Oklahoma State University’s director of Orchestral Studies has claimed one of the top awards in his field for the second time. Dr. Thomas Dickey has received his second Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming since coming to OSU. The award, presented by the American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, is a national recognition of Dickey’s achievements in the field of orchestral planning.

For many, running water is taken for granted. If you turn on the tap, it’s there. But the pool of professionals in charge of ensuring that clean water continues to flow is drastically diminishing. According to the American Geoscience Institute, there are more than 135,000 open positions in the industry now. OSU is taking action to meet this need as it has partnered with the National Ground Water Association to create educational opportunities that will provide crucial training for these positions.

Bill Scott Sheets remembers looking at his tour schedule and seeing one location jump off the page: Stillwater. The 2015 Oklahoma State University alumnus knew about The McKnight Center for the Performing Arts because he performed at the Night of Orange and Black fundraiser when he was still in school. In fact, a photo of him singing “The Impossible Dream” was used in ads for The McKnight Center, but he actually has never been in the building.

In the field of theatre performance, a lot of our research is hands-on. That means the bulk of my research is literally playing for and performing in shows! (Tough gig, I know.) I received the bulk of my artistic training in the field of piano performance, culminating in a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. That has paired well with my MFA in Musical Theatre from San Diego State University, allowing me to work in theatre as both a performer and music director.