Appointment of David Roussève as Interim Dean, School of the Arts and Architecture
UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts, and Faculty and Staff in the School of the Arts and Architecture
Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to announce that Professor David Roussève has agreed to serve as interim dean of the School of the Arts and Architecture (SOAA), effective July 1, 2015.
A choreographer, writer, director, filmmaker and performer, Professor Roussève joined the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance in 1996 as a professor of choreography. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the department’s chair, and last year, he was named SOAA’s associate dean for academic affairs.
Professor Roussève is artistic director of David Roussève/REALITY, a dance/theater company that he founded in 1989 to perform his works that uniquely meld African American traditional and pop cultures with experimental dance and theater. Working within a deeply multicultural and interdisciplinary aesthetic, he has written, directed and choreographed for the company 13 full-length works, which have toured nationally and internationally, including three commissions for the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Reflecting Professor Roussève’s dedication to bringing boundary-pushing performance to new audiences, the presentation of these works has always involved extensive outreach into unexpected local communities. In addition to 11 commissions for other dance companies, in 2012-14, his third short film was screened at 55 festivals internationally and either won or was a finalist for 13 festival awards, including five for Best Short. His other awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a “Bessie” (New York Dance and Performance Award), three Lester Horton Awards, seven consecutive National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a Herb Alpert Award in Dance. Professor Roussève’s writings have been published in collections by Bantam Press and Routledge. From 2004 to 2007, he was the first artist to serve on the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
Professor Roussève is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and has served on the faculties of Princeton University, Columbia College, Randolph-Macon College and UC Berkeley Extension, among others.
Chancellor Block and I very much appreciate David’s willingness to be of service to SOAA and UCLA by assuming this leadership position. Please join us in welcoming him to this new role.
Next year, I will form a search committee to identify candidates for a permanent dean, and I will keep you informed as we initiate the search.
Sincerely,
Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost