Study looks at race and reliability of eyewitness identification
SALT LAKE CITY — How accurate is eyewitness testimony? A Weber State University professor's research sheds some light on how racial bias may weigh in to the mistakes eyewitnesses make.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&;sid=20347809
WSU prof tracks eye movement to discern racial bias in suspect lineups
Weber State professor Sheree Josephson recently published a study that shows eyewitnesses struggle when trying to identify a suspect of another race, and whites and blacks react differently when trying to identify suspects of their own race from a photo array, or lineup.
http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/05/09/wsu-prof-tracks-eye-movement-discern-racial-bias-suspect-lineups
WSU Professor Conducts Eyewitness Eye-Tracking Research
WSU Professor Conducts Eyewitness Eye-Tracking Research With Important Implications
WSU PROFESSOR DIRECTS 'EVOLUTIONARY COMEDY' AT SLAC
by Amy K. Stewart
Weber State University theater professor Tracy Callahan of Ogden is directing a new play, "Course 86B in the Catalogue."
"I love working here at Weber State with my students, but it's also fun to get out in the community and work on a world-premiere play," said Callahan. She has been at Weber State for 15 years and is also head of the university's acting and directing program.
The production opens Wednesday, April 11, at the Salt Lake Acting Company. It continues through May 6.
The play, written by Kathleen Cahill of Salt Lake City, is a comedy about Stevie Stuart, a Harvard-educated paleontologist who is on the run from a philandering husband. She is hired to teach at an obscure community college in the desert. Her class, "The History of Life on Earth - Course 86B" brings out the past to collide with the present.
Cahill said she came up with the idea for the script after a trip to Southern Utah, where she saw dinosaur tracks and pictographs.
"It is exciting, there is just so much ancient life in Utah," she said. "There is something very inspiring about being in the state."
Cahill has written countless plays and has a background and degree in musical theater. Weber State is planning to do a play of Cahill's this fall. Titled "Charm," it's a comedy about great American thinkers in the 1840s.
Unique discovery
In "86B," Stevie Stuart makes a discovery while out hiking: She finds a 500-million-year-old fossil that represents a vanished, unique life form. She also finds ancient, petrified bones; teeth of an early hominid; and freshly painted ancient cave paintings.
One of Cahill's favorite parts of the play is that one of the students has a boyfriend who is a "hominid" -- which is halfway between a human and an ape. His name is Sterling.
"It's really funny," Cahill said, adding there is a lot of "evolutionary comedy."
Actress Colleen Baum of Salt Lake City, who plays Stevie Stuart in the play, has been acting in SLAC productions for 10 years. She said she respects Stevie Stuart's strong personality and believes she has a lot in common with her character, especially in that she is a "fossil fanatic" and loves paleontology.
"I understand Stevie so much," Baum said. "She struggles and is a fantastic character who finds joy and some resolve in her life. It's quite a lovely piece."
Stevie Stuart is goofy, but smart, while also being enthused about life, according to Baum.
"She tries hard," she said. "When she falls down, she picks herself up and just keeps on going -- and she does it with humor."
On a journey
Much of the play is set in what looks like a Southern Utah desert. Various scenes bring in elements to create the atmosphere the play wishes to convey. For example, in the classroom scene, the students sit on rocks, but there is also a lectern, a door, a TV set and a painting easel.
"We're sort of asking the audience to go on this journey with us to all these different places," Callahan said. "With lights and music, we are defining space -- as opposed to different sets coming out. We are just using one unit set."
Callahan says it has been a bonus to have the playwright, Cahill, on set during rehearsals. They have had the opportunity to gain input from her and rewrite or add scenes as needed.
"You wouldn't necessarily have that if you were just working off of a script," she said.
Working with director Callahan has been an excellent experience, Baum said.
"Tracy doesn't ever make us feel like we are doing it wrong," Baum said. "She helps us understand there are other ways we can try. She lets us experiment. I really like directors who let us experiment, and she does that a lot."
the original story can be found here.
Dick Halley inducted into ILA hall of fame
Weber State's College of Arts and Humanities would like to congratulate Dick Halley, professor emeritus of Communication and a former International Listening Association (ILA) president, who was recently inducted into the ILA hall of fame.
Chesler Park in Canyonlands National Park - Photos by Shane Farver
Weber State University journalism instructor Shane Farver hit the trail earlier this month in Canyonlands National Park.
Farver and friends hiked in Chesler Park in the Needles District. As you can see from the photographs, wide open vistas gave way to slot canyons on a day of sightseeing.
Farver also mapped his hike. Find it by clicking here.
What are your favorite trails in Canyonlands National Park?
— Nate Carlisle
Photos can be viewed here.
WSU Names Hinckley, Collaboration Award Winners
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University music professor Yu-Jane Yang has been named the 2012 John S. Hinckley Fellow, while WSU’s International Economics program is the 2012 Exemplary Collaboration Award winner.
