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Director and Professor, School of Music
College of Fine and Applied Arts
THE OPPORTUNITY
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks an inspiring, strategic, and collaborative leader to serve as the Director of the School of Music (SOM or the School). Reporting to the Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts (FAA), the Director will bring a deep understanding of artistic excellence and academic distinction and will develop a compelling vision for the School's future that builds on its many strengths.
As part of a major, public, land-grant, research university, the SOM shapes the next generation of performers, creators, scholars, and educators who lead the future of music locally, nationally, and globally. Through academic rigor, innovative artistry, inclusive excellence, and collaboration, the School empowers students to develop their artistic voice, intellectual curiosity, and professional skills. Its distinguished faculty lead by example, inspiring students to explore new frontiers in music's historically and globally rich cultural landscape. The SOM enjoys rich opportunities for collaboration across FAA and the broader campus. As part of a college that includes nationally recognized programs across myriad disciplines, the School is well positioned to advance interdisciplinary initiatives in performance, technology, design, public engagement, and civic life.
The SOM is one of the nation's leading public music schools, with recognized programs in performance, composition, music education, jazz, musicology, music technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The School is committed to artistic excellence while embracing the evolving realities of musical practice, production, pedagogy, and cultural engagement. It is now poised for a Director who can lead faculty, staff, and students in building upon its many strengths and delivering a forward-looking, engaged, and entrepreneurial model of music study that expands pathways for creativity, supports diverse musical traditions, and strengthens connections between the academy and contemporary musical life. The Director will guide the School in shaping an environment that prepares students to thrive as artists, educators, creators, scholars, and cultural leaders in a rapidly evolving musical landscape.
A search committee has been formed and the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller has been retained to support this recruitment. Confidential applications, inquiries, and nominations should be directed to the firm as indicated on page 6 of this document.
THE COLLEGE OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS
The College of Fine and Applied Arts is singular in the nation for its diversity, innovation, and breadth. Its mission is dedicated to the advancement, practice, and understanding of the arts, and its central focus is the synergy between research and the preparation of students for professional careers in the creation and interpretation of the environmental, visual, and performing arts. Deeply related to that focus is the commitment to elevate and sustain the study of the arts as both a necessary mode of understanding and a vibrant expression of human experience within the local, national, and international communities.
The college comprises the Schools of Music, Architecture, and Art and Design; Departments of Dance, Landscape Architecture, Theatre, and Urban and Regional Planning; program in Sustainable Design; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; Krannert Art Museum; and Japan House. FAA employs more than 660 faculty members and staff, including more than 150 tenure system faculty members, and more than 1,850 undergraduate and 635 graduate students enroll in FAA's more than 30 majors and 10 minors.
Jacob Pinholster began his term as Dean of the College in September 2024. Prior to joining Illinois, he served as executive dean for enterprise design in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University and founding director of the ASU Media and Immersive eXperience Center, an emerging media technologies and practices facility in the center of downtown Mesa, Arizona. He earned a BFA in Theatre Production and an MFA in Scenic and Lighting Design from the University of Florida.
THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC
The School of Music is a center for creativity and collaboration, embracing both tradition and innovation through performance, research, and education. The School opened in 1895 and has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music since 1933. From the beginning of its storied history, the intent of the School was to balance "first-class courses" with performance, a value that persists today.
As of Spring 2026, the School enrolls 406 undergraduate students, 75 master's students, and 150 doctoral students in undergraduate (BMus, BMA, BME, BA, BS) and graduate (MM, DMA, MME, PhD) degree programs across ten areas: Composition, Theory & Music Technology; Conducting; Jazz Performance; Keyboard; Lyric Theatre; Music Education; Musicology; Strings; Voice; and Winds and Percussion. The School also offers three minors: Music, Music Theatre, and a graduate minor in Music and Sound Studies intended for non-music majors. The School enjoys a distinguished reputation across its programs, and it continues to expand its offerings, for instance through the Hip Hop Innovation Center. Part of a broader arts college, the SOM benefits from close relationships with other units, including Dance and Theatre.
The School offers a large selection of ensembles that are open to all students regardless of major. Since 1868, the Marching Illini has entertained millions of fans with traditional and innovative performances that have made them "The Nation's Premier College Marching Band." The SOM upholds the highest ideals of the University's land-grant heritage through its Public Engagement programs, which draw upon the talents of current faculty and students to provide outstanding music experiences for people on campus, in the community, and throughout the state of Illinois. Some ensembles, including Campus Band, University Band, Black Chorus, and Oratorio Society, are open to community members.
Long recognized as a leader among schools of music, the SOM pushes the bounds of scholarly discourse, artistic performance, and pedagogical innovation. Faculty members engage in innovative research and practice, and many maintain active performing, publishing, and composing careers. The faculty comprises 80 members, of whom 47 are tenured or tenure-track. The staff comprises 14 individuals with responsibilities in administration, advancement, operations, instruments, and facilities. The School embraces a culture of shared governance. The Executive Committee, an elected body of the faculty, serves in an advisory capacity to the Director regarding School-wide policies, strategic priorities, and resource planning. The ten Areas, led by Area Chairs, function as disciplinary subsets of the larger School, focusing on curriculum, instructional assignments, student matters, and provide, among other things, input on admissions and awards.
