Job Posting for Chief Academic Officer

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the nation’s premiere residential performing arts conservatory, seeks to fill the position of Chief Academic Officer. A member of the 17-campus University of North Carolina, UNCSA offers programs in the performing, moving image and visual arts and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS/COC) to award the BFA, BM, MFA and MM degrees. It is also accredited by the Council on Accreditation and School Improvement of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS/CASI) to award the high school diploma.

Through its schools of Dance, Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking, Music and its High School and Undergraduate Academic Programs, UNCSA offers an intense, highly competitive, performance-focused education for high school, college and graduate students. The School’s resident faculty is made up of artists who have distinguished careers in the profession and are supported by more than 150 guest artists throughout the year.

As the senior academic officer on campus, the CAO reports directly to the Chancellor and works with deans, faculty and staff in a shared governance structure to develop and guide the academic and artistic programs, Semans Library, Summer Session, Enrollment Services, and to coordinate resources for all of these entities.

Qualified applicants are expected to have:

• A solid record of administrative leadership at the level of department chair or above;
• Expertise in advocacy for academic and artistic excellence and integrity;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• The ability to provide leadership in cultural diversity and a commitment to inclusiveness;
• Experience in and a commitment to the principles of shared governance and collective
decision-making;
• Openness, accessibility, and the ability to foster an atmosphere of collegiality and trust;
• A terminal degree in a related field.

Strong preference will be given to candidates with the following:

• Experience in the performing arts, especially in a conservatory setting;
• Experience within the University of North Carolina system;
• Leadership experience in the process of institutional accreditation;
• A Ph.D.

The Search Committee will begin reviewing applications May 1, 2009. The position will remain open until filled. Applicants should include a letter of interest, a detailed curriculum vitae, and three recent references.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts offers a competitive salary and benefits package. Applications will be treated confidentially until the final stages of the search process.

E-mail applications to:

George Burnette, Chair
Chief Academic Officer Search Committee
CAOSearch@uncsa.edu

Learn more about the University of North Carolina School of the Arts by visiting our website at http://www.uncsa.edu

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

2008-09 Courses: Themes and Highlights

Introduction
What follows is a thematically arranged sampling of courses that will be offered in the 2008-09 school year at the North Carolina School of the Arts. For a comprehensive list, please consult the 2008-09 Academic Course Schedule (now available online). For descriptions and information about year-long courses offered annually—e.g., Critical Perspectives (GES 101-102-103), Foundations of Western Thought (GES 211-212-213), Theatre History (THH 241-242-243), The Arts in Context (Hum 121-122-123), and Art History (ARH 101-102-103), along with our foreign language offerings in French, German, Italian, and Spanish— please consult the NCSA Bulletin.

Narrative and Story-telling
In both Critical Perspectives and Foundations of Western Thought various sorts of narrative are subjected to intense analysis and study. In addition, the following courses will involve focus on the nature and modes of narration:

Lit 220-02: Noir (Fall ’08)
Lit 230-01: Maupassant’s Naturalism (Fall ’08)
Hum 290-02: 1925 (Winter, ’09)
Lit 230-01: Telling Tales: Narrative Structure and the German-language Novelle (Winter ’09)
Lit 240-01: Greek Mythology (Winter ’09)
Lit 241-01: Myth in Literature (Winter ’09)
Hum 290-01: The Quest for Fire (Spring ’09)
Lit 240-02: Pre-modern, Modern, and Post-modern Storytelling Fiction and Film (Spring ’09)
Wri 260-01: The Kudzu Gazette: Interviewing (Fall ’08)
SOS 226-03: Urban Spaces, Buildings, and Historical Narratives (Fall ’08)
SOS 226-03: The Meaning of Museums in American History (Winter’09)

Theatre: Western, Eastern, Ancient, Modern
Besides Theatre History, the following will study various forms of theatrical expression and practice:

Lit 290-01: Medieval Theatre (Fall ’08)
Lit 290-02: Mirror Up to Nature or Inner Illumination? (Fall ’08)
Lit 290-01: 17th Century French theatre (Winter ’09)
Lit 290-01: Hamlet Variations (Spring ’09)
Lit 290-01: Theatre of the Absurd (Spring ’09)

Science and the Environment
Note: many of these are new offerings. The Critical Perspectives theme this year will focus on the topic of the environment.

