STRATEGIC PLAN 2002-2007

Vision Statement *

The Department of Music will build on its strategic advantages such as its location and its historical reputation for artistic and academic excellence of its faculty and students:

• to offer New Mexicans a comprehensive music program that will provide opportunities for solo and ensemble performance as well as a thoroughgoing academic training that will provide a basis for the understanding of music of various eras and cultures;

• to support the broad eductional needs of New Mexico and the nation, including those of public and private K-12 education, through quality programs in music education;

• to serve as a significant knowledge resource, especially in areas of distinctive expertise, for New Mexico, the nation, and the world; and

• to foster programs of national and international prominence that will continue to distinguish the UNM Department of Music as an original and unique undergraduate and graduate program among America’s universities.

Mission Statement

The mission of the University of New Mexico Department of Music is to provide the highest quality musical education, and to make a substantial contribution to the cultural life of its region and the world by reinforcing the integral value of music in society.

Value Statement

The following values provide a frame of reference for making decisions. These values are shaped by needs that have evolved as the department has grown, and are supported by the convictions of the faculty, staff, and students who teach, learn and work at the Department of Music.

• Diversity: The Department of Music values the diversity of its students, faculty, staff and community and seeks to cultivate such diversity through hiring practices and through the inclusion of international students and students of diverse cultures. We seek to integrate multi-culturalism into the curriculum offered to our students, the university, and the community.

• Creativity and Initiative: The Music Department by definition is a community of artists and scholars and therefore considers creativity and initiative to be among the highest values we espouse and communicate to our faculty, staff, and students. We are commited to encouraging and rewarding these values and will continue to find the means by which the college and university can, as partners, commit to the same goal through their respective policies and procedures.

• Excellence: The Department of Music is committed to excellence in all areas including teaching, scholarly work, creative work, and service to the department, college, university, and community. We encourage and seek to develop excellence in our faculty, staff, and students.

• Service to the College, University, and Community: The Department of Music values its special and unique responsibility as a primary representative of University of New Mexico to the community through its athletic bands and its representation at important university functions (e.g., university, college, and departmental commencement exercises, and involvement in fundraising and promotional initiatives of the university). The Department affirms its role as the principal academic music unit in the state of New Mexico by its active participation in the outside educational and arts community.

• Collaboration with other University Programs and Faculty in defining Areas of Excellence: The Department of Music encourages individual and group efforts to redefine the boundaries of the Arts and other disciplines with which it collaborates. Relationships with the National Hispanic Cultural Center, UNM Medical School, Anthropology Department, Native American Studies and anticipated collaborations with the Anderson School of Business and College of Engineering typify only the very beginnings of a frontier to be explored in the future.

Strategic Advantages *

The University of New Mexico’s location provides opportunities for students to participate in regional and international culture through classes, events, and interaction with international students and faculty. The surrounding arts, education, and technological communities, with such internationally and nationally known organizations as the Santa Fe Opera, Chamber Music Albuquerque, the National Laboratories, Intel Corporation, and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, has a direct impact on the cultural, educational, and performance life of our students.

• The Department is committed to integrating unique programs and courses into its curriculum. Our String Pedagogy program (the only undergraduate string pedagogy program in the U.S.), and courses such as Native American Music, Recording Techniques, Computer Applications in Music, Mariachi Ensemble, Flamenco Guitar, Latino Music, and Music of Mexico and the Caribbean have intrinsic value, but when encompassed within a total curriculum, the educational benefits multiply. In providing traditional classical training via the study of standard orchestral repertoire, the UNM Symphony Orchestra has a special mission to perform works by composers south of the border such as Silvestre Revueltas, Carlos Chávez, and Pablo Moncayo. The orchestra has already made several historically important recordings of such works and remains commited to the continuing development of this mission.

• The Department works closely with the other units of the college to foster a progressive and rich climate for for the arts of high quality. The physical space of the Center for the Arts is well suited to collaborative projects. In addition, the two college institutes (the Arts Technology Center and the Arts of Americas Institute) are essential to the Department of Music’s mission in securing grants, visiting artists, and programs, and in creating new and exceptional venues for the arts and technology in the Southwest.

