Rita Oetken Gustafson (left) and Dara Wegman-Geedey (right)

Rita Oetken Gustafson has worked in Augustana’s Cultural Events Office since 1984. Her job responsibilities include providing administrative support to the Music and Theatre Departments, as well as working with the Art Gallery Director, coordinating the annual Music Festivals and assisting with the management of the performance halls. Her favorite job activities include those that relate to the marketing and promotion of ensembles and performances, including her role as editor of AugustanaARTS, Augustana’s quarterly arts newsletter. She also particularly enjoys serving as the Tour Manager for the Augustana Symphonic Band.

Rita was honored and thrilled at the invitation to become a Patroness Member of Augustana's Delta Tau Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota in 1998. Since that time, she has greatly enjoyed her participation and interaction with all the SAI members.

Rita lives in Rock Island, Illinois, with her wonderful husband Jon and her two extraordinary children – a daughter, Asta, who is eight years old, and a one-year-old son, Nathaniel. She considers herself thoroughly blessed to have and love a great job, dedicated friends and a fantastic family.

Dara Wegman-Geedey was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  She earned her BS in Biology, with a minor in Art, from Mount Union College in Alliance, OH in 1982.  For the next several years, she worked in pediatric infectious disease research through Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1995, Dara received a PhD in biological sciences (microbiology and ecology, specifically) from the University of Delaware; her dissertation work was the evaluation of the adaptive responses of an estuarine Thiobaillus to changes in salinity.

Dara became a professor at Augustana College in 1995, after teaching for one year as a sabbatical replacement professor at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia. In 1998, Dara married Kevin Geedey, an Augustana professor of ecology/evolution; they have one cat (Spyke), a Springer Spaniel (Bart), and a tank of tropical fish and invertebrates.

A lover of singing since childhood, Dara was introduced to Sigma Alpha Iota   through Delta Tau chapter's annual Celebrating Women in the Arts program when a student in her BI 101 class asked her to participate in February 1996. Although the flu prevented Dara from participate that year, she has been in the Celebration each year since. In 1998, Dara was asked to become a Patroness Member of Augustana's Delta Tau Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. She especially enjoys participating in the "big events": initiation, senior farewell, pledging, and even a meeting or bake sale once in a while.

Ms. Buss has appeared as mezzo-soprano soloist with chamber and oratorio groups in the Midwest. Locally, she has sung with the Quad City Chorale, Augustana Vocal Arts Ensemble, and performed with Genesius Guild opera productions. In addition to her regular teaching at Augustana, Ms. Buss has taught in and recruited for the Lutheran Summer Music Program, the National Lutheran High School Music Camp.

In recent years Ms. Buss has developed an avid interest in voice education and voice science and has participated in many Alexander Technique workshops, including study with Alexander's pupil and master teacher of the technique, Marjorie Barstow of Lincoln, Nebraska. In addition she is an active member of the Voice Foundation, the VoiceCare Network, and has attended the Wesley Balk Institute for the singer-actor approach to performance.

Dr. Mary Neil is an associate professor and area coordinator of piano at Augustana. She received her B.A. from Western Illinois University, having attended her first two years at Knox College. Her M.F.A. and D.M.A. degrees in piano performance and pedagogy are from the University of Iowa. She has studied with pianists Murray Baylor, James Magsig, and John Simms, as well as with conductor/pianist Tamara Brooks. While in Iowa City, she served on the faculty of the Preucil School of Music, and performed with the University of Iowa Symphony, Chamber Orchestra, Kantorei, and the Center for New Music. Her performances as both soloist and chamber musician have earned acclaim both in the United States and in Europe. Here in Rock Island she is a member of the Cantare Duo (with Augustana faculty member Susan Stone), the Lyra Trio (with Stone and faculty cellist Janina Ehrlich) and is the pianist with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Susan Stone is Associate Professor of violin at Augustana, and principal second violin in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, she holds a B.M. degree from Valparaiso University, an M.M. from Northwestern University and a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California. She has studied with Edgar Muenzer, Milton Preves, Milton Thomas, and Eudice Shapiro. Dr. Stone has been on the faculty at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Arts and at the University of Southern California. She was a member of the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra and the Fiori String Quartet (Los Angeles). At Augustana, she is a member of the Cantare Duo and the Lyra Trio.

Other Patroness Members of Delta Tau chapter include:

Ms. L. Ann Boaden

Dean Betsey Brodahl

Mrs. Margaret Hibbard

Ms. Ruth Holmen

Mrs. J. Erik Holmer (Deceased)

Mrs. Norelle Jesson (Deceased)

Mrs. Harry S.B. Johnson (Deceased)

Mrs. Gertrude Lundholm

Mrs. Karen Opheim

Mrs. Gloria Reed

Mrs. Enda Sorensen

Ms. F. Chloe Stodt

Mrs. Ruth Van de Voorde

Mrs. Aretta Wetzel (Deceased)