Event Title

Back to normal? Reflections on Post-COVID challenges in higher education

Authors

Martin Camacho, Midwestern State University

Start Date

27-3-2021 1:00 PM

End Date

27-3-2021 1:55 PM

Date of Publication

2021

Document Type

Event

Abstract / Program Notes

As higher education institutions prepare for a more “normal” Fall semester in 2021, previous and continuing pre-COVID macro-forces (demographics, technological, economic, political, regulatory, etc.) continue to pose challenges, now complicated by conditions left by the pandemic. Intended to incite more questions than answers, this conversation is a reminder of challenges ahead.

Biography

Martin Camacho (keynote speaker) has been the Dean of the Fain College of Fine Arts at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, since 2014. Under his leadership, he has brought a marked expansion and renovation of facilities, including a new state-of-the-art mass communication building. He has enhanced, with great success, the fundraising efforts of the college and the footprint of the fine arts in Wichita Falls. Under his tenure, there has been an expansion of community collaborations and partnerships, including prominent organizations such as the City of Wichita Falls, the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, and others. The college is in the phase of exploring new and exciting multidisciplinary curricula innovations.

Camacho has won eighteen national and local piano competitions in Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States and Mexico, including Mexico's State Orchestra and Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra, and has performed as a recitalist in the United States, Venezuela, Cuba, Japan, Norway, Italy, Serbia, and Mexico. Also, he has toured as soloist with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, performing in more than fifteen cities in the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Camacho is active in chamber and collaborative music with singers and other instrumentalists. In 2009, he made his Carnegie Hall Debut Recital to great acclaim before a sold-out hall.

His participation with ICFAD (The International Council of Fine Arts Deans) includes presentations in roundtable sessions and in a general session. He participated very closely in coordinating one of the cornerstone pieces of the last international conference, the visit to the University of the Arts in Havana, Cuba. In addition, he serves as a member on the diversity and membership committees. Before joining Midwestern State University, Camacho served as Assistant Chair in the Department of Fine Arts at Barry University, Chair of Music at Alabama State University, and Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Keywords

Covid-19, Higher education