Donor Stories
The CMS Fund: A Donor’s Story
Like many of my graduate school classmates, I originally joined CMS during the Fall, 1976, in order to receive the Music Vacancy List. Thanks to the vacancy postings, I was able to obtain my first teaching position—as an Assistant Professor of Music at Willamette University.
I gave my first paper at the 1982 CMS National Conference in Boston. As I later grew into my career in higher education, my research interests gradually shifted to the study of the administration of music schools. CMS, with its mission to study all aspects of music in higher education, provided an excellent forum for my research. The national CMS conferences enabled me to present my research on (1) the work attitudes of music faculty, (2) the conservatory and the enrollment declines of the 1980s, and (3) the ethnic diversity of both music faculty and graduate students. During these presentations I was always pleased that the audience for my papers usually included fellow CMS members from all areas of music-a testament to the broad vision of CMS and its membership.
In 2005 I was both privileged and honored to be asked to write the 50-year history of The College Music Society (to be published this spring). It was during this research that I learned what was really going on at the 1982 national conference while I was nervously presenting my paper. The Committee to Create a Blueprint for the Future of CMS initially met at this national conference and was a landmark effort in the history of CMS. In addition to being a very gratifying project, the history project has allowed me to learn a great deal about the many, many projects and services of CMS during its 50-year history. The Society's ongoing attention to faculty, demographics, technology, teaching, and the many other issues critical to music faculty today make it far ahead of its peers.
Having held Life Membership in CMS since the early 1980s, it has been some time since I have paid annual dues. As a result, I am very pleased to be able to give back to the Society both in time and in financial support. In addition to my CMS Beyond Fifty Campaign pledge and gifts, I have included The CMS Fund in my estate plan as a partial beneficiary of my life insurance policy.
I look forward to many more years of association with CMS and my many CMS friends and colleagues.
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