Chester Williams
NEC President, 1962–1967
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Chester Williams came to New England Conservatory to teach theory courses in 1946, and was appointed dean under President Harrison Keller in 1953. After serving as NEC's president from 1962 to 1967, he returned to the office of dean, becoming dean emeritus in 1976. He continued to seve in this capacity and as an advisor to the president almost all the way up to his death in 2001. This 55-year term of service is by all accounts unmatched in the Conservatory's history. One of the school's performance halls, Williams Hall, gives his name a permanent place on our campus.
The following passages are taken from Williams's reminiscences of NEC, Indeed, Music, published by the NEC Alumni Association in 1989.
"In 1962, I was appointed president and my first concern was faculty morale. ... I instituted weekly meetings of the Faculty Council, explaining that I needed faculty help in strengthening the academic program. ... I asked the Council what we were trying to accomplish with our non-music courses. To provide a liberal education, seemed the consensus. ... We raised the one-hour required course in humanities to three hours and added two years of a foreign language. One fourth of all credits now had to be in non-music subjects.
"My second concern as president was finances, on which everything depended. ... I named Shelby Harrington business manager in 1963. Shelby had good business sense and actually created one of the Conservatory's first budgets. ... Harrison Keller had been the first to raise an endowment for the Conservatory, about $4 million. ... Before long, we had an excellent opportunity to approach the Ford Foundation. ... Our efforts with the Ford Foundation came to fruition during Gunther Schuller's presidency, with grants going to each of the eight original conservatories. Ours was a challenge grant. ... We raised $10 million in endowment--$2.5 million from the Ford Foundation and $7.5 million on our own.
"Five years was enough of the presidency for me. I had done what I could to straighten out the school financially ... and I looked forward to becoming dean again."
(c) 1989 by Chester W. Williams
Explore NEC's archival holdings from the administration of Chester Williams.
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updated 19 November 2007