Three faculty members in the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts have received fellowships from the West Virginia Humanities Council for 2002.

Janet Snyder, assistant professor of art and coordinator of the art history program, received a fellowship for a study of the production of limestone sculpture in 12th century France.

Christopher Wilkinson, professor of music history, won a fellowship for his study of”The Swing Era in Black West Virginia.”

Mary Ferer, assistant professor of music history, earned a fellowship for her study titled”Music at the Renaissance Court of Charles V.”

West Virginia Humanities Council Fellowships are awarded to skilled humanities scholars, with advanced degrees in a humanities discipline, who are sponsored by nonprofit organizations. The research proposals must demonstrate that ethical, literary, historical, religious, philosophical or cultural perspectives will be brought to bear on the topic. The council stresses those disciplines that clarify the value and aesthetic concerns of human experience.

Snyder received a doctorate and a masters degree from Columbia University, a master of fine arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in theater design and a bachelors degree from Wichita State University in theater and speech. Her research interests include the 12th century in France, as well as clothing and textiles of the Middle Ages, Medieval art and architecture, and Native American art. She has recently studied 12th century French limestone tomb sculpture as part of the Limestone Sculpture Provenance Project.

Wilkinson specializes is the history of African-American music with particular attention to jazz as well as to the history of art music from a multicultural perspective. Currently, his research focuses on the reception of jazz in the African-American communities of West Virginia during the Swing Era. He received a bachelors degree in music from Hamilton College and masters and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University. In 2002, the University of California Press published his biographical study,”Jazz on the Road: Don Alberts Musical Life.”

Ferer received a doctorate in musicology from the University of Illinois, a masters degree in church music from the University of Colorado and a bachelors degree from Carleton College. Her publications include four volumes of the modern edition of Collected Works, with critical commentary of the motets of the 16th century composer Thomas Crecquillon. Her special interests include early music, sacred and choral repertories, world music and liturgical and cultural contexts of music.