{"id":67571,"date":"2019-08-29T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T18:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=67571"},"modified":"2022-09-12T13:26:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T17:26:21","slug":"2019-distinguished-alumni-awards","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2019\/2019-distinguished-alumni-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar news-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">August 29, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_67573\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67573\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell-1024x457.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"457\" class=\"wp-image-67573 size-large\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell-1024x457.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell-636x284.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell-768x342.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Karzen-Robinson-Wardwell.jpg 1292w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67573\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Karzen, Morris Robinson, and Joe Wardwell are the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span>The entire CFA and BU community was invited to celebrate remarkable alumni Brooke Karzen (CFA\u201984), Morris Robinson (CFA\u201901), and Joe Wardwell (CFA\u201999) at the <a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/alumni-weekend-2019\/\">2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CFA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/alumni\/distinguishedalumni\/\">Distinguished Alumni Awards<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>are the most prestigious awards conferred by the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. Since 1986, awards have been presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves with outstanding achievements in their careers, communities, and in service to the arts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thursday, September 19, 2019<\/strong><br \/>5:00pm<br \/>Boston University Joan &amp; Edgar Booth Theatre<br \/>Luo Yan Lobby<br \/>820 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-responsive\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w9MZK7Fdr_M\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>BROOKE KARZEN<\/h3>\n<p><strong>EVP &amp; HEAD,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>WARNER HORIZON UNSCRIPTED TELEVISION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Brooke-Karzen-square.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Brooke-Karzen-square.jpg\" alt=\"Brooke Karzen\" width=\"212\" height=\"212\" class=\" wp-image-67576 alignleft\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Brooke-Karzen-square.jpg 500w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Brooke-Karzen-square-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Brooke-Karzen-square-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a>Brooke Karzen (CFA&#8217;84) is the Executive Vice President &amp; Head of Warner Horizon Unscripted Television (WHUTV). As WHUTV\u2019s top executive since 2008, Karzen has grown the company\u2019s series slate from its initial series: \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d and \u201cAmerica\u2019s Best Dance Crew\u201d to a studio-record number of shows including such mega hits as, \u201cThe Voice,\u201d \u201cEllen\u2019s Game of Games,\u201d and \u201cLittle Big Shots\u201d with Melissa McCarthy.<\/p>\n<p>Karzen\u2019s tenure at the company is most closely associated with \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d having overseen the long-running franchise since its inception in 2002. The series, heading into its 24<sup>th<\/sup> season on ABC, airs in 31 countries around the world. In addition to the flagship series, Karzen also oversees the highly successful brand extensions:\u00a0\u201cThe Bachelorette<em>,<\/em>\u201d \u201cBachelor in Paradise,\u201d\u00a0for the ABC Television Network and, is the driving force behind the recently announced nationwide stage show, <em>The Bachelor Live on Stage<\/em> and digital venture, <em>Bachelornation.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For NBC, Karzen and her team were instrumental in the development and production of recent breakout hits \u201cEllen\u2019s Game of Games,\u201d hosted and executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres, and the all-new \u201cLittle Big Shots\u201d which is going into its 4<sup>th<\/sup> season starring Melissa McCarthy, and executive produced by McCarthy and DeGeneres. Karzen was also responsible for bringing the Emmy\u00ae Award-winning, venerable music competition series\u00a0\u201cThe Voice\u201d\u00a0to the network.<\/p>\n<p>Under Karzen\u2019s leadership, Warner Horizon Unscripted series have garnered multiple Emmy\u00ae wins and nominations. This year, \u201cThe Voice\u201d received seven nominations, and \u201cEllen\u2019s Game of Games\u201d host Ellen DeGeneres and \u201cThe World\u2019s Best\u201d host James Corden are both nominated. In addition, this year MTV awarded \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d the Golden Popcorn trophy for Most Meme-Able Moment for the now-iconic Colton fence-jump.<\/p>\n<p>She joined Warner Bros. in 2000 as Vice President, Programming, Telepictures Productions, supervising development and production for a number of titles, including\u00a0\u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d \u201cThe Bachelorette,\u201d \u201cTrista and Ryan\u2019s Wedding,\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cHigh School Reunion,\u201d among others.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to coming to Warner Bros., Karzen was Vice President, Development, at The Walt Disney Company\u2019s Buena Vista Television, where she developed first-run series for syndication, cable and network television. At Buena Vista, Karzen helped launch\u00a0\u201cWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?\u201d\u00a0on ABC.<\/p>\n<p>Karzen is a member of the Producers Guild of America and participated in the <em>Women in Entertainment\/Big Brother Big Sister <\/em>mentorship program in 2014. She received a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and is honored to receive this year\u2019s College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award. Karzen lives in Los Angeles with her wife, Leslye. Their daughter, Annabelle is a junior at Emerson College.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Brooke on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brookekarzen?lang=en\">@brookekarzen<\/a>\u00a0and Instagram <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/brookekarzen\/\">@brookekarzen!