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.)
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
- 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 and Events
- 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.