Search committee formed to find new dean of the Bienen School of Music

Northwestern University announced today, Oct. 11, the formation of a search committee to identify the next dean of the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music.

The individual chosen will succeed Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean and professor of the Bienen School of Music, who will step down as dean at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. Montgomery will complete her term as dean on Aug. 31, 2023 and continue to serve as a tenured professor.

Provost Kathleen Hagerty will charge the search committee, which includes faculty, students, staff and Bienen alumni, to undertake the search to identify a slate of candidates. Karen Brunssen, professor of voice and opera and co-chair of the Department of Music Performance, will serve as chair. Isaacson, Miller has been retained to assist the committee. 

Committee members

• Drew Edward Davies, Associate Professor of Musicology and Chair of the Department of Music Studies, Bienen School of Music
• James Giles, Professor of Piano, Coordinator of the Piano Program, and Director of Music Performance Graduate Studies, Bienen School of Music
• Linda Jacobs, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Bienen School of Music; Bienen School of Music Alumna
• Patrick Johnson, Dean, School of Communication; Annenberg University Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies
• Vaynu Kadiyali, Undergraduate Student, Class of 2024, Bienen School of Music and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Jack Reeder, Second-year Doctorate of Musical Arts Student, Choral Conducting, Bienen School of Music; Thomas R. Kasdorf Scholar in Choral Music; Bienen School of Music Alumnus
• Nitasha Tamar Sharma, Professor of African American Studies and Asian American Studies, Director of the Asian American Studies Program, and Co-Director of the Council for Race and Ethnic Studies, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Taimur Sullivan, Professor of Saxophone and Coordinator of Winds and Percussion, Bienen School of Music

Of counsel to the committee

• Anthony Freud, General Director, President and CEO, Lyric Opera of Chicago

The committee will begin its work immediately and will engage the Bienen community to obtain input on the desired attributes and experience of the dean, understand the community’s needs and collect nominations of potential candidates for the role. Members of the University community are invited to share feedback, submit questions and recommend candidates by contacting the search committee at BienenDeanSearch@northwestern.edu.

The committee will be staffed by Office of the Provost staff Roma Khanna, associate provost for strategy and policy; Andrianna Kurzenberger, senior program administrator; and Brad Zakarin, director of academic initiatives.