Completing a year-long search on March 22, President Casey and a committee of students and faculty appointed accomplished composer and instructor Mark McCoy as the new School of Music dean.
When he takes over Aug. 1, he will join one of the oldest private institutions for post-secondary music instruction in the country — one that's recently been striving for more positive relationships between students and administration, as well as a more vibrant relationship between the school itself and campus.
The students, administration and search committee all look to the new dean as an agent of powerful change, and have been anticipating the appointment.
"I could not be more excited about the person we were able to attract to this position," said President Brian Casey, who spearheaded the search. "Could not be more excited."
Leaving in his 16th year as the chair of music at his alma mater, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.V., Mark McCoy earned his bachelor's degree in music education in 1987. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1992 with a Master's degree in Music, concluding his music education in 1995 when he earned his doctorate in fine arts from Texas Tech University School of Music.
Building on his education, he has taught music at all learning levels, authored a novel, "Curtain Music," and founded MusicFirst Festivals, an educational group that helps jumpstart struggling music programs.
During his career, McCoy has been an active and successful composer and conductor. He currently conducts the Shepherd Orchestra and the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra.
The search was coordinated with high expectations and with specific qualifications in mind. According to "The Search" packet, the dean should "demonstrate success in organizational leadership, with proven competence guiding strategic planning, institutional positioning and team building," and also will be expected to fundraise in a "directional way." The committee also envisions the new dean as the new "face" of the school — a visible and accessible link between the School of Music and the rest of campus.
"President Casey is envisioning a new role for the dean of the School of Music," said Associate Music Professor Scott Spiegelberg, one of the committee members, in an interview prior to the appointment. "This is really a change in scope for the position."
McCoy left an impressive legacy at Shepherd – he brought big-name performers to the school like the Vienna Boys Choir and the Canadian Brass Quintet, but also earned national accreditation with National Association of Schools of Music for the school. According to his curriculum vitae, McCoy also raised millions of dollars for renovating Shepherd's School of Music's budget five-fold and oversaw extensive future planning for the school's administration.
Many of these qualities are exactly what the committee was searching for, according to President Casey, and McCoy was the clear and unanimous choice of the search committee.
The committee also included four music professors, two College of Liberal Arts professors, two School of Music students, and a '91 alumnus. Executive search firm Isaacson, Miller aided the team and helped locate almost 50 potential candidates for the position.
"We're also looking for somebody who is good at bringing the faculty together into a cohesive vision of what we want to be as a School of Music within a liberal arts setting," Spiegelberg also said during the search. He said the new Dean will have to consider "what kind of students we want to be attracting, what are our strengths that we can be utilizing to our best ability to bring in those students."
Casey said McCoy believes the campus ought to be filled with music, and students reacted positively to the discussion he had with them while visiting campus. McCoy also thinks there should be more ways School of Music students to perform across campus, in order to bring music into the campus culture.
"My sense is he knows how to read students, to work with them, challenge them," Casey said.
McCoy's role as dean will be different than those of previous years: for the first time in school history, he will sit on the President's cabinet, along with the university's other vice presidents and influential decision-makers who work closely with Casey, such as the director of human resources.
"The School of Music is this unique asset, this incredible characteristic of DePauw that should be highlighted, celebrated, and made stronger," Casey said.
— Andrew Maddocks contributed to this story.
Editor's note: Interviews from Hall's previous article, "State of the School of Music: New Dean" were used to show the search committee's expectations when choosing McCoy.