A New Media Mix

Digital Communications Program To Take Full Advantage of Today’s Technology Innovations

By Doug Goodnough

In the age of user-generated content, a new program at Siena Heights University is tapping into the innovation of its students to drive the curriculum.

The Digital Communications program was approved in fall 2012 and will be offered as a new major and minor beginning in fall 2013. According to program director Dr. Davin Heckman, Digital Communications is a combination of old and new concepts. However, the ultimate outcome is to equip students to discover new approaches to communication in a digital age.

“The program is built around the strength of Siena’s fine arts curriculum,” said Heckman, who is a considered a leader in the emerging field of electronic literature. “There are many digital media programs built around studio arts, but this one is designed to basically draw its strength in the interests, energy and abilities that students bring to the major from their areas of concentration. If there is something uniquely Siena about the program, I’d say that it is built around the tradition of Studio Angel-ico (SHU’s art program) and much of the program is driven by the particular contributions
of the student as an individual.”

Singing in the New Year

SHU Vatican Choir Has Memorable Visit to Italy

Most people consider New York City’s Times Square to be the ultimate place to ring in the new year.

Beth Tibbs may disagree. She and a small group of Siena Heights University students, faculty, staff and alumni and friends spent New Year’s Eve in Italy as part of the Vatican Choir. The group performed before Pope Benedict XVI as well as at several other holy sites during the 11-day trip, which Tibbs called “amazing.”

In fact, she said her group was so excited they often broke into song during the trip.

“We would stop periodically and just start singing,” said Tibbs, associate professor of music and choir director at SHU. “People would jump in front of us and want to get their pictures taken with us.”

This was the second time Tibbs took a choir to perform at the Vatican. In 2010 she led a youth choir from Arizona. During that trip, she befriended the Vatican’s head of music.

“He invited us back whenever I wanted to bring a group,” Tibbs said. “When I got the job at Siena (in August 2011), I thought it would be a perfect fit for us to go to Italy and perform. I thought it would be really important for us to include all the different things that are connected to Siena Heights.”

Practical Professor

Art Faculty Member John Wittersheim Left a Lasting Legacy at SHU

An allergic reaction eventually brought John Wittersheim to Siena Heights, and cancer took him away.

The man who spent 34 years teaching metalsmithing and sculpture in his “garage-like” studio on campus passed away March 17 after a long battle with cancer. He was 59.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Michigan University and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Wittersheim took a job as a clay modeler with the Ford Motor Co. However, he had an allergic reaction to the special clay he was forced to work with at Ford, so he pursued other career paths.

The path he eventually followed led to Siena Heights, where he began as a faculty member in 1979. He quickly established himself with students and colleagues as a versatile, prolific and talented artist. His metalworking specialties included the creation of plumb bobs, a small, pointed brass weight on the end of a string used to determine a line perpendicular to a point.