Sci 107-01: General Physics (Fall ‘080/Spring ’09)
Sci 240-01: History and Philosophy of Science (Fall ’08)
Sci 290-01: Environmental Issues: Energy Flow (Fall ’08)
Sci 210-01: Nutrition (Fall’08/ Winter ’09)
Sci 290-01: The Sensational Brain (Fall ’08)
Sci 102-01: Environmental Issues: The Atmosphere (Winter ’09)
Sci 290-02: Your Body, Your Art (Winter ’09)
Sci 290-01: Environmental Issues: The Hydrosphere (Spring ’09)
Sci 227-01: The Biology of Movement (Spring ’09)
SOS 226-01: Nation’s Nature: Environmentalism in American Thought and Culture (Spring ’09)

New Mathematics Offerings

MAT 190-01: Geometry for College Students (Fall ’08)
MAT 190-01: Financial Management (Winter ’09)
MAT 290-01: Statistical Reasoning (Spring ’09)

Theories of Creativity and the Nature and Philosophy of Art

Phi 227-01: Philosophy of Art (Fall ’08)
Hum 290-01: Generative Art (Winter ’09)
Hum 290-02: Frida Kahlo—Her Art and Writings (Wring ’09)
Hum 290-03: Creativity and the Artist (Spring ’09)
SOS 220-02: Psychology of Art, Creativity, and Genius (Winter ’09)

US History, Politics, Culture, and Background

SOS 226-01: The Colonial Chesapeake (Fall’08)
SOS 226-01: Modern US Intellectual History (Fall’08)
SOS 226-03: Urban Spaces, Buildings, and Historical Narratives (Fall’08)
SOS 226-04: On the Campaign Trail (Fall ’08)
SOS 226-01: Talkin’ Freedom: Censorship and the Ist Amendment (Winter ’09)
SOS 226-03: The Meaning of Museums in American History (Winter’09)
SOS 236-01: England in the Time of Shakespeare (Winter ’09)
SOS 226-01: Women in American Colonial History (Spring ’09)
SOS 226-03: American Manhood (Spring ’09)
SOS 226-04: The Civil Rights Movement in America (Spring ’09)
Phi 290-01: Emerson (Spring ’09)
Hum 290-02: 1925 (Winter ’09)

New Psychology Offerings

SOS 220-02: Social Psychology (Fall’08)
SOS 220-01: Developmental Psychology (Winter’09)
SOS 220-02: IQ and Intelligences (Spring ’09)

Courses Focused on Writing

Wri 250-01: Writing for Your Profession
Wri 260-01: The Kudzu Gazette: Interviewing
Wri 260-01: The Kudzu Gazette: Non-fiction

Other Notable Offerings

GES 120-01,02,03: Digital Media for the Artist (Fall’08, Winter and Spring ’09)
Phi 226-01: Philosophy of Religion (Winter ’09)
Lit 290-01: Classical Lyric Poetry : Asia, Greece, and Rome (Spring ’09)

2008 Kenan Writers' Encounters

WINSTON-SALEM, NC: Four renowned authors and artists will gather at the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) and elsewhere in Winston-Salem on April 12-22 during the annual Kenan Writers’ Encounters to engage university students and faculty and the broader community on the important issue of environmental stewardship and the arts.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and essayist W.S. Merwin; author and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams; environmental scientist and ethicist Jonathan Gilligan; and environmental sculptor Herb Parker will address the crucial subject of arts and the environment, and what authors and other artists can do to raise community awareness and to help facilitate dialogue and debate about saving the planet.

Funded by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, The Kenan Writers' Encounters is a series of public lectures and receptions, master classes, workshops, and multimedia presentations devoted to the exploration of creativity across the arts. Inspired by the perspectives of renowned and rising authors and artists whose visions bridge the world of letters and other arts, The Kenan Writers’ Encounters invite local and state communities, NCSA conservatory artists-in-training, faculty and interested members of the public to share an extraordinary conversation with our participating writers.

