Picture

​Professional Service
Picture

"A community is both defined and sustained through continuous investment, of giving time and effort for a greater good."

​Below are some of Ward's contributions to selected professional communities.




​​Professional Societies (see "Leadership" for offices held)
National Association of Schools of Music
  • Commissioner, Commission on Accreditation (2012-2014)
  • Visiting Evaluator (2009-present)

College Music Society
  • "21st Century Music School Design," CMS Summit, University of South Carolina (2016). Summit Administrator (Director of Performance Degrees), leading the development of a proposed new curricular model for the Bachelor of Music in Performance,  
  • Executive Director Search Committee (2016)
  • Professional Development Committee (2010-2015)
  • Program Committee and Institution Host, Pacific Northwest Chapter meeting (2015)
  • Mock interviews and career consulting sessions at national meetings in St. Louis (2014), Minneapolis (2010), Portland (2009), Atlanta (2008), Salt Lake City (2007), and San Francisco (2004)
  • Nominating Committee (2012)
  • Committee on Academic Leadership and Administration (2003-2010; see service as Chair under "Leadership")
  • Program Committee for the national conference, Portland, Oregon (2009)
  • Peer reviewer for College Music Society Symposium (2007)
  • Treasurer, Northeast Chapter (1985-1986)Professional Development Committee (2010-2014)

Other Professional Service (selected)
  • ​Tacoma Philharmonic Board of Trustees (2003-2010)
  • Customer Services and Audience Development Subcommittee for the Performing Arts Steering Committee, City of Tacoma (review and development of a new operating agreement between the City and three City-owned theaters, 2005)
  • Strategic Issues Research Center planning committee (initiative to develop more cooperative undertakings between the University and the greater Tacoma community, 2004-2005)
  • Classical Music Council, Tacoma, Washington (performing arts coordinating board, 2000-2005; inactive as of 2005)

Institutional Service Since 1998: University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington (selected)
  • Sustainability Advisory Committee (2015-present)
  • Lantz/Nelson Senior Fellowship Selection Committee (faculty leaves and extended sabbaticals, 2002, 2009, 2011, 2017)
  • Faculty Compensation Task Force (comprehensive review of faculty compensation, 2014-2015)
  • Academic Standards Committee (academic policies and petitions, 2013-2015)
  • Prelude faculty (academic orientation, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2015)
  • Big Ideas Group (ad hoc committee organized by the Academic Vice President to explore institutional responses to major changes in higher education, Spring 2013)
  • Faculty Senate (1999-2001, 2009-2012; service as Vice Chair noted above under “Leadership”)
  • ​Faculty Advancement Committee (promotion and tenure, 2006-2008)
  • Professional Standards Committee (professional ethics, formal interpretations of the Faculty Code, grievances, 2004-2005)
  • Informal Committee on Teaching (periodic sessions on teaching issues, 2002-2005)
  • Humanities Board (curricular oversight of Humanities program, 2002-2005)
  • Prelude Transition Committee (revisions to academic orientation, 2001-2002)
  • Library Media Academic Computing Committee (1999-2002)

Notable Collaborations, all at University of Puget Sound
  • Latin American Studies, Hispanic Studies, and Latino Studies: “What Keeps Us Apart?”  Residency by Pablo Menéndez (2014)
  • Northwest Sinfonietta (Tacoma, Washington) and academic departments in Theatre Arts, Foreign Languages and Literature, Business, and Latin American Studies: a four-day, eleven-event Cuban Cultural Festival (2012)
  • Department of English: “A Celebration of Langston Hughes,” incorporating poetry readings, solo and choral performances, and guest artists (2010)
  • Northwest Sinfonietta and the Department of English: five-day residency by author Michael Cunningham, exploring the intersection of music and language (2009) 
  • Tacoma Philharmonic and Pacific Lutheran University: created the Beatrice Herrmann Young Artist Competition, a three-tiered regional competition for high school and college students (2007)
  • Tacoma Philharmonic and Pacific Lutheran University: founded the Virtuoso Discovery Series, which featured rising national artists in performances and master classes; ran for three years (2003-2006)
  • Tacoma Symphony Orchestra (now Symphony Tacoma) and Pacific Lutheran University: joint master classes by guest soloists with the Symphony (2002-2003)
  • Departments of Physics, Theatre Arts, and Art: “1900: A Centennial Retrospective,” a year-long series inspired by the 100th anniversary of Max Planck’s theory of quantum mechanics (2000)