Alumni
Joyce DiDonato, international opera star
Winner of the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, Kansas-born mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences and critics alike across the globe and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female opera singer of her generation” by The New Yorker.
William (Bill) Gardner, graphic designer
Known as one of the leading authorities in corporate identity, graphic designer Bill Gardner is one of the most influential and sought-after graphic designers in the United States. His branding designs have graced corporations worldwide, including the current Wichita State University logo and visual standards system. He is president and founder of Wichita-based Gardner Design and is a fellow in the American Institute of Graphic Artists.
Sonia Greteman, graphic designer and marketing expert
Graphic designer and marketing expert Sonia Greteman heads the Wichita-based firm, the Greteman Group, and is recognized as one of the first and most influential marketers in social media. Championing marketing techniques with a global emphasis, the Greteman Group is one of the leading representatives of the aerospace industry, while maintaining a diverse and international clientele.
Shirley Knight, award-winning actor
Internationally known award-winning actor of both stage and screen. Shirley Knight, born in Gossell, Kan., has multiple nominations and wins for the Oscars, the Emmy Awards, Golden Globes and the Tony Awards, and is considered one of the grande dames of Broadway. Still active on the small and large screen, Knight has appeared in numerous movies, made-for-television films and TV series.
Samuel Ramey, international opera star
For almost three decades, Samuel Ramey has reigned as one of the music world’s foremost interpreters of bass and bass-baritone operatic and concert repertoire. He holds the distinction of being the most recorded opera bass in history. In addition to being heralded as one of the most extraordinary singers of the past three decades, Ramey has performed at every one of the world’s most important opera houses and concert stages.
Contributors
Lewis and Selma Miller, patrons of the arts
Lewis Miller and his wife, Selma, are the namesakes of the Miller Concert Hall in Duerksen Music Building on the WSU campus. They were devoted patrons of the arts, giving anonymous assistance to art students and programs. Following Lewis Miller’s death in 1969, Wichita State dedicated the Lewis and Selma Miller Concert Hall in the Duerksen Fine Arts Center in honor of their contribution of both time and means to community art and theater development. Upon Selma Miller’s death in 1972, the Lewis and Selma Miller fund was established through their estate to ensure the development and furtherance of the WSU College of Fine Arts and the Ulrich Museum.
Edwin A. Ulrich, patron of the arts
Edwin A. Ulrich is the namesake of the art museum at Wichita State. Although his home was in Hyde Park, N.Y., he made regular trips to Wichita to see exhibitions and participate in events at the Ulrich Museum, which was named in his honor in 1974. Over the course of many years, he donated more than 350 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings to the university in addition to his monetary donations to WSU that totaled nearly $4 million.
Gladys H. G. Wiedemann, patron of the arts
Gladys Helena Gardner Wiedemann is the namesake of Wiedemann Hall and the donor of the Marcussen Organ housed within it. During Wiedemann’s tenure, the Wiedemann Foundation supported hundreds of charities in areas relating to the arts, health, children and youth, the elderly, and the disadvantaged, contributing tens of millions of dollars to worthy causes primarily in Kansas. As a result of her upbringing, Wiedemann was especially fond of supporting the cultural arts in Wichita. Perhaps one of her favorite projects was her commission of the Marcussen concert organ located in Wiedemann Recital Hall at Wichita State.
Mentors
Jacquelyn Dillon-Kraus, professor
Jacquelyn Dillon-Kraus was director of string studies and professor of music education and string pedagogy at Wichita State. She is also a co-author of the Strictly Strings series and formerly served as national president of the American String Teachers Association. She is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award from NSOA, a Medal of Honor winner from the Midwest Clinic, a Lifetime Achievement award from ASTA with NSOA, the Hall of Fame award from Kansas ASTA, and the “Music of the Heart” Award from the Kansas Music Educators Association. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected her as Kansas Professor of the Year in 2010.
Mira Pajes Merriman, professor
An art history professor at Wichita State for 30 years, Mira Pajes Merriman was a woman whose life and outlook were shaped by formidable circumstances: growing up in Poland at the outbreak of World War II and fleeing with her family to the Soviet Union and, eventually, to the United States. Two generations of WSU students and dozens of colleagues and friends remember Merriman as someone who could mesmerize in lecture halls and intimate gatherings alike with her description of Renaissance paintings and sculpture.
Richard (Dick) Welsbacher, professor
Richard Welsbacher is the namesake of Welsbacher Theatre, WSU’s experimental theater located in the WSU Hughes Metropolitan Complex. He began his involvement with WSU in 1958. Two years later, he was appointed director of theater. When theater and dance were combined into the School of Performing Arts in 1987, Welsbacher was appointed chair of the school. Welsbacher continued to expand the program until he retired in 1991. During his 30-year tenure as director of theater, he directed more than 150 productions and performed more than 200 roles.