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Karen Wolff, Gifted and Popular
Conservatory Dean, Resigns
In December 1998, Karen Wolff, dean of the
Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, announced
her resignation, effective February 1, 1999. Wolff
had held this post since August 1991.
"I've worked in higher education since 1978 and
in administration since 1984," said Wolff. "I am
feeling a need for change in my life. It has been
gratifying to have worked for an institution that
has demonstrated more than a century's commitment
to music and music education. I am enormously
grateful for the privilege of serving Oberlin for
seven and a-half years. I wish my successor well in
continuing its remarkable success."
Wolff added, "It is especially gratifying that
the Oberlin community reaches every area of the
globe; Obies are found in every music community in
the United States. I am proud that our graduates
leave our practice rooms and classrooms not simply
in search of 'jobs' but rather in search of a way
to help shape the future of music."
Wolff's tenure was notable for her visionary
leadership, her thorough understanding of how to
create and nurture a music school of the highest
quality, and her rare ability to persuade faculty
members of divergent views to work together toward
a common goal of excellence.
Under Wolff's tutelage, the Conservatory
revamped the music theory curriculum and increased
scholarship funds. Her leadership focused on
increasing students' musical and intellectual
versatility to prepare them for survival in the
evolving music industry. Wolff renewed the
Conservatory's commitment to recruit, admit and
retain the finest students and the most engaged
faculty in the country. Wolff initiated numerous
education and outreach programs in communities
surrounding Oberlin, and in the process introduced
the riches and rewards of music and music study to
area public school children (and often, their
parents).
Wolff had previously served as faculty member
and director of the University of Minnesota School
of Music, and as faculty member, acting dean and
associate dean for administrative affairs at the
University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of
Music.
Wolff holds a B.M.E. degree from Morningside
College and M.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of Michigan. She is a specialist in the
training of youth choral groups, and she has
appeared frequently as a clinician, guest conductor
and speaker. She has been a member of the board of
numerous professional music organizations including
the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera and the
Ohio Chamber Orchestra. Wolff has served on the
editorial boards of music education journals. She
has been elected to offices in the National
Association of Schools of Music, and has served as
consultant to the U.S. Department of Education and
the National Endowment for the Arts.
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David Boe Named Acting Director
of the Conservatory
David Boe, professor of organ and harpsichord,
has been named acting dean of the Oberlin College
Conservatory of Music. Boe served as Conservatory
dean from 1976 to 1990 before stepping down to
devote himself to teaching full time. During his
15-year tenure as dean, Boe guided the Conservatory
through a period of renewal and growth and built
the foundation for its current status as one of the
finest conservatories in the country. He developed
a summer program that grew to include 11 different
workshops, as well as the internationally known
American Soviet Youth Orchestra. He also
spearheaded three major capital projects: the
Conservatory's $1 million renovation of Warner
Concert Hall, a Conservatory library addition that
increased its size by 150 percent, and the
development of the electronic and computer music
complex.
"I am honored that President Dye has asked me to
resume an administrative role with the
Conservatory's gifted faculty and students as a
national search is conducted for a permanent
replacement," said Boe.
"I look forward to working closely with
Professor Boe," said Nancy S. Dye, president of
Oberlin College. "He is the consummate professional
who helped elevate the Conservatory to its current
status, which is surpassed by none."
Boe joined the Oberlin faculty in 1962 after
teaching at the University of Georgia in 1961-62.
From 1981 until 1987, he served as elected
secretary of the National Association of Schools of
Music and has continued to serve that organization
as a consultant or chair of music accreditation
teams at more than 35 institutions. He is a past
president of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music
honor society, and he is currently vice president
of the American Organ Academy. While on leave from
the Oberlin Conservatory during the 1990-91 school
year, he served as a visiting professor at Florida
State University. For the fall semester of the
1991-92 academic year, he was a visiting professor
at the University of Notre Dame.Boe and his wife,
Sigrid, reside in Oberlin.
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IT
IS WITH ENORMOUS RESPECT and affection that I write
my last message to the friends and alumni of the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music. You have made my
life in the Conservatory exciting and meaningful
for nearly eight years and I value our relationship
more than I can say.
The
thought was not present, even in the remote reaches
of my imagination, that I would be greeting you
again from this page. But as I now return to the
dean's office, albeit only temporarily, there are
observations about the health of the Conservatory
that I eagerly share with you.