W.S. Merwin has become one of the most widely read – and imitated – poets in America. The son of a Presbyterian minister, for whom he began writing hymns at the age of five, Merwin went to Europe as a young man and developed a love of languages that led to work as a literary translator. His youth also helped develop a career that has produced renowned works and a parade of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, as well as the Tanning Prize, Bollinger Prize, Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress, laureate of the Struga Poetry Evening Festival, and Golden Wreath Award. Merwin’s recent poetry is perhaps his most personal, arising from his deeply held beliefs and an intimate awareness of the natural world.

Merwin will present a public lecture on Monday, April 21, 7:30 p.m., at the Main Theatre, NCSA Film Village, followed by a reception and book signing in the BB&T Lobby, beginning approximately at 8:30 p.m. Contact the Stevens Center box office at (336) 721-1945 for ticket reservations for this event.

In addition, Merwin will conduct a reading on Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 p.m., at Reynolda House. This event is a joint program hosted by The Kenan Writers’ Encounters and Wake Forest University’s Dillon Johnston Writers Reading Series. A reception and book signing will follow the reading. Admission to the reading at Reynolda House is free, but tickets must be reserved by calling Reynolda House at (336) 758-5150, or Conor O’Callaghan in the Wake Forest University Department of English at (336) 758-3914.

Terry Tempest Williams, who is currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah, is a fierce advocate for freedom of speech. Williams has consistently advocated how environmental issues are social issues that ultimately become matters of justice. She received the 2006 Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, the organization’s highest honor given to an American citizen. She has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western American Literature Association and the Wallace Stegner Award given by the Center for the American West. She also received the Lannan Literary Fellowship and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction.

Williams will present a public lecture on Tuesday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., at the Main Theatre, NCSA Film Village, followed by a reception and book signing in the BB&T Lobby, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Contact the Stevens Center box office at (336) 721-1945 for ticket reservations.

Jonathan Gilligan, Ph.D., is a professor at Vanderbilt University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences who specializes in science, ethics, and public policy. Gilligan works primarily at the intersection of science, ethics, and public policy with a focus on the ways in which scientific knowledge and uncertainty affect policy decisions about the environment. A 1991 Ph.D. recipient from Yale University, Gilligan has a broad background in many areas of science. He is currently pursuing research in three areas: the role of individual behavior in mitigating climate change; interactions between science and religion regarding environmental issues; and the use of rhetoric at the intersection of science and public policy. In addition, he partnered with his mother, Carol Gilligan, to produce a stage adaptation of The Scarlet Letter.

A conversation with Gilligan on the environment, spirituality and ethics will be conducted on Saturday, April 12, from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in the Special Events Room, 10th Floor, Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem. Contact the Stevens Center box office at (336) 721-1945 for ticket reservations.

Herb Parker, a native of Elizabeth City, N.C., is one of the nation’s premier environmental sculptors. Currently a professor of art at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Parker has two concurrent bodies of work, which maintain separate identities, but are of equal importance in his life. The nature-based installations, which began in the mid-1970s, are created to enhance a viewer’s perception of the environment and our relationship with nature. These environmental installations evolved from his thoughts on the mechanism of natural systems in time. This series serves as an ephemeral memento to the resilience of nature and an affirmation of the continuum of systems within the natural order. Parker’s object-oriented work employs a variety of materials and is somewhat autobiographical. The work reflects the insecurities, fears and exhilarations of life. These works are fueled by social and political developments, as well as interpersonal and familial relationships and the expectations and antagonisms inherent in that association.

Parker will conduct a public lecture and unveil environmental art by NCSA students on Thursday, April 17, 3:45 p.m., at the NCSA Welcome Center Presentation Room. Seating is limited. Contact the Stevens Center box office at (336) 721-1945 for ticket reservations.

