New Faculty

The College of the Arts is pleased to announce our new faculty members.  We look forward to their creative brilliance, educational guidance and dedication to our team of artists and educators.  

Emily Stergar

Assistant Professor of Sculpture

Emily Stergar holds a B.F.A. from Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI and her M.F.A. from Herberger Institute for Design and Arts at Arizona State University. Her most recent teaching appointment was at Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI but taught at Phoenix Community College and Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona. She has also participated in an Artist-in-Residency program, Art-st-urban, Museum artpavillion-st-urban, in Switzerland. She has exhibited her work in solo shows in Indiana and Arizona and participated in numerous juried and group exhibitions nationally.

Benjamin Yates, 

Assistant Professor of Trombone and Low Brass

As an active soloist, Yates performs and presents master classes and recitals at high schools, colleges and universities around the United States. As a trombone clinician, Yates has presented master classes throughout the United States, Austria, Brazil and Japan.

Yates performs regularly with Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin area symphonies, bands and chamber ensembles including the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra (WI), Quad Cities Symphony (IL), Rochester Symphony Orchestra (MN), and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony (IA).

Yates’ teachers include David Gier, Jonathan Allen, Elliot Chasanov, Michael Smith, Bard Mackey, and Roger Rocco.

 Wesley Bradford

Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Theory

Wesley Bradford holds a Bachelor of Arts from Peay State University, Master of Music (Theory) from the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD in Music Theory from Louisiana State University.  

Before coming to Lafayette, Dr. Bradford taught ear training labs and Rudiments of Music at Louisiana State University. He was awarded the Dissertation Year Fellowship for the spring semester of 2016.

Dr. Bradford’s research interests focus on musical meaning and interpretation. He has presented his research internationally on diverse music. He is a member of both the South Central Society for Music Theory and the national Society for Music Theory.

Dr. Lucas Munce

Assistant Professor of Music Theory

Lucas Munce is a native of Manhattan, Kansas. As a prior member of the United States Air Force, he has given nearly a decade to military service as lead alto saxophonist in both the USAF Academy Falconaires, and the prestigious Airmen of Note in Washington D.C. He has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, both performing and conducting master classes. In 2011, he received the DownBeat Magazine Award for Graduate College Outstanding Performance by a Jazz Soloist. Lucas has studied clarinet with Professor Dan Silver at the University of Colorado, and the late Ed Cabarga of the National Symphony. He holds Masters Degrees in Clarinet Performance and Jazz Performance & Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2016 he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Woodwind Performance and Pedagogy from CU Boulder. Dr. Munce is a relative newcomer to Acadiana, but has already cultivated a strong affinity for the delicious boudin blanc. Not surprisingly, his dog has as well.

William Reihm

Assistant Professor of Interior Design

William Reihm began teaching in 2004 and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans, and a Master of Science in architecture with a specialization in interior design from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. His is a licensed architect (1998), Certified Interior Designer (2006) and began working in design practice in 1991.

His research interests include design history, theory, preservation, and historical material culture. He has presented at the conferences of Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) consistently from 2011 and has published in the Louisiana History, Louisiana Folklife, Interdisciplinary Humanities, and the Proceedings of the Environmental Design Research Association. William currently chairs the South Region of the Interior Design Educators Council.

Dr. Brett Landry

Assistant Director of Bands/ Percussion

Dr. Jason Missal

Associate Director of The Bands/ Director of the Pride of Acadiana