School of Music Director Robin McCabe to Return to Teaching, Performing
 UW School of Music Director Robin McCabe |
A successful run ends on a high note June 30 when University of Washington School of Music Director Robin McCabe returns to full-time teaching and performing after 15 years in the director’s chair.
Leadership of the School transfers on July 1 to Richard Karpen, a composer of electro-acoustic music who has accepted a five-year term as chair of the School. Karpen has served in several academic capacities at the UW over the past two decades. A professor in the School of Music’s theory and composition division, he is a former director of the UW’s Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities (CARTAH) and was founding director of the UW’s Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS). Most recently, Karpen has served as divisional dean for research and infrastructure in the College of Arts and Sciences.
McCabe’s three terms of service as head of the school make her the longest serving director in the School’s history. During her tenure, McCabe proved herself an effective fundraiser as well as administrator. Under her leadership, private support to the school increased significantly and the School’s endowment grew from $1.59 million when she became director in 1994 to more than $8 million today.
McCabe attributes that success, in part, to a strong following of devoted fans who have followed her career as a pianist both locally and internationally since she was a student in the School of Music.
“It has been tremendously gratifying to see our donor base respond to our needs and our missions,” she says. “Our scholarship endowments have grown and we have been able to create professorships and fellowships that encourage our exceptional faculty to deepen their involvement among us. Gifted students inspire our faculty, and are in turn inspired by their mentors. This synergy has been greatly enhanced by the generous support we have received.”
A native of Puyallup, McCabe earned her bachelor of music degree summa cum laude at UW and her master’s and doctorate degrees at the Juilliard School of Music, where she served on the faculty from 1978 to 1987 before returning to Seattle to accept a position on the piano faculty at the University.
Recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the International Concert Artists Guild Competition and a Rockefeller Foundation grant, McCabe was the subject of a lengthy New Yorker magazine profile, “Pianist’s Progress,” which was later expanded into a book of the same title. In 1995 she presented the University of Washington’s annual faculty lecture — a concert with commentary — making her the first professor of music in the history of the University to be awarded this lectureship. The November 1997 issue of Seattle magazine selected McCabe as one of 17 current and past University of Washington professors who have had an impact on life in the Pacific Northwest.
“Ever since her days as a student at the UW School of Music, Robin McCabe has been a tireless and effective advocate for music at UW,” says College of Arts and Sciences Dean Ana Mari Cauce. “She has made enormous contributions to the School of Music as a performer, a teacher, and as the longest-serving director in the School's history. We are grateful for all she has done for us, and delighted that she will continue her career as a pianist and professor in the School she has served with such dedication for so many years.”
In returning to full-time teaching, McCabe will be honored with the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professorship in Music for 2009-2012. She plans to continue her faculty involvement at the School of Music and her work as an ambassador for the arts and arts audience development.
“Serving as the School of Music director has enriched and enlivened the work and purpose of my life,” she says. “I’m now looking to my ‘next chapter,’ concentrating more on my artistic life as a performer and teacher.”
