Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2005
President Jill Beck has announced the appointment of Robert W. Thayer as
dean of the Conservatory of Music. A highly respected music educator, Thayer
is the former dean of the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State
University.
The recipient of the Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, he has taught music
at the elementary and secondary school levels and served on the faculties
of Bowling Green State University, the State University of New York at Potsdam,
and Cornell College.
A French horn player, he has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra,
Erie Philharmonic Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and Cedar Rapids
Symphony Orchestra. For many years, he served as an accreditation evaluator
with the National Association of Schools of Music, was a member of their
task force on State Certification, and chaired the commission on non-degree
granting institutions.
Since stepping down from the deanship at Bowling Green, he has been tapped
by major schools and departments of music to help provide strategic leadership
during periods of administrative transition. He has served for the past two
academic years as the interim head of the music department at the University
of Connecticut.
Dean Thayer has accepted a two-year appointment, to begin in August.
“During that time,” President Beck says, “I am confident
that he will work closely with the conservatory faculty in identifying the
resources
and curricular and administrative foundations necessary to furthering and
achieving our collective aspirations.”