• In order to fulfill a mission of responsibility to the community and to foster an appreciation for the special cultural attributes of the surrounding region, the Department is affiliated with numerous community organizations such as the UNM Prep School (which the department manages), Albuquerque Public Schools, Albuquerque Youth Symphony, John Donald Robb Trust, Cervantes Institute, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, and National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Strategic Direction on Vital Academic Climate *

Objectives:

• Provide the highest quality comprehensive music education to all undergraduates through combining both classical training and training which is aimed at the development of the “complete” musician.

• Evaluate and restructure support for our graduate program, to improve its quality, effectiveness, and stature.

• Support individual and collaborative research and creative activity.

• Find and provide funding to sustain all of the above in such forms as travel, guest artists and master classes, department grants, and specialized course or event offerings.

• Ensure substantial roles for faculty, staff, and students in department planning, administration and governance by continued adherence to guidelines set forth in our department Constitution and Undergraduate and Graduate Handbooks.

Strategic Direction on Public Responsibility *

Objectives:

• Expand our music education programs and build upon the success of the UNM Music (Community) Prep School in connecting with the publiic school system and community.

• Expand outreach initiatives without straining essential resources, contributing to a service-mindedness that has resulted in such past or ongoing initiatives as benefit concerts (e.g., 9/11 memorial, breast cancer research concert), the Arts-in-Medicine program with UNM Hospital, and participation in community and professional concert series and organizations.

• Enrich the cultural life of the community through the various specialized talents of the individuals who comprise the Department if Music

Strategic Direction on Diversity *

Objectives:

• Increase the diversity of Department of Music faculty, staff, and students to etter reflect the demographics and cutural diversity of our state.

• Recognize and benefit from the diversity of ideas and approaches to music making and learning, and culture by promoting communication and interaction and by providing a curricular base for experiencing such diversity.

• Continue to develop a comprehensive and inclusive academy of music whereby broadly different cultural venues are fully integrated into the learning and performance environment.

Strategic Direction on Areas of Marked Distinction *

Objectives:

• Create support structures through better management, collaboration, and intense interaction with the CFA Development Office and Institutes to effectively provide resources for music programs that have the highest priority and distinction.

• Develop and implement effective methods of communicating about Department of Music programs to the college, university, state, national, and international communities.

Strategic Direction on Planning *

Objectives:

• Utilize the department strategic plan as a guide for all priorities, goals, and decisions, maintaining this document as one that permits evolution within the general vision of the department strategic plan.

• Evaluate the plan on a biennial basis in order to make appropriate adjustments while beginning the work of creating a new five-year set of goals by at least the 4th year of implementation.

Strategic Direction on Resources

Objectives:

• Foster a culture of recognition and reward for excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, creativity, service, and leadership.

• Use financial resources effectively.

• Increase effectiveness and visibility of fundraising activities.

• Improve effectiveness of enrollment and scholarship management.

• Align the development of intellectual and creative (performance) resources to support instructional, creative, and service programs.

• Provide and maintain state-of-the-art computing, communications, and information technology.

Strategic Direction on Management Systems and Support Functions *

Objectives
• Promote coordination and collaboration for all leadership, management, service and decision-making functions within the department.
• Increase efficiency through the development of clear processes and procedures and by streamlining approval processes.

Five-Year Plan: List of goals

2002–2003 Goals:

1. Modify Undergraduate Curriculum to include requirements in technology, history, and ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology and technology are becoming increasingly important in music and the accrediting body now mandates that elements of these be required. Given new ethnomusicology hires and technical staff and faculty in the college and department, the resource requirement will be limited to that covered by the hiring of part-time faculty in this area. Since part-time hires already address technology needs, new resource needs are minimal.

2. Revise Graduate Curriculum to better suit the needs of our students in response to Graduate Unit Review. It is imperative that the remedial needs of students be addressed in a way that is both comprehensive, yet allows us to continue offering the Master of Music as a two-year degree plan that is both competitive and inexpensive.

