The University is once again taking part in “,” the long-running celebration of visual arts organized by CNY Arts that spotlights the creative talents of avocational artists across the region. This year marks the program’s 53rd anniversary.

Active, full-time or part-time faculty and staff who paint, sculpt, photograph, weave, weld or create using a number of other media are invited to submit original work for the campus exhibition, “On My Own Time — Celebrating the Artistic Talents of Syracuse University Faculty and Staff.” The show will be on display at Bird Library from May 28-June 11 during regular library hours.

Artists must by May 15 and be able to submit finished pieces on or before May 28. Colleagues are encouraged to visit the exhibition and vote for their favorite piece in the People’s Choice Award.

A selection panel that includes a CNY Arts representative will also choose standout works to advance to the “On My Own Time Grand Finale,” a five-week exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art running Oct. 3-Nov. 8.

A reception for artists, University colleagues, family and friends will be held Oct. 8. Finale tickets will go on sale in September.

If you have questions or would like to volunteer to assist with the exhibition at Bird Library, email��OMOT@syr.edu.

A group of Syracuse University students has spent months working with Syracuse youth, guiding them through theater, design and media workshops that will culminate in a live public performance this spring.

The students are leading (Theater Workshop), an annual, bilingual creative arts program based at on Syracuse’s Near West Side.

The program, which involves and in addition to La Casita, delivers culturally oriented arts education for community youth, says , the University’s executive director of cultural engagement for the Hispanic community. The workshops build dual-language skills, artistic presentation abilities and stage-presence confidence for children ages 6 and up.

The public performance will be held on Saturday, , at La Casita as part of the annual Arte Joven/Young Art exhibition, a celebration of visual art, music and dance. The event is open to the public.

Mutual Benefits

Taller de Teatro benefits both the students who lead the workshops and the children who participate, Paniagua says. “This program creates meaningful opportunities for University students to engage directly with the community while developing professional skills.”

The structure of the collaboration creates a dynamic environment where students and youngsters learn from one another, she says. “Several of the student instructors are studying drama and they are facilitating workshops alongside students from the creative arts therapy graduate program. Other students are contributing through documentation, photography, video and communications skills. In this way, the program becomes a multidisciplinary learning experience where students apply their training in a real community setting.”

For young actors and for theater students in particular, the chance to gain experience as instructors early in their careers can open important professional pathways, Paniagua says. “They are learning how to guide creative processes, work with children and adapt theater practices to educational and community contexts. Ultimately, the efforts of those involved are tremendous and they allow La Casita to offer high-quality theater programming to local youth.”

Kate Laissle, director of education at Syracuse Stage, says involving Syracuse students as teaching assistants for this program helps inspire and train the next generation of theater educators while providing programming that supports community connections.

‘For Everyone’

“The ability to partner with La Casita and build on our relationship and its well-established programming also helps show that theatre is for everyone,” Laissle says. “Working collaboratively between performance, design and storytelling, students get to experience the depth and breadth of theater. Using multiple capacities of theatrical art-making lets young people use their creativity in ways that serve them best. It is outstanding to see the growth of the students, both school- and college-aged, over the course of this program.”

This year’s student participants, who lead acting workshops and provide media support and documentation, are: GB Bellamy ’27 and Sofia Slaman ’27, acting majors, Department of Drama, VPA; Nashaly Bonilla ’28, major, Department of Drama, VPA; Catie Kobland ’21, G’26, fine arts graduate and master’s candidate in VPA; Iman Jamison G’26, master’s student in , School of Information Studies; Sara Oliveira ’29, film and media arts major, Department of Film and Media Arts, VPA; and Sophia Domenicis ’28, , Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Three Presenting Partners

The program is possible because of a collaboration among three university-connected organizations:

• La Casita Cultural Center is a program of Syracuse University established to advance an educational and cultural agenda of civic engagement through research, cultural heritage preservation, media and the arts, bridging the Hispanic communities of the University and Central New York.
• Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact, celebrating its 50th year, bridges cultures and disciplines through exhibitions, poetry and�� a permanent art collection. Its El Punto Art Studio has served youth since 2008.
• Syracuse Stage, the city’s leading professional theater, contributes expertise through acting and playwriting workshops that strengthen University-community connections and support literacy development.

When Tyler Neary ’27and Orion Goodman ’27 scattered flyers across campus last spring advertising a new AI club, they saw a critical need: students needed to be included in conversations about a technology that would fundamentally reshape their futures.

