{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/Primestrempel","webpackCompilationHash":"bc518eed74bf3a859c55","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"headline":"Eileen Strempel’s Swan Song","author":"Reid Sperisen","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.strempel/Copy_of_prime.stremple.LC_4-315df1a60c3cc396cbc0682f4384ffd0.jpg","covercred":"Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon","coveralt":"Photograph of Eileen Strempel, inaugural dean of the Herb Alpert School of Music.","articleType":"article","updated":"","content":[{"type":"text","value":"From her corner office in the Schoenberg Music Building, Eileen Strempel can see the trees lining Charles E. Young Drive as students amble on the sidewalk. This is the view Strempel has had for the past six years as the inaugural dean of UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music."},{"type":"text","value":"When asked about how she feels about leaving UCLA, she does not respond. She breaks eye contact to look out the window, readjusting her scarf as she does so. The conversation shifts to a different question, as if talking about her departure as a Bruin will cause too much pain."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel will take on a new position at the University of San Diego starting July 1. Her time at the helm of UCLA’s music program has seen the fundraising of more than $50 million, the creation of the music industry major and a focus upon embracing diversity and strengthening community and support for faculty and students. A lifelong academic and musician, Strempel is both reflecting on her time as inaugural dean and looking ahead to her next chapter as vice president of academic affairs and provost at USD."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel seems relaxed for a Monday morning at 11 a.m. An educational professional of her stature could be reasonably expected to be busy, stressed or in a never-ending rush of meetings. But for several hours long interviews, Strempel is calm and unhurried, practically verging on languid in pace as she thoughtfully speaks about her life and career."},{"type":"text","value":"As her voice lilts melodically and she expressively sweeps her hands across the table in front of her, she talks with an earnest attentiveness as if this conversation with a student journalist is the most important one she has had all quarter."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I've always just tried to build from the beauty,\" Strempel said. \"That’s really been my motto.\""},{"type":"text","value":"When she arrived at UCLA in 2019 to become the inaugural dean of the School of Music, Strempel said it was thrilling to be able to build a school of music in Los Angeles because of the city’s position as the music capital of the world. She saw an opportunity to create a home for music that was fully with the times, without trying to replicate what was being done at other universities."},{"type":"text","value":"Although UCLA had had esteemed music programs for decades, there was a limited foundation for a centralized School of Music when Strempel became a Bruin, she said."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I just had a really clear vision of what the School, of what we all could collectively be.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"\"When I arrived, there was no mission, there was no vision, there were no core values, there was no strategic plan, there was no board, there weren’t even monthly budget reports,\" Strempel said. \"You’re not stepping into a role where ‘we’ve always done it this way,’ but instead entirely the exact opposite. This is for an entrepreneurial person to come in and really help to build something. And so I just had a really clear vision of what the School, of what we all could collectively be.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Once a team was on board with the ideas and the shared plan, Strempel said it was possible to begin tackling large endeavors such as connecting global communities, increasing fundraising and creating new courses. Strempel said her mission as dean largely focused on increasing diversity of students and course offerings, an aim pursued by capitalizing on the existing strength of the Department of Ethnomusicology, expanding programs for global music and global jazz and launching a music industry program in the music industry’s capital."},{"type":"text","value":"Tiffany Naiman, who has been the director of undergraduate programs in music industry since 2021, said Strempel’s initiative to create an advisory board for the School of Music provided more learning and career resources for students and increased fundraising opportunities. The formation of such a coalition – which includes record executives and award-winning musicians –  was impressive considering Strempel’s background in opera, rather than the contemporary music industry."},{"type":"text","value":"This focus on the music industry continued with the establishment of the UCLA Berry Gordy Music Industry Center in 2024, which increased the school’s career-centered course offerings. Naiman said this job-oriented outlook on curriculum largely stems from Strempel, who sought to help launch students to successful careers after graduation."},{"type":"text","value":"\"She’s a ‘get it done’ person,\" Naiman said. \"It’s the great balance of no-nonsense and kindness put together, which ... I think is very rare.