Degree Received: Bachelor of Music in Music Education

Major and Minor: Dance Major, Art History and Theatre Minor

Name: Andrea Houde

Title: Assistant Professor of Viola

You may not know Don Wilcox, but you know his legacy. Every time the West Virginia University Marching Band – The Pride of West Virginia – performs, traces of Wilcox’s teachings ring through. Every time you see a woman in The Pride uniform, Wilcox’s practices shine.

As the Director of Bands for 34 years before his retirement in 2005, Wilcox is perhaps the most transformational band director in Pride history. It’s no surprise to anyone that knows Wilcox, and the love his former students have for him, that an anonymous $50,000 gift in his honor has been donated to The Pride of West Virginia to support its greatest needs.

The program begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum Education Center Grand Hall, which is located near the corner of Patteson Drive and Morrill Way at the Evansdale Campus North Entrance.  The event is free and open to the public.

Lupo’s talk will include a brief history of American comics, focusing on a few of the pioneers of the medium. Using some of the work included in the My Hero! exhibition, Lupo will also explore the complicated relationship American comics has had with contemporary art since the 1960’s and how that relationship has changed recently.

A coal miner by trade, Joe Hestick loved the world of art. Mr. Hestick’s love of art and education is why Beth Hestick decided to fund the Master Printmaking Series in Memory of Joe Hestick. 

Mrs. Hestick started taking printmaking classes at West Virginia University School of Art & Design nearly 10 years ago. Mr. Hestick would would attend lectures and openings and particularly enjoyed viewing student work.

A West Virginia native who earned a BA and an MA from West Virginia University School of Art & Design, Myles wanted to establish the fund because of her experiences as an art teacher around the state after graduating from WVU and leaving Morgantown.

“Early in my teaching career, I was the only art teacher in my schools,” Myles said. “There was little or no feedback for idea exchange and those were years well before the internet.”