The College of the Arts is pleased to present the honorees for the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Awards to Grace Harpster for Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, Ly Bolia for Outstanding Faculty Award in Research/Creative Activity, Mary Emily Deal for Outstanding Faculty Award in Service, and Ben Yonas and Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching. Christopher Kazmarek is the recipient of the Outstanding Staff Award.
Through the continuing challenges facing higher education, these awards recognize the superior accomplishments of the faculty, their research and exceptional commitment to our students, and their efforts to elevate the arts at Georgia State University and beyond.
“Congratulations to each of this year’s winners,” said College of the Arts Interim Dean Phillips. “We are proud of your accomplishments and thankful for your many contributions to the College of the Arts. Bravo, tutti!!!”
Faculty members were nominated and selected by their peers according to robust criteria, which consider publishing, research, exhibiting, and performing, among other scholarly and artistic contributions to their fields.
Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
Grace Harpster - Assistant Professor of Art History in the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design
Professor Grace Harpster’s work explores the art of early modern Italy and its global Catholic networks, with a particular interest in the consequences of reform for the status of the image. She treated these themes in her first book manuscript, “A Reformer’s Itinerary: The Power of Images after Trent” drafted during a year-long research fellowship at Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti, an Italian Renaissance research library outside Florence, Italy. Her work has also been supported by the Getty Scholar’s Program, the Fulbright Foundation, the Townsend Center, and Columbia University. Other projects have appeared in edited volumes and journals, including Religions, the Journal of Jesuit Studies, and the Oxford Art Journal. Currently, she is beginning new research on religious cartography in late sixteenth-century Lombardy, with support from the HRC Maymester Faculty Fellows program.
Outstanding Faculty Award in Research/Creative Activity
Ly Bolia - Associate Professor at the School of Film, Media & Theatre with creative specializations as a writer, director, editor and cinematographer.
Professor Ly Bolia’s films have been screened on the Learning Channel, PBS, Comedy Central Network, RDF Media, National Geographic Channel, and at the Lincoln Center. More than Ninety film festivals have screened his work, including Venice, Atlanta, London, Bronx, Barcelona, Chicago, and Reykjavik., where he has won awards for Best Animation, Best Acting, Best Directing, People’s Choice Awards, Best of Character and Best Picture at various festivals.
Professor Bolia’s work spans feature films, short films, public service announcements, and political campaign advertisements. His work has been distributed on DVD, and reviewed in Variety Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Village Voice, TV Guide, Box Office magazine, Filmmaker magazine, and Entertainment Today. He is currently working on a stop-motion animation film and is collaborating on short films with Film, Media & Theatre faculty.
Outstanding Faculty Award in Service
Mary Emily Deal - Associate Director at the School of Film Media & Theatre
Mary Emily Deal is the producer of the Atlanta City Theatre season, and she teaches a variety of acting and movement classes. Mary Emily is also a professional actor represented by People Store in Atlanta. In addition, she is a writer and producer working on her first short film, Fire Talker. The script has been accepted into seven festivals and has won best dark drama at the GA Shorts Film Festival and third place at the Indie Short Film Festival in Charlottesville, VA. She is working with several GSU/COTA colleagues to shoot the film this May.
Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching
Ben Yonas – Professor, Music Production & Audio Recording at the School of Music
Ben Yonas is a Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated music producer/engineer and artist manager. Over the past twenty years, Yonas has developed his production company, Yonas Media, which is dedicated to supporting artists who have an original approach to creating and performing music. His credits include a diverse range of artists such as Mos Def, Estelle, TV On The Radio, Ledisi, Mickey Hart, Sammy Hagar, and Rubén Blades. He currently manages a roster of artists, including Grammy winner Rizo, two-time Grammy winners Los Texmaniacs, Grammy-nominated violinist Jeremy Kittel, Grammy-nominated hip hop duo Los Rakas, and the Latin Grammy-nominated Making Movies. Past management clients include Grateful Dead drummer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mickey Hart and Oakland Hip Hop duo Zion I.
Professor Yonas co-created and produced the music documentary Ameri’kana, which encourages listeners to experience the rich DNA within the American music story. Ameri’kana received an NEA grant to continue the production of four additional episodes, which will also air on PBS in 2025.
Outstanding Staff Award
Christopher Kazmarek – PC Systems Specialist III, COTA Technology at the Office of the Dean, College of the Arts
Christopher Kazmarek joined the Technology Support team of the College of the Arts at Georgia State University in 2017, bringing a wide range of experience in various areas of the music and film/post industries. Fascinated by the fusion of music and technology, his journey in technology began with a deep passion for both music engineering and technological innovation.
Kazmarek has always had his finger on the pulse of emerging technology through his breadth of experience ranging from working at major record labels and digital media archiving to postproduction for network television and music studio engineering. His commitment to progression and creativity pushes the boundaries of what's possible at the intersection of education, the arts, and technology.
The Outstanding Staff Award recognizes an individual for excellence in their area, promotes a positive and pleasant work environment, displays exceptional dependability, consistently performs high-quality work, and improves productivity, among other criteria.