R. Anderson Sutton, a former University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa graduate student, has been named the new dean of the campus’ School of Pacific and Asian Studies and assistant vice chancellor for International and Exchange Programs. His deanship is effective August 16, 2013.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is currently a professor in the School of Music, Sutton has been first vice president of the Society for Ethnomusicology, executive board member of the Society for Asian Music and chair of the Society for Ethnomusicology Publications Advisory Committee. He is currently president of the Association for Korean Music Research and a member of the International Advisory Board for Grove Dictionary of Music/Grove Music Online.
Sutton was the former director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he spearheaded fundraising. Those efforts resulted in an endowment from the Mellon Foundation, as well as substantial grants from the Luce Foundation and the Royal Embassy of Thailand, in addition to three successful rounds of Title VI funding from the U.S. Department of Education.
During his graduate studies at UH Mānoa, he participated in a range of performance ensembles (Javanese, Okinawan, Hawaiian, Filipino) and subsequently studied Korean drumming in Honolulu and Seoul. As an East-West Center grantee, Sutton spent a year conducting research in Indonesia prior to the completion of his MA. He returned for 16 months of doctoral research with grants from the Social Science Research Council and Fulbright‐Hays.
Sutton obtained his PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan. He holds an MA in ethnomusicology from UH Mānoa and a BA in music from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
“Andy brings a wealth of experience in one of the most important countries in the world today, Indonesia, as well as knowledge of Asian studies and international issues,” said UH Mānoa Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Graduate Education Reed Dasenbrock. “I look forward to working with him as we advance our agenda for internationalization, and keeping Mānoa’s programs in Pacific and Asian Studies among the strongest in the world.”
“Dr. Sutton clearly has impressive expertise, academic and administrative experience, and strong recognition nationally and internationally, so we are thrilled to welcome him as a leader for the School and our international and exchange programs,” added UH Mānoa Chancellor Tom Apple. “A warm mahalo to Dr. Edward Shultz, who will be retiring this summer, for his dedicated service as interim dean and interim assistant vice chancellor.”
