12
University Daily Kansan
Campus/Area
Monday. Nov. 18. 1985
Fine arts dean to step down
By Jill White Of the Kansan staff
James Moeser, dean of fine arts, has fulfilled most of the goals he set out to accomplish 11 years ago. Now it's time to step down, he says.
"It's hard to articulate why I thought it would be the right thing to do at this particular time," said Moeser, who will stay at the University as a full-time professor of music. "But I've met the goals I set out to accomplish, and I think it's better to go out riding the crest of the wave and be remembered as an effective leader."
Moeser announced his resignation in February and will leave his post on
having been a professor at the University since 1966, Moeser accepted the position of dean in 1975 with a set of goals to accomplish.
Those goals included improving the school's image,reorganizing the departments and integrating visual arts more fully into the school's structure.
"I had the perception that this was an excellent school, but not too many people in Kansas realized that." Moeser said recently.
Moeser wrote a weekly column in the Lawrence Daily Journal-World called "KU and the Arts" to "boost the image of the school using subtle
cheerleading and PR attempts.
In 1975, when Moeser became dean, the music division of fine arts comprised nine separate departments."
That number was narrowed to four in his first year, and later to one department. Just this year, dance moved from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' department of health, recreation and physical education to the music department of fine arts.
"It was a budgetary nightmare then," Moeser said. "It offered no flexibility and heartily favored music because they had more departments than art and design. I think the school is much more democratically open than it was before the department is not favored against the other."
Moeser said faculty in art and design may have felt disadvantaged, not only because they had fewer departments, but also because every dean of fine arts had come from the music division. He tried to compensate for that by picking associates from the art and design divisions.
Jerry Moore, associate dean of fine arts and professor of design, said it helped to appoint someone from the arts and design division to the associate dean's position.
Back in the old days, art and
design didn't feel very well represented." Moore said. "When he picked professors from the art and design side, he gave that position a lot of power. The associate dean handles the budget, and art and design feel more fully represented in the dean's office."
Moeser came to KU as chairman of the department of organ after receiving a doctoral degree at the University of Michigan. He initiated the doctoral degree program in music. At that time, KU was the only school in Kansas to offer a doctoral degree in music.
Moeser also created a fine arts advisory board, Kansas Citizens for the Arts. The board, which meets twice a year, has been an effective fund raising and lobbying group, he said.
"When I first became a dean, I experienced a sort of honeymoon," Moeser said. "I probably accomplished more my first year than any other year. I think the job isn't as much fun as it was 10 years ago.
in also leaving because I have an honest belief that people in major leadership positions should not stay too long. When they stay too long, you have a beginning of diminishing effectiveness. One can become a total prisoner of the paper flow and never get anything accomplished.
"I'd rather be remembered for my effectiveness."
James Moeser, dean of fine arts, practices the organ every day, but said he would devote even more hours to practice after he stepped down from the dean's position in July. He plans to continue teaching at KU.
Jill White/KANSAN
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