College of Fine and Applied Arts

Design by Kern Maass

Work by Appalachian State furniture design professor Kern Maass and Appalachian State students will be featured April 4-25 in a show titled “Art in Furniture Design” at the Caldwell Arts Council in Lenoir.

The show presents both the art of the designer who creates for mass production as well as the art of the craftsperson who may take a totally whimsical or unconventional tack toward design. Often, unusual, unique, or phenomenal art in furniture design blurs the distinction between furniture and sculpture. This latter arena is where designers make a name for themselves and may find their work used as inspiration for others.

At Appalachian State University, Furniture Design Concentration is a four year degree program developed to prepare graduates for the contract and residential furniture industry. The intense curriculum delivers a hands-on approach to high level creative problem solving, allowing students to become well versed in design methodology, history, materials, processes, computer aided design and solid modeling.

Maass heads this Industrial Design program at Appalachian. In 2001, Maass Design was founded to design furniture and table-top accessories. Maass has taught at Binghamton University and the Worcester Center for Crafts. His work has been featured in shows and exhibitions throughout the country, including SOFA Chicago, Fine Furnishings Providence and the American Craft Museum’s Horizon Award. In addition to his own work, Maass brings the work of students pursuing the degree of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design.

The public is invited to meet the artists at the free opening reception on April 4 from 5-7:30 p.m. The Caldwell Arts Council is located at 601 College Avenue in Lenoir with normal operating hours Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 828-754- 2486.

Marianne Adams has been named chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Appalachian State University, effective July 1, 2008. Professor and coordinator of the dance program, Adams has served as interim chair since July 1, 2007.

“Marianne has done a tremendous job as interim chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance,” said Dr. Glenda Treadaway, dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, which houses the department. “Her experience, leadership and dedication to the faculty and students are vital assets to the department.”

Adams, also a co-director of the Appalachian Dance Ensemble, holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science from Appalachian. She specializes in modern dance technique, dance composition and improvisation, somatics, pilates, gyrokinesis, expressive arts and choreography. Adams began teaching at Appalachian as a graduate assistant in 1982.

“We look forward to the continued leadership, teamwork and enthusiasm shown by Ms. Adams during her term as interim chair,” said Dr. Stan Aeschleman, provost and executive vice chancellor at Appalachian. “The faculty has made an excellent choice in leadership for the department’s future.”

Theatre and Dance provides experiences that prepare students for teaching careers, graduate school or professional internships and professional or recreational careers. The program offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in dance studies, theatre generalist, design/technology or theatre performance and a Bachelor of Science degree in theatre education, elementary education or licensure only.

The departmental chair provides academic, artistic and administrative leadership and vision to the programs within the department. A search committee composed of faculty from the department made the selection.

“I am happy to serve as the department chair for Theatre and Dance in this exciting time for the university,” said Adams. “I enjoy challenges, and I look forward to ‘dancing with the department’ as we shape a new vision for our future.”

For more information about the Department of Theatre and Dance at Appalachian, visit www.theatre.appstate.edu.

Dr. Wanda Stutts of Mooresville, associate professor of nursing, has been named chair of the Department of Nursing at Appalachian State University. She has served as the department’s interim chair since May 2007.

“As interim chair of the Department of Nursing, Dr. Stutts has provided excellent leadership and continuity as the program works towards accreditation,” said Dr. Glenda Treadaway, interim dean for the College of Fine and Applied Arts which houses the Department of Nursing. “With her background and previous experience with the accreditation process, she will be a wonderful leader as the program moves forward.”

Dr. Stutts holds a Ph.D. in nursing with a focus on health promotion from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Science in nursing – adult health nursing with role development in education and Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received a diploma from Davis Hospital School of Nursing.

“The university is pleased to have Dr. Stutts serve as chair of the nursing department,” said Dr. Stan Aeschleman, provost and executive vice chancellor at Appalachian. “She brings excellent experience and leadership to this department and to the university.”