Ellen Rosenberg, Ph. D., the Project Director for The Kenan Writers’ Encounters, said: “The arts
Community has the power to advocate for change, to raise our awareness, and to ask the necessary questions about global warming, environmental stewardship and ethical responsibility. The planet is every person’s temple, laboratory and sculpture studio, everybody’s kitchen and backyard. We all have a stake – and we should have a say – in the way the future unfolds.”

“The Kenan Institute for the Arts is thrilled with the development of this fourth season of The Kenan Writers’ Encounters,” said Executive Director Dr. Margaret Mertz. “The series of events over a concentrated ten-day, intensive period will allow students, faculty and the greater community an opportunity to focus their attention on serious issues surrounding our planet’s resources, while also encouraging artists from all backgrounds to imagine the influence they might bring from their work to environmental concerns.”

For more information about The Kenan Writers’ Encounters, call (336) 722-0030 or visit www.kenanarts.org.

The Kenan Writers’ Encounters is a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, which builds partnerships to support creative projects, many of which are associated with the North Carolina School of the Arts.

The 2008 Kenan Writers’ Encounters schedule of the five public events follows:
(There is no charge for these events, but tickets are required. For tickets reservations, contact the Stevens Center box office at (336) 721-1945)

Friday, April 12, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Special Events Room, 10th Floor, Stevens Center
Jonathan Gilligan, Conversation on the environment, spirituality and ethics
(coffee served)

Tuesday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., Main Theatre, NCSA Film Village
Terry Tempest Williams, Public Lecture
(followed by a reception and book signing in the BB&T Lobby)

Thursday, April 17, 3:45 p.m., NCSA Welcome Center Presentation Room
Herb Parker, Public Lecture, Unveiling of student environmental models

Monday, April 21, 7:30 p.m., Main Theatre, NCSA Film Village
W.S. Merwin, Public Lecture
(followed by a reception and book signing in the BB&T Lobby)

Tuesday, April 22, 7:00 p.m., Reynolda House
W.S. Merwin, Reading
Joint program of The Kenan Writers’ Encounters of NCSA and the Dillon Johnston Writers Reading Series of Wake Forest University.
(followed by a reception)

A Quick Overview of our Program

Students seeking the BFA or BM from NCSA take a variety of liberal arts courses offered by the Undergraduate Academic Program, which employs twenty faculty, fourteen full-time, who teach thirty-four different courses—some with several sections—per term. It’s perhaps helpful to think of us as a bit like a small residential liberal arts college in a village surrounded by our conservatory “mountains”, the schools of dance, design and production, drama, music, and filmmaking. Besides a set of core courses, e.g. our freshman writing course called Critical Perspectives, and our “great books/big ideas” warhorse called Foundations of Western Thought, we offer numerous electives—usually, around thirty per term-- in literature, science, mathematics, the social sciences, foreign languages (French, Italian, German, and Spanish), and philosophy, with a different set of electives available every term. The village is a pretty busy place.

To give you a taste of the action, here are some examples of this term’s offerings:

Greek Tragedy
Symbolism and Expressionism
West Looks East: Images of “the East” in European Art
Murder as a Fine Art
Zen and the Arts in Japan
Angel of Anarchy: Art and Literature of Leonora Carrington
The Sensational Brain
Political Philosophy: The Fundamental Problems
The American Presidency
America Between the Wars

We invite you to peruse our syllabi HERE.

This year is also the first time we’ve offered, as a requirement, Digital Media for the Artist, a one term course, primarily aimed at first-year college students from all programs; it’s conceived as an investigation not just of the techniques but also the rhetorical principles of digital technology. Its syllabus may be found HERE.

This year as in years past, UAP will be a co-host of the Kenan Writers’ Encounters. The invited speakers will include W.S. Merwin and Terry Tempest Williams. Additional information HERE.

Finally, our new Chancellor, John Mauceri, has presented a framework for new initiatives in both the arts and academics programs, which will be a topic of much reflection on campus this year and in the near future. Check out his thinking in his installation speech, to be found HERE.

We welcome your interest and inquiries.

All the best,
Rick Miller
Interim Dean, Undergraduate Academic Program