Center for the Arts and Public Policy

College of Fine Arts • Donald McGlothlin, Ph.D.

Director, Center for the Arts and Public Policy

Donald McGlothlin is currently Professor of Music and Director of the Center for the Arts and Public Policy at the University of Florida. He served as Dean of the UF College of Fine Arts from 1990 to 2005, and is now Dean Emeritus. When Dr. McGlothlin stepped down from the deanship in June 2005, he had completed 34 years as an arts administrator at three public universities. Nineteen of his 34 years were dedicated to enriching arts programs at UF. He assumed his first administrative position in 1970 when he was appointed chair of the Department of Music at Idaho State University. In 1972, he became chair of the Music Department at UF. Subsequently, he was appointed chair   of the Department of Music at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri, where he was also named founding director of the new School of Fine Arts. He returned to UF in 1990 as Dean of the College of Fine Arts. Under his guidance, the College of Fine Arts grew in many important ways, especially as a leader in multicultural and diversity education, and as a model for the development of transdisciplinary arts programs.

 

 

Donald McGlothlin, Ph.D.

Director, Center for the Arts and Public Policy

Dean Emeritus and Professor of Music

College of Fine Arts

e-mail: mcgloth@ufl.edu

 

 

Donald McGlothlin, Ph.D.

During Dr. McGlothlin’s tenure as Dean, the number and quality of students pursuing accredited professional degrees offered by the college increased significantly with graduate enrollment more than doubling. Eight new academic programs were added to the curriculum and the college’s three departments grew in stature to become fully accredited schools.

 

Dr. McGlothlin’s commitment to collaborative programs and partnerships resulted in the establishment of four centers of excellence in the College of Fine Arts. The Center for World Arts emphasizes collaboration and artistic exchange between UF and both Latin American and African artists. The Center for Arts in Healthcare Research and Education marries the arts and medicine through collaborative programs with Shands Medical Center, and the Digital Worlds Institute features a relationship between the Colleges of Fine Arts and Engineering that produces cutting-edge research, education and arts projects.

 

Dr. McGlothlin also established a formal partnership for UF with the award-winning New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in Miami, Fla. This nationally recognized conservatory has both high school and college students. NWSA college graduates earn Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Florida. This important partnership, involving UF, Miami-Dade College, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, is the cornerstone of UF’s visibility and outreach efforts in Miami.

 

In addition to serving as dean, Dr. McGlothlin was executive director of UF’s new Performing Arts Center for 10 years. He oversaw completion of the facility, established its advisory board of directors and recruited its professional staff. Today, University of Florida Performing Arts is nationally recognized for the quality and scope of its programming.

 

Dr. McGlothlin helped to create the Friends of Music organization in 1974, which has provided scholarships to more than 2,000 music students at UF. Since 1990, he provided leadership to help generate more than $13 million in external funding for the arts. This included the endowment gift from Dr. Curtis and Barbara Phillips for the Performing Arts Center, a major gift from Dr. William and Nadine McGuire for the new theatre and dance facility, and a gift from George Steinbrenner to provide new facilities for the University Band Program.

 

Donald McGlothlin received Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Science degrees from Pittsburg State University in Kansas, the Master of Fine Arts in Clarinet Performance and Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education degrees from the University of Iowa, and a Certificate from the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. Dr. McGlothlin was extensively involved in the National Association of School of Music for many years, where he served as co-chair of the Commission on Accreditation and a member of the Board of Directors. Active as an adjudicator and educational consultant, Dr. McGlothlin represented the United States on an international panel to evaluate the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, and at the request of South Carolina, chaired the evaluation of all visual and performing arts programs in the state’s universities.