Faculty Profiles

Learn more about some of the faculty who are inspiring change in the Arts at Illinois.

To find a faculty member in FAA, visit the College Directory.

Cynthia Oliver, Associate Professor, Department of Dance

Cynthia Oliver joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in August 2000. A former dancer with numerous companies including the David Gordon Pick Up Co. and Ronald Kevin Brown/Evidence, Ms. Oliver is a New York Dance and Performance Award (a Bessie) winning choreographer in her own right.

A woman of Caribbean descent, her work is a melange of dance theatre and the spoken word, and incorporates textures of Caribbean performance with African and American sensibilities while simultaneously nodding to a tradition in black avant garde theatre. In 2000 she was named "Outstanding Young Choreographer" by reviewer Frank Werner of German magazine Ballet Tanz, and in April of 2002 was one of the artists featured in Dance Magazine's article "Masters of the Balancing Act," an article highlighting artists who balance their creative work with a life in the academy. Her evening length work, AfroSocialiteLifeDiva premiered at Dance Theater Workshop's inaugural Carnival season in January 2003, for which she was awarded both a Dance Theater Workshop/Bessie Schonberg First Light Commission and a prestigious Creative Capital grant.

Ms. Oliver recently translated this work to a 25 minute dance film in collaboration with German director Marcus Behrens. The film aired on European art channel Canal Arte in August of 2005 and has been making a round of Dance Film festivals around the country and abroad. For this project, Ms. Oliver was awarded an Arnold O. Beckman award from the University of Illinois.

In 2004 she was also awarded a Faculty Research Award by the school of Fine and Applied Arts, and an Illinois Arts Council grant in Choreography. In addition to Ms. Oliver's performance work, she holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University. Her scholarly work focuses on performance in the Anglophone Caribbean. She has published creative pieces in a number of journals and art publications and scholarly essays in the exhibition booklet "African American Art and the Modernist Impulse," and the anthology, "Caribbean Dance: >From Abakua to Zouk, How Movement Shapes Identity." She teaches dance technique, composition, performance and feminist theory, and courses emphasizing the African-American and African-Caribbean contributions to American concert dance.

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T. John Kim, Endowed Professor of Urban and Regional Systems, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Dr. Kim began his education in his native South Korea in architectural engineering and completed graduate study in planning at Princeton University. He has worked in Austria, Germany, South Korea, Indonesia, Sweden, Kenya, the People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia and the United States. In 1979-80 he served as the project director of the National Comprehensive Transportation Study of Korea, sponsored by the World Bank. He also directed the Optimal Transport Sector Development Project in Indonesia in 1990-1991. He served as the Director of the Office of Overseas University Collaboration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was the University of Illinois Liaison Officer to the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities, Inc. (MUCIA). He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Germany, Senior Fulbright Scholar to Korea, and Chair of the National Advisory Committee for GIS Implementation of Korea. He is the Head of Delegates from Korea for Technical Committee for GIS Standardization (TC 211) of the International Organization for Standards (ISO) since 1995 and is an advisor to the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) in Saudi Arabia since 1994.

Dr. Kim teaches courses in transportation analysis, GIS, and the application of the social sciences in planning. Recent research funded by the National Science Foundation focused on models that attempt to show the impact of transportation on urban form and structure and that evaluate the economic impacts of damages in transportation under unscheduled events. Other research projects include development of efficient real time traffic data, episodic and seasonal controls for transportation, and GIS standards. Dr. Kim has published seven books on Urban Systems Analysis, Regional Systems Analysis, Expert Systems Applications to Urban Planning, Expert Systems in Environmental Planning, and Spatial Planning in Indonesia. In addition, 18 book chapters, 44 journal articles and 36 professional publications have been published.

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Lynne M. Dearborn, Assistant Professor of Design, School of Architecture

In 1983 Lynne M. Dearborn graduated from the Renselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York with both a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science. She went on to earn her Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon, Eugene in 1994. Dearborn followed that with a Ph. D in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Dr. Dearborn is registered as a professional architect in both Oregon and Maine and in 1990 earned National Architectural Certification.

She has served as an Assistant Professor at the U of I since the fall of 2002. Prior to her work at the U of I she served the students from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, the University of Oregon, and also lectured at the Fiji Institute of Technology for two years (1987-89). Dearborn began here career as an Architectural Designer for Henry Dennis in Albany, NY, moving on to do the same for Petersen Ryan Mallin Architects and Merrymeeting Architects. She then worked as a Project Architect for REA Design Associates and then the Center for Housing Innovation. For two years she served as an Architectural Design Review Consultant for the Oregon Housing Community Services, and finally was self-employed as an Architectural Consultant until she found her way to the U of I. Since 2000 Dr. Dearborn has been a member of the Enviornmental Design Research Association.

