University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

New Dean to Begin Leadership of CSUN’s Curb Arts College in August

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., May 15, 2007) — Robert Bucker, current dean of the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, has been appointed dean of Cal State Northridge’s Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication. Bucker will assume his post Aug. 1.

"Bob understands the arts and particularly how to provide leadership in this challenging and competitive arena," said Northridge President Jolene Koester. "He knows how public policy and the arts are connected, and I am confident he will have a positive and profound impact on guiding the college in the coming years."

"The confederation of departments that define the college provide unusual and unique opportunities for the development of exciting interdisciplinary programs," said Bucker, whose varied arts background includes conducting choral ensembles in nationwide venues, including Carnegie Hall.

The college’s six departments also will enable him to explore a longtime interest in the issues of K-12 arts education as well as the connection between the arts and public policy, he said, noting that the planned performing arts center at CSUN will "enhance its established role as a producer in the visual and performing arts community."

Bucker also looks forward to working with the journalism and communication studies programs. These days, he said, the medium indeed is inseparable from the message.

Prior to his term in Milwaukee, Bucker served as dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and as director of education for the Metropolitan Opera-Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York. During his tenure with the Met, Bucker developed a semester-long residency program entitled "Leadership and the Arts in New York," developed with Duke University faculty.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Harry Hellenbrand said Bucker is well-suited for the post. "Few deans have worked in such varied public institutions, and even fewer have had such direct oversight over linking K-12 and adult education with the performing arts, and in conducting development activities," said the provost.

Bucker, who has served at the University of Wisconsin arts school since 2001, helped lead Wisconsin’s Teachers for a New Era (TNE) K-12 education reform project, underwritten by the Carnegie Corporation in New York.

Bucker also has served as assistant dean in charge of advancement for the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Founder, director and conductor of the Choral Arts Ensemble of Kansas City, Bucker will hold the rank of music professor at CSUN. He will succeed Interim Dean David Moon, who will return to the Art Department. A graduate of Harvard University’s Management Development Program, Bucker earned doctor of musical arts and master of music degrees at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His bachelor’s degree was earned at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

California State University, Northridge has 34,500 full- and part-time students and offers 62 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.