Personal Mention

Richard Randall, assistant professor of music theory, and Richard Purcell, assistant professor of English, have been co-awarded a three-year Media Initiative Grant from the Center for the Arts in Society. This grant will support their project "Listening Spaces," which seeks to understand the overwhelming impact technology has had on our social and personal interactions with music. The three-year project will bring together departments and schools across CMU via workshops, symposia and special events.

Jendayi Frazer, distinguished service professor with appointments in the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Heinz College, wrote a blog post for Africa.com titled "The Nobel Prize and Liberia's Noble Rise." Frazer was the leading architect of U.S.-Africa policy over the last decade, most recently serving as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from August 2005 — January 2009 and previously as the U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Read her post at http://www.africa.com/blog/blog,the_nobel_prize_and_liberia8217s_noble_rise,413.html.

Robert Fallon, assistant professor of musicology, participated in London's "Exquisite Labyrinth: The Music of Pierre Boulez" festival, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. He delivered a paper titled "Self-Portraits of Boulez: Reflexivity in the Incises and Anthèmes Works" and participated in a roundtable discussion.

Mildred Miller Posvar, artist lecturer in voice, was the subject of an article in the Sunday, Oct. 16 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in honor of the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre's new contest: The Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, to take place later this month. The article chronicles her career at the Metropolitan Opera, time as the First Lady of the University of Pittsburgh, her founding of Opera Theatre and continuing dedication to teaching voice.

Bryan Koval, a housefellow and coordinator of Student Life, earned the Grady and Mary Roberts Graduate Student Writing Award at the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association conference on Sunday. Koval's paper was titled "Adult Learners: Challenging and Supporting Nontraditional Students."

Alumnus and longtime trustee Bob Charpie (S'48,'49,'50) died Oct. 13. Charpie joined the board as a term trustee in 1969, became a life trustee in 1975, served three years as chairman of the board from 1990-1993 and became an emeritus life trustee in 2001. He served on several advisory boards for the College of Engineering and was a member of the Tepper Business Board of Advisers. Donations in his memory can be made to The Charpie Scholars Program at CMU, 614 Warner Hall, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA  15213.

Emeritus Professor of English, author and activist David Demarest, longtime editor of the faculty and staff publication titled "Focus," died Oct. 15 at the age of 79. Demarest, who was part of the CMU faculty from 1964 until 1999, was a social historian who taught journalism, working-class literature and social geography. An event celebrating his life will be held at 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Braddock Carnegie Library, 419 Library Street, Braddock, Pa. 15104. Donations can be made to the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals or the Braddock Carnegie Library.