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Redlands' Jon Robertson Honored by UCLA Academic Senate

Carolyn Campbell (ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu) (310) 825-6540
For Immediate Use Wednesday, June 10, 1998.

Jon Robertson of Redlands, Chair of the UCLA Department of Music, has been honored with the university's Fair and Open Academic Environment Award for 1997-98. The award was conferred by UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale at a recent meeting of the Academic Senate Legislative Assembly. Robertson was awarded $1,500.

Presented for the first time this year, the award was established by the Academic Senate to recognize and reward faculty, administrators, students, and staff who promote diversity and an open environment on campus. The award will be given every other year to no more than three people.

"As department chair, Jon Robertson has set an example for others in his department and across campus by strengthening the academic and social climate of diversity," said Chancellor Carnesale in presenting the award. Robertson was cited for developing and implementing an outreach vision for the Department of Music that includes programs which expose K-12 students to music and provide high school musicians from impacted schools with private instruction. This prepares them to be competitive when applying and auditioning for UCLA. As a direct result of this program, three students from Washington Prep entered the music department in the fall of 1997. This outreach has been extended to include a middle school in Compton.

In order to realize his vision, Robertson has developed several sources of support, including Design for Sharing, which is associated with the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, and the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation, which funds outreach concerts and clinics in K-12. Robertson is actively seeking other grants that will enable the department to partner with an additional high school in East Los Angeles and also provide violin instruction to fourth graders in a school that feeds Washington Prep. The program not only benefits the students but provides UCLA student teachers with much needed experience teaching in an inner city environment.

Robertson has encouraged the active engagement of UCLA faculty and students in developing ongoing programs through which the music department can make an active contribution to the cultural life of young people throughout Los Angeles.

Other recipients of the award this year were Adolfo Bermeo, director of the Academic Advancement Program, and Lisa V. Smith, a graduate student in the School of Public Health.

Robertson, a graduate of Juilliard School of Music, has been music director and conductor of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra since 1982.


Contact: Carolyn Campbell
Phone: (310) 825-6540
Email: ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu