I recently sat down with ˿��APP’s Dr. Andrew Smith, a professor in the School of Arts, Media, and Communications, on a video call to discuss his work with a Twitch channel (an online platform for live video streaming) called VaporspaceStL. Vaporspace is a music livestream that is all about “Vaporwave, future funk, and more underground electronica, paired with the most aesthetic visuals.” The channel’s goal is to “showcase artistic talent in St. Louis and the Midwest” with high quality music and visual production.

Located in the parking lot between the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts and West Clay Street, a temporary investment from ˿��APP University has brought greater capabilities to students and staff dealing with the limitations of the current pandemic. This adaptation, which takes its form as an open-sided tent measuring 40 feet by 80 feet, allows ˿��APP’s performing arts programs to continue their various activities with minimal disruption.

Rev. Dr. Nichole Torbitzky, assistant professor of religion and ˿��APP University chaplain, received a Racial Equity & Interfaith Cooperation Award as part of Interfaith Youth Core’s (IFYC) We Are Each Other’s Campaign.

The Young Alumni Award recognizes the accomplishments of ˿��APP University alumni who graduated in the last 10 years. Recipients are up-and-coming talents and have demonstrated outstanding promise for contributions to ˿��APP and the greater community. Recipients have been active with events within the Alumni Association, networking opportunities, fundraising, and student recruitment.

Abigail Manis, a former ˿��APP undergraduate student and current MFA candidate, has accomplished a great deal in her short time at ˿��APP University. She’s a bright, ambitious, and exceptionally talented young woman with a staggering number of achievements to her name, and her story is a prime example of the real academic success achieved by ˿��APP students.

The Hellbender Student Film Festival is a new film festival curated at ˿��APP University. Associate Professor Andrew Millians founded the festival earlier this year after the idea of launching a festival had been discussed within the Cinema Arts program for a while. As the Festival Director, Professor Millians wanted to give student filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work.

For the excellence of its Spring 2019 issue, the Arrow Rock Literary Journal won its first ever REALM Award. Produced by 10 undergraduate students and one faculty advisor working in concert, this previous issue of ˿��APP’s online publication stands as a beaming example of the university’s tradition of literary excellence.

When renovating the Spanish program last year, the foreign language professors at ˿��APP University wanted to shape the degree in a way that would lead their students to future success. They wanted their students’ language skills to continue to serve them outside the classroom, and they hoped that students would feel capable and confident in their Spanish abilities when they moved beyond ˿��APP’s halls.

Next semester, ˿��APP University will be offering a diverse selection of courses for the students in its International Relations program, and to helm several of those courses is none other than Professor Dale Walton.

˿��APP faculty member Dr. Melissa Ridley Elmes was recently awarded the The Teaching Association for Medieval Studies’s (TEAMS) Teaching Award for Early Career College Educators.