Yang, an accomplished pianist who has performed in concert on three continents, joined the WSU music faculty in 1992. Known for her ability to train award-winning performers, she not only has grown WSU’s Piano Program, she has elevated its renown on the national and international stage.
That heightened awareness has helped Yang successfully recruit piano students from around the world to Weber State, in some cases eschewing famed conservatories like Julliard and Oberlin in favor of WSU. Under her tutelage, these young pianists have gone on to win prestigious competitions at the national and international level.
Yang is the author of numerous articles on piano teaching published in leading piano pedagogy journals. She is a sought-after teacher of both piano workshops and master classes as well as a judge of national and international piano competitions.
Yang was one of three national winners of the 1991 distinguished D.H. Baldwin Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in Piano. She received WSU’s Lowe Innovative Teaching Award in 2000 and was honored by the Utah Symphony Ballet Association with the Women in the Arts Award in 2008.
In addition, Yang was chosen to receive the Utah Music Teachers Association’s highest honor in 2010, the UMTA Legacy Award, and in 2011, the Music Teachers National Association named her a Foundation Fellow.
Yang, who is the 2010-12 Endowed Scholar/Artist in the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities, spearheaded the Steinway Project at WSU. She worked to attain the prestigious “Steinway School” designation, which the university received in 2011. She was also named a WSU Presidential Distinguished Professor in 2011.
“Professor Yang’s superior teaching skills have been acknowledged through a stellar record of student evaluations, and her reputation as a teacher able to combine high – indeed, world class – expectations with a comfortable yet rigorous classroom atmosphere,” wrote a colleague in nominating her for the Hinckley Award. “Her achievements have gained WSU a truly international reputation and made her a tireless advocate for our institution.”
Since 1991, the Hinckley Award has been bestowed upon a member of the WSU faculty who has excelled in teaching, scholarship and service. The award is named in honor of Ogden businessman and WSU supporter John S. Hinckley, who died in 1990.
The university’s International Economics (IE) program received the 2012 Exemplary Collaboration Award, in recognition of the teamwork demonstrated during the implementation and later expansion of the program.
Building on an existing international faculty exchange program, the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics organized a partnership with Shanghai Normal University (SNU) in 2008, making it easier for Chinese students to travel to Ogden and earn a bachelor's degree in international economics.
WSU’s Department of Economics worked with SNU to develop a “two plus two curriculum,” where students take courses in Shanghai during their freshman and sophomore years and in Ogden during their junior and senior years. They complete the same courses at WSU required of any other international economics major. The program recently expanded to include students from Korea’s Woongji Accounting and Tax College.
As of fall 2011, 83 Chinese and Korean students were taking classes through the International Economics program at WSU. Twenty-one students from SNU have graduated from the program, and the first student from Woongji will graduate this spring.
“Creating this program would have been impossible without the support and dedication of a wide variety of WSU personnel,” said Jeff Steagall, dean of the Goddard School.
Those involved in the program include the faculty and staff of the Goddard School, especially economics professor and associate dean Cliff Nowell, economics chair Doris Geide-Stevenson, and the economics department. Also taking part were professors from the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities, the College of Applied Science & Technology, and the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, as well as staff from Continuing Education, the International Student Center, and the Admissions Office.
The university will formerly recognize the recipients of both awards at a luncheon on March 20.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Professor's Designs in Print Magazine
The poster series designed by Professor Larry Clarkson (Visual Arts) for theatre performances last year on campus has been included in Print magazine's 31st Regional Design Annual.
The competition showcases what is considered some of the best graphic design created across the US over the last year. With several thousand of entries submitted, only a few hundred or so are selected. The work of only three practicing designers from Utah made it into the annual this year, Larry Clarkson and DOVA alumnus Dan Christofferson included. Larry and Dan’s work, as well as the entire show, is available online at http://regionaldesignannual.printmag.com/far-west-2011/.
Paul Crow at Sundance
Sunset Event Aims to Inspire Young Musicians
By Rosemary Winters
Salt Lake Tribune
Curtis Michelson could see at least one benefit of being a professional musician when he and his peers at Sunset Junior High recently were asked to name a few.
“You get paid to do what you like,” the seventh-grader chimed in during a group discussion.
Michelson, a cellist, was one of 200 or so budding musicians who participated in Sunset’s annual “Successful Musicianship Evening” last week.
Choir teacher Melanie Wilcox has organized the event for the past dozen years to inspire choral, band and orchestra students to see the potential of a career in music or simply in developing a lifetime hobby.
“It’s a soul thing,” Wilcox said in an interview. “It’s something that if you’re a musician, and you find that joy doing musical things, other things don’t measure up.”
The students met professional musicians, learned about opportunities for private lessons and practiced concert etiquette listening to short performances by the Northridge High band and Clearfield High choir.
