Provost appoints Jason Vodicka as dean of WCMPA

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’ senior associate dean and associate dean for the past four years, where he helped to maintain Westminster Choir College’s programs and traditions after it transitioned to the Lawrenceville campus.

In his eight years working at Rider, he has built the toolbelt to effectively get things done and has made connections in different offices, which will allow him to immediately start working and progressing the new college’s efforts and plans.

Moreso, 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 Music Education Hall of Fame in 2017 to recognize his contributions to both the college and the study of music education as a whole.

Daniel Loges, a junior arts & entertainment industries management major and a member of the dean selection’s student committee, said that Vodicka’s experience at the university was a major contributing factor to his appointment. 

“[Vodicka] spent time here as the former dean already, so he has that experience,” Loges said. “You want someone that knows the school, knows the environment and knows the chemistry that everyone has with each other.”

In the dean-search process, Loges said that the goal was to find someone who knew how to incorporate the many moving parts of the WCMPA under one umbrella.

“You have all of these things that tie into the arts, and you can’t really have one without the other,” Loges said.

In addition to Vodicka’s pre-existing background in music, he familiarized himself with the areas of media and communication in his time as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and WCMPA, as well as simply conversing and collaborating with other professors in the school.

“I do have a background in performing arts, but from my colleagues in media and communication, I’ve really learned that what we all do together is tell stories,” Vodicka said. “We all share that we’re focused on the human experience and helping each other understand that. It’s broadened my perspective of what it means to be a communicator.”

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, currently serving as the President-Elect of the American Choral Directors Association of New Jersey and previously sat in multiple music-related, executive-level positions along the East Coast and conducted choirs across the country. 

Vodicka’s relationships in and outside of the university offer the WCMPA new connections, opening doors for new programs and provisions to existing ones.

According to Vodicka, with the strong faculty and students at the foundation of the college, a new focus on the media and arts at the university will concurrently allow for new initiatives that will further advance the student experience.

“I’m also interested in continuing to build a donor base for the college. We are having a special donor event tied in with our production of the Threepenny Opera this November,” Vodicka said. “That’s going to bring in supporters, as well as some industry professionals from media and performing arts, to Rider and show them what we’re able to do here.”

With his “combination of academic leadership, scholarship, service, artistic achievement, and deep commitment to students,” according to Bidle, Vodicka became the best candidate for the inaugural dean position. 

Vodicka said, “It’s an exciting time to be in the arts at Rider. We certainly have a lot of support from the president, and I think this new college really signifies the importance that our university places on media and the arts. It’s gonna be exciting.”