\""},{"type":"text","value":"But before she was on her path to becoming the dean of the School of Music – and even before she became a student of the arts – Strempel was a child whose dreams of singing had not yet taken root."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of Eileen Strempel leaning against the brick wall of the Schoenberg Music Building.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.strempel/Copy_of_prime.stremple.LC-fd7a0770a92fe429e05f523ce4148ede.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon/Daily Bruin senior staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel said the music in her Syracuse, New York, childhood home represented a blend of country, Western and blues music from her father and church choir and symphonic pop songs from her mother. Some of her earliest memories with music came from listening to the radio waiting to hear if her school had been shut down for a snow day. Strempel’s eyes mischievously light up recalling the gleeful eagerness she experienced while wishing for her classes to be cancelled."},{"type":"text","value":"On one of those days, Strempel said she remembers hearing a recording of French opera singer Mady Mesplé and being struck by the coloratura soprano’s voice."},{"type":"text","value":"\"I just was speechless and captivated, and I forgot all about the school closing,\" Strempel said. \"I was actually excited to go into school to talk to my chorus teacher, Barbara Tagg, and I told her I wanted to learn how to do that. I wanted to be an opera singer when I grew up – and I was seven.\""},{"type":"text","value":"For her public school teacher to legitimize her interests and support her ambition was transformative, Strempel said. Her first voice lesson was at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and she has been taking vocal lessons ever since. At 15, she was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts by former President Ronald Reagan and later pursued a bachelor’s degree as a first-generation college student at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel’s vocal talents then took her to opera houses across the globe. In 1993, she performed as Violetta in the Bolshoi Opera’s production of \"La Traviata\" as the sole non-Russian in the Moscow opera house’s cast. She took on Gilda in \"Rigoletto\" and the titular role in \"Lucia di Lammermoor\" as her career took her to places such as Milan and St. Louis."},{"type":"text","value":"Despite the thrill of being a regularly performing musician, Strempel said it was exhausting to live out of a suitcase and travel on the road constantly. Her days typically involved at least six hours of vocal rehearsals, which necessitated memorizing music for current productions and future performances months in advance. At one point, Strempel went five months without seeing her husband. She realized she wanted to have more stability than the lifestyle opera singing could offer her."},{"type":"text","value":"At 28, Strempel returned to higher education to finish her doctorate at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. As she was writing her dissertation on a female French composer, she realized she wanted to study music by American female composers of all backgrounds – and that she could find her voice through the educational process."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel said she does not regret leaving opera behind and transitioning to academia. Devoting 17 years in several different roles at Syracuse University, she was able to find her interest in the administrative side of an academic institution as she advanced from assistant professor to assistant vice president."},{"type":"text","value":"The time also allowed her to have a rooted place to raise her two sons, Strempel said. Being a mother is the greatest joy of her life, and she speaks to her sons every day. She said motherhood has given her more compassion and empathy as she thinks of every student she interacts with as someone’s child whom she is responsible for helping grow and be successful."},{"type":"text","value":"Working at UCLA presented Strempel with the opportunity to execute a vision to the developing program."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of Eileen Strempel smiling and turning towards the camera wearing a black blazer.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.strempel/Copy_of_prime.stremple.LC_5-40bc1bb77ccc9cc163a17e50e0c21971.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon/Daily Bruin senior staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Although Strempel is the inaugural dean of the School of Music, she is not the founding dean. She said her predecessor, neuroscientist Judith Smith, moved departments from the humanities and the School of Arts and Architecture to bring them into the newly created School of Music. Smith brought a host of contributions and serendipitous cross-department connections in her two years of leadership, and it was Strempel’s job to take these foundations to the next level. She said Smith built a house with a concrete floor, but it was her responsibility to bring in floors, windows and furniture."},{"type":"text","value":"And in less than a year, a profound challenge of her tenure would arrive."