Thomas Priest, director of music education at Weber State University, treated the students to a bassoon solo. He also asked the room to hum “Amazing Grace” together and see if everyone ended in the same key.
“That is the power of music,” he said aft
'Sex' covered up at North Ogden Arts Festival
NORTH OGDEN -- Tempers flared Saturday afternoon at the North Ogden Arts Festival when local artist and Weber State University professor Steve Stones got some strange looks and comments over his art display.
One of his pieces on display includes the words "Monster Sex Fiend" along the top of the artwork, that is intended to resemble an old-time movie poster. He has shown the piece at other art shows and even showed it at the North Ogden festival last year, but this year, some people were offended by the word "sex" on the art.
The North Ogden Civic League, a service group, sponsors the festival every year and donates proceeds from the festival to city projects. Stones said several members of the Civic League strolled by his art, looked at the piece and walked away. A few minutes later, he was approached by Diane Russell, the festival organizer this year.
"She told me I was going to have to take it down," Stones said of the artwork. He recalls that she got very emotional and told him that in North Ogden there are certain community standards that need to be upheld.
He asked if he should put the art inside the canopy, and she agreed it would be a good idea.
He started to do so and then was counseled by his girlfriend that he should "stick to his guns." He then put the art back outside the canopy and covered the word "sex" with a white piece of paper that said, "Censored."
Russell said she doesn't remember that she asked him to move the art, but they agreed putting it inside the canopy would be a good idea. As the conversation about the artwork got more heated, she said, another woman walked up and he told her he was being censored.
"When he said that, I just walked away, because I was in no way trying to censor his art," Russell said. The reason she approached him was that other artists around his booth were complaining about the art and the word "sex."
"I didn't even see it until I looked closely at it," Russell said. She said she didn't necessarily have a problem with the art but was trying to make others happy.
She said another artist who had some suggestive paintings offered to move them inside of the canopy so the works were not in clear view of all passersby.
Full story and images hereWeber State graduate tours country - on a bamboo bike
Jason Dilworth probably always saw things a little differently, first with the trained eyes of an art student at Weber State University, then as a bicyclist who viewed the world up close.
And now Dilworth, 30, and a 2006 WSU grad, has seen 2,500 meandering miles of America, from Greensboro, Ala., to San Francisco, from the back of a kit-assembled bamboo bike.
"A friend of mine, Marc O'Brien, said he wanted to bicycle across country before he turned 30, and asked if I wanted to go," said Dilworth, now a graphic arts teacher at State University of New York at Fredonia. "He asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes immediately. I kind of had some unfinished business."
O'Brien and Dilworth met when both studied art at the University of Virginia, O'Brien as an undergraduate, Dilworth as a grad student. After earning his master's in 2009, Dilworth applied for teaching jobs, and set off traveling west on his bicycle, for a summer of sightseeing and visiting friends he couldn't have afforded to see if it required air fare.
"I was in Bryce Canyon when I checked my voice mail and learned I had a teaching job," Dilworth said. "I ended my bike tour short, and left the red rocks for the green hills. But I always felt I had unfinished business."
When O'Brien suggested the latest ride, which would attract two more friends, he mentioned the idea of bamboo-frame bicycles. O'Brien had worked in Alabama, a state with a struggling farm community, and he learned that Alabama has ideal conditions for growing bamboo, a crop for which America is the largest importer. O'Brien and others believe bamboo is a good cash crop for Southern small farmers struggling to make a living.
So the bicycle trip, besides being a fun idea and a celebration of turning 30, became a promotion for Alabamboo, a movement to bring bamboo farming to Alabama.
The riders bought bike kits from Bamboo Bike Studio, an environmentally minded New York company. The team harvested its own Alabama bamboo and held the fibrous canes over heat for hardening.
The canes were then fitted into metal joints from the kit to form a bicycle frame. Dilworth said his bamboo bicycle rides a lot like his regular bicycle, except he feels extra pride knowing he made his cane-based bike.
The Alabamboo riders assembled their bikes in Alabama, and set off June 4 for a trip they would complete in Northern California on July 30. Dilworth and friends stayed away from interstates and took time to look at the art, history and peculiarities of the regions through which they passed.
"The South has these incredible opportunities, not just for economic growth, but for happiness," said Dilworth, an Idaho native who grew up in Vernal, Utah, and attended WSU on a scholarship. "Every place has incredible histories and local color.
"And riding, you see the South turn into the Midwest, and then into the Intermountain West, and into incredibly different communities in Utah. They fade out in Nevada -- then you get traffic and cars in California."
Dilworth said as the only mountain Westerner in the group, he was worried about what others might think of his childhood home.
"I hoped it wouldn't be too hot and dry, and that none of them would get stung by a scorpion," he said. "I hoped they would love it, and they did. I don't think any of them were expecting the majestic beauty."
