Dean’s Message

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

It is an honor and a privilege to be writing my first letter for the Alumni Magazine as Dean of the College of Music at Florida State. I have just completed my first full academic year at FSU, and I am even more excited about serving as Dean of this illustrious college than when I started in January 2021. The faculty and staff have made my family and I feel right at home. During my travels over the past year, I have had the opportunity to meet with alumni from across the nation, all of whom express gratitude for the education and experiences that they received here at FSU. Throughout these many conversations with faculty, students, staff, and alumni, there is one word that came through consistently: community.

In the Fall of 2021, I called for the formation of a Strategic Thinking Steering Committee to help create a cohesive vision for the future of the College. This committee was created with representatives from each academic area within the College, as well as representation from staff, undergraduate and graduate students, community members, and alumni. We had terrific conversations throughout the year, and it became clear through this process that it is our core value of “community” that guides every interaction and decision that we make in the College. We see community as a place of belonging, where all are welcomed. The study, creation, and celebration of music binds us together as a community. This fall we also created an IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Committee. This committee, led by Dr. Jane Cledinning, worked consistently over the course of the year to collect information from faculty, staff, and students, and utilized that information to create a year-end report that summarized what we are doing well and where we still need to improve. The report also included a list of recommendations for how to move the College forward as we progress toward our goals. We will be examining those recommendations over the summer and implementing strategies to move towards a more inclusive and diverse college community.

You will be able to see both the strategic vision document and the work of the IDEA Committee on our new website later this summer. Wait – new website?! Yes, we have been working on a new rebrand and totally redesigned website that we hope to unveil in late summer. I think you will find the new design to be artistic, centered around students and community, and a reflection of the high quality of work that happens in the College of Music on a daily basis.

Thank you for all that you do to support the College of Music. We welcome your feedback, and we want to know about your successes. Please do keep us up to date on your activities. I hope I have the chance to meet you at a concert or during my travels, which happen with some frequency! Go ‘Noles!

2022 COLLEGE OF MUSIC ALUMNI MAGAZINE CONTENTS

02 Dean’s Message 04 Interview with Dean Queen 08 An InternatioNOLE Presence 12 Jazz at Florida State 16 Retirements 20 New Faculty 21 News from the College 26 Faculty/Alumni/Student News 39 Focus on Philanthropy 40 Major Gifts, Friends and Supporters

College of Music alumni, we want to hear from you! Use this QR code or visit our alumni page at music. fsu.edu/alumni to send us updates - mailing address, email, phone, employment - and information about your professional activities to be included in the next edition of the College of Music magazine. Follow the College of Music on social media @musicFSU