“AI was at the point where it could help people in every single major, in every single profession, in every single job,” says Neary, a civil engineering major who co-founded United AI with Goodman, a biomedical engineering major, both in the (ECS). “We realized this was no longer just a computer science thing.”

What started as a room of 10 people has grown into , a recognized student organization (RSO) with more than 100 members representing every single school and college and most majors. Since its fall semester launch, the club’s focus has been democratizing AI literacy and ensuring students from all disciplines have a seat at the table as this technology transforms society.

The group will host a on Saturday, April 25, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the K.G. Tan Auditorium in the National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building, featuring industry speakers, demonstrations and faculty research showcases.

Why Students Need Leadership in AI Development

For Goodman, the urgency became clear watching rapid AI development. “When I’m going through college, watching AI capabilities escalate, it can be disempowering—and I figured my peers may be feeling the same way,” he says. “It felt threatening because there’s a small group of people making decisions about how the technology is being used, and others feel like they’re being left behind.”

That sense of being sidelined drove the co-founders to create what Neary describes as an empowerment space. “Something that we say a lot in the club is: don’t get used by AI, use AI to your benefit,” he says. “We’re the ones who are going into the workforce leading the charge and determining how we will use this technology now and into the future.”

The message resonated. Within weeks of tabling at campus events, students from ECS, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Newhouse School of Public Communications, the Whitman School of Management and the College of Visual and Performing Arts were showing up to meetings, eager to understand how AI would affect their fields and futures.

Bringing Humanities and STEM Into Conversation

When Alex Kahn ’27, a junior studying citizenship and civic engagement and political philosophy in the | , discovered United AI, he wasn’t looking for coding or technical skills, but was compelled by the policy implications of AI that were dominating news headlines. “AI was in every story, across every industry, and it felt like there was no escaping it and how it will affect you,” Kahn says.

As United AI’s recruitment director last fall, Kahn became instrumental in broadening the organization beyond its engineering roots. His approach focused on relevance rather than technical expertise. The interdisciplinary composition has transformed conversations within the club.

“Having people from different majors and disciplines means having that understanding that everyone’s mind works differently,” Kahn says. “The people who are writing code are not thinking the same way as the person majoring in fine arts, and having that creativity along with those technical skills, you’re able to build and think much differently.”

Goodman appreciates what non-engineering perspectives bring to the table. “As conversations around AI progressed, I began asking, ‘Where are the artists? Where are the policymakers? Where are the humanities majors?’” he says. “A lot of the population was not behind building this technology and still isn’t—but how do we provide a space for them to learn and join the conversation?”

From Concept to Creation: Student Projects Take Shape

United AI goes beyond theoretical discussion to hands-on application. Through four-week project cycles, students receive funding, access to premium AI tools and mentorship to develop their ideas.

Paige Siciliano ’29, a computer engineering major, led a second-place winning project during her first semester on campus. Her team’s AI-powered schedule builder, still under development, helps students manage their time by generating personalized daily plans based on individual learning styles, fixed commitments and flexible tasks.

For Siciliano and her teammates—Neha Redda ’29 and Ria Yagielski ’29—the project provided more than AI experience. “It really helped us find a way into the community of Syracuse, and it helped us feel like we belonged,” she says.

Building Community Around Shared Curiosity

Beyond projects and programs, United AI has cultivated what Kahn describes as “a school of thought on campus.” During a debate night last semester, members discussed everything from business applications to environmental impacts to personal usage philosophy, with some participants there simply to understand the technology rather than use it. “Being surrounded by club members and in this community of lifelong learners, we focus our educational efforts to not just learn the technical side, but also on practical application,” Kahn says.

Siciliano emphasizes the club’s welcoming atmosphere. “We came in as first-semester freshmen, two weeks into school. It didn’t matter if we had no background knowledge in AI or all the knowledge in the world—they create an atmosphere that makes you want to learn about it and continue to grow.”

To join United AI, . To learn more, follow the organization on or .

Syracuse junior Flynn Ledoux ’27, an illustration major in the ’ (VPA) School of Art, has been selected as the winner of a VPA student design competition to create the official 40th anniversary poster for the 2026 .

Ledoux, who also majors in environment, sustainability and policy in the , will see his design featured on official 2026 festival materials and will receive a $1,000 cash prize.

