CCA Dean's Convocation Features NEA Director

Ann Meier Baker, the director of music and opera at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), is the featured speaker for the 2016 Dean’s Convocation in the Caine College of the Arts. She speaks Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Caine Performance Hall on Utah State University’s Logan campus. The convocation is the Caine College’s formal welcome to students at the Logan campus and provides an opportunity to meet faculty, staff and administration from the CCA.

“The Dean’s Convocation has become one of the great traditions for the Caine College of the Arts,” said Craig Jessop, the Caine College of the Arts’ dean. “It is a spectacular opportunity to gather together as a college and celebrate the start of a new academic year. We are honored to bring a guest of this stature as our convocation speaker.”

Baker was appointed to her position at the NEA in January 2015. She oversees the NEA’s grant-making in music and opera and leads the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship Program. Her portfolio includes a broad range of music — from orchestral, choral and chamber music, to early music, contemporary classical music, jazz and opera.

Prior to assuming her position at the NEA, Baker served as president and CEO of Chorus America. Her career includes 30 years of leadership experience in the arts and education. She was the founding director of the National School Boards Association’s Foundation, an incubator for new ideas about the challenges facing urban school board leaders and other issues in public education. Baker has also held leadership positions at the League of American Orchestras and the National Association for Music Education. The author of several books on governance of nonprofit arts organizations, she has received several awards, including Chorus America’s induction into the Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

Baker began her career as a professional singer with the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants where she met her husband, Robert Baker, who will give a recital in Logan at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3 in the Caine Performance Hall. His singing career includes appearances with many professional opera companies, orchestras, chamber music and new music ensembles. In addition, he is the chair of the music department at The George Washington University.

The Dean’s Convocation is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the CCA Box Office located in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022 or see the Caine College’s website.        

Writer and contact: Whitney Schulte, whitney.schulte@usu.edu, 435-797-9203