A few weeks ago my promotion to associate professor along side with receiving tenure status was made public by the SIU Board of Trustees. It is a fascinating process that not only involves a lot of documenting but rather an opportunity for one to carve out who we will be in our field. During your years as a tenure track faculty member you are required to publish, present, travel, recruit and serve on various committees. Being that my main area of expertise is musical performance my research involves playing recitals, compositions, recordings, master classes plus I got to integrate some of my writing (books) in the process.
During my time in SIU I have gotten something from each faculty member. I have learned from our administrators and directors as well as colleagues in the School of Music and other academic units. It is something about the dynamic interactions that can occur in a university the size of ours has allotted me these opportunities. One day I would be talking about poetry with Dr. Rodrigo Carramiñana our former director of Undergrad Research, talking about app design with Dr. Rob Lopez, our Director of Art and Design or rehearsing a brand new piece for jazz ensemble and string quartet.
One day I could be doing a recital with faculty members such as Dr. Worthen or the New Arts while some other day I'd invite the president of the University system to one of my club gigs and he would show up with half of the office at the venue. That kind of direct access and people's willingness to pass on their knowledge is something quite unique that we got going as an institution.
I want to thank everyone that has helped me get here. Some years back I thought I was taking on a teaching position and instead nowadays I get to travel the entire world doing what I love.
Cheers to this new adventure and do keep me posted! I am not done yet, I was just warming up...
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