In operation since 1982, Syracuse Jazz Fest has become one of the Northeast’s premier free admission music festivals, drawing world-renowned artists and tens of thousands of fans each summer to Central New York. Jazz Fest 40 will take place July 9–12, with hosted across campus and at Beak and Skiff Apple Hill Campus in LaFayette, New York.

The competition was created after Jazz Fest founder and Syracuse alumnus Frank Malfitano ’72 reached out to VPA Dean about holding a student poster design contest in honor of the festival’s milestone anniversary. The college issued a call for entries and received submissions from students across its schools and departments. Representatives of Jazz Fest then reviewed the entries and voted on the winners.

In addition to Ledoux, three other VPA students were recognized by the festival:

• Katerina Anastasopoulos ’26, a senior environmental and interior design major in the School of Design, received second place.
• Kelsey McMillin ’28, a sophomore illustration major in the School of Art, and Hayden Celentano ’26, a senior film major in the Department of Film and Media Arts, tied for third place.

“Jazz Fest has always been about bringing people together through great music, and this year we’re celebrating 40 years of doing just that,” says Malfitano. “Partnering with VPA to put a student’s work at the center of this anniversary felt exactly right—it connects our festival’s future to the next generation of artists.”

“The 40th anniversary of Jazz Fest is a milestone worth celebrating in a meaningful way,” says Tick. “Flynn’s design is a testament to the exceptional talent we have here at VPA, and we’re grateful to Frank for giving our students the chance to be part of this iconic community festival.”

Jazz Fest 40 is presented by Syracuse University with additional support from the New York State-Empire State Development Corporation in association with New York State Assemblyman Al Stripe, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and the Onondaga County Legislature, Visit Syracuse, National Grid, Amazon, JMA Wireless, RAV Properties, CNY Family Care, Empower Federal Credit Union, CNY Arts Council, the Central New York Community Foundation and numerous additional community partners across Central New York.

Stephen Kuusisto, Urayoán Noel and OlaRose Ndubuisi—three poets whose work embody resilience, identity and the radical possibilities of language—will present their work at the annual poetry reading on

The event, produced by Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact, takes place at the , where the “” spring exhibition, which recognizes artists who live with disabilities, is currently displayed.

“This unique setting provides ��much excitement for our Cruel April series this year,” says , the University’s executive director of cultural engagement for the Hispanic community and Point of Contact director. “Just as the exhibition’s artistic expressions expand on ideas of creativity shaped by body, mind, culture and history, the works of the three poets enter into a dialogue across cultures and disciplines. Both forums offer varied perspectives on how artists navigate the world on their own terms.”

The poetry program begins at 5:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Poet and essayist is a University Professor and director of the . Blind since birth, Kuusisto has built a celebrated body of work that redefines understandings of perception and beauty. His poetry collections, “Only Bread, Only Light” (2000) and “Letters to Borges” (2013), along with memoirs including “Planet of the Blind” and “Have Dog, Will Travel,” have established him as one of the most compelling disability voices in American letters. His work has appeared in Harper’s, Poetry and The New York Times Magazine.

is an internationally recognized poet and scholar, an associate professor of English and Spanish at New York University and a defining voice in Latinx and Nuyorican literary traditions. He is the author of the landmark study “In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam” (2014) and the poetry collections “Buzzing Hemisphere/Rumor Hemisférico” (2015) and “Transversal” (2021), which was a New York Public Library Book of the Year. He is also the winner of the LASA Latino Studies Book Award. His work explores neurodivergence, migration and the politics of language. Cruel April is presented in partnership with the , , , and the .

’29, the 2024–25 New York State Youth Poet Laureate, is a Syracuse student pursuing dual majors in biology and journalism. She is also a Coronat Scholar and Renée Crown honors student and is enrolled in SUNY Upstate Medical University’s B.S./M.D. program. Her poetry draws on her experience with scoliosis, her Nigerian heritage and her commitment to uplifting marginalized communities. A premature birth survivor, she is the founder of The Finding Scoliosis Kindly Project and a Prudential Emerging Visionaries award winner.

’ paintings line the walls of her studio in Anchorage, Alaska. From “icon portraits” to landscapes, her artwork holds a palpable verve—carrying a panorama of stories, ideas and interpretations with them, often centered on Alutiiq culture and identity.

