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MARSHALL-- Southwest Minnesota State University professor Sheila Tabaka was named the 2023 recipient of the Cathy Cowan Award.
According to a SMSU release, Tabaka is in her 25th year at the university, starting in her role in 1998. She's a professor in the Theatre Program and the costumer for all the SMSU theatre productions.
Recipients of the Cowan Award are selected for their service to SMSU, Marshall, and the region. The award is presented to a faculty or staff member and is the most prestigious annual award given at Southwest Minnesota State University. It is named for the late Cathy Cowan, a Psychology professor who died in an auto accident in December 2001. Cowan's example of service to SMSU students and the community was the inspiration for the award. A big criterion is "doing good for others."
"I am so humbled by this award," Tabaka was quoted in the release. "I don't really know what to say because I feel like I didn't do anything special. So many people I feel are more deserving, and I'm just doing my job. I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to do it."
Tabaka grew up in Merrill, Wisconsin. She attended UW-Marathon County Center, a two-year school that was once part of the University of Wisconsin system. She transferred to UW-Stevens Point to enroll in the Bachelor of Arts program in theatre. She began the Master of Arts program at Southwest Texas State University for one semester and later went on to earn an MFA from Minnesota State University--Mankato.
Tabaka started her path in theatre while at the UW-Marathon campus.
"I loved being part of the creative process and, in grad school, we did so many shows, which isn't great for actors, but for designers and technicians you had to learn to work fast and think on your feet," Tabaka said. "So, coming to SMSU where I'm the one, I'm the costumer, I knew, 'I totally got this.'"
Tabaka recalls the first production she worked on at Southwest was Arsenic and Old Lace. A great show for jumping into her new role as costumer. She recalled some other fun productions from the costuming side including Sense and Sensibility, The Heiress, and Pinkalicious.
"Coming here in 1998, I was able to work with Ray Oster and Bill Hezlep. They were both incredible. Ray was a hoot, and Bill had a way of nurturing actors with that old-school tough love," Tabaka said. "And then he would get these amazing performances out of these students. He saw their potential. He knew they could to better and pushed them to achieve it."
Tabaka appreciates that she can have interactions with so many students from the intro to theatre students who are learning to sew buttons for the first time, to students who come in looking for a suit from the Professional Dress Closet that Tabaka launched with career services and SMSU forensics to make available to students who need clothes for job interviews and speech competitions. She sees the transformation that students undergo, the confidence and pride they find in themselves.
"I know how it feels to send your kids off to college hoping that someone is taking care of them," Tabaka said. "These parents gave their child to us, to take care of, in all the things, right? We're supposed to feed them. We're supposed to teach them. We're supposed to care for them and nurture them so they can leave here and be successful adults. It's a big responsibility, but it's also a big honor."
Tabaka is always amazed when former students, even students who took one class, tell her about something she did that made a difference, something as simple as asking if they were okay.
"You realize that the little things can make a big difference."
Adding to the honor of the award, Tabaka reflected on her early years at SMSU, when Cathy Cowan invited her, her husband, and their baby to a gathering of faculty friends at her home. Cowan was warm and welcoming, 110-percent in all things. Tabaka remembered that Cathy didn't do anything halfway.
"She didn't yell at you halfway and she didn't hug you halfway," she said, and that left an impression on Tabaka as a young faculty member.
Tabaka is involved across campus and the community serving on boards, teaching workshops, volunteering at church and various non-profit groups, and leading the SMSU Children's Theatre Workshop every summer. She has also held leadership positions in Region 5 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). She regularly gives presentations on historical fashion and other topics.
Tabaka and her husband, Jim -- an adjunct music instructor at SMSU -- are the parents of five children: Eukariah, Sally, Margaret, Lillian, and Jedidiah.