The students, faculty, and staff work across a diverse range of grand and state-of-the-art facilities. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Smith Memorial Hall houses studios, practice rooms, rehearsal equipment and space, and an 870-seat recital hall. The Krannert Center, one of the nation's premier university performing arts centers, is home to a breadth of resources including rehearsal rooms, costume shops, and four unique performance venues, including Foellinger Great Hall, which the Chicago Symphony has used for commercial recordings. The Music Building houses most of the School's administrative functions, classrooms, and practice rooms, as well as the Auditorium, a recording studio, the Music and Performing Arts Library, the Computer-Assisted Music Instruction Laboratory, and the Experimental Music Studios. The A.A. Harding Band Building houses the band program as well as the Carl Busch Historical Instrument Collection and Sousa Archives and Center for American Music.
ROLE OF THE DIRECTOR
The Director is the chief administrative officer of the School of Music and reports to the Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts. In collaboration with faculty, staff, students, and college leadership, the Director is responsible for all academic, artistic, and administrative affairs of the School, including vision setting, strategic planning, curricular development, faculty hiring and mentorship (including promotion and tenure), staff management and development, student recruitment and success, budgeting and financial management, fundraising and development, and facilities management. The annual operating budget for the SOM is approximately $8.95 million, and the combined value of the School's endowments is approximately $31 million. The School's dedicated faculty and staff, including an administrative team, support the Director in these efforts.
The Director will arrive on campus at a critical moment requiring creative and strategic leadership as well as respectful and resourceful change management. Faculty, staff, and students are eager to partner with a Director who will engage their energy and institutional knowledge; clarify the School's operational and administrative policies and processes; strengthen its financial position; and identify further opportunities for collaboration within the School, across the University, and with surrounding communities.
More specifically, the Director will address the following interrelated opportunities and challenges:
Articulate a shared vision and a collective sense of purpose for the School
The Director will consult broadly across the School, engaging each of its many constituencies to understand and identify shared values, goals, and needs. As a result, the Director will develop a broad understanding of the School's many strengths and assets, as well as the key opportunities and challenges facing it. With this understanding, the Director will lead the School in crafting a shared vision that guides the School forward collectively and strategically. The faculty, staff, and students each do excellent work, but this work at times occurs in silos; an enterprising Director will find meaningful ways to align the School's constituencies around a shared sense of purpose that is rooted in its unique history and context, aims for its future, and enables people to see themselves as part of a larger whole.
Honor the School's storied history while innovating its approach and offerings
As broader artistic, cultural, technological, and financial contexts change, the Director will lead the School in adapting appropriately and developing curricula, programs, and pedagogies that prepare students for their lives and careers. In this work, the Director will honor the rich history of music-making and scholarship that make the School great while embracing new forms of creativity, connection, and impact. Positioned within a multi-disciplinary arts college and a major public research university, the SOM is perfectly positioned to lead the way with innovative, cross-disciplinary programs. The Director will leverage this context and the breadth of approaches within the SOM to champion the School's distinctiveness and develop new initiatives and programs that meet the evolving needs of students.
Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional faculty and staff
The School's single greatest asset is its people. A successful Director will recognize this and accordingly develop strategies to support and empower both the faculty and staff. In this work, the Director must acknowledge the genuine breadth of the work of the faculty and staff, as well as their diverse needs across disciplines, practices, and professions. The Director will partner meaningfully with the faculty and staff to lead efforts to recruit exceptional individuals, establish structures that support their development, and ensure their wellbeing and retention. The Director must be both responsive to the needs of different areas and units, and also fair and equitable across divisions.
Assess and refine the School's operating policies and processes
The SOM is a large, complex unit, and the faculty and students are supported in their work by a lean staff. The Director will attend carefully to this context, leading the School in defining and adhering to standard operating procedures, clarifying roles and lines of decisional authority, and ensuring workloads are equitable and manageable. This work is already underway, and the Director will advance it with a commitment to continuous improvement. To that end, the Director will continue to refine and optimize processes, policies, and communication channels within the SOM, thereby increasing administrative efficiency and information sharing, and decreasing risks of burnout and alienation.
Strengthen the School's financial health and ensure its sustainability
High-level instruction in music is extremely resource-intensive, and competition among schools and conservatories grows increasingly fierce each year. Collaborating closely with SOM faculty and staff and FAA leadership, the Director will address this context and ensure the School's financial health by effectively and prudently deploying resources, advocating on behalf of the SOM to leadership at the College and University, identifying and developing innovative opportunities for funding, and creatively addressing financial constraints. This work will be both internally and externally oriented. Internally, the Director will assess and refine the core business model of the School. Externally, the Director will connect with alumni, donors, civic and cultural leaders, and other audiences to develop support and resources for partnerships, programs, scholarships, fellowships, and facilities.
Champion the School across the University, with surrounding communities, and beyond
The Director will be both a steadfast advocate for the School and a collaborative and engaged university citizen and community member. They will champion the School's successes, broadcast its ambitions, and identify new opportunities for meaningful partnership that are mutually beneficial and grounded in shared need. Within the University, the Director will engage effectively with peer leaders of academic and artistic units to develop new programs and initiatives, as well as with senior leaders to make t