From April 6-17, Infante Lyons will bring her visual and academic storytelling to Syracuse University as the 2026 . Her two-week residency is organized around the theme of “Visions of Resilience: Sacred Art and Storied Landscapes.” Humanities Center Director Vivian May says she is excited about the many different ways Infante Lyons will engage the community through dialogues, lectures and seminars focused on her art, Indigenous cultural resilience, approaches to environmentalism and environmental activism, storytelling and more. Infante Lyons’ work, says May, “immerses us in a sense of place and asks us to build relationships across boundaries. Infante Lyons visualizes the sacred, imagines the environment and builds stories in ways that invite us to come together and imagine a more just future for all.”

All are welcome to meet Infante Lyons and experience her work in person at an at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in Eggers Hall and at other .

Infante Lyons, a painter and multimedia artist whose work engages themes of Indigenous sovereignty, cultural resilience and environmental sustainability, was raised in Anchorage. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Whitman College, she studied at the Viña del Mar Escuela de Bellas Artes and spent 18 years in Chile. Her maternal family is from Kodiak Island—a large island in the Gulf of Alaska and the ancestral homeland of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people—where her grandparents were commercial salmon fishers. She is a registered Alutiiq Alaska Native and has tribal affiliation with the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq corporation, Koniag.

“I’m looking forward to conversations about learning from different cultures: the importance of a diverse mindset, the richness of looking at Indigenous cultures, how they see the world,” says Infante Lyons. Turning to the future, she asks: “And then, how can you apply that to a conversation [about] where we go forward? It could be applied to sustainability, or how we get along as human beings, or how we get along with the rest of the world.”

Notably, two new paintings by Infante Lyons will find a permanent home in the Syracuse University Art Museum. Melissa Yuen, curator at the museum, says Infante Lyons’ potrtaits “invite interdisciplinary conversation, highlighting humanity’s relationship with the environment, disrupting Eurocentric worldviews and celebrating the role women play in Alutiiq culture as connectors with the world.”

These as-yet unnamed pieces, to be unveiled on April 7, each depict Alaskan Native women dressed in kuspuks. The works incorporate traditional and contemporary Indigenous designs, and each woman cradles an animal central to Alutiiq culture: a seal pup in one painting, an otter in the other. The compositions echo a “Madonna and Child” style painting, complete with halos and other visual symbols of reverence.

In portraying animals in the style of sacred Orthodox paintings and iconography, Infante Lyons emphasizes an intimate relationship between humans and the natural world—one that opposes Western models of extraction and domination. Relatedly, some of her upcoming events on campus will highlight how Indigenous mindsets forge new pathways for understanding and caring for the environment.

Chie Sakakibara, associate professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies and geography and the environment, says when she came across one of Infante Lyons’ icon portraits, “” she was speechless.

“I was immediately struck by the work’s powerful expressivity, as Linda brings together multiple elements—ancestral presences and sacred, spiritual words—into the present, rather than relegating them to a past that no longer exists,” says Sakakibara.

Sakakibara invites the campus and broader Syracuse community into a shared encounter with Infante Lyons’ artistic wisdom, and hopes the residency will spark some of the same kinds of connections she cultivates with students around traditional and land-based knowledge, cultural resilience, multi-species relations and the continuity of Indigenous storytelling.

For co-host Timur Hammond, associate professor of geography and the environment, Infante Lyons’ residency opens up new points of academic connection, particularly for his Spring 2026 course, ‘Geography of Memory,’ and for strengthening his ongoing collaborations with the (EHN). One of EHN’s projects includes an , developed with Infante Lyons, to help spark discussion and activity in the classroom and community.

While Infante Lyons’ work carries many layers of meaning, her creative process begins without a preconceived agenda. Referencing Syracuse creative writing professor and author George Saunders, Infante Lyons subscribes to the idea that “the muse finds you.” A blank canvas is an invitation for her to explore meaning, and to see her life experiences naturally flow out onto the canvas.

“You come to the studio, you start something, and you may try to have a concept or an idea or a composition, but that will change,” she says. In being open to spontaneous inspiration during this creative process, “you end up with a better piece of artwork,” says Infante Lyons.

She hopes to inspire the same approach in those who come across her art. Her paintings—and the conversations that arise around them—need not uphold a rigid, absolute message. Rather, her work invites an opportunity for thought, exploration and emotion.

Story by Colette Goldstein G’25

From social media to television, popular culture is saturated with images of the rich and famous. But long before TV and the internet, portraiture elevated certain individuals while erasing others, promoting hierarchies of wealth, privilege and power. Exemplifying this historic trend in European art is a portrait titled “Tuccia, the Vestal Virgin” (1786) in the collections of the .