The group aimed for a leisurely, flexible trip, with time built in for side excursions suggested by locals. The riders averaged about 80 miles a day, including one day of multiple wrong turns that landed them back where they started, much to their amusement.
Finally riding into San Francisco was satisfying, but that high was followed by a trip low.
"I hated to box up my bike," Dilworth said. "It had become part of me. I could hop on that bike and ride it anywhere."
Now back in New York, Dilworth says he feels trapped, relying on cabs, buses and his own feet to get him where he would rather bike. The bamboo bike is still in transit.
"It's back to school now, back to work," Dilworth said. "It's slightly disorienting. My hometown feels new to me, which I guess is why we travel. Still, I wish there had been time to bicycle back."
Article and Pictures here
Visual Arts Collaboration Earns International Award
OGDEN, Utah – Sticks + Stones, a collaborative design project led in part by Weber State University visual arts professor Mark Biddle, was recently named winner of the international Core77 Design Education Initiatives Award for its Berlin 2010 project.
Sticks + Stones Berlin 2010 focused on culture, migration and representation. In one component of the project, students took to the streets of Berlin wearing T-shirts with the question “What would people call me behind my back?” printed on the front. They approached people randomly and asked them to write directly on their backs.
“This initiative was meant to give physicality to the way we label each other,” Biddle said. “The writers of these opinions pressed their words onto the back of the T-shirt wearer, and in turn, those students felt these labels and assumptions being forced upon their backs.”
Britni Howe was one of six WSU students who traveled to Berlin for the project.
“It was actually pretty interesting because it seemed people were much more comfortable writing more openly and honestly on the guys' shirts,” said Howe, a South Ogden, Utah resident. “All the guys who wore the shirts said that this was not something they would like to volunteer for again. I got the feeling that people were too uncomfortable to write what they may have really been thinking on my back. It was kind of an interesting twist. Our exhibit was also starting to include some gender biases which we had not anticipated originally for this particular project.”
The students reviewed their findings and presented a response exhibition for DesignTransfer, a Berlin gallery. The exhibition also included materials from the other components of the project, such as information graphics about migration, life-sized panels about stereotypes and wall-sized maps.
The study, field research and design of the project were part of a two-week symposium in Berlin, which occurred in June 2010. More than 40 students from six different universities collaborated on the project. The students originated from China, England, Germany, Israel, Poland, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
Other WSU graphic design students who participated in the project included Crissy Barney from Springfield, Ohio; Sam DeMastrie from South Ogden, Utah; Jennifer Hadley from Roy, Utah; Chanel Licheld from North Ogden, Utah; and Jeff Madsen from Davis County, Utah. The students began working on the project while at WSU in May 2010 with preliminary studies about American and German stereotypes. They also competed with students abroad for design of the project’s branding. DeMastrie’s design was chosen as the branding solution.
The Core77 Design Awards are a global competition recognizing excellence in all areas of design enterprise. Jury teams based around the world gathered in eight countries to judge 15 categories of design practice.
“What pushed Sticks + Stones to the top of our list was how it promoted cultural awareness by working with cultural diversity as opposed to just working on or about cultural diversity,” said Elizabeth Tunstall, jury captain of the Core77 Design Education Initiatives Award.
The Sticks + Stones Project began in 2005 as a collaborative project between WSU and three other U.S. universities. The project focused on helping design students understand the basis of stereotypes and how they influence prejudice. Sticks + Stones has now grown to international collaboration with Washington, D.C. and Australia being discussed for future action sites.
Biddle, University of Maryland professor Audra Buck-Coleman and Northeastern University professor Ann McDonald are the project’s primary investigators. Co-collaborators and onsite hosts in Germany were Charlotte Driessen and Universität der Kunste, Berlin professor Ulrich Schwarz.
Visit core77designawards.com/awards/design-education-initiatives for more information about the awards.
Visit sticksandstonesproject.org for more information about Sticks + Stones.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Contact:
Mark Biddle, visual arts professor, Sticks + Stones Project coordinator
mbiddle@weber.edu
Sam DeMastrie, visual arts student, Sticks + Stones project participant
samueldemastrie@weber.edu
Britni Howe, visual arts student, Sticks + Stones project participant
howe.britni@gmail.com
Author:
Jonathan McBride, office of Media Relations
801-626-6347 • jonathanmcbride@weber.edu
WSU Honors 2011 Distinguished Professors
April 13, 2011
Anthropology professor Brooke Arkush, English professor Judy Elsley and music professor Yu-Jane Yang were selected by WSU’s Board of Trustees. They will formally receive their awards at the university’s spring commencement exercises April 22.
