Earlier this month, the Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) presented its KMEA Administrator of the Year award to University of Kentucky College of Fine Arts Dean Mark Shanda. The award recognizes an individual who has made significant impacts and contributions to music education in Kentucky at a collegiate level. In addition, UK School of Music faculty members Martina Vasil and David Sogin were recognized for their service in the field.

Since being named the dean of the College of Fine Arts in 2017, Shanda has worked to expand the college’s impact as one of UK’s “front doors” to the community presenting hundreds of visual art, music, dance and theatre events for the public from multiple campus venues. In addition, he spearheaded the effort to have UK selected as the home campus for the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, bringing 256 of the state's brightest creative young minds to campus for an intensive three-week, tuition-free summer residential program.

Prior to his arrival at UK, Shanda was the divisional dean of arts and humanities from 2011-2015 and department chair from 2006-2011 in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State University. He is the co-author of "Technical Management for the Performing Arts" and “Drafting for the Theatre,” which is used by many major theatre programs throughout the country. Shanda previously served a three year-term as president of USITT and is a USITT Fellow.

"I marvel that my leadership has been recognized as making such a difference and considered worthy of this award after only six semesters with the College of Fine Arts,” Dean Shanda said. “While I am certainly honored to receive this recognition, I know that it is shared with those within the college working together to advance our educational mission.”

KMEA is the Commonwealth’s professional music educators' organization consisting of more than 2,000 members ranging from the kindergarten to the university level.