Fall Showcase 2024: September 10 @ 4 pm, Celebrate the creativity of the 2024 Staff Creative Residencies cohort

Join Noel Wilkin, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Steven Holley, vice chancellor for administration and finance, in celebrating this year’s 2024 Staff Creative Residency participants at the Fall Showcase. The showcase will be held on Tuesday, September 10 at 4 p.m. in the Banquet Room at Johnson Commons. Grit will provide refreshments.

This year’s awardees will be on hand to talk about their experience and share examples of their creative work.

The 2024 Staff Creative Residency recipients are:

Rebekah Allen, Counselor, University Counseling Center, used dance techniques to develop creative movements that enhance mental well-being.

Trent Bloodworth, Network Analyst II, Telecommunications, explored new uses for vintage items by repurposing a 1960s refrigerator into a cocktail cabinet.

Laura Cavett, Guest Service Agent, the Inn at Ole Miss (at the time of residency), created a series of paintings combining an absurd narrative with iconic images in cartoon format. 

Andrea Drummond, Program Coordinator (Communications), Music, learned to work in the medium of glassblowing. 

Amy Evans, Graphic Web Designer, Marketing & Communications, created a series of large oil on canvas paintings. 

Tess Graham, Library Specialist I, Access Services, J.D. Williams Library, developed an equine therapy program with Monkey, the horse.  

Cassandra Hawkins, Associate Director of Data and Quality Management, Institute of Child Nutrition, pursued a film photography project that invoked a sense of family and introspection about the past and the present. 

Merrill Magruder, Special Assistant to the Chancellor, Family Engagement, researched and applied traditional canning techniques. 

Cayce Read, Data Analyst, Financial Aid (at the time of residency), learned the process of finishing a stitched needlework canvas into a final product. 

Dakota Robertson, Academic Advisor, FASTrack Learning Community, learned the art of canning fresh produce as an act of homesteading. 

Andy Smith, Systems Analyst III, Student Housing, learned how to grow and use mushrooms to make vegan leather. 

William Teer, Assistant Director of Community Engagement, Center for Community Engagement, researched and wrote the story of the late West Sanford “Sam” Forsythe, owner of Sam’s Drive-In in Ripley, TN. 

Read more about this year’s awardees at https://olemiss.edu/news/2024/07/staff-creative-residencies-2024/