Recently cleaned and restored, the painting was made by�� (1723-92), the first president of the ��in London and the leading British portrait painter of his time. On view at the museum for the first time in five decades, as part of the exhibition “Human/Environment: 4,000 Years of Art” (through Spring 2029), the painting inspired this year’s����on the politics of portraiture.

Depicting Rebecca Lyne (Mrs. Seaforth) as Tuccia, a Vestal Virgin, the image represents Reynolds’s reliance on Classical and Renaissance art to animate many of his portraits—an approach to portrait-painting that he advocated in his highly influential book “.”

Drawing upon the Vestal Virgins or priestesses of ancient Rome, Tuccia’s story highlights the virtue of chastity. However, Lyne was known to be the mistress of Richard Barwell, a powerful and wealthy East India Company merchant and administrator whose portrait Reynolds had also painted—making the decision to present her as a symbol of chastity an intriguing choice, notes , associate professor of art history in the College of Arts and Sciences. Clothed in Bengal muslin—an Indian luxury—her face blushing with powdered rouge and her hair curled into ringlets, Lyne embodied the ideal of 18th-century British beauty.

“Her portrait was displayed for six consecutive exhibitions at Thomas Macklin’s Poet’s Gallery in London, talked about in the newspapers, then circulated widely as an engraving—functioning much like a viral image would today,” says Melissa Yuen, curator at the Art Museum.

Nine ��graduate students have been selected to receive ��the Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work at a ceremony hosted by the Graduate School on .

The event takes place from 3 to 5 p.m. in 312 Lyman Hall and will include presentations by the recipients. The campus community is invited to attend; .

This year’s competition drew applicants from programs and departments across the University. Winners were chosen by a panel of faculty members who serve on the . Honorees receive a certificate of recognition and a $500 award.

The 2026 Graduate Dean’s Award winners are:

• Yanbei Chen (instructional design, development and evaluation, School of Education), “Preparing Future Teachers for Responsible AI Use: AI-Related Teaching Anxiety, Protective Resources and Implications for Teacher Education”
• Jessica Hogbin (history, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), “Innumerable Melancholies: Medicine, Mental Health and Human Nature in Renaissance Italy, 1450-1650”
• Dian Ling (multimedia, photography and design, Newhouse School of Public Communications), “Documentary Film, ‘The Cycle Breaker’”
• David Ojomakpene Moses (chemical engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science [ECS]), “Designing ‘Smart’ Catalysts for Cleaner and More Efficient Chemical Manufacturing”
• Christine Eunseol Park (public relations, Newhouse School), “Narrative Structure and Explanatory Link Strength in Low-Fit Corporate Social Advocacy: An Experimental Study of Perceived Authenticity”
• Michael Seitz (bioengineering, ECS), “Engineering Poly(ethylene) Glycol Hydrogels as Synthetic ECM”
• Aditya Srinivasa (social science, Maxwell School), “Imagining Infrastructure: The Rise and Fall of Interstate 81”
• Elina Ruiqi Su (social psychology, College of Arts and Sciences [A&S]), “Perceiving to Provide: How Partner Attachment Perceptions Inform Buffering Behaviors”
• Jiayue Yu (art photography, College of Visual and Performing Arts [VPA] ), “After the Photograph”

In addition, five students received honorable mention:

• Kaia Kirk (political science, Maxwell School),�� “The Black Cabinet: The Role of Movement-State Actors in Institutional Development and Policy Change”
• Katie Mulligan (illustration, VPA), “Tales of Rattlesnake Gulch: An Illustrated History of Cicero Swamp”
• Bixuan Ren (mass communications, Newhouse School), “Who Deserves to Belong? The Influence of Partisan News and Anti-Immigrant Misinformation on Immigrant Deservingness and Policy Preferences”
• Aliza M. Willsey (mechanical and aerospace engineering, ECS), “Development of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Emission Control Technology for Combustion Systems”
• Wusirige (human development and family science, A&S), “Family Processes and Children’s Development across Social and Cultural Contexts”

“The Graduate School is pleased to recognize these students as among the many talented scholars who are contributing to our community every day,” says Peter Vanable, Graduate School dean. “We applaud their ongoing progress in research projects and creative initiatives and enjoy the opportunity to showcase their work to the University.”

