UNLV Magazine

Newsmakers

Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann received some fanfare for the common composer with his 2007 Aaron Copland Award. The award comes with a residency at Copland House, the only composer's home in the United States devoted to nurturing American composers. This year, he also received the Jacob Druckman Award from the Aspen Music Festival for his orchestral work Pasipha".

Geosciences professor Brenda Buck broke new ground by receiving the Soil Science Society of America's top award. A foremost expert on arid soils, she is the 16th recipient and the first woman to receive the prestigious award. Buck's prolific research projects have taken her from the playgrounds of Las Vegas to the deserts of Chile, Jordan, and China.

Astrophysicist Bing Zhang came to UNLV two years ago to do research on gamma ray bursts, some of the most powerful sources of light in the cosmos. His scholarship made him a star in his own right. One of Zhang's articles was named a "new hot paper" by Essential Science Indicators. Hot papers are selected every two months by virtue of being the most highly cited works in a field. Since new hot papers are very recent scientific contributions, they may signal important new trends in research.

Music professor and guitarist Jimmy McIntosh released his first solo CD, Orleans to London, after years spent racking up an impressive list of credits on the albums of other artists. His funk-rock-blues album features such names as Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck of The Yardbirds, and the Neville Brothers. In addition to teaching at UNLV, McIntosh plays in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia.

Exhibiting a Special Breed

Las Vegas circa 1990 was hardly an art town, but art critic and English professor Dave Hickey figured its energy would attract "a special breed" of student. "I wasn't surprised that the kids who came here were adventuresome, cosmopolitan, self-sufficient, and indifferent to parental oversight," Hickey says. "As a result of their industry and courage, some things that happen in Vegas don't stay in Vegas. They go out and change the world."

Now they're coming back in an exhibit featuring 26 artists who earned degrees in studio art at UNLV. Las Vegas Diaspora: The Emergence of Contemporary Art from the Neon Homeland runs through Dec. 30 at the Las Vegas Art Museum. Hickey, a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "genius" award, curates the exhibit of his former pupils.

Alumni artists participating include: Las Vegans Tim Bavington, Curtis Fairman, Sush Machida Gaikotsu, Jack Hallberg, James Hough, Shawn Hummel, Angela Kallus, Wayne Littlejohn, David Ryan, and Sean Slattery; the Rev. Ethan Acres, Muscle Shoals, Ala.; Robert Acuna, Gajin Fujita, Sherin Guirguis Carrie Jenkin, and Victoria Reynolds, Los Angeles; Philip Argent and Jane Callister, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Aaron Baker, Chicago; Thomas Burke, Jason Tomme, and Almond Zigmund, New York; Brad Corman, Redlands, Calif.; Jacqueline Ehlis, Portland, Ore.; James Gobel, San Francisco; and Yek, who goes by one name and splits his time between Singapore and Las Vegas.

Fall 2007