Listening, Non ‐ Verbal, Communica on Theory, Organiza onal
Communica on and Interviewing. He was a though ul, kind man with a sly grin which was his p ‐ o ff that his quick wit was about to go to work. Mark assisted the department and our students in quiet but important ways, always willing to help others. Mark leaves behind his wife Maria and their dog.
Mark died much too young but has le a long shadow of excellence and caring on this department and our students.
He is greatly, greatly missed!
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