February 2009 Archives

Then I headed to Jackson where our Symphony Orchestra was honored as recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Joining director Jay Dean as honorees were John Grisham, Cassandra Wilson and Andrew Bucci, among others. It was a truly inspiring ceremony. We rushed back so I could attend tonight's Operissimo performance of the Symphony featuring an amazing young operatic tenor, David Lomeli.  The students, and Lomeli, were magnificent. 

Such meetings accomplish several things simultaneously. They:  1) give students informal opportunities to raise questions and gather information about their major and related educational and career paths, 2) give departmental faculty and advisors a chance to convey important schedule, course rotation, or co-curricular information that all students need quickly and efficiently, saving valuable time during the actual advisement sesssions for more personal approaches, and 3) allow departments to provide a brief social networking opportunity that will (hopefully) reinforce the need for advising and encourage full participation in advisement week.

It's a small step. We don't know for sure how well it will work here, but other schools have had some success with similar programs. I'm looking forward to seeing the results in late spring.

The array of faculty accomplishments is really quite stunning. They range the gamut from multiple-hundred-thousand dollar grants, to prestigious national Fellowships, to book publications, to teaching and research awards. We didn't have time to go into it during such a brief meeting, but our students are equally prolific. Undergraduates and graduate students are having papers published, winning awards, and earning prestigious scholarships and fellowships. 

It's quite obvious to me that a productive and highly engaged faculty results in productive and highly engaged students.  Love of our work is contagious! If we are excited about our research or creative scholarship, our students will become infected with the same excitement.

There are many things to be concerned about these days; a declining economy looms over each decision we make about how to allocate scarce resources. Yet I for one don't intend to lose sight of the bigger, brighter picture. Great things are still happening here. I'm glad we have so many little victories to celebrate. 

Last night's Wind Ensemble performance was a big hit.  Bennett auditorium was filled with honor band students, parents and friends, music lovers, and in particular, former students of William Moody (who served as director of bands here in the 1960s).  Moody was honored at the event as a 2009 inductee of the National Band Association Hall of Fame Distinguished conductor.

The arts have long been a strength of our university.  As one of the few public universities to offer fully accredited academic programs in all four traditional arts disciplines, (music, art, dance, and theater) we continue to place a high value on the role of these programs to our university and in our community.

Reaching out to new audience segments is a key goal of our summit. Research from dozens of studies suggests that younger, better-educated audiences are interested in the arts. However, they want performances that provide spiritually-uplifting and socially-fulfilling experiences. 

I'm very excited to embark on a clear plan to help build audiences, raise awareness, and spread the word about why The Arts @ Southern Miss is the premier university arts program for Mississippi.