BREAKING: Jason Vodicka appointed as WCMPA dean

By Samantha Clark

Jason Vodicka has been selected as Westminster College of Media and Performing Arts’ inaugural dean, according to a Sept. 15 universitywide email from Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Kelly Bidle.

An associate professor of music education for the Westminster Choir College and the interim WCMPA dean for the past several months, Vodicka has “demonstrated his commitment to academic administration, arts leadership, and student success,” Bidle said.

Before the merge, Vodicka served as the College of Arts & Sciences’ associate dean, where he helped to maintain Westminster Choir College’s programs and traditions after it transitioned to the Lawrenceville campus.

In addition, Vodicka earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music education from WCC, further allowing its longstanding historic nature to be preserved and showcased as it merges with the WCMPA.

Vodicka was inducted into the Westminster Choir College Music Education Hall of Fame in 2017 to recognize his contributions to both the college and the study of music education as a whole.

“As [Vodicka’s] responsibilities have increased over the last few years, he really has made a very strong effort to learn about and embrace all of the portfolio of the college, [which] includes communication and media,” Bidle told the Rider News on Sept. 15. “He really has made a strong effort to get to know those folks and those programs.”

Bidle told the Rider News that the university will conduct a national search for an associate dean for the WCMPA with a strong background in media and communication, complimenting Vodicka’s expertise.

Outside of the university, Vodicka holds national positions, as he currently serves as the President-Elect of the American Choral Directors Association of New Jersey and has previously sat in multiple music-related, executive-level positions along the East Coast and conducted choirs across the country. 

Bidle said, “His combination of academic leadership, scholarship, service, artistic achievement, and deep commitment to students makes him an outstanding addition to the college’s leadership team. … [H]e is the right choice to lead this new college at this moment in time”

This story will be updated in the Sept. 16 issue of The Rider News.