Parent Handbook 2010–2011 - Berklee College of Music

Reflecting the interplay between music and culture, Berklee creates an
environment where aspiring music professionals learn how to integrate new
ideas and showcase their distinctive skills in an evolving community.
The college’s alumni form an ever-widening network of industry professionals
who use their openness, virtuosity, and versatility to take music in surprising
new directions. Notable alumni include Gary Burton, Terri Lyne Carrington,
Bruce Cockburn, Juan Luis Guerra, Roy Hargrove, Quincy Jones, Diana Krall,
Aimee Mann, Arif Mardin, Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, John Scofield,
Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, Luciana Souza, Susan Tedeschi, and Gillian
Welch.
President Roger H. Brown and Linda Mason
When Berklee College of Music president Roger H. Brown assumed his post in
2004, he brought a rich palette of professional and life experiences to the job.
Skills accrued playing recording sessions as a drummer in New York,
administering United Nations humanitarian operations in Southeast Asia and
Africa, and cofounding a successful publicly traded corporation have contributed
to his effective leadership at the world’s largest college of contemporary music.
Music has been a recurring theme in Brown’s diverse pursuits. He played
drums with bands throughout high school, at Davidson College, and during his
graduate studies at Yale, and still leads a band. Brown spent five years engaged
in humanitarian work teaching math in Kenya and administering successful
humanitarian undertakings in Southeast Asia and in Sudan. The Land Bridge
operation Brown and his wife Linda Mason managed in the 1980s was the
largest famine-relief program attempted to date, and averted starvation for
countless Cambodians. The innovative work Brown and Mason undertook a
few years later in Sudan for the Save the Children Federation saved an
estimated 20,000 lives. In each location Brown sought opportunities to make
music with local artists and engage them in the humanitarian efforts.
In 1986, Brown and Mason launched Bright Horizons, a corporation now valued
at over $1 billion and employing 16,000 people, to provide high-quality child
care and early education to the children of working parents. Brown and Mason
built and oversaw the operation of numerous facilities at universities, hospitals,
and corporations around the United States and the United Kingdom. Brown
utilized his musical talents at the company to write, produce, and perform on six
albums of children’s music that featured Ziggy Marley, Vinx, Raffi, and others.
For their groundbreaking work at Bright Horizons, Brown and Mason received
several awards, including the President’s Ron Brown Award for Corporate
Leadership and the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
In 2004, Brown became Berklee’s third president. Under his direction the
college has embarked on a $50 million capital campaign and established
Presidential Scholars and Africa Scholars programs to bring the world’s best
young musicians to Berklee. He has led in developing a more selective
admissions policy that has raised the level of entering students. Under his
auspices, Berklee created a model advising program to support new students.
For the most up-to-date information, visit berklee.edu.