I write with some really big news.
At its meeting this afternoon, the Board of Trustees voted to create a new school within Pace University: the Sands College of Performing Arts.
This move is a major development for Pace. It means that effective with the new academic year, the undergraduate programs formerly housed within the Pace School of Performing Arts, together with the graduate programs that comprise the Actors Studio Drama School, will move out of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences and into their own academic unit, the Sands College of Performing Arts. This will be the seventh independent college or school within the University.
The new college will be named in recognition of a $25 million gift from Rob Sands, JD ’84, the chair of our Board of Trustees, and his wife, Pamela.
Since its founding in 2014, PPA has grown into a powerhouse. It’s a nationally recognized and admired program, and its students and alumni are regularly working in film, television, and theater. By creating the independent Sands College, we will be able to gain more attention, more prominence, and build new partnerships. We’ll be able to build a truly cutting-edge performing arts college for the 21st century.
This is a key part of our strategic plan vision for the future: leveraging our strengths and our location to make Pace stand out, and to make us an even more attractive institution to even more students (and along the way to make a Pace degree even more valuable). It’s part of building our strong future.
At the same time, this is also about doing what we’ve always done: providing opportunities for hard-working, ambitious students to gain the skills they need to succeed. Just as we’ve long educated the next generation of leaders in business and the arts and sciences, in the health professions and in technology, in education and in the law, we’re also preparing the talented, accomplished, and diverse storytellers and arts leaders that industry is counting on.
Starting next academic year, PPA students and ASDS students will be Sands College students. PPA and ASDS faculty will be Sands College faculty. And Dyson College Dean Tresmaine Grimes will serve as interim dean of Sands College while we conduct a national search, pursuant to the Faculty Handbook. During that time, Jennifer Holmes—who has done so much to make this plan a reality—will remain executive director of performing arts.
This is an exciting new chapter for Pace. I’m looking forward to working together with all of you as we develop our plans to determine the future for Sands College and the performing arts at Pace.
