Letter from the Chair

The Department of Music and the College of Arts and Sciences have both launched new and exciting undergraduate curricula for the twenty-first century Carolina student. After two years of imagining, discussing, and planning, the music department put into action transformative degree programs in music studies that harness tradition, innovation, and collaboration. As our home page of the new undergraduate curriculum notes, any Carolina student “who wants a life in music or music in their life” can find a degree path—Bachelor of Arts in Music, Bachelor of Music, Minor in Music, or Musical Theatre Minor—that best meets their artistic and academic needs.
To help keep the department at the forefront of music studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, we welcome new faculty colleagues Dr. Naomi André (David G. Frey Distinguished Professor) and Maya Shipman, whose records of excellence in the fields of opera studies and electronic music, respectively, bring exciting and groundbreaking expertise into our classrooms. They join a dedicated music faculty and staff who have served Carolina for decades with distinction in music creation, education, performance, research, service, and technology.
A crucial component to the department’s mission to deliver the highest quality music education for the twenty-first century Carolina student are our donors and community of supporters. Since 2007, the Kenan Music Scholarship has brought Carolina’s finest students to the department where they have excelled in their academic studies and performance training.
The department warmly welcomes its newest donor, alumna Dr. Marcia J. Citron, who earned her Ph.D. in Musicology from the Department of Music in 1971. A groundbreaking scholar, forging the field of women, feminism, and music in musicology, Dr. Citron who is Emerita Lovett Distinguished Service Professor of Musicology at Rice University established the Marcia J. Citron Graduate Research in Musicology Fund to provide critical funding for advanced graduate students who are nearing the last stage of their work in the program.
Our beloved donors Thomas S. Kenan III and Marcia J. Citron join a long list of esteemed donors to the department who make it possible for our undergraduate and graduate students to realize their fullest potential as music students. From masterclasses, research, and travel support to general needs of the department’s operations, donors serve our missions in crucial ways, and for them and their support, we are grateful.
A final word of gratitude goes to faculty colleagues who have recent or upcoming retirements. The importance of the stellar careers of Professors Allen Anderson, Robert Anderson, Mark Evan Bonds (Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor), Tonu Kalam, Susan Moeser, John Pederson, Terry Rhodes (former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences), and Philip Vandermeer is immeasurable, and their dedication to music education at Carolina will be felt for generations to come.
David F. Garcia
Professor and Chair