• New School of Music dean to start July 1

    Dr. Gary Mortenson

    After 26 years at Kansas State — during which time he progressed from an assistant professor to head of an entire school — Dr. Gary Mortenson was finally drawn away. In July, he’ll begin service as dean of Baylor’s School of Music.

    Mortenson had been at K-State since 1989, serving first as an assistant professor of trumpet, then as chair of graduate studies in music, and then heading the Department of Music. In 2012, he took another step, helping form the university’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, for which he served as the inaugural director.

    At Baylor, he will look to build on the School of Music’s already excellent offerings.

    “I believe in servant-based leadership, which means that the notion of a dean being a person up on a pedestal, making decisions and looking down, is totally foreign to me,” Mortenson told the Lariat. “I believe in serving the people of Baylor University and serving the students, because that’s why we’re really there, to serve the students.”

    Mortenson succeeds Dr. William V. May, BME ’69, who led the School of Music from 2000 to 2014, when he stepped down to return to the classroom.

    Sic ’em, Dr. Mortenson!