The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Page: 2 of 8
eight pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
2 September 17, 2003
News
The Rambler
Vermillion and Morehouse return to Wesleyan as
professors for the theater and music departments
Alex Vorse
STAFF WRITER
For the past two years, Wesleyan's theater stu-
dents went without a professor who could teach
technical classes. Texas Wesleyan graduate Brian
Stevenson worked as staff technical director, but
he could not teach in class because he did not have
faculty status. Students with emphasis in tech
needed a qualified teacher.
Meanwhile — in the backwater town of
Monroe, La. — a veteran technical master, Judd
Vermillion, was itching to get back to Texas.
Vermillion grew up in Houston and lived all
over the state. After earning a bachelor of arts in
theater from the University of Texas of the
Permian Basin in Odessa, Vermillion spent years
working community and local professional theater.
After raising a family — with wife Louise, daugh-
ter Jessi, and stepson Nick Frame — Vermillion
returned to school and earned a master's degree in
fine arts from Texas Tech.
He was teaching at the University of
Louisiana in Monroe when a friend told him about
Texas Wesleyan. Vermillion could not wait to join
generations of extended family in Texas.
Fort Worth had a cultural availability that
Monroe did not, and Vermillion wanted to move to
an artistically stimulating environment, a place
with several universities and cultural centers. He
was also attracted to the idea of a small, private
school — a place where students pay a higher
price to engage in their education and be active in
their department.
Theater Department Chairwoman Connie
Whitt-Lambert interviewed Vermillion and thought
him a perfect fit.
"We are very fortunate to have Judd return to
Texas. He is an amazing asset to our department
and university," Whitt-Lambert said.
Vermillion is now Assistant Professor of
Theater and Technical Director of Theatre
Wesleyan. He teaches Theater Technology I,
Lighting I and II, and supervises the shop. He's
working night and day on inventory and building
the set for Assassins, a musical by Stephen
Sondheim, running Oct. 2-5 in Wesleyan's new
Thad Smotherman Theatre.
Vermillion would like to do local theater work
over the summer, but he does not have that time
during the semesters.
Vermillion is encouraged by Texas Wesleyan's
thriving, large theater department. He says that it
is very easy to complain about lack of facilities,
classrooms, and office spaces, but, "It's not the
building that makes the theater, it's the people."
The Music Department's new assistant profes-
sor, Dale Morehouse, hails from Florida, where he
earned bachelor's of arts degrees in voice and
organ from the University of Central Florida. He
has a master's of music degree in opera from
Binghamton University in New York, and he last
worked as director of opera at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas.
Working locally, nationally and internationally
as a director, musical director and singer,
Morehouse's resume reads like a celebrity's —
with performances in Germany, Austria,
Venezuela, Scotland, England and with the United
States' top orchestras and opera companies.
Morehouse sang the role of male soloist at the
Wesleyan Singers' performance of Fauvre's
Requiem last spring — a part he sang in 1991 for
his Carnegie Hall debut with the Manhattan
Philharmonic.
Morehouse performed master clinics at
Harvard, Cornell, and Stanford University, taught
annually for the AIMS program in Gratz, Austria,
and wrote over 100 sacred and secular composi-
tions for choir, solo voice and/or instrument.
He has more than 25 years experience in
church music and currently serves as director of
music and organist at Arapaho United Methodist
Church in Dallas. He has been at Wesleyan for two
years — one year as adjunct faculty teaching
voice, diction, and conducting Wesleyan Singers,
and one year as visiting professor teaching voice,
voice studio, diction, directing Opera Workshop
and serving as musical director for last year's
spring musical, Songs for a New World.
When Noelle Woods left Wesleyan as assistant
professor in 2002, music faculty and students
expected Morehouse to apply for her position and,
after a national search, become full-time faculty.
Much to the dismay of the department, Wood's
position as a tenure-track professor was not
offered until this spring.
Jeff Walter, associate professor of music, was
bothered by the university's "ceaseless delays in
moving forward," in advertising and filling the
position. Walter, along with Morehouse's students,
are just thankful that Morehouse was patient; most
high-caliber musicians with his experience, talent
and qualifications would not have waited through
the university's unsure process, some music facul-
ty members said.
Walter said, "sometimes quality beats the sys-
tem," and Department Chairman Tim Ishii is now
excited to see Morehouse bring and attract talent
and build the vocal program.
