Photo by Moanalani Jeffrey
This was the announcement yesterday from the University of Texas at Austin:
Mary Ellen Poole, dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, has been appointed director of the Butler School of Music and holder of the Florence Thelma Hall Centennial Chair in Music at The University of Texas at Austin, effective Sept. 1.Dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for the past 10 years, Poole grew the enrollment by 50 percent, built a renowned faculty, internationalized programs and student enrollment, and oversaw construction of an $80 million facility behind a historic façade in the heart of San Francisco. She is well-known in the Bay Area for her partnerships with various civic organizations, including the San Francisco Opera, and is nationally recognized for her views on music education and curricular innovation.
"As dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mary Ellen Poole put up an extraordinary leadership record, turning a very good music school into a great one,” said College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster. “That's exactly her charge at The University of Texas, where we're determined to make the Butler School of Music the finest public-university music school in the country. We couldn't have a better director for the job."
The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music is a prominent institution and the appointment is important, but there are a number of problems with the phrasing of the announcement. A relatively minor one is that Poole is a former dean of SFCM, having been succeeded by Robert Fitzpatrick at the beginning of the year as dean and with the additional title of provost.
A more puzzling item is the unequivocal crediting of a dean (head of the faculty, in charge of curriculum) for all accomplishments in a decade, including the obvious exaggeration that she "oversaw construction of an $80 million facility," which is the school's current home.
Asked about these discrepancies Public Affairs Director Leslie Lyon-House of UT-Austin's College of Fine Arts replied:
I can see how that excerpt in the press release could give the impression of a single-handed effort, and I am confident that if Mary Ellen was asked to describe her role in the enrollment and facility construction in her own words, she would talk about the team effort it took to make those benchmarks a reality.