She serves on the Executive Committee of the East St. Louis Action Research Project and has been a member of the Design Committee, the Architectural Council, the Faculty Search Committee, and the Curriculum Committee- all at the School of Architecture at U of I In 2005 Dearborn was the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the UIUC School of Architecture. That same year she was inducted into the Gargoyle Honor Society.

The American Institute of Architects honored her in 2004 with the AIA Education Honors Award, and that same year she received the Architecutre for Social Justice Award. She won first place in 2001 for her student paper from the Enviornmental Design Research Association. The School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee wararded her with two Graduate Research Awards and a Ph.D. Prize for Dissertation Proposal. Early in her graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin she received first place in a Research Paper Competition from their Center for Women’s Studies.

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Robin McFarquhar, Professor of Acting, Department of Theatre

Specialties: Stage movement and combat, clowning, acrobatics, masks

Robin H. McFarquhar is an accredited fight director with the Society of American Fight Directors. Credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Gary Sinise (2001 Tony Award for Best Revival) and Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington (both on Broadway) and the world premieres of Time to Burn, The Berlin Circle, and The Ballad of Little Jo, and the American premieres of The Libertine, with John Malkovich, and A Clockwork Orange, all for the Steppenwolf Theatre.

In Chicago his work has also been seen at the Chicago Shakespeare, Court, and Next, theatres, including the world premieres of All the Rage and Griller for the Goodman Theatre. His work has been at the Idaho, Illinois, Utah and Virginia Shakespearean Festivals, and internationally on tours to England, Japan, Cyprus, and Hungary. He is the recipient of the Campus Award for Undergraduate Teaching, two Meritorious Achievement Awards from the American College Festival Theatre at the Kennedy Center, and was recently named a University Scholar. E-mail: rmcfarqu@uiuc.edu

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Barrington L. Coleman, Associate Professor of Voice, School of Music

Prior to his appointment at the University of Illinois, Professor Coleman was assistant professor of voice at Illinois Wesleyan University and conductor of the Limited Edition Jazz Choral Ensemble. He has performed and recorded as a tenor soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Music of the Baroque Ensemble, Royal Opera House of Covent Garden, La Fenice (Venice, Italy), Glyndebourne Opera, London Philharmonic and Symphony orchestras, and the Sunday Evening Club of WTTW-TV in Chicago.

He has collaborated with such prominent composers as Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and Doug McConnell on various premiere and standard works for voice, as well as performing as jazz pianist with many prominent jazz artists, including Christian McBride, Lonnie Plaxico, and Sam Rivers. Professor Coleman is presently director, arranger, pianist, and vocalist of The Barrington Coleman Trio and a frequent freelance solo jazz artist. In 1990, he and his wife, internationally acclaimed lyric soprano and assistant professor of voice at the University of Illinois, Cynthia Haymon, performed in the world premiere of Richard Blackford’s King. Professors Coleman and Haymon also performed in an EMI-label recording and film of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

In January 1999, Professor Coleman was guest conductor and clinician for the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State High School Chorus, as well as guest conductor for the American Association of Choral Conductors Central Region Male Chorus Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Professor Coleman has served as a guest lecturer and performer for the Krannert Center of the Performing Arts Jazz Immersion concert series and also directed an ensemble at the nationally recognized arts education endeavor, “Black Sacred Music Symposium of Illinois,” held on the University of Illinois campus in 1999 and 2003. In addition to directing and performing, Professor Coleman has served as an adjudicator for arts programs of universities, high schools, community arts organizations, churches, and an array of professional music associations in America as a classical, jazz, and gospel artist.

Teaching Philosophy: The gift of singing is rooted in the foundation of God-given components of individual anatomy. The most vital aspect of singing is the ability to develop a healthy, expressive tone and physical approach to singing, which enables aspiring artists to sing comfortably and for a long time. In my teaching I strive to share the vast influences that have enriched my life musically and personally.

I help my students focus on the thorough study, analysis, and application of such sensory principles as the coordination and even distribution of breath, the maintenance and discipline of building muscular strength, flexibility, and vitality through the daily application of vocal exercises and assimilation of articulation, and the aural identification of healthy, quality vocal sound.

I strive to encourage artistic self-discipline, zeal for research and exploration of diverse styles, periods, and practices, and provide a secure foundation for vocal technique according to the expressive capacity of each individual.