This semester, Morehouse teaches voice and
directs Opera Workshop. He has organized a series
of master classes called, "A Weekend of Vocal
Artistry," Sept. 27-28, along with a special recital
at 2 p.m. Sept. 28 in Martin Hall.
Opera scenes, A Night of Cinderella, will run
Nov. 24-25 in Martin Hall, and Morehouse will
gives a faculty recital in Martin Hall on Oct. 28.
JOIN
FIRM.
American Heart
Association
F-<jt)t>ng -Heal 0>seaxe
EXERCISE.
Concerns, from page 1
president and the board have the
final say."
Hall said that another area
of major concern was the time-
line in which the changes must
occur — the Sept. 23 deadline
for departments to report pro-
posals to the deans.
"It's very complex because
there is all sorts of levels of con-
cern," Hall said. "Some of them
have to do with huge issues like
due process... some are more
practical... but the others are
much more complex."
Chemistry Department
Chairman Dr. Ricardo
Rodriguez explained how it is
difficult for a department to
undertake mandated cuts.
"With the cuts proposed, it
would eliminate the possibility
of us applying for the American
Chemical Society [ACS]
Accreditation," Rodriguez said,
"which is probably not the most
critical aspect of the cuts — but
rather the ability to serve the
students better."
Although the chemistry
degree at Wesleyan follows the
ACS guidelines for accredited
programs, Rodriguez explained,
the chemistry degree gains pres-
tige with an ACS accreditation.
Rodriguez said that if the
chemistry department is forced
to increase class size, "the quali-
ty of the one-on-one attention
goes down quite a bit."
The ACS accreditation "is
probably not the most critical
aspect of the cuts — but rather
the ability to serve the students
better," Rodriguez said.
Although no official propos-
als have been submitted,
Rodriguez said that there has
been the suggestion to combine
a chemistry and biology degree.
"From our perspective, the
chemistry degree, the biochem-
istry degree, the biology degree
from Texas Wesleyan are highly
valued degrees, and the dilution
of those would severely impact
the ability of our students to get
into medical school, get jobs in
industry," Rodriguez said.
Dr. Ben Hale, department
chairman for the Mass
Communications Department
said that he and Dr. Michael
Sewell have been working on a
proposal that would reduce the
department's number of majors
from three to one, giving the
program three areas of concen-
tration, "which is the way we've
been for most of our time at
Wesleyan." Hale said that
Wesleyan has only had three dis-
tinct majors under mass commu-
nications for several years.
"As I understand it, the
expectation is that it would not
inhibit anybody from graduat-
ing," Hale said.
Media guides to provide a
who's who of TWU sports
Marc Nettles
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The 2003 sports media
guides have been released for
men's and women's soccer and
volleyball. The guides can be
viewed online at the Rams' Web
site, www.ramsports.net.
The guides, which were
designed, written and edited
almost entirely by Logan
Lawrence, the athletic depart-
ment's new sports information
director, contain useful and per-
tinent information about the
coaching staff, players and
schedule. Informational biogra-
phies, which are complete with
pictures, on each coach and
player give readers insight into
the diversity and background of
each club.
Features such as all-time
records versus opponents allow
readers to further understand the
importance and magnitude of
each rivalry. The guides also
give readers an opportunity to
look back at Wesleyan's illustri-
ous success in the NAIA.
Year-by-year results also
display team records and coach-
es since the respective team's
inception.
The media guides also con-
tain team highlights and records,
including Wesleyan alumni who
have been elected as members of
the NAIA Hall of Fame.
There are even pictures of
each squad's respective facility,
such as Sid W. Richardson
Gymnasium and Martin Field.
Editorials from each squad's
respective coach allow them to
share their thoughts on how they
view this year's teams.
A handy table of contents
can be found on the first page
just above contact numbers to
local sports media personnel.
These include David Wellham
from the Fort Worth Star-
Telegram, Bob Yates from the
Dallas Morning News, Mike
Doocy from KDFW-Fox
Channel 4 Sports and Newy
Scruggs from KXTX-NBC
Channel 5 Sports in an effort to
further Wesleyan sports' expo-
sure to the media.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Nettles, Marc. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 2003, newspaper, September 17, 2003; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth253298/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.