Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts will celebrate eight alumni during the Illinois State University Homecoming Alumni Day Luncheon on Friday, September 27.
Art
Mitch Brinker ’07 has worked as a graphic designer and art director since graduating from Illinois State University. He spent the first half of his career in Chicago developing design solutions for global brands including Harley-Davidson, Sappi Fine Paper, and SRAM. He also created work for Chicago-based nonprofits including Active Transportation Alliance and Chicago Children’s Theatre. Since moving back to Normal with his family in 2015, Brinker has been working as an art director at State Farm where he leads design teams in the development of high-quality, engaging creative for the brand. Beyond his day job, he stays active at a local level as a freelancer, providing design and brand identity solutions for local small businesses and nonprofits.
Karen Schaschwary-Brinker ’08 is a proud Redbird who has been teaching visual art for 15 years in many school districts in the Chicago and Bloomington-Normal area, with her currently teaching for District 87. She enjoys the challenge of carefully balancing and braiding together student creativity, skills and techniques, artists and cultures, and child development. She obtained a master’s in art education from the University of Florida in 2016 and joined Art21 Educators in 2023. She enjoys spending time with her husband, two sons, dog, and many art supplies.
Creative Technologies
Following his graduation from Illinois State University, Chase Granat ’16 continued his education at Icon Collective, graduating from the prestigious music production school in Los Angeles. These institutions played a crucial role in his development as a music producer, singer, songwriter, and audio-visual technician. Currently, Granat holds a prominent position at Paintscaping, where he orchestrates audio-visual shows for major brands, artists, and iconic locations worldwide. His work includes notable projects such as the NFL Draft in Las Vegas, music videos for artists like Lady Gaga, Dominic Fike, and Porter Robinson, and spectacular installations at the Bellagio Fountains and the Hollywood Sign. In addition to his audio-visual work, he releases and DJs electronic music under the name Sybreeds and is working on his forthcoming vocal album, Chase The Gemini, which explores his love for pop, R&B, and indie genres.
Music
A native of Puerto Rico, Marta Hernandez, M.M. ’11 has had an impressive and influential career as an educator and music therapist. She earned a master of music in music therapy at Illinois State, where she held an assistantship as a teacher in the ISU String Project. She also holds graduate degrees in viola and string pedagogy from Temple University and achieved a doctorate in music education from the University of Granada in Spain. Dr. Hernandez is currently an associate professor at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, where she teaches courses in music education and music therapy. She has been instrumental in launching the first music therapy degree program in Puerto Rico. She also founded the San Pablo hospital system’s music therapy program and continues to practice as a therapist working in a variety of care settings.
Cindy Ropp, M.M. ’84, Ed.D. ’08 has nearly forty years of music therapy clinical and teaching experience. After practicing in the field for many years, Dr. Ropp began her faculty position at Illinois State in 2003 and went on to assume the role of director of the music therapy program in 2008. She has worked closely with numerous undergraduate and graduate music therapy majors spanning two decades, bringing her expertise to both introductory courses and to thesis development. Her unwavering passion for this field has been essential to the program’s success and longevity, helping it celebrate its 50th year on campus. An active member of the American Music Therapy Association, she has presented her research at numerous regional and national conferences. Ropp has positively contributed to the well-being of the community through her therapy work at BroMenn Hospital, Luther Oaks, the Livingston County Special Services Unit, and other regional care settings.
Todd Stalter ’88, M.M. ’90 has served as director of bands for Eureka High School in Eureka, Illinois since 1991. Under his direction, the Eureka High School band program enjoys a state-wide reputation of musical excellence. The concert band was invited to share an on-campus concert with the ISU Symphonic Band in 2023, and the marching band is a 15-time winner of the Class 1-A Illinois State Marching Band Championships. His ensembles have performed in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Cotton and Liberty Bowls, and Walt Disney World. An accomplished composer for wind band, his music is performed worldwide. Many of his works appear on state festival repertoire lists and are featured in the renowned reference series “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.” As a conductor and clinician, he has led All-State bands in Delaware and Georgia, numerous local and regional honor and district bands in Illinois and presented sessions at the Illinois Music Educators Conference and the ISU Band Director Workshop.
Theatre, Dance, Film
Karen Erickson ’70, M.S. ’77 has been a professional teaching artist for more than 20 years. As executive director of Creative Directions, she trains artists and teachers in drama education, curriculum planning, arts integration, and assessment development nationally and internationally. She has published seven drama education books used in schools throughout the country. Her most recent publication, The Arts: Keystones to Learning (2005) documented 26 arts integrated programs in the Chicago Public Schools. Erickson has written more than 15 plays for youth and adults produced by theatre companies across the United States. She works with the Kennedy Center’s professional development programs including Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA).
Kathryn Ervin, M.F.A. ’80 recently retired as a full professor from the Department of Theatre Arts at California State University San Bernardino, where she began teaching in 1989. During her tenure there, she served three terms as chair of the department; taught courses in directing, acting, creative drama, and African American theatre, film, and culture; and directed dozens of plays and musicals. She has directed throughout the country and co-edited African American Scenebook (Routledge 1999) with Ethel Pitts Walker, a text that compiled some of the best scenes from 60 years of African American theatre. She is a past president of the Black Theatre Network and a fellow of The California Arts Projects. In April 2018, she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, one of the highest honors for educators and professionals in theatre careers.