3. Set Spending Priorities for the next 5 years so that current intensive spending in areas such as scholarships, part-time faculty, ensembles, faculty travel (for recruitment and creative work), and general needs can be managed within the budget.

2003–2004 Goals:

1. Streamline the scholarship process and recruitment organization so there is better communication and understanding of all available resources within the department, college, and university. Better coordination and organization are needed so that information is available early from the university scholarship and development offices as well as from the Department of Music. This information is important both for planning before the beginning of the school year and for the final planning and strategizing in February and March of the current year.

2. Stabilize the Opera program by securing a regular annual budget through a combination of fundraising for endowed accounts and the reclaiming of previously allocated funds.
3. Improve Student Governance in order to bring about a greater student involvement and awareness in the operations of the department. The Student Advisory Committee and the Graduate Student Association will become strong voices for student concerns.

2004–2005 Goals:

1. Fine-tune the Department Administrator Position so that the Department Administrator becomes more responsible for daily management (including but not limited to duties encompassing fiscal and facilities management, organizational oversight of all departmental activities, and supervision of all staff). The Department is committed to strengthening this position in such a way that it will promote a smooth rotation of Department Chairs whose responsibilities will therefore primarily reside in such duties as faculty and student relations, curriculum, fundraising, and the promotion of the Department and its vision.

2. Increase the number of Graduate Assistants by 5 full assistanships (approximately $55,000 in stipends and $20,000 in tuition remission) so that our department vision and needs can be met.

3. Ensure that all faculty lines are unfrozen, released, and in the process of being filled according to department needs in this final year of a faculty salary line freeze.

4. Eliminate the department deficit (either by paying in full or by securing forgiveness for part of the debt).

2005–2006 Goals:

1. Develop and add 2–3 new collaborative teaching positions shared with other units or partners outside the University. Collaborative positions are waiting to be designed and utilized in such areas as music and health sciences, music and technology, music and business, musical theatre, and music and cognition. Shared positions like these can bring specialized expertise to the department with a minimum of required resources since funding may be possible either through mechanisms in “wealthier” units or through grants aimed at funding the originality and “audacity” of the collaboration.

2. Establish a more visible, acknowledged national profile through better self-promotion and advertising so that our department becomes more highly rated by such assessments as national rankings of public institutions.

2006–2007 Goals:

1. Add two new staff positions in order to provide better service as a department for our many programs and students:

• Undergraduate and Graduate Advisor - This position may involve some rethinking (and resource allocation) when the current college advisor retires. The Advisor recommends this new position be created because music curricula are so unusual and complex and therefore require full-time advising of such a comprehensive nature that no combination of individual faculty advising can provide.
  
• Administrative Assistant duties would include but not be limited to general department administrative duties (including possible duties in recruitment and advertising/promotion), graduate program, composer’s symposium, and orchestral program.
  

2. Increase our Scholarship Endowment by $2,000,000 (generating an annual increase of $100,000) and fundraise for specific purpose assistanships. Our current scholarship spending is about 1/3 that of our peer institutions at approximately $120,000 per year. While the department recognizes that it is impossible to match the the spending of our larger flagship institution competitors, it is also aware that scholarship spending must increase both to match inflation and to begin to more selectively attract students who reflect our vision and who might otherwise matriculate in universities with better funding. Such scholarship funding will allow us to attract a greater number of out-of-state students and international students. In addition, we will actively seek fundraising opportunities to create sponsored assistanships such as a graduate brass or woodwind quartet or research assistanships in academic areas.

3. Offer the first doctorate in music in the state of New Mexico. We will strategize to create a unique and original doctoral program that takes maximum advantage of our faculty expertise and strengths. Such a program may involve other university units in an effort to incorporate interdisciplinary expertise and strengths as an exceptional component of the degree.

(Footnotes)
* All asterisked statements correspond to similarly titled statements of the Strategic Plan of the University of New Mexico approved by the Board of Regents on 12/11/2001. The articulation between the two plans is essential and the department plan therefore assumes the introductory and explanatory statements of strategic directions employed in the UNM Strategic Plan while detailing specific department objectives.