For more information about our affinity programs, click here.

OU Alumni Store

Go to www.oualumnistore.com and purchase your sooner gear today. Join the OU Alumni Association and receive a 15 percent discount on all OU Alumni Store products.

Alumni The University of Oklahoma

    This story first ran in the Norman Transcript on Dec. 3, 2008.

    OU musical theater gets upgrade.

    By Julianna Parker
    Staff Writer / The Norman Transcript


    The musical theater program at the University of Oklahoma was upgraded from a department to a school Tuesday when the OU Board of Regents held its regular meeting on the Norman campus.

    The Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre is the only musical theater school in the country, said A. Max Weitzenhoffer, vice chairman of the OU Board of Regents, a 1962 OU School of Drama alumnus and an award-winning independent producer of New York and London theater productions. Weitzenhoffer and his family donated the naming gift for the department of musical theatre.

    Musical theater is a very selective program, and changing the title from department to school shows the emphasis that OU places on the program, Weitzenhoffer said.
    "We're at the top of the list for musical theater programs," he said.

    The program's change is primarily in name. Elevation to school status will not change the program's philosophy of trying to keep enrollment around the current goal of 50, said Catherine Bishop, vice president of public affairs.

    The school has seven full-time faculty and one adjunct faculty member, two full-time office staff and various accompanists. This fall the program has 52 students, two above the department's self-imposed cap.

    The elevation to school status would help in musical theater's national student recruitment efforts, Weitzenhoffer said.

    In addition, the change will help with the national search for a new head of the school, he said.

    "To look for the head of a school versus a department head will get a much better applicant pool," Weitzenhoffer said.
    Gregory D. Kunesh became the interim chair and Regents' Professor of the OU department of musical theatre this summer when Rich Taylor vacated the post to become interim dean of the Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts.
    The final decision of who should be dean of the college has not been made. At the meeting Tuesday, the regents also voted to approve the creation of a search committee for the fine arts dean.

    The committee will search internally from among the fine arts faculty. Taylor also will be considered for the position.

    Julianna Parker
    (405) 366-3541
    jparker@normantranscript.com