Date Time
Joyce Wong Elected to National Academy of Inventors
Joyce Wong’s career as an inventor began with-and was inspired by-a pair of painful personal events. While she was pursuing her PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), her grandfather succumbed to cancer and, shortly thereafter, her father suffered a nonfatal heart attack.
“At the time, I was working with biomaterials and studying their interactions with cells,” says Wong, a Boston University College of Engineering professor of biomedical engineering and materials science and engineering. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, maybe the research I can do will really make a difference. ”
For producer Cameron Mackintosh, Mr. Avian choreographed the London premiere of
Follies as well as the London and Broadway productions of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil s Tony-nominated Miss Saigon. He received a 1991 Tony nomination for Best Choreography for his work on the latter. In a statement Mackintosh said Avian was also a brilliant producer, instinctively perceptive, and collaborative and shrewdly honest in his opinions but always kind⦠He facilitated the genius of Michael Bennett, and with every little step he took taught me more about the art of staging a modern musical than virtually anyone else Iâve met.
Director and choreographer Bob Avian has died aged 83.
Born in New York City on December 26, 1937, Avian received his BA from Boston University College of Fine Arts and also studied at the Boston Ballet School.
He danced in the original Broadway ensembles of
West Side Story (playing Indio),
Funny Girl (opposite Barbra Streisand), and
Henry, Sweet Henry.
Working with long-term collaborator Michael Bennett, he won his two Tonys for co-choreographing Bennett s productions of
A Chorus Line and
Ballroom.
Miss Saigon, which played at the Prince Edward Theatre.
He won an Olivier Award for his work on
Martin Guerre, with further West End work including major productions of
BU Mourns the Passing of Wilbur Fullbright
Boston University College of Fine Arts and Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) are saddened to learn of the passing of Wilbur D. Fullbright (GRS’60). Fullbright’s leadership and vision shaped Music at Boston University. He was a professor emeritus of music and long-serving School of Music director, in addition to being a founder of BUTI. Dr. Fullbright passed away on November 22, 2020.
Born January 19, 1926, near Spearman, Texas, Wilbur grew up on a farm, graduating from Spearman High School in 1942. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1950 with a B.A. in Music and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Bob Jones University in 1953, where he remained as a faculty member until 1956, when he moved to Boston, Massachusetts. He completed his doctoral degree in music at Boston University, where he remained until his retirement in 1993, serving in various capa
CFA Magazine Feature: Conversation
Artists Joel Christian Gill (CFA’04) and Charles Suggs (CFA’20) discuss using their work to tell lesser-known stories from Black history
Originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of CFA magazine. Edited By Mara Sassoon. Photos by Hannah Rose
In the wee hours of May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls, an enslaved Black man, stole the Confederate ship the CSS
Planter. It was the middle of the Civil War, and Smalls, one of the
Planter’s eight enslaved crew members, steered the ship away from a dock in Charleston, S.C., after its white captain, pilot, and engineer disembarked for the night. Donning the captain’s hat as a disguise, Smalls picked up his family and the families of other crew members and sailed out of Confederate waters and into freedom.