New dean for newly reorganized college
New dean Steve Everett: “I think of the arts as a broad means of human expression.”
Steve Everett, a composer and conductor whose focus includes electronic music and cross-cultural musical influences, is the new dean of the newly reorganized College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts.
The college, formerly College of Architecture and the Arts, includes four schools: Architecture, Design, Art & Art History and Theatre & Music, plus Gallery 400 and Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.
Everett began working with technology in music as an undergraduate at Florida State University in the 1970s.
He was professor of music and assistant provost for academic affairs at Emory University, where he directed the Music/Audio Research Center for experimentation in composition, audiovisual design, interactive performance and new media.
“Steve is a uniquely talented artist and administrator,” said Lon Kaufman, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Everett says he was drawn to UIC for opportunities in cross-disciplinary research.
“You don’t find many places with these four schools under one academic unit,” he said.
“Much of my life has been working with multimedia — experimental music, dance, theatre and opera. I think of the arts as a broad means of human expression, how we create physical, visual and aural spaces and relate to them to create community.
“The university is set up with all the requisite ingredients to be one of the top schools in the country for urban interdisciplinary research, and it’s embedded in one of the most interesting cities in the world.”
Everett holds a doctor of musical arts from the Urbana-Champaign campus. He earned master’s degrees in trumpet performance and music theory and a bachelor’s in music history and literature from Florida State University.
He has been a guest composer at the Eastman School of Music and conservatories in Paris, Geneva, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Before joining Emory in 1991, he taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kennesaw State University in Georgia and Ohio Northern University.
His works have been performed at the Spark Festival of Electronic Arts, International Society of Music Information Retrieval, Resonances Arts Festival-Paris and New York Electroacoustic Music Festival.
