Leadership Appointment: Sophie Roland appointed Acting Dean of the Don Wright Faculty of Music, effective July 2026
Appointment notice shared on behalf of Florentine Strzelczyk, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), Western University:
I am pleased to announce that Professor Sophie Louise Chantal Roland has been appointed Acting Dean of the Don Wright Faculty of Music for a two-year term, effective July 1, 2026. Professor Roland currently serves as Chair of Music Performance Studies, where she oversees one of the largest and most comprehensive performance programs in Canada, leading major curricular reforms, championing academic innovation, and supporting a dynamic community of faculty and students committed to artistic and scholarly achievement.
Since joining the Don Wright Faculty of Music 20 years ago, Professor Roland has made exceptional contributions to Western University and to the broader academic and artistic communities. A respected scholar, performer, and administrator, she has demonstrated exemplary leadership, service, and commitment to advancing excellence in higher education, music research, and the performing arts. From 2023 to 2024, she served as Acting Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programs & Admissions), providing strategic and academic leadership during a period of significant growth and renewal.
Professor Roland’s record of university governance is one of continuous distinction and influence. She is Vice-Chair of Senate and Chair of the Senate Operations and Agenda Committee and has previously chaired the Senate Committee on Academic Curriculum and Awards and the Senate Nominating Committee, among others. She also serves as a COU Academic Colleague and Member of the COU Board of Directors, contributing to provincial academic policy and strategy.
An internationally active mezzo-soprano and pedagogue, Professor Roland is recognized for her artistry and for building transformative training programs for emerging performers. Her initiatives have cultivated lasting collaborations among artists, educators, and institutions in Canada and abroad. Her teaching, mentorship, and research have shaped accomplished performers, scholars, and educators across leading organizations worldwide. Professor Roland’s research integrates performance, pedagogy, and reflective practice, advancing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to performance education. Her publications and invited talks at national and international conferences underscore a sustained commitment to rigorous, creative scholarship that bridges artistic and academic practice. A recipient of the Western Faculty Scholar Award, the Western University Teaching Fellowship, and multiple national and international artistic honours, Professor Roland exemplifies academic leadership, creative excellence, and institutional service.
I am also deeply grateful to Dean Michael Kim, whose current term as Dean of the Don Wright Faculty of Music concludes on June 30, 2026. A distinguished university leader with more than two decades of experience across multiple senior administrative roles, Dr. Kim has guided the faculty with vision and steadiness, most notably through the profoundly challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership, student enrolment surpassed pre-pandemic benchmarks; support for undergraduate entrance awards tripled; and community partnerships deepened with the London Arts Council and the City of London, alongside expanded collaborations with fellow UNESCO Cities of Music. He also led significant investments in digital innovation and strengthened student career readiness opportunities through nationally distinctive experiential, entrepreneurial, and mentorship initiatives—including the London Symphonia Fellowship, the Vancouver Recital Society Visiting Artist Residency Program, and the Samsung Daegu Operahouse Young Artists program partnership with Western Music.
Since Fall 2021, philanthropic support has totaled $5.6 million, highlighted by a transformational $2.5 million gift from Barbara and Jim Moscovich establishing the Moscovich Fund for Innovation in Music—the largest individual gift ever made to the Faculty. Dr. Kim was most recently honoured with the 2025 Korean Canadian Scholarship Foundation’s Dream Tree Award, the organization’s highest recognition celebrating exemplary lifetime community leadership, impact, and service across Canada. Alongside his extended administrative career, Dr. Kim continues to be an internationally celebrated concert artist and pedagogue, acclaimed for performances, recordings, and masterclasses that have received distinction across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. We are grateful for his steady leadership, collegiality, and the significant contributions he has made to the faculty’s momentum and success.
Please join me in congratulating Professor Roland on her new role and in thanking Dean Michael Kim for his exemplary leadership of the faculty.
