The position of university performing arts presenter was not listed in the Syracuse University directory last year. As of Friday, the search will bring up the name Carole Brzozowski.

Brzozowski, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, worked together with Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Vice Chancellor Eric Spina to create the position at SU to bolster the university’s performing arts program.

‘We came up with it, as in it hasn’t existed at SU before,’ Brzozowski said. ‘VPA is the second largest school on campus. …It’s a large arts community with no advocacy.’

The acceptance of the new position will eventually require Brzozowski to step down as the dean of VPA once a replacement has been selected for her.

Although sudden, Vice Chancellor Spina said this kind of move is not out of the ordinary, as the lifespan for college deans isn’t very long.

‘She was in place for eight or nine years, the lifespan of deans at major research universities are five or six years, this kind of turnover is relatively routine- it’s nothing that is out of the ordinary,’ Spina said.

Becoming the school’s advocate for the performing arts should prove to be a smooth operation, as Brzozowski is working under a chancellor who appears passionate about the arts.

‘The chancellor feels importantly about the arts and the intrinsic value that they bring into our everyday life,’ she said. ‘She feels there’s a manifestation of creativity that’s in danger, so what she would like me to do is show what SU has to offer in performing arts and show what national dialogue has to offer here.’

Creating this position separate from the VPA school was completely necessary, Brzozowski said, as the deanship often deterred her from focusing on the performing arts in Syracuse.

With a refined vision on the performing arts in Syracuse, Brzozowski said she can take the performing arts and promote them under the wing of the chancellor’s Scholarship in Action program.

‘The performing arts are already a beautiful manifestation of Scholarship in Action. We’re already doing it, we’re just not talking about it. There wasn’t someone like me in a role to show what were really doing,’ Brzozowski said.

The implementation of this position will undoubtedly raise questions, as Brzozowski’s new role has not yet been clearly defined. In the meantime, Brzozowski said she has been working with Cantor and Spina to further define her job and responsibilities.

Despite her confidence, the new position does not stop Brzozowski from asking questions about her new title. When asked about how she will ease into this new venture, she replied with a laugh, ‘How am I going to do it? I’m not really sure.’

Published on January 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm