Nohema Fernandez, a UC Irvine professor of music who has served as interim dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts since July 2003, has been named dean of the school effective Nov. 1, Chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone has announced. She also will hold the Claire Trevor Dean’s Endowed Chair.
“Dean Fernandez's credentials as a performing artist, her genuine interest in the welfare of arts faculty and staff, and her clear vision for the future of the arts at UCI eminently qualify her for this position,� Cicerone said.
Fernandez joined UCI in July 2001 as associate dean of the arts and professor of music; she became acting dean in January 2003 and interim dean in July 2003. Prior to UCI, she served as interim head of the Department of Media Arts and professor in the School of Music and Dance at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and as a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz from 1981-1990.
“It is a very exciting time to assume this position; the groundwork laid by our previous dean, Jill Beck, has positioned the school extremely well,� Fernandez said. “My top priorities will be building the school’s reputation as a premier artistic and performance destination in Southern California, recruiting students with the highest talent and potential for success as artists, and keeping the school at the vanguard of preparing 21st century artists through both traditional and new media.�
Fernandez has an extensive professional history as a concert pianist, including solo and chamber music performances throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe, and has recorded compact discs for Centaur Records, Musical Heritage Society and Protone Records. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Maestro Award, School of Music and Dance, University of Arizona (2000); the Distinction of Honor “La Rosa Blanca� Patronato Jose Marti, Los Angeles (1996); and the Excellence in Teaching award from University of Arizona’s College of Fine Arts (1995).
She received her doctorate of musical arts in performance practices from Stanford University in 1982, a master’s degree in applied music from Northwestern University (1966) and a bachelor’s degree in applied music from DePaul University (1965).
Fernandez replaces Jill Beck, who served as arts dean from 1995-2003 and currently is director of ArtsBridge America and of the daVinci Center for Learning through the Arts, which she established in 2001. Beck’s tenure as dean was marked by significant renovation and expansion of arts facilities, development of strong arts and technology initiatives and significant growth in gift funding.
The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is taking a leadership role in educating aspiring artists, supporting arts research, cultivating new art forms that merge arts and technology, and promoting the arts in the community at large. One of the founding schools at UCI, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts has a total enrollment of 1,100 majors, 130 graduate students and 600 digital arts minors.
The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked public university dedicated to the principles of research, scholarship and community. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,300 faculty members. The third-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3 billion.