Each professor will receive a cash prize of $16,000, payable over four years, which may be used to further professional academic goals. Honorees also will retain the Presidential Distinguished Professor title throughout their tenure with the university. Upon retirement from WSU, “Emeritus” will be added to the end of the title. The professors also will be featured on the Honor Wall for Presidential Distinguished Professors located on the second floor of the Stewart Library in the west atrium.
Funding for the annual recognition program was made possible by a generous gift from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. The program was established in 2006 as a way to recognize outstanding WSU faculty members who demonstrate the highest quality of teaching, scholarship, research and community service.
“It is a pleasure to recognize these distinguished professors,” said President Ann Millner. “While they represent different disciplines on campus, they share a strong commitment to teaching, scholarship and excellence. All three recipients have made lasting contributions to the university.”
“This year’s honorees engage students in learning opportunities beyond the classroom, and lead by their example in the field, in literature and on stage,” said Provost Michael Vaughan. “We are very grateful to this donor for recognizing the important role faculty play in the lives of our students and the vitality of the campus.”
Brooke Arkush
Anthropology professor Brooke Arkush likes getting his fingers dirty, and he encourages his students to do the same. Since joining the faculty in 1990, Arkush has taught the lion’s share of archaeology curriculum and served as director of WSU’s Archaeological Technician Program. His lesson plans occur both in the classroom and at dig sites as part of his annual field schools. For four weeks each summer, Arkush mentors eight to 12 students who live, learn, eat and sleep on site. Students receive hands-on experience in documenting and recovering archaeological data, understanding regional, natural and cultural history, and interpreting the archaeological record of prehistoric foragers. Arkush’s research agenda focuses on prehistory, protohistory and colonial history of western North America, especially communal big-game hunting, ancient settlement patterns, subsistence systems and Native American cultural continuity and change after contact with European settlers. His scholarship has led to the publication of 24 articles and book chapters about his personal research and collaborations with students. Through his research, Arkush has added a great deal to the understanding of Great Basin Archaeology. He serves on the editorial board of two scholarly publication series and is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Society for American Archaeology and the Rocky Mountain Anthropological Association. His previous honors and awards include being selected as Endowed Professor of WSU’s College of Social & Behavioral Sciences from 1996 to 1999, the 2004 George and Beth Lowe Innovative Teaching Award and the 2006 Gwen S. Williams Award of Excellence. Arkush is described as a “delightful” colleague who “expands our understanding of ancient cultures.”
Judy Elsley
English professor Judy Elsley is equally passionate about text and textiles. Elsley is the author of three books, 17 refereed publications, four articles published in books and seven non-refereed publications. She has presented her work locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Elsley has drawn on her expertise in narrative writing to create a substantial body of work exploring the topics of quilts in literature and society. Throughout her 21-year career at WSU, Elsley has played a key role in the development and enhancement of institutional programs. She has served as director of the Writing Across the Curriculum committee (1992-1995); co-coordinator of the First-Year Experience program (1995-2000); and coordinator of the Bachelor of Integrated Studies program (2000-2007). For the past three years she has served as director of the WSU Honors program. In addition to her scholarship and campus leadership, Elsley is an exceptional teacher. Year in and year out her teaching evaluations cite her skills in the classroom and her willingness to work with her students. The recipient of the John S. Hinckley Award in 2009, Elsley has also received the Nye/Cortez Distinguished Professor award in 2003 and the President’s Award for Exemplary Teaching in 1993. She served as the Endowed Scholar of the College of Arts & Humanities from 1996 to 1999. In 2002 Elsley received the “Woman of Wonder” award from Women’s Resources. To quote one of her peers, Elsley shares her wisdom freely, and “the success of students, faculty, and the university as a whole is her top priority.”
Yu-Jane Yang
An accomplished concert pianist in her own right, music professor Yu-Jane Yang is recognized for her ability to train a new generation of award-winning performers. Yang joined the WSU music faculty in 1992. In the past two decades, she has performed in concert on three continents and grown WSU’s Piano Program, elevating its renown on the national and international stage. That heightened awareness has helped Yang successfully recruit piano students from around the world to Weber State, in some cases eschewing famed conservatories like Julliard and Oberlin in favor of WSU. As one of her peers has noted, Yang has developed a “reputation as a teacher able to combine high – indeed, world class – expectations with a comfortable yet rigorous classroom atmosphere.” Under her tutelage, these young pianists have gone on to win prestigious competitions at the national and international level. Yang is the author of numerous articles on piano teaching published in leading piano pedagogy journals. She is a sought-after teacher of both piano workshops and master classes as well as a judge of national and international piano competitions. Yang was one of three national winners of the distinguished D.H. Baldwin Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in Piano, and received the Women in the Arts Award from the Utah Symphony Ballet Association. Yang has been named an Endowed Scholar/Artist in the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities and was the recipient of WSU’s Lowe Innovative Teaching Award in 2000. She also has spearheaded the Steinway Project at WSU, working to attain the prestigious “Steinway School” designation. Last year Yang was chosen to receive the Utah Music Teachers Association’s highest honor, the UMTA Legacy Award. In March, she was honored as a 2011 Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association.
