The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa received a $3.5 million gift that will fund the music department's first endowed chair, according to a Thursday news release.
It’s a record donation to the music department by the Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation, which is committed to honoring the late Barbara Smith’s legacy. Smith was a UH professor and a champion for the study of music and dance. She died in 2021.
“This is the first major grant from the Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation and the board is very pleased that it will recognize Professor Smith’s legacy at the University of Hawaiʻi while supporting the University’s commitment to enhancing the ethnomusicology program,” said Gregory Smith, the foundation’s president and a nephew of the late professor, in a news release.
The new chair of UH Mānoa’s ethnomusicology program will support the university's commitment to revitalizing the program.
The ethnomusicology program educates students in world music with a focus on Asia and the Pacific. The grant will also fund two additional faculty positions.
“The Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation grant is a truly transformative one,” said UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno in a news release.
“It will build on the amazing legacy of Professor Smith and the internationally recognized ethnomusicology program she pioneered, as well as secure UHMānoa’s future significance in the field. I am deeply grateful for this grant and the profound impact it will have on students, faculty, performance, and scholarship," Bruno said.
The university’s Department of Music offers several degree programs that provide background for general music students.
