Conservatory of Music

Alumni Achievement Awards

Each year, the Conservatory's Alumni Achievement Awards Committee invites a few graduates to campus to accept recognition of their significant contributions to the field of music. Occurring during the fall semester, the event typically includes a concert and on-campus dinner, to which award-winners' family members are invited. Conservatory faculty members serve as presenters, offering summaries of the graduates' achievements. Mary Ann Craig '69 was awarded the 2012 Alumni Achievement Award on October 13.

Mary Ann Craig, D.M.E. is Professor Emerita and former Director of Bands at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She is Past President of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, an organization of 2,000 members from over forty countries. As a conductor Dr. Craig has conducted the leading professional, military, and conservatory concert bands in Russia, Ukraine, and Hungary. As a euphonium soloist and low brass clinician, Dr. Craig has appeared throughout the United States, Japan, Europe, Australia, and Canada. She is the Founder of the Colonial Euphonium and Tuba Institute and a founding member of the Colonial Tuba Quartet. Dr. Craig has released two solo euphonium recordings, Out on a Limb, and Mary Ann Craig, Euphonium, as well as a CD, Spectraphonics, with the Colonial Tuba Quartet. In 1970 Dr. Craig became the first euphonium player to be awarded the coveted Performer's Certificate from Indiana University.

In 2006 Dr. Craig was the first female invited to serve as Guest Conductor of the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival in the festival's 59-year history. She served as the New Jersey State Chair for the College Band Directors National Association and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Dr. Craig is a 1969 graduate of Baldwin Wallace Conservatory with a B.M.E. degree and euphonium as her performing area. She studied with Dr. Kenneth Snapp and Mr. Frank Battisti, directors of the Wind Ensemble, Charles Gorham, Brass Choir director, and Alan Kofsky applied low brass instructor. Immediately following graduation from BW, Dr. Craig pursued her M.M.E. degree at Indiana University. In 1981 Dr. Craig earned her D.M.E. degree from Indiana University and then taught at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York until accepting the position of Director of Bands at Montclair State University. In 2009 Dr. Craig retired and moved back to her native Western Pennsylvania where she serves on the Board of the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, Pittsburgh Symphony Association, and is President of Symphony North, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Symphony Association. The next venture for Dr. Craig is that, in order to expand her musical horizons and for pure enjoyment, she is learning to play the banjo and is a member of the Pittsburgh Banjo Club. 

---

Past Alumni Achievement Award Winners:

2012

• Dr. Mary Ann Craig '69

2011

• Nanette Canfield '82 

2010

• Jim Wonacott '64 

2005

• Laura Koepke '91
• Lee Stevens '67
• Scott Walton '81

2004

• Terry Liu '79 
• Ray Walczuk '80 

2003

• Mahlon Darlington '70
• Lisa Ausking Lang '74
• John Olah, Jr. '79

2002

• James Ackley '91
• Kevin Good '75
• Laura Joss '84

2001

• Paul Berns '67
• Thomas Linde '78
• Cathy Rand '78

2000

• David Cangelosi '85
• Marija Temo '91

1999

• David Pituch '70
• Richard Rodda '67
• Leslie Perna '84

1998

• Ken Bichel '67
• Scott Burnham '79
• Edward Joseph Kvet '71
• Janice Schwendeman Schmidt '44

1997

• James Meena '73
• David Yavornitzky '84
• Judith Evans '67

1996

• Karen Yonovitz '77
• Nicolas Constantinidis '61

1995

• Robert Earley '77

1994

• Richard Anderson '67
• Ned Crislip '60
• David Newton '68

1993

• Harry Hershey '58
• Mary Lou Hunger '58
• V.J. Manos Venettozzi '44
• Mitta Johnson Angell '63

1992

• Lucy Arner '76
• Pamela Deuel Hart
• Anthony G. Holland '78
• Catherine Matejka '78
• Robert W. Earley '77

1991

• Rebecca Berg '67
• Carol Davidson Foley '62
• William J. Foley '61
• George Hussey '51
• David Pierce '67
• Karen Allison Vandall '66
• Robert D. Vandall '66
• Margaret Cox Chalker '74

1990

• Robert Domencetti '59
• Richard J. Herbert '56
• Louise A. Lerch '61
• Patrick J. Meiglian '71

1989

• Thomas G. Booth '74
• Lee Goldstein '76 *
• Kenneth Mehalko '61
• John Nagosky '51

1988

• Paul M. Cohen '73
• Sophie M. Albrecht '45
• Lynette Mayfield '69
• Jessie H. Reeder '71

1987

• Martha Goldsworthy Arnold '30 *
• David Newell '63
• Mary Ann Mendoza Pipino '39 *
• Richard N. Stewart '65

1985

• James Braid '72
• John D'Armand '63
• Dr. Lawrence Hartzell '65
• Robert Helmacy '62

1984

• Herbert Dregalla, Jr. '69
• Joyce Rowbotham Koch '43 *
• Dr. David Lowry '60
• Oscar McCullough '48

1983

• Robert Bergantino '56
• Albert Schmitter '58

1982

• Ralph E. Clewell '44 *
• Donald E. Crossley '58 *
• Ralph Lockwood '64

1980

• Dr. Jeffrey H. Brandes '68 *
• Dr. Elwood J. Keister '43 *
• Glennville D. Thomas '48 *

1979

• Mary Helen Bowers '44
• Charles R. Roe '63
• Norine Wines Sharp '44
• Wallis D. Braman '32 *
• Christine Miles Gitlin '55
• JeAnne Loudon '44
• Sally Stout Taubenheim '61

1978

• Bert A. Anderson '60
• Omar P. Blackman '51
• Dr. Chris B. Carrino '50 *
• Berdie Peterson D'Aliberti '52

1977

• John Elliott '51
• John Elton '48 *
• Thelma Merner Goldsword '27 *
• Jon Humphrey '58

1976

• Dean C. Howard '41
• Beverlie Buck Mayer '38
• Glenn Schnittke '43 *
• Otto A. Schmidt '43 *

1975

• Dr. Delbert M. Beswick '31 *
• Melvin L. Hakola '51
• Brenda Veal Lee '62 *
• William C. Moffit '50

1974

• Eric L. Dalheim '54
• Frederick C. Ebbs '37 *
• Allen F. Ohmes '53
• Arlene P. Saunders '52

1973

• John Francis (Jack) Lee '52
• Dr. Miriam P. Gelvin '38 *
• Wilda Lee Morey '51
• Dr. Marx Pales '43

* deceased