FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Thomas Kernan as the school's inaugural assistant dean of artistic operations, effective Aug. 15.
Kernan is currently associate professor of music history and associate dean of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where he has served on faculty since 2014. In his present role, he supports and manages the college’s Music Conservatory, Theatre Conservatory and Interdisciplinary Conservatory.
A scholar of American music, Kernan’s research has addressed the musical memorialization of Abraham Lincoln, from his death in 1865 to the present, as well as the history of concert audiences’ musical and extra-musical experiences. His Lincoln research earned the 2016 Hay-Nicolay Prize from the joint committee of Abraham Lincoln Association and Abraham Lincoln Institute for its advancement of the national understanding of Lincoln and Civil War legacies.
Kernan’s work on American concert hall experiences earned the 2019 Newberry Library Rudolph Ganz Fellowship in American Music.
Kernan’s award-winning teaching was recognized by the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned an M.M. and a Ph.D., and by Roosevelt University, where he earned the institution’s highest award for teaching, the Provost’s Award for Innovative Curricular Design.
“In addition to his impressive teaching and scholarly background, Tom Kernan has displayed extraordinary skill and visionary leadership in his extensive arts management experience,” said Abra Bush, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “We eagerly await his contributions to the Jacobs team in helping to shape the future of performing arts in higher education and beyond.”