Faculty members are nominated by current or past WSU colleagues, administrators and/or students. Nominees are screened and evaluated by a selected group of senior faculty and academic administrators appointed by the provost. The finalists are recommended by the president of the university to the Board of Trustees for approval.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
- Contact:
- Michael Vaughan, provost
801-626-6006 • mvaughan@weber.edu - John Kowalewski, director of Media Relations
801-626-7212 • jkowalewski@weber.edu
Catherine Zublin discusses Bridal Gown Traditions and History
Unveiling the Utah bride
Story by Linda East Brady
(Standard-Examiner staff)
Fashion lovers, retailers, designers and brides-to-be are holding their collective breath, waiting to see what Kate Middleton will wear on April 29 when she marries Prince William and officially joins The Firm, as the British Royals call themselves.
The bride and groom are said to want the gown to be a surprise, keeping even their chosen designer under wraps until the big day.
“We have bets going on here as to what Kate is walking down the aisle in,” said Jan Peterson, co-owner and operator of the Bridal Corner wedding boutique in North Ogden. “I’m thinking it’s going to be a ball gown. While we see body-conscious gowns being a big trend, she is the future queen of England. So I think someone is going to put a little bit of pressure on her to step out of a carriage in something more traditional, rather than a sheath or a mermaid style.”
Though Cinderella silhouettes still have their following, Peterson said, many, if not most, brides she’s seen in recent seasons are going for rather form-fitting styles as they step down the aisle.
“I think a sheath or a straight dress might just be a little bit of a trend, an in-the-moment style,” Peterson noted. “But one thing is certain — as soon as the royal wedding is done, there will be knock-offs of things very similar to Kate’s. It will likely become a hot new look overnight.”
Eyes on the bride
There is no doubt that even when the wedding is nonroyal, the bride draws all eyes.
But the white or off-white dress we associate nowadays with nuptials was not always the style. Queen Victoria single-handedly started that trend in 1840, noted Catherine Zublin, professor of theater arts and costume designer for Weber State University, who has researched period wedding traditions for various productions.
“Previous to Victoria, women tended to wear whatever their best dress was, no matter the color,” Zublin said.
In reality, a wedding is usually something of a theatrical production, and the gown, the bride’s costume.
“I think I realized that when one of my students got married, and she rented her gown,” said Zublin. “She said to me, ‘Catherine, it was a costume, after all. I didn’t need to keep it.’ ”
Renting a gown is an option today, much like the renting of wedding tuxedos is the norm for the groom and his men. But most brides still purchase — even those who haven’t been dreaming of a specific dress all of their lives.
Rentals usually run from about $300 to $400, including headpiece, alterations, steam cleaning and other related services at Gowns by Pamela of Salt Lake City. A gown can be bought almost as cheaply off the sales rack, but typically, a gown and related accessories cost hundreds, even thousands, more.
Ashlee Windley, 23, of Pleasant View, who is marrying in about two months, thought at first she would rent her gown.
“Once we decided to get married, I was like, ‘Oh my, I have to find a dress — what do I wear?’ ” she said. “I didn’t mind renting at all, but I knew I wanted something a bit different, something that you don’t see every day.”
Windley puts the blame on her mom for talking her into buying. Purchased from Bridal Corner, Windley’s gown is a flowing ivory sleeveless gown with a halter-style top and ruching, with a scattering of fabric flowers.
“So we went out just looking and I found one I just fell in love with,” Windley said. “I let my mom buy it for me.”
She laughed. “I tell her it’s her fault for taking me shopping.”
Trend of color
Snow-white gowns were once not just fashionable, but also seen as a statement of purity in first-time brides. Today’s bride has a far broader palette to chose from without raising eyebrows, said Peterson. Some daring designers, like Karen Millen and Rocca Couture, even offer black gowns, though these are certainly not in high demand for Utah brides.
“However, color is a big trend,” Peterson said. “It’s funny, really, but if we were limited to carrying just one color in the store, it would be an ivory or a white gold, most likely. I would say the majority, 60 percent at least, of what we sell are not pure white. We see a lot of ivory and diamond white, which is an eggshell shade, and champagne. Mist colors, too, like soft silver or pearl rose, which is a soft pink, are requested.”
Even brides in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who trend toward more modest and traditional cuts, are adding a bit of tint to their gowns, said Peterson.
“I think brides look through magazines and fall in love with things that might not be considered Utah tradition,” Peterson noted. “Besides, white is usually not as flattering as the diamond and ivory shades on most brides. Those tones tend to bring out a woman’s coloring so much better.”
