HILLSBORO, Kan. – The Tabor College Music Department received notification on Dec. 24 that the National Association of Schools of Music granted full renewal of membership. Accredited institutional membership gives full approval of current majors within the music program: piano pedagogy, music education, sacred music and music composition.
Department chair and professor of choral music, Brad Vogel, said this is a huge honor for Tabor.
“To meet the same standards required of schools such as the Eastman School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music demonstrates that the content and quality of instruction and performance at Tabor College is at a high level,” Vogel said. “I am very proud of our faculty and staff, as well as the performance of our students, in achieving this full accreditation.”
President of Tabor College, Jules Glanzer, said, “Receiving affirmation from an external agency is a sign of the quality and excellence of the Tabor program. I am proud of our music department faculty for their commitment to excellence and hard work. Quality is an important part of the Tabor experience.”
Tabor College is near completion of a $16.2 million dollar fine arts campaign, in which $9 million of money raised is going towards building a new Center for the Arts. Groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for May 2015.
“I’m delighted that this tradition of excellence will continue with the new Shari Flaming Center for the Arts,” Glanzer added.
Tabor is one of four schools in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference that is member of the NASM. Only 14 Kansas colleges, including NCAA Division I and II schools, are members of NASM.
The process for renewal began with a Self Study completed by Vogel in summer 2013, demonstrating compliance with NASM guidelines. A two-member site visit team from NASM visited Tabor’s campus in October of 2013. A commission report was given in fall 2014.
NASM was founded in 1924 and is an association of approximately 647 schools of music, primarily at the collegiate level, but also including post-secondary, non-degree-granting schools of music. It is the national accrediting agency for music and music-related disciplines.
It also provides information to the public, produces statistical research, provides professional development for leaders of music schools and engages in policy analysis.
The next time Tabor will have to seek renewal of NASM membership will be 2023-2024.