New academic college announced amid universitywide changes  

By Samantha Clark and Cal Sutton

Over the summer, a search committee was formed to assist in the appointment of a new dean for the Westminster College of Media and Performing Arts.

During a season of change at Rider, the restructuring of academic colleges has goals of helping to foster a sense of community and broaden students’ academic experiences.

Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Kelly Bidle has had a large impact on the decision to design the WCMPA for students.

“Back in 2022 is when the College of Arts and Sciences — liberal arts and sciences — and Westminster, had all merged,” Bidle said.

The merge between academic disciplines was the first step for the arts at Rider. Although this is true, there were leaps to be made, thus leading to the development of the WCMPA.

“While it worked well, it could have worked better,” Bidle said. “With the new Westminster College of Media and Performing Arts, not only are there our strengths with Westminster, but we have a lot of strengths in media.”

While Bidle does not anticipate any major changes within students’ academic experiences following the development of the WCMPA, she is aiming to spearhead new programming for students and revise curricula.

“In today’s market, students being exposed to more things, generally, is probably going to be beneficial in the job market and career searches,” Bidle said. “Putting them all in one house, so to speak, I think made a lot of sense.”

Bidle aims for the WCMPA to help students gain interdisciplinary experiences and broaden their tool belts for when they enter the workforce.

One of the largest opportunities students are given through this new change, according to Bidle, is the Rider Student Media Center. A certificate program has been launched alongside it to add proof of a larger skillset to a student’s degree and help build their media experience. The certificate can be obtained if a student completes one semester in each of the three segments of the Media Center — the radio station, the student newspaper and the TV studio.

In the future, the WCMPA is potentially going to see new course offerings, curricular changes, new academic programs and new or improved extracurriculars.

In a Sept. 1 universitywide email announcing a multitude of structural changes, Bidle said, “In naming this college, we honor the brand strength of one of the nation’s most respected traditions in choral music and performing arts while simultaneously recognizing our need to further advance interdisciplinary programs in media, music production, game and graphic design and other creative industries.”

Many of the university’s departments were consolidated to streamline and strengthen Rider’s academic programs. Originally at 23 departments, many majors have made moves under different leaders to now encompass 14 different departments. Majors were not cut in this process, but rather moved under different leadership.

During this developmental time for the arts at Rider, university leadership and the WCMPA’s departmental staff have been working to find the inaugural dean.

Eugene Kutcher, dean of the Norm Brodsky College of Business, is the chairman for the WCMPA Dean Search Committee.

Kutcher has been on search committees for Rider before, as he previously served to help find the university’s eighth president, John Loyack, and has done other work to help the processes run smoothly.

“We put a great team together of a committee to work on [finding a new dean],” Kutcher said.

The WCMPA encompasses many majors and programs. They include, but are not limited to, acting, dance, film and television, journalism, music production, theatre, music education and voice performance.

The inaugural dean has to fill the role in a way that can allow all students in these programs to have a fulfilling academic experience.

Each dean candidate was scored along a rubric, including if they can portray their vision for the college, if they have strong experience in one or more of the fields included in the WCMPA, budgeting and management experience, a focus on equitable student experiences and more.

Kutcher said, “The first thing [we looked for] was someone who was an expert in one of those disciplines, but then, also somebody who has an appreciation and knowledge of all other disciplines too. Somebody who can truly be an academic leader across all these areas.”