A TIMELINE
Something blue ... The traditional color of the Virgin Mary, blue was the wedding color of choice in Europe’s Roman Catholic-dominated Middle Ages. Bride and groom both wore at least a ribbon of blue in their wedding ensemble. The famous “something blue” tradition comes from this practice.
The best dress ... Brides in the Renaissance era through the early 1800s would usually pick their most beautiful gown for their marriage ceremony, rather than having one made to spec. The dress would then be worn on many occasions.
Royals would don gowns and majestic robes (think of the stereotypical king look — red velvet cape with spotted ermine trim). To show station and wealth, bridal garb was made of expensive velvets and silks, festooned with jewels, gold and silver. Heavyweight silver gowns, made at least in part from threads hewn of the precious metal, also became traditional for royal brides. Trains also first appeared in this era.
White weddings ... Waistlines were high, à la Empress Josephine, and colors various, early in the 1800s. Then came the wedding of trendsetter Queen Victoria in 1840, and the tradition of the white wedding gown. Hers was decorated with orange blossoms and covered in English Honiton lace. Her bridesmaids also wore white, a tradition that lasted through most of the Victorian era.
Wedding dresses were often altered into evening wear after the big day — sleeves cut down and décolletage daringly lowered, as befit a married lady. In the Victorian age, it was considered a great compliment to the hostess to wear your altered wedding gown to her party.
Hemlines rise ... Shorter skirts, revealing the ankles, first appeared in the 1910s, with the advent of the Edwardian era. With the Roaring ’20s, hems rose to new heights. At times in the flapper age, many gowns hit above the knee, with body-conscious silky shifts in the fore.
Movie star gowns ... Even with the advent of the Great Depression, the ’30s showed a return to the full-length dress, inspired by glamorous movie-star threads. This is when the term “gown,” denoting elegance, first appeared to describe bridal couture.
Uniform-inspired ... World War II-era brides went for the practical, with silhouettes echoing military uniforms — broad-shouldered and slim waisted. Wartime rationing of fabric usually kept gowns short and train-free. Men and women working in the military at the time usually married in uniforms.
With the advent of peace, white silk, used exclusively by the military during World War II for parachutes, was put to work instead in the service of matrimony’s stylish bride.
Storybook look ... The 1950s brought back more traditional, storybook-inspired gowns. Silk confections, often covered in white lace, were popular, exemplified by the gown worn at the royal wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Albert of Monaco. A classic shoulder-baring neckline was worn by the woman often considered American royalty, Jackie Bouvier, in her 1953 nuptials to the future president John Kennedy. Her wedding-day look can still be seen in popular styles of today.
Breaking tradition ... The ’60s still offered tradition for brides who wanted it. But fashion-forward brides also donned mini-skirted dresses, which became possible in part due to the advent of sheer-to-the-waist pantyhose. New and affordable synthetic fabrics like polyester also made construction of fancy dresses more affordable for the bride of modest means.
With the ’70s arrived the elegant trouser suit ensemble, appreciated by many modern brides for their practicality, and also for making a feminist statement. This is the era when bridal fashion started to become less about tradition or current fashion, and more about personal expression.
Big sleeves, big hair ... The opulent ’80s got a bit extreme with oversized polyester sensations — big shoulder pads and sleeves, big hair, big skirts. The dress that perhaps defined this decade was that of Lady Diana Spencer, when she married Prince Charles of Wales — ruffles galore, a mile-long train and puffy sleeves that all but swallowed the princess/style-setter’s svelte physique.
The bride’s individuality ... In the ’90s, thanks to Vera Wang and other modern designers, the gowns grew more sculpted to the body and simple in design, but very opulent natural fabrics returned, thanks in part to the growing domination of inexpensive quality Chinese silks and beadwork. Sleek was the operative word.
Today’s bride has it all to choose from. Ivories and whites are still in great demand for first-timers, but many brides eschew such traditions and go with bold colors. You might even say that black is the new white when it comes to wedding attire.
From those medieval low-waisted gowns in blue, to beaded flapper sheaths and fluffy Disney-Princess ball gowns — you can get it all at the bridal boutiques of today.
Sources: Catherine Zublin, professor of theater arts at Weber State University; www.royalcollection.org.uk; www.dressfinder.com; www.discovery.com; “Marriage à la Mode: Three Centuries of Wedding Dress Tradition” (National Trust Press, 2003).
English Professor Heading to Mt. Everest Hoping to Solve Mystery
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University English professor Mikel Vause may be part of history this spring. He is one of 20 men embarking on an expedition to Mount Everest this April, with the goal of solving a decades-long historical mystery:
Who was the first man to scale the world’s tallest peak?
Sir Edmund Hillary is credited with being the first man to successfully reach the summit of Everest in 1953. But 29 years earlier, the British tandem of George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine may have summited, only to perish on their descent.