On a February morning, members of the University community sat down at their keyboards with a shared purpose: to pull the voices of history out of the archive and into the digital age—one keystroke at a time.

Gathering at the on Feb. 13 to mark Douglass Day 2026—the annual national celebration honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass—faculty, staff and students spent the afternoon transcribing collected documents from the Colored Conventions, a Black political movement that spanned seven decades in the 1800s.

The large-scale nationwide transcription effort is a way to broaden digital access to historical documents for all who are interested—community members, educators and scholars.

“The Humanities Center is proud to participate in this shared project each year,” says , professor of women’s and gender studies in the and director of the Syracuse University Humanities Center. “In just a few short hours, we can all pitch in to make a rich trove of knowledge in Black historical materials widely available via digitization, rather than stored in hard-to-access archives or separated across the nation in different libraries.”

Illuminating How Social Change Unfolded

The documents included meeting minutes, proceedings, newspaper articles, speeches, letters, transcripts and images, drawn from both before and after the American Civil War.

“This nationwide, and now international, collective effort really makes a difference,” May says. “For instance, thanks to previous Douglass Day ‘transcribe-a-thons,’ today, we can easily access the Syracuse, New York, 1864 Colored Convention program, ‘.’ Reading the speeches and engaging with this program helps us understand how this movement for social change unfolded across the nation but also right here, in .”

Some students who participated were surprised to learn how many Black newspapers there were in the mid-1800s, and they could see the role of print journalism in getting people together to organize and advocate for civil rights, May says.

For example, with morning and evening editions of Black papers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it became obvious in transcribing different stories and announcements that newspapers were key to political organizing and functioned more like an Instagram post does today—getting the word out and bringing people together around a cause.

The University began partnering with Douglass Day and hosting an event to coincide with the national effort in 2020.

“We look forward to keeping up the annual tradition in honor of Frederick Douglass and Black History Month,” says Diane Drake, assistant director of the Humanities Center.

According to the , the political gatherings offered opportunities for free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans—both men and women—to organize and strategize for racial justice. The first Colored Convention was held in 1830 in response to Ohio’s 1829 exclusionary laws and a wave of anti-Black mob violence that had forced 2,000 Black residents to flee the state.

That first meeting brought Black leaders together to contest widespread discrimination against Black communities, and a movement was born. More than 600 Colored Conventions were held at the national and state levels from 1830 to the 1900s.

Douglass escaped slavery in Maryland as a young man and became a national leader in the abolitionist movement, renowned for his oratory skills, in Massachusetts and New York, and for his newspaper in Rochester, New York, The North Star, which was an important tool in abolishing slavery and advocating for women’s rights and civil rights. The paper’s motto summarizes Douglass’ inclusive approach to human rights nicely: “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”

Common lore is that Douglass did not know the exact date he was born in 1818, so in emancipation he chose to celebrate his birth on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. The Annual Douglass Day event is planned each year at that time.

for individuals to assist with the transcription from home.

Mauricio Paredes has a weekend ritual with his family: visiting a different museum in Santiago every week. As director of Syracuse University’s Santiago center, he’s on a mission to share that same cultural enthusiasm with students.

“There’s something for everybody looking to enjoy a cultural and transformative study abroad experience in Santiago,” Paredes says. “For any students considering a study abroad, I encourage you to take advantage of the cultural advantages of Santiago.”

Those advantages are considerable. Culture permeates every corner of Chile’s capital city, extending far beyond vibrant concert halls and historic art museums into the streets, parks and natural landscape.

For Paredes, live music tops his list of favorite cultural activities. An electric guitar player himself, he sometimes performs for students or brings his traveling guitar on bus trips.

“We have these concert halls called Sala SCD, which feature popular Chilean bands and musicians,” he says. “These halls have become so important for our vibrant local music scene.”

That music scene became even more accessible to Syracuse students. Earlier this month, a group from the in the (VPA) spent one week learning from and playing alongside students at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile as part of a new study abroad in music experience. It’s the first time this hands-on training opportunity has been offered to music students, reflecting Syracuse Abroad’s and VPA’s commitment to a strong cultural and arts-centered .

Access to World-Class Arts

The arts are vibrant in Santiago, which serves as Chile’s cultural epicenter. Forty percent of Chile’s population lives in the city, and the main universities are located there.

“Every single important cultural and artistic event happens here,” Paredes says. “A few months ago, one of our partners, the Universidad de Chile, opened a top-notch music hall with impressive acoustics. Our students have access to those world-class concerts.”

