TROY News Center

TROY – Troy University will shine the spotlight on drama and dance in July for its Summer Spotlight programs.

Hosted by the College of Communication and Fine Arts and the Department of Theatre and Dance, four camps take place during the month, beginning July 8-12 with Spotlight on Dance for ages eight through 12. Julie Mulivihill, a choreographer, professional dancer and teacher currently based in Georgia, will serve as the camp’s guest artist.

July 14-19 is Summer Spotlight’s Creative Drama Camp for ages four – 13. Participants here for this camp will spend a week studying acting, movement, storytelling, stagecrafts, and playwriting. Carson Butterworth, a graduate of Georgia College and State University, will serve as this camp’s guest artist. An actress and teacher, Butterworth holds a master’s degree in art education and an undergraduate degree in theatre.

Rounding out the month is Summer Spotlight’s Performance Intensive and Tech Theatre Intensive July 12-27.  For high school and college students, the intensives provide an all-star experience and focused training in dance, theatre and technical theatre.

Serving as guest artists are:

• Dean McFlicker, the award-winning VP of Primetime Special Projects at NBC, who has worked on hit shows Smash, The Voice, America's Got Talent, and many more.  He's an accomplished choreographer and performer whose work is international.

• Jeremy Rich, who is currently casting the hit musical The Book of Mormon and has served as Global Casting Director for Disney.  He has worked in the stage and film industries for many years, and is currently based in Los Angeles.

• Tommy Newman, a TROY alumnus, is a musical theatre writer and composer and the winner of the Cole Porter ASCAP award among many other honors.  His work is in development in New York City and across the country.

Additionally, Theatre and Dance faculty members Quinton Cockrell, Chris Rich, Mike Schafer and Tori Lee Averett, Spotlight’s director, will also conduct classes at all three Summer Spotlight offerings.

“This is our fifth year with this program and every year it gets bigger and better,” said Averett, a TROY alumna, adjunct faculty member and musical theatre teacher in Georgia.

“Virtually all ages of students from pre-K through college students can benefit from Summer Spotlight,” she said.

For more information, or to register, call the Department of Theatre and Dance at 334-808-6142, email Lee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or visit the department online at www.troytheatre.org.

Anna Maria Mollica, left, of Alabaster, and Baine Ellis, of Cataula, Ga., rehearse with other members of the cast of the Troy University Department of Theatre and Dance’s Performance and Technical Theatre Intensive, a part of the department’s Summer Spotlight series, last summer. The pair were part of high school and entering freshmen students who participated in the camp, one of four hosted by the Department of Theatre and Dance in July.

TROY – Troy University’s Small Business Development Center and the Alabama Procurement Technical Assistance Center will offer a free seminar to small businesses wanting to do business with the federal government.

“Working with a Small Business Specialist” will be from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 4 at the Soldier Service Center, Room 282, Building 5700 at Fort Rucker. The center is located on Novosel Street. The seminar presenter is Fort Rucker’s small business specialist Michael Faire.

Each federal agency has a small business program and many have a small business specialist who serves as a liaison between the agency and the small businesses that want to sell to them, said Judy Callin, a senior consultant with the TROY SBDC.

“Selling to the federal government can be a complicated and frustrating process, but working with a specialist can help simplify it. This program is designed to help area small businesses learn to navigate that system,” she said.

Registration for the event is online at http://bit.ly/12W8ExU, or contact Callin at 334-674-2425.

TROY – A Troy University professor and associate dean has been awarded the Sport Management Outstanding Achievement Award by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

Dr. John Miller, a professor of sport management and associate dean of the College of Health and Human Services, earned the accolade for outstanding contributions and leadership in the field during the 128^th National Convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD).

“Since it has been suggested that AAHPERD was the first place that Sport Management academicians could present pertinent research a number of years ago, I am humbled and honored to have been selected for this award,” Dr. Miller said. “I am especially pleased to be included with past recipients such as David Stotlar, Janet Parks, and Herb Appenzeller who are recognized as the foremost authorities in their areas of sport management. “

Dr. Miller has been a coach, professor, researcher and author for more than 30 years. In addition to Troy University, he has been a faculty member at Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Western New Mexico, and Willamette (Ore.) University. He has also held the position of Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Coach at University of Wisconsin – Stout, Willamette University, and St. Mary’s University in Minnesota. He was selected as coach of the year five times and served as president of the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Association.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, he was an associate athletic director for facilities at several universities. He has authored over 20 chapters, conducted more than 100 presentations at national and international conferences, and is the co-author of the book, A Practical Guide to Sport Management Internships. Dr. Miller has published more than 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals including the International Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Contemporary Athletics, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, and the Journal of Sport Administration & Supervision. He is a member of the review boards for the Journal of Applied Sport Management, Journal of Sport Management, Applied Recreation Research and Programming Annual Journal, the Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics Annual Journal, and the Journal of Venue and Event Management. He currently serves as the editor of the Journal of the Legal Aspects of Sport.

An AAHPERD member for 21 years, Miller was inducted as a Research Consortium Fellow in 2005 and has served on the NASPE Sport Management Council and the Safety and Risk Management Council as well as Marketing and Promotion Committee for AAHPERD. He has also served on the NAPSE Sport Steering Committee as sport management chair since 2011. Over the years, Miller has worked closely with the state AHPERD, and as vice-president of Physical Education for New Mexico Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

“His coaching and administrative background helps him immensely in understanding the real issues and problems faced by practitioners in our field,” said Todd Seidler, professor of Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences at the University of New Mexico, who introduced Dr. Miller at the banquet. “This insight allows him to identify and carry out meaningful research that has a positive impact on sport.”

Dr. Miller earned his doctorate at the University of New Mexico, a master’s degree in sport psychology from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. 

Troy University journalism students get a dose of the real thing in Steve Stewart’s advanced reporting class.

Their assignment: write a legislative story for an Alabama newspaper.

Sponsored by the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation, the third-year program includes taking students from the Hall School of Journalism and Communication to the State House on a legislative committee day. There the student journalists attend committee meetings and hearings, and meet with Capitol reporters, lobbyists, legislators and legislative staffers.

The hook is that each student has to select an Alabama newspaper, contact its editor and offer to write the story as assigned. They then have to deal with the editor through the publishing process.

“As a student, you learn a lot by actually going outside the classroom and seeing the ‘real world,’ instead of just reading textbooks and sitting in class every day,” said Cecilia Thorngren, a print journalism major with a creative writing minor from Floda, Sweden.

Thorngren worked with editors at “The Southeast Sun” newspaper in Enterprise.

“I got to experience what it’s like to work under a deadline and what it’s like to work with an editor. That’s something I couldn’t have learned in the classroom,” she said.

Stewart said that experience was precisely the point of the exercise.

“Students learn a lot from this project, including how the Legislature works, the difficulty of contacting and working with editors and legislators, and the need to keep working on a story until it’s ready to publish,” said Stewart, himself a long-time newspaper editor and publisher.

Some students even get follow-up assignments and internships from editors, and all get news clippings they can use in job hunts.

“It gives us visibility with the public and goodwill with the Press Association,” Stewart said. “For the APA Journalism Foundation, it’s a small expense with a high return.”

The Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation began in 1968, and from its beginnings, has supported journalism education in the state. The Foundation’s board meets annually to select grants that support college journalism programs, workshops, an annual job fair, scholarships and internships.