Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University’s George Caldwell has been awarded the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for outstanding service to the field of educational theater.

Caldwell was recognized at the recent 2009 Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival and the Northwest Drama Conference, held Feb. 16-20 at the University of Idaho. The Gold Medallion is a national honor bestowed by the center/festival regional board to faculty who demonstrate extraordinary teaching and production of theater.

The award has been given annually since 1972. The festival is a competition of academic theater programs in eight regions throughout the country. Caldwell was awarded the top honor in the region that includes Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, as well as northern California and Nevada.

Caldwell is an assistant professor of theater in the Department of Speech Communication at OSU. He is the managing editor and founder of the Northwest Theatre Review, which is the scholarly publication of the Northwest Theatre Conference. He has been at OSU since 2003.

Caldwell has directed and designed numerous productions including “H.M.S. Pinafore,” “All My Sons,” “The Threepenny Opera,” and most recently, “The Foreigner.”

Caldwell is the second OSU theater professor to receive the gold medallion. Professor Charlotte Headrick was a recipient in 1992.