May 21, 1999
Ross replaces Peter G. Thompson, who is returning to teaching as a Department of Art faculty member after serving as dean for 13 years.
Shulenburger made the appointment after announcing that a search for a permanent dean this spring was not successful. A new search will start this fall, he said.
"I am enormously grateful that Carole Ross has agreed to serve next year," Shulenburger said. "I have worked with Carole for many years and I have the highest regard for her accomplishments and abilities. I know that the school is in good hands"
An associate professor of piano, Ross joined the KU piano faculty in 1970. Except for one year when she served as acting associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, she had been the school's associate dean since 1983.
"I am more than honored to be asked to lead the school in this time of transition," Ross said. "I look forward to working with the faculty and staff throughout the school to accomplish our needed goals."
She received a bachelor of music degree from West Virginia University in Morgantown, a master of science degree from the Juilliard School in New York City, and the doctor of musical arts degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Ross previously taught at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. She has actively performed as a soloist and chamber musician and recorded for Capstone Records. Performances with orchestras include the West Virginia University Community Orchestra, Catholic University Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, KU Little Symphony, and the KU Orchestra.
Ross lives in Lawrence.
KU's 108-year-old School of Fine Arts offers instruction to prepare students for professional careers in the visual and performing arts and promotes scholarship and research in the arts. It offers curricula for teachers of music and art in the elementary and secondary public schools and in institutions of higher education and offers special curricula for the training of music therapists. The school also operates the Lied Center of Kansas performance hall.
Ranked 35th in the nation by the 1999 U.S. News & World Report's annual survey, the school offers more than 40 undergraduate and graduate major programs within three academic departments -- art, design, and music and dance. It has 125 faculty members and more than 1,300 students.
Story by Todd Cohen, University Relations, (785) 864-8858 or tcohen@ukans.edu