Seven UC Irvine Arts Educators Receive the U18 Faculty Professional Development Award

The recognition provides opportunities for U18 faculty to enhance pedagogy

UC Irvine and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) recently announced awardees of the Unit 18 Faculty Council on Professional Development for the 2024–25 academic year, including seven U18  faculty members affiliated with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Congratulations to Sasha Berlier (Department of Music), Rachel Gross (Department of Drama), Minu Park (Department of Drama), Geoffrey Pope (Department of Music), Katarzyna Skarpetowska (Department of Dance) and Zebulon Zang (Department of Art) for being recognized for their expertise as UC Irvine Arts lecturers. UC Irvine Arts also thanks Dariusz Oleszkiewicz, lecturer in the Department of Music, for serving on the 2024–25 UC-AFT Council on Professional Development.

The Professional Development Fund Pool Awards support the professional development of U18 faculty covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the University of California and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). These awards offer opportunities to enhance their effectiveness in professional and pedagogical areas and are available annually. Funds awarded for the 2024–25 academic year must be used by June 30, 2026.

About the 2024-25 U18 Faculty Professional Development Awardees

Sasha Berliner, Department of Music

Sasha Berliner, described as a "young mallet master" by JazzTimes, is an award-winning vibraphonist and composer. The Downbeat Critics Poll #1 Rising Star Vibraphonist and Jazz Journalists' Association runner up for Vibraphonist of the Year has notably shared the stage for recent projects with Christian McBride, Tyshawn Sorey, Marcus Gilmore, and Cecile McLorin Salvant, and leads her own quintet for international touring. She recently released her award-winning sophomore album “Onyx” (2022) through JMI Recordings. Glide Magazine urges listeners to “add Berliner to the new vanguard of contemporary artists that are reshaping jazz with unconventional compositional approaches.”

Rachel Gross, Department of Drama

Rachel Gross is an equity stage manager, adjunct professor and alumna of UC Irvine. With over a decade of experience based in New York City, Gross has worked with Tony Award-winning directors, designers, actors and playwrights. Her credits span new works, revivals, international tours and large-scale events such as the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop.

“I’m so grateful to receive the U18 Professional Development Award — It’s an incredible support for my work as an educator and mentor,” said Gross. “With this funding, I’ll be able to upgrade essential equipment that helps me stay organized and create stronger learning experiences for my students. It’s a meaningful investment in the hands-on education we’re building together at UC Irvine.”

Minu Park, Department of Drama

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Minu Park is a scholar of performance, with a Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies from the UCI-UCSD joint program of theater and performance. Minu’s research explores Korean and Korean American shamanic and culinary practices, approaching sensory knowledge as frameworks for diasporic memory and survival. Their teaching emphasizes artistic engagement and embodied inquiry as methods for historical and political reflection.

“I’m grateful for this support, especially in a year when presenting my research and participating in conference dialogues has been vital to my growth as a scholar and teacher,” said Park. “Attending these events has helped me refine how artistic and sensory practices can be mobilized to imagine alternative ways of learning and remembering.”

Geoffrey Pope, Department of Music

Geoffrey Pope's music career spans continents, genres and musical disciplines. Recognized through numerous appointments, commissions and awards as a conductor and composer, Pope seeks to present provocative, inclusive and engaging performances that have a strong cultural impact. Much of Pope’s conducting work builds upon the standard repertoire, exploring contemporary music, opera, and multimedia spheres, including art installations and film scores. Upcoming performances include the Los Angeles premiere of John Williams’ Prelude and Scherzo, a piano concerto written for Gloria Cheng and Lang Lang, with Cheng performing with the Santa Monica Symphony. Recent performances include UC Irvine’s production of acclaimed composer Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, stage directed by Andreas Mitisek, formerly Artistic and General Director of Long Beach Opera, as well as the masterworks concerts with the Beach Cities Symphony, where he is Music Director and Conductor. 

Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Department of Dance

Photo by Brian Guilliaux.

Katarzyna Skarpetowska is a native of Warsaw, Poland, an alumna of NYC High School of Performing Arts and holds a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School. Her Broadway credits include Metro (Minskoff Theatre, 1992) and she was a principal dancer with Parsons Dance (1999-2006) and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (2007-2014), where she currently serves as the foundation’s repetiteur, staging works on some of the most prestigious companies in the world including New York City Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. 

“I feel very fortunate and honored to have received the U18 Professional Development Award,” said Skarpetowska. “These funds will be used to acquire a brand new technological device, which will enhance my research and pedagogical endeavors on my students’ exploration of the great American choreographer and UC Irvine Distinguished Professor Lar Lubovitch’s collective works. With the help of these funds, I am hoping to continue my work in organizing an extensive library of archival materials into a usable research collection for the Department of Dance student body. I am extremely grateful for this recognition.”

Skarpetowska was named Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2016 for choreography and was nominated for a NY Dance and Performance Award, The Bessie, in 2017. Her choreography has been commissioned by Richmond Ballet, BalletX, Smuin Ballet, Rochester City Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Parsons Dance, Buglisi Dance Theatre, The Rosin Box Project, Bruce Wood Dance Dallas, Repertory Dance Theatre, Saint Louis Dance Theatre, Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Encore!, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater II, Peridance, National Choreographers Initiative, and The Juilliard School. Since 2017, she has worked as part part-time lecturer at UC Irvine.

Mariangeles Soto-Diaz, Department of Art

Image: Soto-Diaz’s ART 100 Found Objects and Sustainability course taking a field trip at the Frank Bowerman Landfill in Irvine.

Mariangeles Soto-Diaz works across studio, installation, social practice and performance. Venezuelan-American artist Soto-Díaz considers how we might decenter violence — epistemic, structural and domestic to build the creative power of future-oriented movements of care in a time of global interconnected crises. 

“This award is very helpful in allowing me to travel to the College Art Association conference in New York City, where I connected with colleagues from across the country in dialogues about new approaches to teaching art, including to sustainability, the topic of one of my classes here,” said Soto-Diaz. “At the conference, it was inspiring to attend numerous panels and be reminded of the broader, future-oriented context for the work we do with students here in UC Irvine Arts. Especially given the timing of the conference, which took place shortly after the devastating fires in LA, it was an urgent reminder of how our work integrating art and sustainability matters, and I returned with renewed enthusiasm for bringing those ideas to the classroom.”

Soto-Diaz’s work has been presented at the Orange County Museum of Art, Grand Central Art Center, MASS MoCA, El Museo del Barrio, 18th Street Art Center and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, among others. She was part of the feminist Soho20 Chelsea Gallery in NY and collaborates with the international, fourth-wave Tomorrow Girls Troop. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the Department of Art and a research associate in the Latin American Studies Center at UC Irvine. She is a workshop volunteer at Laura’s House Domestic Violence Shelter and Crime Survivors in OC. 

Zebulon Zang, Department of Art

Zebulon Zang is an artist and filmmaker from Maillardville, Canada, and currently lives between Southern California and British Columbia. As an artist and educator, Zeng has worked with students from kindergarten to the undergraduate level. He has a passion for teaching art and the potential change it can create in students. His artistic practice has led to multiple exhibitions, talks, lectures and screenings of his work throughout North America and Asia.

To learn more about UC Irvine Arts, visit arts.uci.edu.