SVPA Faculty Spotlight
The WCSU SVPA Faculty Spotlight is a recognition of the outstanding work being done by our esteemed faculty in the School of Visual and Performing Arts. We hope you take a moment to read about the accomplishments of the faculty members featured in this semester’s spotlight. We are extremely fortunate to have many faculty members with remarkable achievements in their field. We look forward to highlighting many more of these achievements in future editions of the WCSU SVPA Faculty Spotlight.
This Semester’s SVPA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Art is on Leslie Cober Gentry. Cober Gentry has been an Adjunct Professor at WCSU since 2014, where she teaches illustration for the MFA program. In addition to WCSU, Cober Gentry also teaches illustration and design at Fashion Institute of Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Hartford.
Leslie Cober Gentry is a renowned and prolific illustrator. Her uplifting, elegant art has been featured in many prestigious publications and by Fortune 100 companies. Her first work for The New York Times Op Ed page was published at age 15. Selected clients include Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, Sony Records, Chevrolet, and Hallmark Cards. She has won numerous awards, including The Society of Publication Designers, Print’s Regional Design Annual, Vision Awards Annual Report Competitions, and Graphic Design USA.
In addition to her work as an illustrator and professor, Cober Gentry serves as President of the Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrators. She also is the Curator of Art Workshops for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
“Leslie has created a great connection with our Illustration students, guiding them through technique development and impressing them with her own skills and knowledge of illustration as a creative profession,” says Ken Scaglia, Chair of the Department of Art. “She has provided many cohorts of students with professional knowledge and insight.”
To learn more about Leslie Cober Gentry and to view her work, visit www.lesliecober.com.
This semester’s SVPA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Communication & Media Arts is on our new DIMA Director, Dr. Vertna West. Dr. West comes to us after having received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her PhD from The European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland, with a focus on Film & Philosophy. Her dissertation was entitled Between the Sprocket Holes: The Voyeuristic Essence & Reflexivity of Identity in Cinema. Recent professional highlights include four awards from the Triloka International Filmfare Awards in India for In the Flow: Episode 1: How It All Began (Best Animated Short Film, Best Female Director) and Mystic Lotus (Best Documentary Short, Best Actress).
Dr. West works hard to integrate her research interests of 2D/3D Animation and Interactive and Multimedia Production with her teaching. She holds Adobe Education Exchange certificates in several areas including “Augment Reality with Your Students” and “Digital Painting and Drawing in the Classroom”.
In the short time since Dr. West joined our faculty this semester, she has already made several key connections that will help build and benefit the DIMA program for years to come. Most notably, she applied for, and was accepted into the Adobe Aero – Geo Testing Prerelease Program. This is an invitation-only 
experimental program for creating Geospatial Augmented Reality (AR) experiences. The Aero Geospatial Pre-release, powered by Google’s Geospatial Creator enables creators to choose a location covered by Google Earth 3D Tiles and create AR experiences against a digital location twin in Aero’s desktop application.
Since her arrival, Dr. West has been working hard at securing relationships with local high schools. These relationships will help with recruitment, and with providing high school students with hands-on experience with animation, 2D Basic Game Design, Augmented Reality and Generative AI.
Prior to becoming our DIMA Director, Dr. West held teaching positions at Penn State University and Carthage College, where she taught theory and production courses in all areas of Film Studies. In addition, she has also taught courses in Gender, Diversity and the Media.
Dr. West’s Department Chair said: “Vertna hit the ground running as soon as she arrived on campus. She immediately began making connections both inside and outside of the WCSU community which will be valuable to our DIMA students, and to the university as a whole.”
This Semester’s SVPA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Music is on Ed Dzubak. Dzubak is an Adjunct Professor, teaching applied audio production. In addition to WCSU, he has served as an Adjunct Lecturer at Bloomfield College. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music.
Dzubak is an accomplished composer, arranger, sound designer, editor and synth programmer. He is a four-time Emmy Award winner for his work in composition. His most recent Emmy Award came in 2014 for his composing, recording, mixing and sound design work for All My Children on Hulu. In addition to All My Children, he has served as composer for The Young and The Restless, One Life to Live, As The World Turns, The Guiding Light and Another World.
