Colleagues,
Please read through these items regarding the upcoming academic year. I look forward to seeing everyone very soon in room 225!
Faculty and Staff Business
- Searches for the 2015-16 academic year will include the following: Director of Orchestras, Piano Technician (possibly at full-time level), and Music Education. Additionally, as budgets are provided to academic units, I will recommend that we consider possibilities to move forward with our priorities for new positions, including possibilities for hiring a Concert Manager and a Double Bass/String Education faculty member.
- The HSoM Curriculum and Assessment Committee will be working this year to meet university deadlines for renewal of our "Writing in the Discipline" courses for all degree programs. Please plan to assist colleagues on the committee with timely submission of requested materials and attention to matters up for full-faculty consideration. Additional curricular topics for the year will include courses and other activities related to the University's Quality Enhancement Plan for "global learning" and development of a formal proposal for revisions to Performance Seminar.
- As announced in the spring, our proposal for partnering with the University regarding funding for the Appalachian Theatre's orchestra pit was reviewed favorably, and the University attorneys are now drafting contract language to ensure that our requirements will be met for appropriate engineering of the orchestra pit and acoustic treatments for the hall appropriate for opera and other non-amplified performance. The AT is moving ahead with their architectural plans, including input from the University regarding our concerns, and it is possible that construction will begin this year, looking to a possible premiere performance by ASU Opera in Spring 2017.
- Along with Jay and me, the Deans Advisory Council will work this fall to solidify priorities related to building improvements for the Broyhill Music Center. Recent changes in state funding make it apparent that renovation and repair will once again become possible for the University. With over $50 million in deferred maintenance campus-wide, this will obviously be a long process, but the HSoM should share in it during these next years.
- Provost Kruger and Chancellor Everts have indicated their enthusiasm for implementing the University's strategic plan, as developed during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years. I urge colleagues to read the plan and consider the HSoM's alignment with its principles: Transformational Educational Experience; Creativity and Innovation; Engaging the State, Nation, and World; Embracing Diversity of Thought, Belief, and Community; and Preserving Faculty and Staff Excellence. Initiatives, including all funding priorities, will need to reflect the plan. I anticipate many fruitful discussions within the HSoM related to implications of the plan as it relates to our programs.
- If you have not already done so, please submit your annual conflict of interest form as soon as possible. For most, this is a very quick process that simply demonstrates that individuals have identified any financial interests that could be construed as in conflict with University policy regarding decision-making. www.appstate.myresearchonline.org/air
Events
For complete listings of Spring 2015 performances, including student degree recitals and details about live audio/video stream availability, please see the HSoM Calendar: www.music.appstate.edu/calendar and www.music.appstate.edu/news-events/live-streams
- Fall classes begin on Monday, August 17.
Looking Ahead
- The fall ASU faculty/staff meeting will occur on Friday, August 28, at 2:30 pm, in the Schaefer Center. HSoM Professors of piano Rodney Reynerson and Bair Shagdaron will open the meeting with a performance of Brahms Hungarian Dances #1 and 5 for piano four hands.
- The annual HSoM faculty/staff/advisory board potluck picnic occurs on Friday, August 28, from 5 pm till sundown, at the Hayes property in Blowing Rock (460 Pinnacle Drive).
- ASU Convocation occurs Thursday, September 3, from 10 am till noon, in the Holmes Convocation Center.
- The HSoM full faculty meets Friday, September 4, at 11 am, in BMC 225. Chancellor Everts will be our guest for the meeting. Provost Darrell Kruger will be our guest for the October 2 meeting.
- Monday, September 7, is a University holiday (Labor Day).
HSoM On the Road and Around Campus (upcoming)
- The Hayes School of Music has been invited by the North Carolina Music Educators Association to present four ensembles—University Singers, Jazz Ensemble I, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Ensemble—in a showcase concert as part of the Association's annual conference on Monday, November 9, at 7:30 pm, in Winston-Salem's Stevens Center. Jay Jackson has worked throughout the summer to coordinate activities and logistics related to the event, and we will be providing information to HSoM colleagues as plans are finalized. I hope that all will consider attending the NCMEA conference and the concert, as a way of supporting our students and future recruitment efforts for the Hayes School.
With best wishes for week 0 of the 2015-16 academic year,
Bill
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William L. Pelto, Ph.D.
Dean, Hayes School of Music
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-3029