Committee to recommend music dean candidates

Updated 11:00 AM September 9, 2004

Committee to recommend music dean candidates

By Laurel Thomas Gnagey

A search is underway for a new School of Music dean. Provost Paul N. Courant has asked Evan Chambers, associate professor of music and chair of the Composition Department, to lead the committee that has been charged with presenting a slate of candidates early in winter 2005.

Other members of the search advisory committee—all from the School of Music on the Ann Arbor campus, unless otherwise noted—are:

Mark Clague, assistant professor of music (musicology)

Aaron Dworkin, University alumnus, founder and president of the Sphinx Organization

Anthony Elliott, professor of music (string instruments)

Erik Fredricksen, professor and chair, Department of Theatre and Drama

Michael Haithcock, professor of music (conducting) and director of bands

Piotr Michalowski, George C. Cameron Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Civilization and Languages, and professor of near eastern studies, LSA

Melody Racine, associate professor of performing arts (voice)

Mary Simoni, associate professor of music (music technology), and chair, Department of Performing Arts & Technology

Peter Sparling, professor of dance and artistic director of the Peter Sparling Dance Co.

Laura Strozeski, director of academic services.

A student representative also will be appointed once the fall semester gets underway.

Comments about the search may be sent to the committee through e-mail at musicsearch@umich.edu.

Dean Karen Wolff announced earlier in the year that she will step down at the end of her five-year term, July 31, 2005. Courant says Wolff has done a superb job in positioning the school to better serve students and the community.

"The renovation of Hill Auditorium and the planning for the Walgreen Drama Center and Arthur Miller Theatre, scheduled to be completed in fall 2007, are just two examples of the progress the school has made under Dean Wolff's leadership," Courant says.

"Her influence also extends beyond the campus," he says. "As one who believes students should do more than develop artistic skills—that they should become involved in the debate about the place of the arts in society—Dean Wolff has led by example with her involvement in numerous national arts organizations."

In 2003 Wolff was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Council on the Arts, an advisory body to the Endowment for the Arts. She also served for 10 years on the National Association of Schools of Music, and currently serves on the boards of the University Musical Society and the Michigan Shakespeare Festival.

Committee to recommend music dean candidates

More Stories