12:45pm | Cal State Long Beach officials have announced the appointment of Raymond Torres-Santos as the campus’ dean for the College of the Arts.
Torres-Santos is expected to begin his new duties on Aug. 1, said CSULB spokesman Rick Gloady.
Currently the dean for the College of the Arts and Communications at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., Torres-Santos replaces former dean Don Para, who was recently named CSULB’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs after spending the last eight years heading up the College of the Arts.
“I am very pleased that Raymond Torres-Santos has accepted our offer to become the new dean of the College of the Arts at Cal State Long Beach,” Para said in a statement. “He brings to this position significant university experience as a faculty member and administrator, a broad knowledge of the arts and an impressive professional profile as a performer, composer and conductor.
“Most importantly, he maintains a passion for the arts and a deep commitment to arts education and student success.,” Para added.
The new provost said that the College of the Arts is one of the largest, most widely recognized arts colleges in the nation.
“He (Torres-Santos) comes to CSULB and COTA at a most challenging time in our history,” the provost said “I am confident that he will be a highly effective leader who will work collaboratively with the administration, other deans, department chairs, faculty, staff and the university community to build on the significant accomplishments and recognition that has become the standard of COTA.”
In his new role, Torres-Santos will be responsible for leading the college department chairs and staff in managing the college’s fiscal resources and personnel; recruiting, evaluating and retaining a well-qualified faculty and staff; and developing effective student recruitment and retention programs, Gloady said.
The new dean will report directly to Para.
CSULB’s College of the Arts is the largest and most comprehensive publicly funded school for the arts in California, with more than 4,000 graduate and undergraduate majors. It encompasses the departments of Art, Dance, Design, Film and Electronic Arts,and Theatre Arts, as well as the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, the University Art Museum and the Carpenter Performing Arts Center.
Within the college, the Art Department is the largest department on the CSULB campus, according to information provided by Gloady, and is one of the largest visual arts programs in the country.
More people study art and design at CSULB than at any other public university in the nation, Gloady said..
“The College of the Arts at Cal State Long Beach is the heart and the creative face of the university, and the commitment of the administration to the arts is evident,” said Torres-Santos in a statement .
“What attracted me to the campus was the unconditional commitment of the distinguished faculty during difficult times, the high quality of students and professional staff as well as the prestige of the academic programs in the college,” Torres-Santos continued.
“I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students to solidify the quality of teaching, scholarship, creativity and service in the college and make Cal State Long Beach a solid and innovative artistic and cultural center in the region, the state and the nation as we prepare better citizens to society,” he added.
Professionally, Torres-Santos is an accomplished arranger, conductor and pianist. Considered one of the leading composers of his generation, his works include orchestral, electronic and vocal music for the concert hall, ballet, film, theater, television and radio.
Prior to serving as dean at New Jersey’s William Paterson University, Torres-Santos was chancellor of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music; coordinator of the Music Technology Center and chair of the Music Department, both at the University of Puerto Rico. He is not new to the CSU system, having also formerly served as coordinator of the Commercial/Electronic Music Program at the Cal State San Bernardino, Gloady said.
The Puerto Rico native has held teaching positions with the CSU, City University of New York, University of Puerto Rico, UCLA and Rutgers University.
Torres-Santos studied at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and at the University of Puerto Rico. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in composition from the UC Los Angeles and completed advanced studies at Stanford and Harvard universities, according to information provided by Gloady. He
Additionally, Torres-Santos furthered his studies in Europe at the Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik in Germany and University of Padua in Italy. His major professors were Henri Lazarof and David Raksin.