Happy New Year! We begin 2015 with very good news from our accrediting organization, the National Association of Schools of Music. At its November 2014 meeting, the Association's Commission on Accreditation reviewed our Self-Study, the Visitors' Report, and our Optional Response, and "voted to approve [our] application and grant renewal of Membership." With this renewal, the HSoM's next full accreditation review will occur during the 2023-2024 academic year. The Commission commended the Hayes School for "an outstanding Self-Study and effectively addressing issues raised in the Visitors' Report." For more information about the NASM's positive action, see Kudos (below.)
Faculty and Staff Business
- Please consider contributing cash toward a New Year's gift to thank our housekeeping staff here in the building. Contributions may be dropped off with Lynn Beebe, Lauren Hayworth, or Janet Seatz in the Dages Administrative Suite.
- A call for nominations has gone out for a faculty member to participate in the UNC Chancellor's Faculty Boot Camp, “The Entrepreneurial mindset—Maximizing Faculty Impact,” to be held May 11-14, 2015 in Chapel Hill. Please see the attached memo, and let me know by Friday, January 9, if you are interested in this opportunity.
- The National Endowment for the Arts has issued a call for applications "that support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts." Please see the attached memo forwarded to us from the ASU Office of Research, noting the January 16 deadline for submission.
- Please note information in the "Events" section regarding our January retreat, which will focus on discussion points from the College Music Society's curricular "manifesto."
- HSoM full faculty meetings will occur on the following dates (11 am, BMC 225) in the Spring 2015 semester: January 30, February 27, March 27, and April 24.
- HSoM Dean's Advisory Council meetings will occur on the following dates, all at 11 am, in the Hayes Lobby: January 27, February 24, March 24, and April 21.
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
- The HSoM faculty's January retreat will occur on Thursday, January 8, from 10 am to 12:30 pm, followed by a potluck lunch.The retreat's focus will be Creativity, Diversity, and Integration in the HSoM Curriculum.Location will be BMC 225. Faculty are asked to submit responses to the online survey developed by the Retreat Planning Task Force by Wednesday at noon.
- Spring 2015 classes begin Monday, January 12.
Looking Ahead
- Saturday, January 17, is the HSoM's second audition day for admission of students to the Fall 2015 entering class.
- Monday, January 19, is a university holiday—MLK's Birthday.
Kudos and Other News Event
- Thanks and congratulations go to all colleagues involved in our NASM self-study, especially members of the Self-Study Steering Committee who facilitated our written documentation, members of the Music Theory and Music Education faculties who provided information and updated curricula in response to the Visitors' concerns regarding arranging skills, the Conducting faculty, who worked with Associate Dean Jackson to address concerns related to our use of BMC 104, 214, 300, and the Spencer Rehearsal Room, and members of the Piano Technician Search Committee, all of whom provided service invaluable to the eventual positive response from NASM. Renewal of accreditation is an extraordinary, once-every-ten-years, achievement. We can truly celebrate now, even as we have already begun significant new initiatives regarding our programs, operations, and curricula.
- The Marching Mountaineers were featured performers in London, England's 2015 New Year's Day Parade.
- New York Polyphony, featuring HSoM alumnus Craig Phillips, has received a Grammy nomination for their new Christmas disc "Sing thee Nowell." The nomination is NYP's second.
With best wishes as we begin 2015,
Bill
_____________________
William L. Pelto, Ph.D.
Dean, Hayes School of Music
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-3029
**If you'd like to have something included in future iterations of these announcements, please send me an email with "announcements" in the subject line. Please feel free to send me information about artists (HSoM colleagues and others) who will collaborate in faculty recitals. My listings here sometimes miss those details. I'll be happy to add family/personal announcements, too. Please submit announcements as pdf's or in plain text, unformatted (no special spacing, bullets, etc.). Please include hyperlinks as appropriate.
**Please send information about upcoming off-campus performances and presentations by faculty and students. I'll include them in this "HSoM On the Road..." section.
UNC Faculty Boot Camp (PDF, 101KB)
NEA competition (PDF, 106KB)