Dr. Lori Wiest, Director of the School of Music, plans to return to teaching in the University of Arizona School of Music this fall, following her residency as the director of the school since the summer of 2020.
“I am so grateful for all the tremendous support I have received here within the School of Music and by the many colleagues across the campus and within the community. In every moment talking and working with students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and community members, I have felt both honored and blessed to serve as the director and advocate of such outstanding, passionate, and talented people and of the immense quality and international reputation of our music programs. I will genuinely miss serving in this capacity.”
Dr. Elizabeth Schauer, Director of Choral Activities shares “over the last six years, Dr. Lori Wiest has been a staunch and unwavering advocate for the faculty, staff and students in the School of Music. Her creative vision, energy and tenacity have been instrumental in preserving the foundational strengths of the school, while also encouraging, supporting and advancing innovation in ways that have been recognized nationally and internationally. Dr. Wiest’s contributions are uniformly valued and appreciated by the many constituencies that make up the school: we are so grateful for her selfless leadership and the powerful impact she has had, and we celebrate that she will continue to contribute to the School of Music community, now as a member of the faculty.”
When presenting her vision for the School of Music during her interview in 2020, Dr. Wiest had shared the importance of all constituents, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, audience and community members, and leadership in working together and of providing the support necessary to build consensus, cohesiveness, and collaboration. One of her priorities has been to champion innovative teaching, scholarly and creative research, and community engagement by serving as a facilitator and by providing encouragement, guidance, financial support, opportunities, and professional development. Her philosophy of “everyone has a voice at the table” has contributed to the very strong investment by faculty, staff and students within the school allowing for innovative curricular design, a feeling of belonging and contributing to the strategic plan of the school, college, and university, and an environment for collaboration, unique initiatives, and limitless creativity through performance, all of which contribute to a positive, energetic, and forward-thinking educational program. As someone who understands budgets and the art of strategic planning, she creatively ushered the School of Music through several spending cuts over the past six years.
Under her leadership, she brought to fruition a new type of Bachelor of Arts in Music degree that promotes and supports new pathways for careers in music that students help to develop, through a menu of options with the guidance of faculty mentors and advisors, individualized programs of study in support of their own vision of how music will be a part of their twenty-first century careers, including technology, sound production/recording, and many other options. With the growth and success of that degree, the School of Music was approved to develop the Bachelor of Arts in Music for Arizona Online, which also was a part of her vision for a music degree to be available for asynchronous online courses. She has led the School of Music by encouraging the revisioning of the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree, as the faculty teach and mentor future educators to be prepared for classroom teaching using new pedagogy and methods and by providing integration of our students within the public classrooms earlier and with more impact so the experiential learning happens far before their student teaching and placement in a new job. She also advocated for the creation of the Music Therapy degree which was approved by the university and the Board of Regents. Her encouragement led to newly developed recruitment and community events such as the Wildcat Music Experience, summer music camp, and Musical Murals, all of which were developed by the school’s faculty. Her unfailing support of music education and the relationship of the university and School of Music with our school districts and music educators in the community and beyond has created partnerships that are built through trust, discussion, and supportive initiatives.
As a past chair of the Individual Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program at Washington State University, she fully believes in true interdisciplinary opportunities for students and faculty through academics and research.
Dr. Jennie Gubner, Chair of the Applied Intercultural Arts Research Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, stated “as an interdisciplinary scholar with a unique role in the School of Music, I am grateful for the ways Dr. Wiest supported my efforts to develop new initiatives in the School of Music, including 2 new courses related to arts, health and wellbeing and 2 different Latin American music ensembles. I am also grateful for the financial support she offered when I was first building La Peña del SurCo, the Hispanic-Serving Music and Health gathering that has become the focus of my research. Lastly, I am grateful for how she has worked tirelessly to support our School and faculty over the past 6 years with dedication and care.”
Always an advocate for faculty, students, and staff, Dr. Wiest demonstrated support by being a listener, a caring mentor, and a guide. Successful in mentoring faculty through reviews, promotion, and tenure for tenure and career track faculty, hiring and retention, building an outstanding and devoted team of staff members, encouraging students, and developing opportunities for experiential learning for students, she stated one of her favorite parts of her job is writing nomination letters and letters of support in celebration of everyone’s success and creativity.
Dr. Wiest has chosen to concentrate on supporting the freshmen and sophomore students as they begin their academic career in the School of Music by teaching in the Music Theory area as instructor of freshman and sophomore aural skills, sightreading skills, pedagogy of teaching these skills, and score study.
Dr Wiest indicated “Whenever I talked about our program in music and our music theory and aural skills classes, I would get excited about what and how I would teach the students in these courses to be encouraging and help to bring student success. When I was a doctoral student in choral conducting at the University of Arizona in 1987-1990, my graduate teaching assistantship was in Music Theory and teaching Aural Skills for sophomore students. After 30 years of teaching at another university in my major area of choral conducting, I returned as the Director of the School of Music where I had been a student and now am planning to return to teaching Aural Skills as a faculty member. It is strange, yet rewarding, to see how my academic career has come full circle. I am looking forward to this experience.”
We thank Dr. Lori Wiest for her exceptional leadership, compassion, and commitment to the School of Music. Her legacy is reflected in the strength, creativity, and sense of community she has helped cultivate, and we are grateful that her work with our students will continue in the classroom!
As the School of Music celebrates Dr. Lori Wiest’s lasting contributions and looks ahead to this next chapter, we invite the community to learn more about the search for the next director here!