See what our alumni have been doing by visiting our alumni page.

Alumni: Share your news with us. Email updates and links to jlm4wv@virginia.edu.

Back to main page...

Michael Rasbury

Michael Rasbury named Director of the College Arts Scholars Program.

Welcome to College Arts Scholars!

Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities, Bruce Holsinger, has launched an initiative called College Arts Scholars. This program is made possible in part by a gift from Evelyn McGee Colbert, a 1985 graduate of the College, and her husband, comedian Stephen T. Colbert. Each year 15 to 20 incoming Arts Scholars will be selected by based on arts supplement packages submitted as part of the undergraduate admission process. College Arts Scholars will have demonstrated talent in the disciplines of studio art, dance, drama or music. Michael Rasbury, Associate Professor of Sound Design in the Department of Drama will serve as the program's inaugural director.

"The program will give us the ability to recruit, retain and educate some of the most
Michael Rasbury exceptional young artists and artist-scholars in the Commonwealth and the nation," said
Bruce Holsinger. "As Echols Scholars have for decades, Arts Scholars will occupy prestigious and coveted position within the College."


Arts Scholars will interact closely with U.Va.'s most distinguished arts faculty and will gather regularly for exclusive Arts Scholars events and offerings, building a community of some of the most gifted artists on Grounds. The program is dedicated to enhancing students' artistic growth at U.Va. When Arts Scholars who have declared majors or minors in studio art, drama, music and dance reach the summer between their third and fourth years of study, they are eligible for $3,000 grants in support of almost any art related project imaginable.

Similar funding has already been awarded to a few students each summer since 2007, and those recipients were designated as Arts Scholars upon the award of the funds. These grants have been used to support intensive work in the arts in Charlottesville and at sites around the world—from Hamburg to Ghana. Cornelia Granbery, an economics major and dance minor, spent last summer in residence with an internationally renowned dance company in New York City, studying both modern and ballet techniques. "This was one of the best experiences of my life so far," she said of her summer work. Another student majoring in Studio Art used the support to spend his summer immersed in the artistic environment of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. As he tells us, "my experience with the Hirshhorn allowed me to grasp a fuller picture of the museum's function in the nexus it shares with the art history academy and art practice itself." Drama student and Echols Scholar Jacquie Walters used her award to assist her with three internships in Los Angeles, two with major casting directors and one with a manager.

The well-established strength of U.Va.'s liberal arts offerings, plus rich arts resources, means that "at U.Va. you don't have to give up anything in order to also have a great arts experience," said Evelyn Colbert, who double-majored in drama and English and participated in several Heritage Repertory Theatre summer productions. In contrast to attending a highly focused conservatory or art school, "U.Va. is great for students who may not necessarily feel that the arts is all they want to study," she said. 



Evelyn McGee Colbert, a 1985 graduate of the College, and her husband, comedian Stephen T. Colbert

Her husband added, "Evie and I are so happy that we can encourage students to make the arts a significant part of their curriculum, a tradition at U.Va. that we hope our gift will continue and strengthen."



It's hard to make a career in the arts, and many artists end up teaching art in some capacity, Evelyn Colbert said. "You need a strong degree. You want to have strong liberal arts background."



The Arts Scholars program, she predicted, will help create a bonded group of artists who will jointly navigate the college experience and, facing so many time demands and activity options, will be there to remind each other, "Don't give up your passion." The new Arts Scholars program, Holsinger said, "is part of our vision of the arts as an indispensable part of the student experience."

Back to main page...