Street art flourishes throughout the city. Students interact with street artists as they walk, and parks increasingly integrate art into their walking paths. The bohemian Barrio Bellavista neighborhood serves as the city’s cultural heart, filled with colorful street art, galleries, theaters and restaurants. Among the highlights is La Chascona, poet Pablo Neruda’s former home, now a museum displaying his eccentric collections.

Art museums abound. The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos examines Chile’s history under Pinochet’s dictatorship, while the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes showcases Chilean and Latin American art.

“We have everything from 19th century art to modern art,” Paredes says.

Nature as Part of the Culture

Chile’s remarkable natural diversity is inseparable from its cultural identity, and Santiago offers students ideal access to explore it.

“Santiago is a city that is close to nature, and the nature in Chile is amazing,” Paredes says. “You can find every single type of geographic formation from around the world here.”

Students can access the nearby Andes Mountains and Pacific coast, with stunning city views from atop Cerro San Cristóbal. Organized trips allow students to tour Patagonia’s picturesque glaciers, untouched forests and pristine rivers.

“Traveling from the northern tip to the southern part of Chile by Santiago, you go through different climates and different types of geography, from glaciers and mountains to deserts and lakes,” Paredes says. “This fascinating geography is a strong part of our culture, and we introduce our students to this topic through our comprehensive seminar and by traveling to different parts of the country.”

Architecture as Art

Chile’s architecture itself is considered an art form. The historic city center boasts the Plaza de Armas, the city’s main square since colonial times, flanked by the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Central Post Office. Nearby, La Moneda Palace serves as both the presidential palace and a beautiful neoclassical landmark.

Students interested in studying abroad in Santiago during the Fall 2026 semester should by Sunday, March 15.

SU Press recently launched a Read New York Challenge, a fun way to learn the history, culture and literature of New York State. The Press is providing a list of 12 books in its New York State and Regional Studies Series to read.

Open to all, readers can sign up to participate in the challenge by emailing jadams23@syr.edu and will receive a free e-book each month, a coupon for 40% off the print edition and a monthly newsletter spotlighting the book of the month. Readers can follow SU Press on social media (, , , , or ) for updates on each month’s selection, author profiles and an opportunity to share your thoughts on the book.

The Read New York Challenge includes:

• January: “” by Timothy W. Kneeland
• February: “” by Stephen J. Riegel
• March: “”�� by Sean Kirst
• April: “”�� by Philip G. Terrie
• May: “” by Marilyn E. Weigold
• June: “” by Peter Lourie
• July: “” by David Gibson
• August: “”�� by Suzanne Hinman
• September: ““ by Roger Sheffer
• October: “”�� by Steven Huff
• November: “”�� by Nina Shengold
• December: “”�� by William Loizeaux

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A glowing sculpture cast in rubber. A photo-print-drawing hybrid that defies easy categorization. An aquatint that looks nothing like your usual aquatint.

The works are among the 48 that alumnus John Thompson ’72 has gifted to the . The donated pieces are just as stunning as they are unconventional, showcasing what happens when artists refuse to accept the limits of their medium. And their gift to the University presents a unique educational opportunity for an academic museum.

Thompson, a graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts with a B.F.A., is himself a working printmaker with studios in Waltham, Massachusetts, and Harpswell, Maine. He has taught at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Framingham State University and workshops across the country.

The significant gift acquired by the museum throughout 2024 and 2025 from Thompson represents a collection shaped around works that demonstrate mastery through innovation. The collection includes pieces by artists such as Al Held, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Niho Kozuru, Robert Freeman and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, among others.

The Collector’s Eye

Among the gift’s most striking pieces is Niho Kozuru’s “Cosmic Glow,” a relief sculpture cast in rubber.

“[Kozuru’s sculpture] is glowing and it’s made out of rubber,” museum curator Melissa Yuen says. “It looks like jello, so you really expect it to wobble, but texturally it’s surprisingly firm.”

Meanwhile, Richard Ryan’s aquatint “Scapes II” pushes technique in another direction, demonstrating a surprising delicacy.

“It’s rare to see an aquatint that looks as painterly as ‘Scapes II’ does,” Yuen says.

And Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s “Cinq Sujets réunis” employs a hybrid technique called cliché-verre. The artist draws an image on a glass plate, which is then printed onto light-sensitive paper.

