Shirley Howell
Dean

Office Telephone: 243-4970 Fax Number: 243-5726 E-Mail: shirley.howell@umontana.edu

DR. SHIRLEY HOWELL was appointed Dean of the School of Fine Arts at The University of Montana-Missoula in July, 1999. The School, comprised of the Departments of Art, Drama/Dance, Media Arts, and Music, serves approximately 900 full-time students and is one of the most dynamic performing and visual arts programs in the Northwest.

Dr. Howell formerly was Associate Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Prior to her appointment as Associate Dean of the College of PVA, she served as Director of the UNC School of Music from 1984 to 1996, and as Acting Dean of the College of PVA from 1996-1998, while then-Dean Howard Skinner served as President of the University.

She brings to UM a significant history of achievements as an arts administrator. During her years of service as UM's Dean of Fine Arts, the number of donors to the arts has increased by 40%, scholarship funding for students in the arts has more than tripled, twenty-six new scholarship endowments have been created, annual funds have increased by more than 130%, and major gifts and planned gifts also have increased dramatically.

Shirley Howell served as an elected member of the National Association of Schools of Music Commission, the 15-member national governing body of NASM, from 1993-1999. In that capacity she represented doctoral-degree-granting institutions in music nationwide. She continues to serve as a consultant and senior evaluator for NASM. She served as President of the Colorado College and University Music Administrators from 1990 to 1998.

Author of numerous articles, manuals and texts on subjects ranging from public relations to programmed ear training, she also served as principal author and project director for a $2.6 million grant from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and a $600,000 National Endowment for the Arts Challenge III matching grant. These grants funded the establishment of the Music Technology Center at the University of Northern Colorado. She was a major contributor to the development of UNC's new $3 million music library, which opened in 1997. In 1998, she co-authored a successful $309,000 proposal for UNC's Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, funded fully by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. Titled the STAR Program (Shaping the Arts Reality), the grant provided funding for advanced technology for costume design, lighting, sound, set design, and a variety of technical enhancements, as well as for guest artists and student support.

In addition to university arts administration, Dr. Howell's professional experience includes teaching, arts management, arts marketing and development activities. She has taught music theory, music history, class piano and studio voice, in addition to arts marketing and management. Prior to her work in music, she taught science and math at the secondary school level.

Dr. Howell was named the 1994 Honored Administrator by the Colorado Music Educators Association, the first and only time to date that a university administrator has been so honored. She was honored by the University of Northern Colorado in 1995 for her contributions to excellence in education, and again in 2003 for her contributions to UNC's College of Performing and Visual Arts. She has served as a clinician, consultant and accreditation site visitor for many colleges and universities during the past decade.

Dr. Howell holds a Doctor of Arts degree in arts administration and music from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master of Education degree from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Bachelor of Science in General Science from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.