The Jacobs School of Music is embarking on a strategic planning process during the 2022-2023 academic year. Through conversations, brainstorming, surveys, and ongoing dialogue across multiple groups of stakeholders, we will spend the entire academic year honing in on an understanding of who we are as a school today and dreaming big about who we desire to be as we enter our second century. Led by a Steering Committee comprised of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council, we will analyze the information gathered, draft updated mission and vision statements, identify important themes for our future, engage in working groups to develop new ideas, initiatives, and priorities, and propose a plan which will guide our work together over the next five years.
Steering committee
The Steering Committee will have the responsibility for providing advice and helping steer the strategic planning process and the development of the plan itself. The committee will ensure our community at large is consulted—our faculty, students, staff, alumni, off-campus partners, and others in a manner that is inclusive and reflective of the diversity that makes our school a great place to be.
Specifically, the Steering Committee, which is advisory to the dean and the leadership of the school, will:
Ensure all members of the Jacobs School of Music community are given multiple and appropriate opportunities to engage in the process – by having their opinions sought, their voices heard, their feedback invited, their buy-in encouraged.
Guide and facilitate the process of developing a strategic plan that reflects the wider JSoM community’s input. Note that the committee does not approve the final plan, nor does it determine JSoM priorities and plan-supporting resource allocations. Decision-making authority remains vested where it currently resides –in the governance system and with the school and university leadership.
Connect with, build from, leverage, and integrate work done in the Working Groups established to explore the broad strategic planning themes which will be identified throughout the year as well as work being undertaken under the auspices of currently ongoing “local” planning efforts on campus.
Membership
Leadership
Jeremy Allen, Co-chair - Eugene O'Brien Bicentennial Executive Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Music (Jazz Studies)
Espen Jensen - Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
Grace Lazarz - Ticketing, Sales and House Manager, Musical Arts Center
Mark F. Smith - Director of Paints and Props, Musical Arts Center
Students
Charlie Edmonds, Graduate student
Lauren Franzetti, Undergraduate student
Alumna
Katie Wyatt, Executive Director, Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities
Dean’s Advisory Council
Frank Graves
David Jacobs
Working Groups
1. Student Health and Wellness
The physical, mental, and emotional health of any performing arts professional is a critical ingredient for a successful and satisfying lifelong career. What is the current vision for this priority? What are the key objectives and strategies the school needs to prioritize in order to best support our students in the near term (6 months to 1 year), the immediate term (the next two to three years), and the longer term (the next five years)?
Lissa May*
Felicia Cianchetti
John Raymond, Chair
Frank Diaz
Amanda Draper
Joanie Spain
Joseph Galvin
Jamie Tagg
Alyssa McPherson
Sarah Wroth
John Porter
Yoav Hayut, student representative
Abhik Mazumder, student representative
Delia Li, student representative
Lara Van Vuuren, student representative
* = steering committee member
2. Curricular Flexibility
Throughout the strategic planning process, the need for greater flexibility and fewer requirements in the JSoM undergraduate core curriculum has been raised as essential. What does it mean to make space in the core? What does flexibility mean for the core? What is missing from the core curriculum for 21st-century musicians? What does increased diversity within the music core mean? What are the goals and the key initiatives in the near term (6 months to 1 year), the immediate term (the next two to three years), and the longer term (the next five years)?
Lissa May*, Associate Dean for Instruction, Chair
Gary Arvin, faculty at large
David Cartledge, Director of Graduate Studies
Sean Dobbins, faculty at large
Joey Tartell, Director of Undergrad. Studies
Jeffrey Turner, faculty at large
Frank Samarotto, Music Theory faculty representative
Career preparation is essential for all students graduating from performing arts schools today. This includes practical preparation (including CV/resume development, grant writing, monetization of work, and technological proficiencies) and coursework or programs preparing performing arts industry skills. How might we ensure all students who graduate from JSoM have engaged in fundamental career preparation before they leave, not only those who self-select for specific coursework?