A Kodak pocket camera, believed to be on Irvine’s person, might hold the answer. Eastman Kodak Company officials believe the pictures could be developed if the film is undisturbed.
“If the photographs survived then that would solve this great conundrum,” said Vause. “I mean it doesn’t cure cancer and it doesn’t end world hunger or bring world peace, but it has been a big question in the mountaineering community for a long time.”
The current expedition’s leader, Graham Hoyland, will focus on locating Irvine’s remains. Mallory’s body was found in 1999. The party will have an approximate location from which to start. In 1979, a Chinese climber uncovered a body that could be Irvine’s, but he died before he could lead others back to that location.
Along with the chance to finally settle a historical debate, Vause also hopes to find inspiration for a new collection of poems he’s writing, called Terrible and Deadly Seasons.
While Vause lacks the necessary certification to reach the highest points on Everest, the advanced base camp at 22,000 feet will far exceed his previous personal record of 18,000 feet above sea level while attempting Naya Kanga in the Langtang Himal range of the Himalayas.
“To even be there on the periphery will be a thrill. I won’t be able to go high enough for where they are doing the actual search, but if they find something and bring down the artifacts, I’ll be among the first people to see them,” said Vause, sitting in his campus office, surrounded by photos and souvenirs from his previous mountain climbing treks.
Vause’s love of climbing dates back to his childhood days exploring the Ogden foothills and an old stone “W” on the side of the mountain. “It was a big deal as a little kid to hike to the W. It was a pretty good distance, and every step of the way was uphill.” As a teenager he went to work at a little shop in Ogden called The Mountaineer, got his first pair of climbing shoes, and discovered his passion for mountain climbing.
Vause went on to write his dissertation on mountaineering literature. By the 1980s, he was leading groups of Weber State students to England, Scotland and Wales, retracing the steps of famous British poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge among the peaks of the United Kingdom. These expeditions were often led by premier British climbers who Vause has befriended through the years. The groups would stop and read the works of these famous poets, in the very locations that inspired the artists centuries ago.
The trip offers Vause his second brush with the world’s highest peak. In 2000, Vause took a detour from a humanitarian trip to Nepal, chartering a plane so he could glimpse the mountain. At the time, he never dreamed he’d have a chance to one day climb it.
Vause leaves on April 10 and returns to Ogden May 8.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Contact:
Mikel Vause, English professor
801-626-6659 • mvause@weber.edu
Author:
John Kowalewski, director of Media Relations
801-626-7212 • jkowalewski@weber.edu
Piano Professor wins Award!
Two A&H Faculty selected as Presidential Distinguished Professors
- Judy Elsley, Presidential Distinguished Professor of English
- Yu-Jane Yang, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Performing Arts
Jim Christian: Utah's Song and Dance Man
By Scott D. Pierce
The Salt Lake Tribune
Jim Christian is a director and a teacher, and in his view, there’s not much difference between the two roles.
“They overlap constantly,” said Christian, the award-winning director/playwright who directs Weber State University’s musical theater program.
Borrowing the philosophy of a friend, Christian advises young actors that “going to rehearsal is like going to class.”
Of course, going to one of Christian’s classes isn’t exactly a chore. Comments on www.ratemyprofessor.com include liberal use of words like “awesome,” “amazing” and “fabulous.”
New Area Orchestra at Farmers Market
OGDEN -- Farm-fresh produce, baked goods and locally made arts and crafts are not the only thing available at the Historic 25th Street Farmers and Art Market this week.
A new community-based orchestra will debut at 11 a.m. Saturday in Municipal Gardens, at 25th Street and Grant Avenue. The new group is called Chamber Orchestra Ogden.
Michael Palumbo, director of orchestral studies at Weber State University, began the group after requests from many of his former students as well as other community musicians.
This is the first of three concerts planned for the debut season, with the balance of dates to be announced soon. This first performance features guitarist/WSU faculty member Mark Maxson, as well as a number of string players.
Admittance to the market, as well as the performance, is free.
For more details on the market, go to www.ocae.org. For information on auditions for the orchestra, call 801-626-6991.
http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2010/09/09/local-concerts
Utah’s Latinos have no movie theater of their own
Utah has food markets, restaurants and radio stations that cater to the state’s growing Latino population — but no movie theaters.
Excerpt: The films that play in art-houses may not appeal to the broad Latino audience, said Luis Guadano, assistant professor of Spanish at Weber State University, who has organized a Spanish-language movie program this fall at WSU’s Wildcat Theater.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50219295-76/spanish-films-lake-salt.html.csp
DOVA faculty member Matthew Choberka's work on Display
House Gallery is a contemporary art space located in downtown Salt Lake City. Founded in October 2009, House Gallery has transformed from a cutting edge art salon called The Livingroom to a downtown art gallery focused on solo exhibitions of high caliber artists from around the globe.
