Veritas, Vol. 47, No. 06, March 2005

              0The University selects a widely
respected Latin American scholar to lead its new Center for Hemispheric Policy.
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4 An innovative program of the Miller Center is ensuring that the memories of Holocaust survivors live on.
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r I Documentary filmmaker Sanjeev Chatterjee raises awareness about the world’s looming water crisis.
Volume 47 ■ Number 6 ■ March 2005	For the Faculty and Staff of the University of Miami
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www.miami.edu/veritas

NEW DEAN NAMED FOR SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
Sam L. Grogg, dean of the American Film Institute whose 30 years’ of academic and creative experience includes faculty positions, management, theater, and filmmaking, has been named the next dean of the University of Miami’s School of Communication.
Grogg, who will assume his new post this summer before the start of the 2005 fall semester, becomes only the second dean in the School of Communication’s history. He replaces Edward J. Pfister, who announced his retirement last year and has served as dean of the school since it was founded 20 years ago.
“There is a palpable sense of excitement and expectation among the faculty, staff, and students of the School of Communication,” says Grogg. “This school has embraced a confident vision of what it can be and must become, and I intend to do all I can to ensure that this excellent program realizes its well-deserved expectation of national and international significance.” The founding dean for the School of New dean: Sam L. Grogg Filmmaking at the North
Carolina School of the Arts, Grogg has served as executive producer and financier of several theatrical motion pictures, including the Academy Award-winning films The Trip to Bountiful and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
In the early 1980s he oversaw management of the USA Film Festival in Dallas. He received his doctorate in English and American literature and drama from Bowling Green State University in 1974.
He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Western Illinois University.
“One of my overall goals (as dean) is to take an excellent program and get it recognized throughout the world,” says Grogg. “Once we get worldwide recognition, the School of Communication could become a model for other institutions.” “He understands technology and our need to make sure our students are prepared not simply for their initial job but for the future,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala.
In his new post, Grogg will oversee six programs, including motion pictures, broadcasting, public relations and advertising, journalism, visual communication, and communication studies.
New facility merges information resources with state-of-the-art technology
Sound of music gets sweeter for the Frost School
It used to be that
students in the University of Miami’s Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music had to scamper to and fro just to use the school’s extensive resources.
Everything from its library holdings to its technology labs and listening rooms were scattered in different locations all over the Coral Gables campus, making it a challenge for music majors to practice and conduct research within a reasonable time frame.
But with the recent opening of the new $9.9 million Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center, the Frost School of Music now boasts a facility that merges library resources with advanced music production labs under one roof.
“Very few schools of music have a freestanding library, and even fewer have anything approaching the quality of this facility,” says Frost School of Music Dean William Hipp. “This is one more magnet that makes our school attractive to prospective students.”
The facility was made possible by a gift from longtime UM benefactors Marta Weeks and her late husband Austin, who passed away in February. “At a time when many schools are worried about supporting their schools of music,” says UM President Donna E. Shalala, “this gift signifies a strong statement that here at the University of Miami music is important, and the training of the next generation of musicians and musician educators is important to our country.”
The 22,500-square-foot Weeks Music Library houses all of the school’s musical scores, manuscripts, books and journals, sound recordings, videos, and DVDs, which had previously been kept in three different locations: the Otto G. Richter Library, the Albert Pick Music Library, and the south campus library facility.
“We were really cramped in our old home, so this new facility is something we’ve sorely needed for a long time,” says Nancy Zavac, music school librarian since 1982, noting that the old Pick Music Library had only four seats and one listening room. Conversely, the new Weeks Music Library boasts 161 seats and four listening rooms.
A musical place: The $9.9 million Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center features extensive library resources and advanced music production labs all under one roof.
Some of those listening rooms are equipped with computers that provide access to networked audio and music resources, as well as the library catalog, databases, and e-journals.
The Weeks Music Library becomes the newest and largest branch of the University of Miami Libraries. “This will be an exploratorium not just for members of the Frost School of Music but for the entire music community,” says University Librarian William D. Walker, who was involved in many of the key planning decisions of the
Weeks Music Library.
“Libraries play a pivotal role in the academic advancement of our students and scholarly development of our faculty. This new facility signifies a legitimate depth and maturity to our learning-oriented and research resources,” Walker says.
The new 5,900-square-foot Technology Center houses advanced music production labs outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment and sophisticated software programs, providing students the latest in music production and composition capabilities. Its facilities include a Multimedia Instruction and Learning Lab, Keyboard/Com-puter Labs, Music Engineering Technology Lab, Electronic Music Lab, and a Media Writing and Production Lab.
“We’ve always had a great recording studio,” says Kenneth Pohlmann, program director of music engineering
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Dean Clarkson accepts new post
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ohn G. Clarkson, who presided over the most dynamic period of growth in the history of the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine during his ten years as senior vice president for medical affairs and dean, is stepping down to become executive director of the American Board of Ophthalmology. Clarkson will remain as dean until a successor has been named and then will assume a new part-time leadership role at the University.
“Dean Clarkson has brought the Miller School of Medicine to previously unimaginable heights of excellence in biomedical research, education, and patient care,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala. “We are poised to become one of the world’s top medical schools, and all of South Florida is richer for his accomplishments.”
Beginning in January 2006, Clarkson will lead the American Board of Ophthalmology, a certifying agency of the American Board of Medical Specialists that ensures that ophthalmologists maintain top professional skills. “I see this role as a broader one
where I can participate with the rest of medicine to make sure that ophthalmologists can prove their ability to
Moving on: Clarkson, right, seen here being congratulated by UM Board of Trustees Chairman Dean Colson and Florida Governor Jeb Bush at the Miller gift announcement, is stepping down to become executive director of the American Board of Ophthalmology.
provide the most advanced care for patients,” Clarkson said.
Clarkson was director of UM’s nationally acclaimed Bascom Palmer
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