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>MORRIS ROBINSON<\/h3>\n<p><strong>OPERA SINGER, BASS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Morris Robinson\u00a0(CFA&#8217;01) is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-67579\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"212\" class=\" wp-image-67580 alignleft\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Morris-Robinson-square-3-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a>Mr. Robinson regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of <em>Fidelio <\/em>and has since appeared as Sarastro in <em>Die Zauberfl\u00f6te<\/em> (both in the original production and in the children\u2019s English version), Ferrando in <em>Il Trovatore, <\/em>the King in <em>Aida,<\/em> and in roles in <em>Nabucco<\/em>, <em>Tannh\u00e4user<\/em>, and the new productions of <em>Les Troyens <\/em>and <em>Salome. <\/em>He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in <em>Porgy and Bess, <\/em>Sarastro in <em>Die Zauberfl\u00f6te<\/em>, Osmin in <em>Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail<\/em>, Ramfis in <em>Aida<\/em>, Zaccaria in <em>Nabucco, <\/em>Sparafucile in <em>Rigoletto,<\/em> Commendatore in <em>Don Giovanni, <\/em>Grand Inquisitor in <em>Don Carlos, <\/em>Timur in <em>Turandot<\/em>, the Bonze in <em>Madama Butterfly, <\/em>Padre Guardiano in <em>La Forza del Destino, <\/em>Ferrando in <em>Il Trovatore, <\/em>and Fasolt in <em>Das Rheingold. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson\u2019s many concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (where he was the 2015-2016 Artist in Residence), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, L\u2019Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, S\u00e3o Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the BBC Proms and the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier, and Aspen Music Festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman\u2019s <em>HONOR! <\/em>Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Robinson\u2019s solo album, <em>Going Home, <\/em>was released on the Decca label. He also appears as Joe in the DVD of the San Francisco Opera production of <em>Show Boat, <\/em>and in the DVDs of the Metropolitan Opera&#8217;s production of <em>Salome <\/em>and the Aix-en-Provence Festival&#8217;s production of Mozart&#8217;s <em>Zaide. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>This season, Mr. Robinson returns to the Metropolitan Opera for <em>The Magic Flute, <\/em>makes his role debut as Phillip II in <em>Don Carlo <\/em>and sings Sarastro at the Dallas Opera, returns to the Atlanta Opera for <em>Porgy and Bess, <\/em>and returns to the Cincinnati Opera for <em>Aida. <\/em>He also makes his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in performances of the Mahler Symphony No. 8 with its music director, Mirga Gra\u017einyt\u0117-Tyla, and sings the same piece with the Atlanta Symphony.<\/p>\n<p>An Atlanta native, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of The Citadel and received his musical training from the Boston University Opera Institute. He was recently named Artistic Advisor to the Cincinnati Opera<\/p>\n<p>Follow Morris on Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Morris-Robinson-Bass-186893621369511\/\">Morris Robinson, Bass<\/a>, Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MorrisDRobinson\">@MorrisDRobinson<\/a>, Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mdrbass\/\">@mdrbass<\/a>, and YouTube: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/massiveqdawg\/videos\">Morris Robinson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3>JOE WARDWELL<\/h3>\n<p><strong>PAINTER<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Joe-Wardwell-square.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Joe-Wardwell-square.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Wardwell\" width=\"212\" height=\"212\" class=\" wp-image-67581 alignleft\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Joe-Wardwell-square.jpg 500w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Joe-Wardwell-square-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2019\/08\/Joe-Wardwell-square-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a>Artist <a href=\"http:\/\/joewardwell.com\">Joe Wardwell<\/a>\u00a0(CFA&#8217;99) lives and works in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Brandeis University and founder of the Brandeis-in-Siena program. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 1996 from the University of Washington. Wardwell received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University College of Fine Arts in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>On view through 2022, Wardwell has a large scale wall drawing commissioned for the new renovation at MASS MoCA, <a href=\"https:\/\/massmoca.org\/event\/joe-wardwell-hello-america\/\"><em>Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States<\/em><\/a> (2017), in North Adams, MA. He has exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mfa.org\/collections\/object\/when-will-it-end-559860\"><em>When Will it End<\/em><\/a>, 2011), and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/decordova.org\/joe-wardwell\">Untied We Stand<\/a><\/em>, 2011) and has work in each collection.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Wardwell was a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant. In addition to numerous group exhibitions, he has had solo exhibitions in New York, New Haven, Boston, and Seattle. He has several upcoming public art projects, exhibiting in New York in 2020 with the Frosch and Portmann gallery in the Lower East Side.\u00a0 Wardwell\u2019s work is represented by LaMontagne Gallery (Boston, MA).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/joewardwell.com\/home.html\"><\/a>Follow Joe on Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/joe_wardwell\/\">joe_wardwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>For more information on this year&#8217;s Alumni Weekend celebrations visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/alumni-weekend-2019\/\">bu.edu\/cfa\/alumniweekend2019<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The entire CFA and BU community was invited to celebrate remarkable alumni Brooke Karzen (CFA\u201984), Morris Robinson (CFA\u201901), and Joe Wardwell (CFA\u201999) at the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards! CFA&#8217;s Distinguished Alumni Awards\u00a0are the most prestigious awards conferred by the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. Since 1986, awards have been presented to individuals who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6310,"featured_media":67572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[192],"magazine-article-category":[],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[309],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/67571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/67571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93001,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/67571\/revisions\/93001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=67571"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=67571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}