Mission and Goals

Challey School of Music Mission Statement: The NDSU Challey School of Music provides experiences that serve our students through professional preparation and general learning, that serve our faculty and staff through professional career achievement and satisfaction, and that serve the greater university community through the excellence of our endeavors.

Comment: Our constituencies include our majors and minors, other university students, our regional audiences, and all who come into contact with our endeavors and articulations.

Goal 1: NDSU Music will provide and maintain academic programs that assure musical maturity and professional competence in our graduates.

Purposes:
  • Our liberal arts degrees place musical emphasis in the context of a broad liberal arts education.
  • Our undergraduate performance degrees provide rigorous technical and artistic training in preparation for further study and/or performance and studio teaching careers.
  • Our undergraduate composition degree provides thorough creative and professional training in acoustic and electronic media in preparation for further study and/or careers as professional composers.
  • Our undergraduate music education degrees provide both musical and pedagogical training to assure competence and artistry among future school educators.
  • Our graduate music education degree primarily serves regional music educators as they maintain and enhance their musical and pedagogical skills.
  • Our graduate performance and conducting degrees develop advanced-level technical facility and artistry, and develop breadth of competence in musicianship and related areas.
  • Our graduate degrees in collaborative piano provide advanced training in collaborative piano and supportive studies for pianists preparing for professional careers working with singers and/or instrumentalists.
  • Our graduate degree in music theory pedagogy primarily provides our performance and conducting students with additional breadth as well as expanded qualifications toward employment in higher education.
  • As the only D.M.A. program in performance and conducting on the northern tier of states between Minneapolis and Seattle, we are especially motivated to provide opportunities for regional students as well as to provide high quality college and university faculty to the region.

Goal 2: NDSU Music will serve the artistic and academic needs of the NDSU community and its greater constituencies through learning and performance experiences that develop understanding and appreciation of the art and practice of music.

  • Comment: We serve the NDSU non-major community through a number of music-related general education courses, applied study, and ensemble experiences. We also perform and sponsor numerous concerts and musical experiences throughout the year that engage the university and the region.

Goal 3: NDSU Music will maintain mutually beneficial articulations among all its constituencies, in pursuit of greater musical understanding.

  • Comment: We are known for our collaborative enthusiasm in academic relationships with other institutions, with arts and other organizations throughout the region, and with other areas in NDSU’s community.

Goal 4: NDSU Music will seek continual improvement and expansion of its programs, as guided by the needs and wishes of its constituencies.

  • Comment: We characterize ourselves as positive, forward-looking, and enthusiastic in our mission, and believe that forward motion in all endeavors is important to our continued success.