},{"type":"text","value":"Judith Finell, an adjunct professor of musicology and music industry who began teaching at UCLA in 2018, said she was impressed by Strempel’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a period when the department felt hopeless, the dean brought strength and consistent positivity. Finell said Strempel was courageous in her approach to prioritizing student and staff safety by modifying practice rooms and increasing ventilation in rehearsal spaces to reduce the risk of disease transmission."},{"type":"text","value":"Finell added that Strempel’s innovation and open-minded approach to other ideas and solutions helped her weather the pandemic and simultaneously improve the School of Music."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"I feel like she was exactly the right leader for one of the darkest time periods in the university.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"\"She would always have this upbeat tone to her voice – regardless of how dark a day – and yet show tremendous empathy to those who had had losses or challenges or tremendous stress,\" Finell said. \"I feel like she was exactly the right leader for one of the darkest time periods in the university.\""},{"type":"text","value":"Jan Berry Baker, a professor and vice chair of the Department of Music, has seen similar leadership in Strempel. She joined UCLA in 2020 as the 12th female saxophone professor in the nation. Since 2023, Baker has also been the special assistant to the dean for faculty mentoring, a role she said Strempel created for the purpose of providing junior faculty and assistant professors with guidance for the tenure process as a professor in the arts."},{"type":"text","value":"Baker said Strempel has been supportive and involved with both faculty and student activities."},{"type":"text","value":"\"It’s definitely always great to have people in positions of leadership actually come to the events that faculty are putting on and the events that students are putting on,\" Baker said. \"Eileen always has a smile on her face and is always delighted to share in the joy of the successes of others.\""},{"type":"text","value":"In spite of her successes, Strempel said the time she recalls receiving criticism in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, when many students shared feelings of hurt as they processed their grief. She said at the time, the School of Music was falling short of its promise to be equitable for all students. In response, Strempel said changes included the creation of a sanctuary space, curricular changes throughout the School of Music and the establishment of an anti-racism and antidiscrimination task force."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Eileen always has a smile on her face and is always delighted to share in the joy of the successes of others.\\\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Part of that work toward equity involves making education more accessible. More than $50 million was raised during the past six years, and student enrollment grew by 65%. But Strempel still said she regrets not being able to raise more money for students. However, she wants higher education to be more fair and equitable by being affordable and accessible for all Americans. In particular, she said she hopes that the School of Music can increase its support for transfer students and first-generation college students and eventually become tuition-free."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel said she hopes her successor – announced in April to be Michael Beckerman, a musicologist and professor at New York University – can carry forward the positive trajectory of the School of Music to become the number one program in the nation. She said UCLA’s programs have the correct ingredients with the quality of the students, faculty and city to get there and have been able to evolve from nonexistence six years ago to now being one of the top programs in the country."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photograph of Eileen Strempel leaning on the back of a chair with a saxophonist performing on stage behind her.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/Prime.strempel/Copy_of_prime.stremple.LC_1-8fcb0b1ebb58d0c3872d1e79556ab2b9.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon/Daily Bruin senior staff\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"After a very long conversation, Strempel is ready to revisit the topic of her leaving UCLA. Strempel said she has tried her best in her role, but her legacy and how she is remembered ought to be decided by other people. She feels humbled and grateful for her time at UCLA and the experiences she has had with artists, intellectuals and the next generation of musical talent."},{"type":"text","value":"Strempel is excited for her next career opportunity and to continue her mission to foster equitable student success in higher education but is sad to leave behind the friends made as a Bruin. Given Strempel refused to name individual people whom she will miss, it is evident that she has built a home at UCLA."},{"type":"text","value":"\"We as educators have a sacred goal,\" Strempel said. \"I'm grateful for every opportunity that I've had to be able to help think about or bring to life student success. And it can just be on the individual level. ... It can be whomever walks through your door, just keeping that clear focus. It's been such a joy.\""}]}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"term":"spring25","slug":"Prime.strempel"}}}