The faculty members in the Department of Nursing made the selection of the chairperson.

“I am honored to have been selected by the nursing faculty and administration at Appalachian as the department chair for nursing and am grateful for the trust that they have placed in me,” stated Stutts. “The Department of Nursing is committed to providing a high quality program to our students. In addition, we have an amazing opportunity to establish nursing programs that will help to alleviate the shortage of nurses and nurse educators in the region.”

The RN to BSN degree at Appalachian is designed for the individual who has earned an associate degree in nursing (ADN), or graduated from a hospital diploma program, and holds a current and active registered nurse (RN) license in NC or a compact state. Classes are held in Boone, Hickory and Morganton.

For more information about the Department of Nursing at Appalachian, visit www.nursing.appstate.edu or call (828) 262-8039.

Appalachian State University’s Board of Trustees have approved naming the WASU-FM radio broadcast studio for alumnus Wayne Sumner of Boone.

The Wayne L. Sumner Radio Studio will be located on the first floor of the Department of Communication’s George G. Beasley Broadcasting Complex, projected to open in 2010 at the corner of Rivers and Depot streets.

Sumner is president of Jackson Sumner & Associates, an excess and specialty lines managing general agent in Boone. He is a 1975 graduate of the university’s Walker College of Business.

“Wayne has been a steadfast friend of Appalachian since his days as a college student here,” said Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock. “Together, Karen and Wayne Sumner have truly made a difference for Appalachian through their leadership and financial support. Their involvement and support for the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center and the athletics programs have touched the lives of countless students. When you consider his love for broadcasting and his past work in television and commercial radio, I can’t think of a more fitting honor than to name what will be a state-of-the-art facility in his honor.”

Although a business graduate, Sumner has a long history in radio.

“My interest in broadcasting goes back to my childhood,” said Sumner. “When I was only about three years old, despite a severe speech impediment, I would walk around with a 50-foot-long extension cord and pretend I was a radio announcer, even though no one could understand a word I said.”

After years of speech therapy and experimental surgery at Duke University Hospital, Sumner started in broadcasting as a disc jockey at the age of 15 in his hometown of Wallace. He then worked in television and radio in Wilmington and at WATA radio station in Boone. As a student at Appalachian, he was a charter member of WASU and the fourth person on the air when the station began broadcasting in 1972.

“Over the years, radio has remained a passion of mine, and my business degree from ASU helped me to fulfill a dream of owning my own radio station when I bought WBAG in Burlington in 1993,” Sumner explained.

The radio complex at Appalachian will contain offices for student workers and the station manager, two production suites and a waiting area. It will have a classroom wired for audio/video production, a computer lab and four audio labs. It also will be the home of the Kellar Radio Farm System Institute, a 10-day program for training and recruiting future radio broadcasters.

“I got very excited when I learned about the proposed new broadcasting complex at ASU,” said Sumner. “My wife, Karen, and I could envision the radio station broadcast studio on the first floor with a large window making WASU a very visible part of the community, and decided we wanted to help make it happen.”

Sumner hopes that his experience and love of broadcasting will leave a legacy for many more Appalachian students.

“My broadcasting experience has been invaluable to me in many ways,” Sumner explained. “Overcoming my speech impediment and being on the air gave me the confidence that I could do anything that I am passionate about and I worked hard enough at it, and I have been guided by this philosophy throughout my business career. Broadcasting clearly made a difference in my life, and my hope is that the opportunities to be involved in broadcasting through ASU’s new broadcasting complex will also make a positive difference in the lives of the students.”

For more information about the Beasley Broadcasting Complex, visit www.asucom.appstate.edu.

Communication student Ben Park won the grand prize in the “Video Magazine Program” category at the National Broadcasting Societies’ National Convention March 11-16 in Anaheim, CA.

His video: “Visual Arts In Boone” was produced in Kevin Balling’s Video 1 class. This video, along with many others, will be part of a new website that will live in the next few weeks: www.mediashowcase.appstate.edu.