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Guy E. Garnett, Associate Professor of Composition and Theory, School of Music

Prior to his appointment at UIUC, Garnett held research appointments at Stanford University's CCRMA and the Yamaha Corporation. He taught electronic music at the University of California-Berkeley, where he also served as director of music and technology at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT, http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/).

In addition to writing for conventional instruments and ensembles, Garnett writes for technologically extended or augmented instrumental performance and has composed a number of works in this medium that have been performed in Europe, Asia, North and South America. Among his most recently completed works are Partita for solo violin, a piece for saxophone and ensemble, commissioned by the Fromm Foundation and Ensemble 21, and a work for bass recorder and electronics, entitled Lyric Spaces, commissioned by the ERTA Congress in Vienna and premiered in that city and in Berlin, Germany. During the 1998-1999 concert season, his Piece 21 was performed in New York by Ensemble 21, and his Divertimento for Chamber Ensemble was performed by the New York New Music Ensemble.

In May of 1999, his orchestral Overture was performed by the Riverside Symphony in New York. During the Spring of 2000, his Partita for solo violin was premiered in New York, and his Piece 21 received its California premiere by the Empyrean Ensemble (http://music.ucdavis.edu/empyrean/). Also last year his work for solo cello and electronics, InteractionsIII, was released on a CD which is available from the Electronic Music Foundation (http://www.emf.org/aboutemf/index.html).

This latter work was commissioned for the Strings and Machines project at the University of California, and was premiered by Hugh Livingston. In July of 2000, Lyric Spaces received its South American premiere in Curitiba, Brazil. Continuing his previous work in the aesthetics of music technology, Professor Garnett gave a lecture in the CyberArts program sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study at UIUC. He served as guest editor of the Computer Music Journal (MIT Press, http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/Computer-Music-Journal/CMJ.html), bringing out an issue devoted to the aesthetics of computer music. This issue includes his own article on the aesthetics of interactive electronics as well as an international selection of current writing in the field.

In the Spring of 2000, Professor Garnett, along with Dr. Fred Stoltzfus (then Chair of the UIUC Choral Division and currently the School's Interim Director) and co-workers in Computer Science, the School of Library and Information Science, and the Beckman Institute, was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Critical Research Initiative for the Interactive Virtual Ensemble. This project seeks to develop computer systems that can follow and interpret the gestures of a human conductor. This is a complex problem not only musically, but in computer technology and interface design. The work draws on experts in gesture tracking, user interface design, conducting, and computer music to solve it.

In 2001, along with colleagues in Architecture and the School of Art and Design, Professor Garnett was awarded a second CRI grant. This one will support development of new artworks using advanced, immersive technology. It will result in a new artwork using NCSA's virtual reality environment, the CAVE. Professor Garnett continues to actively present his work, in both music composition and research, around the globe. In 1999/2000 he presented works in Beijing, Belgium, New York, California, and Brazil, as well as locally in Urbana. In the 2001/2002 season he will present his work in Cuba and Vienna, among other places.

The next big project is a CyberOpera, The Death of Virgil. This will incorporate singers and instrumentalists along with technology in a meditation on life, art, and love based on the novel by Hermann Broch.

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Amita Sinha, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture

Education:

1982 - B.Arch. (Five year professional degree program) Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
1984 M.Arch. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA
1989 Ph.D. in Architecture University of California Berkeley Academic Experience

As I look back to when I began teaching at UIUC, I feel that not only did that year (1989) mark the beginning of my academic career in Landscape Architecture but it also brought me to the threshold of what I believe will be a life long exploration of the nexus between culture and landscape. As an Architecture student in India I was drawn to buildings not as aesthetic objects in themselves but in the ways in which they are experienced by people.

As a graduate student in the U.S. I acquired the training and confidence in researching those modes of experience, both individual and collective. In the course on Social and Cultural Issues in Environmental Design that I teach every Fall, I expose the students to a wide set of readings on identity and sense of place, community and privacy, nature and culture, as a set of social and psychological constructs produced by mutual interaction between the self and the physical environment.

I introduce them to the pleasures of ethnography and learning about subcultures as they evolve and are sustained by places.For the past several years I have been teaching a general education course on Cultural Landscapes of South Asia in which I take a longitudinal perspective in explaining how epochal moments in history introduce new ways of seeing and attaching meanings to nature and landscape that in turn bring about cultural transformations in a region. This course gives the students, with backgrounds varying from engineering to business administration to design, an introduction to reading and understanding cultures through the medium of landscapes.