Dean, Bienen School of Music
Northwestern University

Job Info

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Search for the Dean

Northwestern University, Bienen School of Music

Evanston, Illinois

THE SEARCH

Northwestern University (Northwestern), a private research-intensive university, seeks a forward-thinking, collaborative, community-building leader to serve as the next dean of the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music (the Bienen School or the School). An award-winning school with a national and international reputation that is well-positioned for the future, the Bienen School combines conservatory-level training with the academic rigor of a top-tier R1 university. A Bienen education empowers students to develop informed and superb musicianship, a mastery of communication about and through music, and a commitment to excellence, all in a supportive and comprehensive environment that prepares them for success wherever their interests may lead.

Founded in 1895, the Bienen School is situated in the state-of-the-art Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts (the Ryan Center), which opened in 2015. The School's 130 full- and part-time faculty members are performers, scholars, and composers who serve 682 students - 425 undergraduates and 257 graduate students. Faculty and students alike bring diverse and wide-ranging interests from research to performance across all historical periods of Western classical music, jazz, and many other traditions. Students engage in numerous areas of study, including but not limited to, Brass, Composition & Music Technology, Conducting & Ensembles, Jazz Studies, Music Education, Music Theory & Cognition, Musicology, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Harp & Guitar, Voice & Opera, and Woodwinds. Unique to the Bienen School, roughly 70 percent of its undergraduate students are pursuing double majors or dual degrees at another school within Northwestern while simultaneously pursuing their Bienen degree.

The Bienen alumni community includes more than 17,000 graduates who hold positions as performers, administrators, academics, and educators in leading arts and educational institutions. They have won nine Grammy Awards in the past seven years alone.

Benefiting from the School's existing assets, the next dean will help shape, drive, and implement new strategic priorities that seek to enhance research and scholarship within the performing arts, expand curricular offerings, and continue to develop a school culture that rewards excellence and innovation, and promotes collaboration and interdisciplinary efforts.

The successful candidate will join a community of faculty, students, staff, advisory board members, and alumni who are poised to partner with a new leader to articulate a vision of excellence that both respects tradition and inspires the entire Bienen community to achieve greater heights and pursue new directions. This leader will be passionate and enthusiastic, with the ability to lead, implement, and influence change. They will demonstrate unwavering dedication to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and will prioritize building and maintaining strong relationships within and outside the Bienen community.

Northwestern has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national search firm, to assist in this search. All applications, inquiries, and nominations should be directed in confidence to the search firm as indicated at the end of this document.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO APPLY

All inquiries, nominations/referrals, and applications (including resume and letters of interest responding to the requirements outlined in the position profile) should be submitted via Isaacson, Miller's website:

Rebecca Swartz, Partner

Karson Freeman, Associate

Stephanie Simon, Associate

Isaacson, Miller

http://www.imsearch.com/8838

Electronic submission of application is required.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. As per Northwestern University policy, this position requires a criminal background check. Successful applicants will need to submit to a criminal background check prior to employment.

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