Music department receives national accreditation

The National Association of Schools of Music granted the CSC Music Department accreditation Nov. 20, at a meeting in Dallas.
Una Taylor, professor of music and department chair, has been working toward the accreditation since 2011. She studied a book of NASM standards and went to several conferences across the country to prepare the self study, a requirement to receive accreditation.
She submitted the self study in the beginning of 2014 and a team of NASM representatives visited CSC that spring. They sat in on classes, talked with professors and administrators, and checked out the facilities.
“They look at everything, to make sure we can offer these degrees with appropriate curriculum and faculty,” Taylor said. “It’s very detailed.”
NASM deferred CSC twice, responding with a report of things that still needed improvement. Facility issues such as the library and practice rooms were one of the most difficult standards to meet, according to Taylor. James Margetts, dean of the school of liberal arts and former music professor, worked with other deans and administrators to find funding to fix these issues.
“Just making sure we could offer the absolute best quality for our potential students was the driving force,” Margetts said.
Taylor submitted a third response to NASM on Oct. 1, after the issues were resolved.
Taylor and Margetts attended the meeting in Dallas from Nov. 20-22. At the Nov. 20 session NASM announced that CSC and four other schools had been approved for accreditation. This makes a total of 650 member schools from across the nation in the program.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, so I was surprised,” Taylor said.
She said the accreditation tells people that our school has met high standards and music directors may be more apt to recommend CSC to their students.
“This just verifies what we’ve always felt about our program,” Margetts said. “And it feels good to receive gratification for our efforts.”
Taylor said NASM will review CSC in five years to ensure the standards have been withheld. After that, the music department will have to reapply for accreditation every 10 years.