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Deans Downbeat

Innovation as a collaborative act
Greetings from the road where Ive been engaged in two accreditation site reviews for the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) as well as a trio of October conferences: From hosting the National Association of Music Executives at State Universities (NAMESU) Annual Meeting right here on our campus and at the new Limelight hotel to the 61st Annual Conference of the International Council for Arts Deans (ICfAD) in Santa Fe, New Mexico to the College Music Society (CMS) National Conference in Spokane, Washington this week where Ill be interacting with other deans and senior arts administrators engaged in public service and mentoring. Everywhere I go, I enjoy representing the unique achievements, aspirations and opportunities of our College of Music; along the way, Ive been struck by the supportive camaraderie and timely shared learnings among my counterparts.
As noted by American theatre and opera director Anne Bogart, We have been discouraged to think that innovation can be a collaborative act and yet its exactly thata collaborative actthats at the heart of institutions like ours.泭MORE
of the Deans Downbeat,
a regular communiqu矇泭from Dean John Davis.
泭泭Noteworthy media mentions
(Dec. 4, 2025, Daily Camera)
Our Assistant Professor of Music Technology Grace Lesliewho directs the universitys Brain Music Labresearches how the brain responds to music and why musical memories often endure even as other forms of memory fade. Music can kind of provide scaffolding for memories to be built in the brain in a similar way that spatial navigation can do that, she says. 泭
(Dec. 3, 2025, Gramophone)
(Dec. 3, 2025, The Violin Channel)

















