Kathleen Murray Named Dean of Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music

APPLETON, WIS. -- For the first time in the more than 100-year-history of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, a woman will oversee its operation.

Lawrence President Richard Warch announced the appointment of associate professor of music Kathleen Murray to the position of dean of the conservatory Tuesday afternoon at a special meeting of the conservatory faculty.

Murray has served as acting dean of the conservatory since the start of the 1999-2000 academic year after former dean Robert Dodson accepted the dean of the conservatory of music position at Oberlin College.

"Kathy has provided strong and steady leadership of the conservatory during this interim period," Warch said in announcing the appointment. "She has voiced a clear and articulate vision for the conservatory's future and its place in companionship with the college and has contributed thoughtfully and insightfully to the work of the institution more broadly. I have found her a forceful advocate for our music program and a reliable counselor on many matters. She promises to extend that record in the years ahead."

A native of Davenport, Iowa, Murray joined the Lawrence conservatory piano department as an instructor in 1986. She earned the bachelor of music degree summa cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University, her master's degree at Bowling Green State University and her D.M. in performance and piano pedagogy at Northwestern University.

Murray has appeared frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in recitals throughout the Midwest, including performances at the Ravinia Summer Music Festival and on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Live from the Elvehjem" series.

She is a featured performer on LUPE, a CD recorded by the Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble that was released in the fall of 1995, as well as on a 1997 Martin Luther King Day Concert CD that was recorded live and released last year.

A frequent adjudicator and clinician, Murray is a member of the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association and is a former president of the East Central Division of the Music Teachers National Association. She was recently named associate editor of Keyboard Companion magazine.

As dean, Murray will oversee all performance and curricular operations of the conservatory and serve as a member of the president's administrative staff.