University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

If humanity has a universal language, it is music, and there is no greater musical genius than Johann Sebastian Bach. His music combines creative inspiration with a sense of logic and order. No composition shows this better than Bach’s masterpiece The Art of Fugue, written late in his life. In this work, Bach unites artistic vision with mathematical symmetry to create a musical language of that transcends place, period and culture. I first heard The Art of Fugue as a child, and have listened to and performed it many times throughout my life. Each time I hear it I encounter new musical territory of ever-increasing complexity and beauty. Because of its universal message, I have chosen Bach’s The Art of Fugue to commemorate my promotion.