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sai-national.org • WINTER 2017 • PAN PIPES 29 She also teaches various choral and conducting courses at the University. In partnership with Craig Courtney, she is co-editor of the Capital University Choral Series published by Beckenhorst Press. She is a graduate of Calvin College and earned her Master's of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Michigan State University. Christine Kyhn Christine Kyhn was initiated as a Friend of the Arts in September by the Phoenix Alumnae Chapter. Kyhn is an accomplished pianist, organist, and accompanist for the Congregational Church of Sun City, Scottsdale Christian Academy, and the West Valley Chorale. She is also a voice instructor, choir director, and department head at Rosie's House Music Academy, which provides instruments, ensembles, and/or lessons to disadvantaged youth in the Phoenix valley. In total, Christine has taught music for over 30 years in private and public settings and throughout four different states. She received her Bachelor's in Music Performance from California State University East Bay with a focus on Organ and Piano Performance and additional studies in Voice and Choir. John W. Neely John W. Neely was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Dayton Alumnae Chapter in September. Neely has served for 35 years as Associate Pastor for Music at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Dayton (founding home of Westminster Choir College). He directs the Westminster Chancel Choir, Calvin Choir, and Knox Choir, and is the church organist. Neely holds degrees from Duquesne University, Union eological Seminary School of Sacred Music, and Pittsburgh eological Seminary. He has taught in the music departments of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, and Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio. He has been Dean of the Canton and Dayton Chapters of the American Guild of Organists and was national president of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. He is recognized nationally as an organ recitalist, conductor, and choral clinician, and is Music Director of the Bach Society of Dayton. Russell Podgorsek, D.M.A. Russell Podgorsek, D.M.A. was initiated as a Friend of the Arts in May by the Beta Xi Chapter at the University of Texas. He serves as Lecturer and Building Coordinator at the University of Texas where he earned his Doctorate. He is a graduate of both the Hartt School of Music and the University of Dayton. On any Saturday evening, he can be found playing his viola alongside other talented musicians in the Fine Arts Library. ese library concerts, part of Russell's concert series, Excessive Noise, feature his own compositions as well as that of other local and national composers. On the regional level, he is the director of the new music and outreach organization Pale Blue. (pronounced pale blue dot), where he actively seeks out ways to engage with the community. Every event Pale Blue. puts on is in partnership with Austin Soundwaves, a music education group at a low-income Austin school. He is a founding member of the Miklos Quartet and the perceval duo. He has received a number of grants and fellowships including several MetLife Creative Connections Awards. His recent awards and commissions include a New Music USA Project Grant for a collaboration with NANO Fiction and the Cordova Quartet, and works for the Bel Cuore Saxophone Quartet, the Life/Art Dance Ensemble, the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, and the Sudbury Youth Orchestra. He was also featured as composer-in-residence at the Simsbury (CT) Chamber Music Festival in 2008. Mary Alice Rich Mary Alice Rich was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Dallas Alumnae Chapter in September. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Violin Performance at the University of Illinois. She has performed with the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Dallas Opera Orchestra. She maintains a private teaching studio while also teaching at Texas A & M University in Commerce. In 1992, an injury caused her to explore composition. She has studied with Jack Waldenmaier, Ted Hansen, and Winston Stone. As a composer, Ms. Rich is a back-to- back first-place winner of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association Composition Contest. In 2000 she won the string orchestra category with Prelude and, in 2001, the full orchestra category for Overture. She also won the "Children's Song" category of a national contest hosted by the Dallas Songwriters Association in 1994. Her compositions have been played by professionals throughout the United States and abroad. In 2006 her Quintet For Clarinet And String Quartet was commissioned and premiered by Kansas City Summerfest which led to its being featured in a "Voice of Change" concert in Dallas. The following year her Letters From e Fallen was premiered by VOC. Her most recent work, the opera Wading Home, was premiered on April 2, 2015 at the Dallas City Performance Hall through a grant funded by MPower. Southern Methodist University awarded a grant to take Wading Home to New Orleans for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Joe Whisenhunt Joe Whisenhunt was initiated as a Friend of the Arts in November by the Zeta Chi Chapter at the University of Central Arkansas. Whisenhunt is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Central Arkansas. Beginning his seven-year term in February, he says that one of his focuses at the board level will be to pursue the fine arts aer inheriting his passion for the arts from his mother. He graduated from Hendrix College in 1984 and is restarting the UCA Friends of Music program begun by his mother in 1986. Upon his becoming a member of the Board of Trustees, Governor Asa Hutchinson commended Whisenhunt for his appreciation of the fine arts. He is a director of the Suzuki Resource Group, which has an annual five-piano and chamber clinic. He participates in choir and handbell at the First United Methodist Church. Mark Williamson Mark Williamson was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Dallas Alumnae Chapter in DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS Kyhn Neely Podgorsek Rich Whisenhunt DISTINGUISHED continued on page 30

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