Randall Reid-Smith, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, will be the guest speaker for West Virginia Universitys College of Creative Arts graduation convocation at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (May 12) in the Creative Arts Centers Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.
Graduates and their families and guests are invited as well as the general public.
A native of Barboursville, Reid-Smith is also an internationally-renowned tenor who has enjoyed a thriving career in opera and as a concert soloist and recitalist.
For more than a decade he has performed leading roles in Europe at German State theaters, including Aachen, Augsburg, Dresden, the Berlin Metropol and the Teatro Arriago in Bilbao, Spain.
He has also received many honors in the United States, including four Metropolitan Opera auditions at the district and regional levels. In 1999, he earned recognition for his Kennedy Center debut, singing the tenor solos in Wolfgang Amadeus MozartsRequiem Mass in D minorwith the National Choral Society of Washington. He has also performed in Italy, Switzerland and France.
Reid-Smith earned a bachelors degree from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and a masters from the Indiana University School of Music.
During the College of Creative Arts convocation, approximately 125 graduates will be individually recognized, including those who completed their requirements in August or December 2006.
Alison Helm, interim chair of the Division of Art, David Bess, chair of the Division of Music, and William Winsor, interim chair of the Division of Theatre and Dance, will recognize each of the degree candidates by name. Graduates will receive congratulations from Dean Bernie Schultz.
There will also be several special presentations, including awards to outstanding students in the Divisions of Art, Music and Theatre and Dance. Outstanding graduating senior awards for the three divisions are Skylar Freeman, art; Joseph Andria, music; and Katherine Charonko, theatre and dance.
In addition, the College of Creative Arts Outstanding Graduating Senior for 2006-2007 will be announced by Dean Bernie Schultz during the Convocation ceremony.
Doors to the Creative Arts Center open at 7 p.m. Tickets are not required for admission and seating is open except where reserved for degree candidates. The academic procession begins sharply at 7:30 p.m.
Following the ceremony, there will be a reception in the lobby of the Creative Arts Center for the graduates, their families, friends and College faculty and staff. The Mesaros Galleries, featuring exhibitions by seniors graduating with a bachelor of fine arts degree in art, will also be open before and after the convocation ceremony.
For more information, contact the College of Creative Arts at 304-293-4841, ext. 3109.
-WVU-