2021 CoA+A Convocation Brings Newcomers into the Circle

The College of Arts + Architecture welcomed new members of our College family into the “circle” on Sunday, August 22, with the 2021 CoA+A Convocation ceremony and after party in the Arts Quad.

Dean Brook Muller opened the evening: “I want to express my gratitude to all of you for joining us on this fine evening. It has been quite a stretch for all of us, and the bonds tying us together as a community have been stretched and strained. While challenges have been many, the collective response has been nothing short of incredible.”

Dean Muller invited the 2021-22 ARTS Reps to the microphone to speak about their experiences in the College. These seven students – Kelly Gilbert, Eric Levine, Bianca Muñoz, Natalie Perkins, Angeli Novio, Mari Vicente, and Rachel Vick – serve as official student voices for the CoA+A.

Following a tradition initiated by founding CoA+A Dean Ken Lambla, Dean Muller asked newcomers to the College to add a ribbon to the Convocation poles and enter the CoA+A circle: “This circle is symbolic of so much of what this College is about. Ribbons of different colors and patterns: We seek and celebrate vibrancy and difference, harmony and cacophony, that everyone a has distinct voice and identity borne of creative expression. The circle speaks to community, not one that is walled off but is diaphanous; it is an open forum that admits and welcomes new and diverse expressions and ideas while also allowing for the radiating outward from our center of new creative productions, new meanings, new ways of imagining the world.”

Across the Quad, posters invited throughts about the upcoming year, and students wrote their responses on sticky notes.

I wish… “For an end to COVD 19!” “To meet more people interested in sculpture.” To create art that represents the intersectionality of our student body.”

I wonder… “How I will grow this year?” “How far I’ll go, and how will I surprise myself?”

I’m excited for… “Seeing actual people!” “Talking to someone who isn’t my mom.” “In-person choir rehearsals.” “Finishing music theory!”

Students, faculty, and staff had a good time meeting each other, eating snacks, and dancing the Electric Slide!

“So we are and occupy a porous membrane,” said Dean Muller. “There is a loose precision to the whole that has everything to do with what we make of it, what we constantly build and imagine and create and dream. This is the ongoing experiment that is called the College of Arts + Architecture, and we are thrilled you are a part of this community.”

Photos by Skyler Parrow-Strong, CoA+A graphic design intern.