Burke Sorenson

A Study of Music Leaders at Nasm Institutions and Their Four Roles:: Faculty Developer, Leader, Manager, and Scholar Burke Sorenson

Administrators of college and university music units face countless leadership challenges. Theyare required to manage large budgets that need constant and careful oversight, they maintaincommunication with their alumni, spearhead seemingly endless fundraising campaigns, recruitfaculty and students, explore new learning delivery systems, oversee course offerings, monitorthe curriculum, manage office personnel, etc. While these challenges and responsibilitiesare not singular to music administrators, the ways in which these leaders approachthem is unique. The numerous challenges and responsibilities for all higher educationadministrators can be grouped into four categories or roles: faculty developer, leader, manager,and scholar. To find success, music leaders must expertly balance their roles by showing a strongcommitment to developing, sharing and implementing a vision of excellence. The study also presents the results of a survey of the 608 directors and chairs of music units accredited with the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). These leaders weresurveyed about their responsibilities and how they spend their time and focus their efforts withinthese roles.