The College of Arts + Architecture is pleased to announce the 2020 Distinguished Alumni. The award ceremony will take place on Friday, March 13, at 11:30 am in the Anne R. Belk Theater in Robinson Hall.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards were created by the College of Arts + Architecture in 2015 to recognize the accomplishments of alumni who demonstrate in their work the core themes of the College's vision: professionalism, global perspective, environmental engagement, connectivity with community, collaboration, and the emergence of new ideas, skills, and practices. Each department designates one Distinguished Alum annually, chosen by departmental faculty and administration.
Sandra C. Atkinson (Bachelor of Arts in Dance, 2003) is chair of the Dance Department in the Jim Henson Center for the Visual and Performing Arts at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. She is also the Founder/Artistic Director of Light Switch Dance Theatre, where she creates socially conscious multidisciplinary work to be performed in non-traditional spaces. Sandra currently choreographs works at Montgomery College (Rockville, MD), Black Rock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD), and City Ballet (Hagerstown, MD). Her teaching/choreographic credits include American University (Washington, DC), Goucher College (Baltimore, MD), Community College Baltimore County (Essex, MD), American College Dance Festival, Washington Ballet School, Dance Place (ReVision Dance Company class), and for Equinox Dance Company.
Sandra has performed professionally with Next Reflex Dance Collective, Peter Dimuro, Jane Franklin Dance, Carla & Company at Dance Place, and Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. In 2012, she was awarded the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship from Montgomery College. She is currently serving on the Dance Student Learning Outcomes/Assessment Committee and Center for Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Committee for Prince George’s County Public Schools. She also serves as a judge for the Helen Hayes Awards through TheatreWashington and on the Grants/Scholarship Committee for the Maryland Dance Education Association.
Sandra's theatre work includes choreography for productions at Glass Mind Theatre Company, Fells Point Corner Theatre, and Strand Theatre, all in Baltimore. She has choreographed multiple theatre productions at Montgomery College and Notre Dame of Maryland University. Her most recent work includes choreography for Blueberries for Sal at Adventure Theatre and Oliver!: The Musical at Richard Montgomery High School (Rockville, MD). Sandra served recently as Director for the Kennedy Center REACH Parade and Moderator for Ronald K. Brown/Arturo O'Farrill at Strathmore Music Center (North Bethesda, MD).
She holds a Master of Arts in Performing Arts: Dance from American University.
Joseph Benjamin Earp (Bachelor of Music Education, 2006) is the Director of Athletic Bands at Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina. In addition to his undergraduate degree in music education from UNC Charlotte, he holds a Master of Music in Music Education from Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina. Currently he is pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education administrative leadership at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Recently, he was inducted into the Omega Nu Lambda National College Honor Society based on his current academic achievement.
Joe’s professional teaching career began at Seneca High School in South Carolina as Director of Bands in 2006. He later taught band at Robbinsville Middle and High Schools before becoming the founding Director of Bands at Cox Mill High School in Concord, North Carolina. He has had numerous accomplishments teaching at the secondary level: multiple superior ratings, grand championships, and awards and recognitions for his instrumental ensembles, including the selection of one of his symphonic bands to perform at the 2013 North Carolina Music Educators State Conference. Now in his current role at Limestone College, he has elevated many elements of Limestone’s athletic band program.
In addition to teaching, Joe is an active published composer and clinician, with music performed internationally. His compositions are available from BKJ Publications and RWS Music Company, which is distributed worldwide by C. L. Barnhouse. One of his concert band works, Where the Wild Things Dance, was recently selected by J. W. Pepper to be part of their 2019 Editors’ Choice catalog. Other major compositional accomplishments include being winner of the 2010 Claude T. Smith Composition Contest in Missouri and winner of the 2018 Thornton Community Band Composition Contest in Colorado. He currently resides in Concord, North Carolina, with his wife Mary Beth and sons, Jackson and Jasper.
Over her 30-year career in public schools, Cheryl Maney (Bachelor of Creative Arts, 1989) has been an art educator, arts integration facilitator, and K-12 visual arts and dance curriculum specialist. She has directed a summer arts programs for gifted students, curated numerous art exhibits, and conducted professional development for educators across the nation on integration, literacy and the arts, assessment, standards alignment, and media-based techniques.
