by Anne Sears
Robert L. Annis, dean and director of Westminster Choir College since 1994, will retire on Dec. 31, 2014.
During his tenure, Annis has been the driving force for the continued world-renowned success of the College. He is credited with leading the evolution of the arts identity initiative for Rider University and the implementation and integration of Westminster Choir College with the School of Fine and Performing Arts and Westminster Conservatory to form the Westminster College of the Arts.
Under his leadership, Westminster Choir College and Westminster College of the Arts added nine new programs or degrees that kept them at the forefront of innovative curriculum while supporting the career goals of students. He also oversaw the building of new state-of-the-art music keyboard labs, the renovations to the voice labs and practice rooms, the renovation of Erdman Hall, and the opening of the Marion Buckelew Cullen Center.
Before his appointment, Annis served as dean of enrollment services at New England Conservatory of Music and on the faculties of New England Conservatory of Music and Brown University. He has served as a consultant and adviser to educational institutions and arts organizations in the areas of enrollment management, strategic planning and marketing. In addition, he has served as chair of an accreditation team for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and was a member of the Princeton University Concerts Committee. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He has also had an extensive performing career as a clarinetist with numerous orchestras and chamber music ensembles and as a recitalist throughout the United States. He continues to perform as a member of Collage New Music, the Grammy-nominated contemporary classical chamber music group. Formerly a member of the San Antonio Symphony, he began substituting with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops while an undergraduate student at New England Conservatory of Music.