For the Students

That these works will now serve students isn’t incidental— it’s why Thompson chose Syracuse as their new home.

As an undergraduate, Thompson received a full scholarship. He travelled extensively throughout Europe with the University’s support, and nearly five decades later, he is returning the investment.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to give back what Syracuse gave me,” Thompson says.

His years as an educator sharpened his sense of what students need. When Thompson was a student, access to original works was limited.

“We only saw slides or picture books,” he says. “There wasn’t a study room. You couldn’t go see Rembrandt prints as you can with the museum now.”

He hopes his gift changes that for current and future students and that the work will strengthen the teaching potential of the museum across campus.

“Part of what I would hope is that the works I’m donating are not treated as precious objects,” Thompson says. “I want students to look at it, examine it, feel that their lives and their emotions are as important as any piece of art.”

A Teaching Collection

The art museum, located adjacent to the College of Visual and Performing Arts, in the Shaffer Art Building serves as a teaching museum for the University and broader community. Thompson’s gift reinforces that mission.

“We are honored that John Thompson has donated this incredible collection of work to the museum,” says director Emily Dittman. “These 48 works expand our potential as a teaching museum and embodies the spirit of our mission to be a museum-laboratory for learning, engagement and exploration.”

For Thompson, the gift is mutual.

“It is a gift to me too,” he says, “to be able to give some of this great work to an institution I believe in.”

Nine faculty members in the (VPA) and five Universitywide organizations are among more than 2,400 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and individuals receiving (NYSCA) funding for 2026. NYSCA recently.

The following organizations received Support for Organizations awards totaling $110,000 to assist with general operations:

• , $10,000
• , $25,000
• , $10,000
• , $40,000
• , $25,000

Support for Artist awards of $10,000 each were also announced for these faculty members:

• , professor, Department of Film and Media Arts, for the project “Aphrodite’s Conception”
• , assistant professor, Department of Film and Media Arts, supporting the Light Work project “By the Skin of Her Teeth”
• , associate professor, Department of Film and Media Arts, for “By All Your Memories”
• , associate professor, Department of Film and Media Arts, for “Mid-Film Crisis,” presented with New York Women in Film & Television
• , assistant professor, School of Art, for “Demigoddess Comic Series”
• , associate professor, Setnor School of Music (in VPA) and School of Education, for “We Hold These Truths: Commemorating the 250th Birthday of The United States of America”
• , assistant professor, Department of Drama, for the project “Wolf Women”
• , instructor in the School of Art, for the work “Night Field,” presented at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park.

In addition, , associate professor in the School of Art, in collaboration with Columbia University faculty members Lynnette Widder and Wendy Walters, received a for the book initiative, “Seeds of Diaspora: Plants, Migrations, Settlements, Cities.” The grant program, a partnership between NYSCA and The Architecture League of New York, recognizes work in architecture, historic preservation and various fields of design.

Syracuse University Press announces that “Grace: A Cautionary Tale of Family and Mayhem” by William F. Polsgrove is the 2025 Veterans Writing Award winner.

Syracuse University Press, in cooperation with the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), established the Veterans Writing Award in 2019. The mission of the award is to recognize the contributions of veterans to the literary arts, shine a light on the multivalent veteran experience and provide a platform for unrecognized military writers.

Polsgrove grew up on his family farm in West Tennessee, where he learned the craft of storytelling from a whole host of characters, including a hard-drinking preacher-uncle, musician farmhands and his Baptist mother, who had a taste for the macabre. Polsgrove joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps, serving tours in Germany, Alaska and Southwest Asia.

Retiring from the Army after 22 years, Polsgrove transitioned to the federal government, where he worked as a project manager for the intelligence community and retired as division chief for the Management and Engineering Division. He holds an master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University and an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University.

Polsgrove received the 42nd Annual New Millennium Award for Flash Fiction in 2016 and has published stories in the literary journal Embark. During his time in the military, he never ceased painting and writing. His stories and paintings tell the tales of the hardscrabble characters and forlorn landscapes of West Tennessee, the complex fabric of racial interactions, heartbreaking history and dirty-dealing political intrigue by petty demagogues.

Veterans Writing Award judge Maurice Decaul praised Polsgrove’s work, noting, “’Grace’�� stands out because it feels scarily relevant, a reflection of our moment and a blueprint for what is possible. ‘Grace’��reminds us that great stories don’t just entertain; they illuminate the paths we might take.”