Alain Barker, Director, Music Entrepreneurship and Career Development
Jane Dutton*
Joey Tartell, Director, Undergraduate Studies
David Cartledge Director, Graduate Studies
Daniel Duarte, Chair
Jason Bergman
Larry Groupé
Grigory Kalinovsky
Greg Ward
Elizabeth Yao
* = steering committee member
4. Reimagining International Priorities and Strategies
As one of the world’s most prestigious schools of performing arts with students from more than 50 countries represented, we are responsible for ensuring that our students are prepared for careers and have connections around the world. While there has been a long tradition of global connectivity, many of those partnerships collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic. How might we reconsider and reform our international partnerships from the past, develop new partnerships, promote international engagement, and develop a sustainable strategy for the initiatives in which we engage?
Abra Bush, Chair
Arthur Fagen
Norman Krieger
Espen Jensen*
Tom Wieligman
Kyung Sun Lee
Phil Ponella*
Gabor Varga
Brian Horne
Lauren Franzetti* (student)
* = steering committee member
5. Student Recruitment
The JSoM has a longstanding tradition of recruiting some of the world’s best musicians and ballet dancers. Challenges stemming from the forthcoming changes in the number of students who will be attending colleges and universities will require the school to reimagine and reconsider how and where it recruits, how scholarship support is allocated and how to engage in recruitment. How might we ensure that we are actively recruiting excellent, diverse students, appropriately allocating financial aid (merit and/or need-based aid), and yielding the most prepared students?
Espen Jensen*, Chair
Michael Stucker
Joey Tartell
Brian Horne
Simin Ganatra*
Chi Wang
Brent Gault*
Demondrae Thurman*
Otis Murphy
* = steering committee member
6. Strengthen and Demonstrate JSoM’s Commitment to DEI Efforts
The Jacobs School of Music has students from all 50 states and 50 countries around the world. It is our diversity of people, thought, and identities which make us a rich environment for creativity. Building on the existing plans strategic plan established by the D&E committee, what are the goals and the key initiatives for DEI in the near term (6 months to 1 year), the immediate term (the next two to three years), and the longer term (the next five years)?
Alain Barker
Futaba Niekawa
Daniel Duarte
Julia Shaw
Hallie Geyh
Russell Thomas
Orit Hilewicz
Greg Ward
Javier Leon, Chair
Olivia Leake, Student Representative
Espen Jensen
7. Expand Jacobs Academy and community engagement across the state of Indiana
How might we position the Jacobs Academy and the JSoM community engagement efforts to ensure there is teaching, creativity and impact both regionally and across the state of Indiana? What are the key initiatives in the near term (6 months to 1 year), the immediate term (the next two to three years), and the longer term (the next five years)?
Brenda Brenner, Chair
Jeremy Allen*
Mimi Zweig
Elizabeth Yao
Robin Allen
Kim Carballo
Alain Barker
Constance Cook Glen
* = steering committee member
8. Faculty & Staff Engagement
The Jacobs School of Music should not only be a leading destination for students studying music and dance, it should also be a good place to work. Building on the excellent work of the Staff Engagement Task Force, this group should focus on challenges for both faculty and staff in the areas of salary equity, work life balance, professional development, leadership development, community development, access to resources for scholarly and creative activity, and more.
Jeremy Allen*
Jill Gonyo* Chair
Joyce Leonard
Phil Ponella*
Peter Miksza
Lauren Richerme
Erin Smith
Mark Smith*
Melissa Dickson*
Grace Lazarz*
Dan Melamed*
* = steering committee member
9. Enriching the JSoM Experience
Every institution is enriched by the diversity of thought and experiences all members of the community bring to it. In order to continue the infusion of these new ideas, methodologies or thoughts, bringing extraordinary guest artist and scholars to campus for performances, talks, masterclasses, and networking has emerged through the planning process as a key initiative. How might we strategically and in a cost-effective way increase our guests at the JSoM? How do we ensure that they have been screened for any reputational concerns before invitations are extended? What should the focus be given limited resources?
Frank Graves*
Melissa Dickson*
Tom Walsh
Tom Wieligman
Simin Ganatra*
Ayana Smith
Kathryn Wyatt*
David Jacobs*
* = steering committee member
Strategic Planning Town Hall for all Faculty & Staff – January 6, 2023
Jacobs faculty and staff: Documents and records from the January 6 Town Hall will be made available for review in Sharepoint. Thomas Morris' keynote speech has been added, and key themes and working groups will be available soon.