FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel has appointed a committee to identify candidates for the position of dean for the Jacobs School of Music.
The dean will oversee the school’s world-class musical education, which prepares students for both the performance and entrepreneurial aspects of enduring, successful careers in the industry. Jacobs is a top music institution with more than 170 faculty members; over 1,100 performances each year and more than three dozen performance ensembles; an alumni network of more than 16,000; over 200 studios, labs, rehearsal spaces, and offices in seven buildings, four recital halls, and an amphitheater. In addition to the unparalleled opportunities for performance, composition, research, and teacher training for music majors and non-music majors, the school has one of the largest academic music libraries in the world. In recent years, the school has added such programs as music scoring for visual media for those who want to learn how to compose and score music for film, video games, and/or other visual media.
Austen Parrish, Dean and James H. Rudy Professor of Law, will chair the committee.
Jeremy Allen, the Eugene O’Brien Bicentennial Executive Associate Dean for the Jacobs School, has served as interim dean of the school since July 1, 2020, when Gwyn Richards, the David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean, stepped after a successful two-decade career as the school’s leader, to return to the faculty in choral conducting.
“Jeremy is doing a terrific job of leading the Jacobs School through what has been a challenging time globally,” Robel said. “The presence of the Jacobs School on our campus is a tremendous gift. I anticipate great things for the next chapter of leadership in this school, which enriches all of our lives through performances and connections with the communities that surround us, through such programs as the Fairview Violin Project and the Center for Rural Engagement.”
The search committee includes representatives of faculty, staff and students at IU Bloomington. In addition to Parrish as Chair:
- Kyle Adams, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Chair, Department of Music Theory
- Noah Bendix-Balgley, Alumni; Berlin Philharmonic
- Betsy Burleigh, Thomas R. Kasdorf Professor and Chair, Department of Choral Conducting
- Rodney Dorsey, Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Bands
- Jane Dutton, Professor of Music (voice)
- Simin Ganatra, Professor of Music (violin) and Chair, Department of Strings; Pacifica Quartet
- Brent Gault, Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Music Education
- Halina Goldberg, Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Musicology
- Jill Gonyo, Jacobs School Director of Finance
- Frank Graves, Chair, Jacobs School of Music Dean's Advisory Council
- Petar Jankovic, Senior Lecturer, Department of Guitar
- Javier F. León, Academic Specialist and Director, Latin American Music Center
- Kevin Murphy, Professor of Music (Collaborative Piano); Director of Coaching and Music Administration for IU Opera Theater
- Philip Ponella, Wennerstrom-Phillips Music Library Director; Chief Digital Officer; Director, Music Information Technology Series
- Jeremiah Sanders, Doctoral Student; Associate Instructor (voice); Assistant Box Office Manager Musical Arts Center
- Ari Schwartz, Undergraduate Student; Music Composition and Harp Performance; Student Council Representative; SRC Diversity and Equity Task Force Member
- Keegan Sheehy, Music Scheduling Specialist
- Thomas Walsh, Professor of Music (Saxophone); Chair, Department of Jazz Studies
- André Watts, Jack I. and Dora B. Hamlin Endowed Chair in Music and Distinguished Professor of Music (Piano)
- Sarah Wroth, Associate Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Ballet
Sarah Booher, chief of staff to Interim Provost John Applegate, will serve as an ex officio, non-voting member of the committee. Further search support will be provided by Jacqueline Cushman, project manager in the Office of the Provost.