Gavin Guerra’s documentary film Let the People Decide won the best film award at the Whistle Blower film festival in 2019. This film featured a score by Dzubak, and featured WCSU alumni Noah Feldman (slide guitar) and Niles Spaulding (electric and upright bass).
“Ed has been a dedicated faculty member in the Audio & Music Production program for nearly a decade” says Dr. Douglas O’Grady, Coordinator of the Audio & Music Production Program at WCSU. “With an extensive background spanning decades in the music industry as a distinguished composer and producer, his expertise, particularly in the television sector, brings immense value to our students. In addition to his wealth of experience, Ed’s profound knowledge, unwavering enthusiasm, and insightful guidance have proven to be invaluable to me in my role as the Coordinator of the program. His contributions have played a pivotal role in the success and acclaim that the Audio & Music Production program enjoys today.”
This semester’s SVPA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Theatre Arts is on Oliver Wason. Wason joined WCSU as an Assistant Professor this Fall. He is the Coordinator of the BFA in Theatre Arts – Design/Technology program, and teaches courses in lighting design, design fundamentals and technical theatre. Prior to WCSU, he taught at Northeastern University for six years. He obtained his BA from CUNY Hunter College and his MFA from Yale University.
Wason is an accomplished lighting designer, collecting numerous credits from prestigious organizations such as Lincoln Center Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company and more. His New York work includes Let’s Call Her Patty (LCT3 – Lincoln Center Theatre), ONCE UPON A [korean] TIME, The Chinese Lady, Among the Dead, House Rules (Ma-Yi Theatre Company); The Pen (Inner Voices), Sagittarius Ponderosa (NAATCO); Wonderland (Atlantic). Regional credits include shows at Signature Theatre, Indiana Rep, Barrington Stage, Berkeley Rep, Yale Rep, Berkshire Theater Festival, Playmakers Rep, and Triad Stage. Oliver was the associate designer for A Doll’s House, Part 2 on Broadway, and designed the Chinese Premiere of Stones in His Pockets at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center.
Wason has also completed numerous productions with Heartbeat Opera as an associate artist, including Butterfly, Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lady M, Kafka Fragments, and their recent production of Fidelio at Met Live Arts which toured nationally. Other opera work includes Empty the House (Curtis Opera); Erismena (Yale Baroque Opera); Agrippina (Juilliard Opera).
“I’m feeling very welcomed into the WCSU community, and having a great time in my first semester here” says Wason. “I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with the very talented students and to grow the program.”
This semester’s SVPA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Creative and Professional Writing is on Bonnie Denmark. Denmark is an Assistant Professor and serves as the Coordinator of the Business/Technical Writing Option. Prior to joining WCSU full-time, Denmark served as the Senior Editor and Writer for Dear Doctor, Inc. and Human Relations Media. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in
Linguistics/Spanish and Master’s degree in Linguistics from San Diego State University.
Writing faculty stress and model the belief that versatility is instrumental to succeeding in the writing world. Assistant Professor Bonnie Denmark is no exception. Professor Denmark teaches seemingly disparate courses such as Technical Writing, Modern English Grammar, Magazine Editing, and Public Relations Writing, Concepts, and Practices. She highlights connections between each subject and makes a course such as grammar engaging. Students appreciate her enthusiasm for her craft.
Professor Denmark is herself entrenched in the very subjects she teaches. Dr. Oscar De Los Santos, Chair of the Writing Department says, “The Writing Department takes pride in hiring working writers with knowledge of their craft who remain current in the profession. We are lucky to have Bonnie in the classroom. She is so busy in the varied branches of the courses she teaches. As such, she is a model for our students and makes herself accessible to each.”
Professor Denmark is also a frequent contributor and presenter at writing forums, journals, and websites. Her article, “Ramari Stewart, Whale Expert, at the Crossroads of Science and Tradition” will be published in the January 2024 edition of Visionlearning. Several book reviews appeared in recent issues of the Technical Communications Journal.
Click below to view previous installments of the SVPA Faculty Spotlight:
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Spring, 2023
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Fall, 2022
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Spring, 2022