Cheryl served on the visual arts writing committee for the National Core Arts Standards and as the lead for the NC Arts Standards. She was the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Supervision and Administration Division Director, 2015-2017; North Carolina Art Education Association (NCAEA) board member, 2005-2014: NCAEA president, 2009-2011; Mid-Carolina Affiliate for the Scholastics Art and Writing Awards, 2004- 2018; and Visual Arts Representative on the Governor’s Legislative Committee to develop the NC K-12 Comprehensive Arts Education Plan, first in the nation, 2011. In 2013, in collaboration with Adams Outdoor Advertising, she created the annual Gold Key Drive-Through Gallery to showcase student art.
Cheryl was awarded the NAEA National Supervisor of the Year in 2018, the NAEA Southeastern Supervisor of the Year in 2012, the NC Art Educator of the Year in 2011, the NC Art Supervisor of the Year in 2010, the NC Elementary Art Teacher of the Year in 2003, and a Charlotte World Affairs Council Scholar in 2001.
She has facilitated several “community service learning through the arts” projects, including Operation PayDirt with Mel Chin and more than 10,000 students. She has traveled to Montana, Guatemala, and Cuba to work with children and advocate for the arts. She exhibits her photographs and sculptural books regularly in North Carolina. Cheryl received a Masters in Education in the Arts from East Carolina University in 2004 and a Curriculum and Supervision Certificate from UNC Charlotte in 2007.
Melanie Reddrick (Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, 2001) serves as the Interim Division Director of Construction Technologies for Central Piedmont Community College. In this role, she plans, organizes, and directs the instructional and administrative activities for the Division, and oversees program coordination, curriculum, and review. The Construction Technologies Division encompasses a broad range of design and construction disciplines, including architecture, interior design, construction management, electrical systems, HVAC, and the skilled trades. Melanie’s personal passion is Building Information Modeling and its potential to unify the design, fabrication, specification, and assembly processes that shape our built environment. She is also committed to improving upward mobility in Charlotte through strategic partnerships, including one with the Goodwill Construction Skills Training Center in Charlotte.
Melanie earned a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia in 2003. She is a licensed architect and a licensed interior designer. She also holds professional certifications in AutoCAD and Revit, and is a LEED Accredited Professional (Building Design and Construction). She has held previous positions with Neighboring Concepts (Charlotte), Perkins Eastman (Charlotte), and J. Hyatt Hammond Associates (Greensboro).
She is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and a graduate of AIA Charlotte’s YAF Leadership program. She serves with the ACE (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Mentor program, and serves on the board of The ROC Charlotte, a non-profit ministry that provides free construction skills training for high school students in partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Central Piedmont Community College.
Stacey Rose (Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, 2008) hails from Elizabeth, New Jersey and Charlotte, respectively. She is a proud mom, daughter, and sibling. Stacey is a 2019- 20 McKnight Fellow, 2020-22 Playwrights’ Center Core Writer, 2018-19 Goodman Theatre’s Playwrights Unit writer, and member of The Civilians R&D Group. Stacey was a recipient of a 2019 Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Women’s Commissioning Grant in partnership with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. She was a 2018 Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow, 2017-18 Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellow, and 2015-16 Dramatist Guild Fellow.
Stacey’s work celebrates and explores Blackness, Black identity, Black history, body politics, and the dilemma of life as the “other.” Her play America v. 2.1 was awarded the inaugural Burman New Play Prize and received its world premiere production at Barrington Stage Company in June 2019. Her play Legacy Land, developed at The Playwrights’ Center, premiered at Kansas City Rep in February 2020. America v. 2.1 and her play As Is are featured on the 2019 Kilroys list. Legacy Land also made The List as an Honorable Mention. Her work has been presented at UNC Charlotte, On Q Productions, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, The Fire This Time Festival, The Brooklyn Generator, The Bushwick Starr Reading Series, Mosaic Theatre, The Amoralists Theatre Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, National Black Theatre, and Pillsbury House Theater. She served as Writers Assistant and Script Coordinator for Season 1 of the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It.
Stacey received a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2015. While at Tisch, she was the recipient of an AAUW Career Development Grant, Future Screenwriting Fellowship, and The Goldberg Prize, for her play The Danger: Homage to Strange Fruit.