Strategic Priorities

Dean Holland’s primary goal is to maintain consistently high levels of Artistic Excellence and Academic Rigor throughout all programs in the Bienen School. In support of this goal, the dean has identified several strategic priorities:

  • Financial Aid is critical to attract the most qualified, talented undergraduate and graduate students from around the world. Increased aid will allow the school to adequately compete with peer institutions for top applicants and ensure that the cost of a Northwestern education is not a barrier to any student wishing to enroll.
  • While practicing and studying are important, it is equally important for students to take time away from music and academics to reset, refocus, and build social bonds. An endowment in the area of Student Well-being will fund programming to encourage students to maintain this balance and prioritize their mental and emotional health.
  • Endowed Professorships bring prestige to the most deserving faculty, strengthen the school’s reputation, and ensure support for faculty positions in perpetuity. Increasing endowed professorships is crucial to recruiting and retaining top-tier faculty and attracting outstanding music students.
  • Building on several ongoing research initiatives at the school and throughout the University, the Bienen School is poised to make tremendous contributions to Music and Health Research to benefit society as a whole. New funding will help expand the school’s footprint in this important area of discovery.
  • As Technology evolves quickly, securing an endowed fund for technology will allow the school to provide the most advanced technology available for students and faculty to utilize in their pursuit of academic and musical excellence.
  • A commitment to fostering Engagement with Alumni and the Community will provide students with real-world experience and leverage the school’s broad alumni network. Funding will support areas such as career development programming, student-alumni networking, and student performances beyond campus.

Ways to Give

Online
Give to Bienen Online

By Phone

Call Northwestern University's Department of Annual Giving at 800-222-5603 and direct your gift to the Bienen School of Music.

By Mail

Send your gift to the Bienen School of Music at the following address:
Bienen School of Music
70 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-2405

Stock

If you are interested in making a gift of stock, please contact Kelly Colpoys at kelly.colpoys@northwestern.edu.

Recordings, Sheet Music, Signed Photos

The Bienen School is unable to accept most donations of sheet music, recording collections, or signed photographs due to space limitations. You may want to reach out to your local library, senior center, or assisted living facility, as these organizations sometimes accept these items.

Instrument Donations

The Bienen School accepts donations of musical instruments, including pianos, string instruments, wind and brass instruments, and percussion equipment to use by our students and in the classroom.

If you have a high-quality musical instrument in good condition that you would like to donate to the Bienen School, please send an email to bienen@northwestern.edu. In your message, please include photographs, maker, serial number, a recent appraisal (if available), and any other information that you think would be helpful. We will review the information and may reach out to request more details in order to determine if the school can accept the instrument. 

If the Bienen School is able to accept your donation, we will be in touch with more information about the donation process. Donors are responsible for the cost of transporting the instrument to the school. If you are interested in a tax donation and your instrument is valued at more than $4,999.00, you will be responsible for obtaining an independent appraisal of the instrument.

A note on piano donations: in some cases, if the Bienen School is unable to accept a donated piano, there may be an opportunity for the piano to be donated to the University for use in venues across campus and/or in residence halls. 

Thank you for thinking of the Bienen School as a home for your instrument!

“Without the merit aid I received, I would not have had access to the highest caliber professors, rigorous and rewarding musical training, and the opportunity to practice in a world-class facility.”

Brannon Cho ’17

Rogers Society

The Henry and Emma Rogers Society honors and recognizes alumni and friends who have included Northwestern in their estate plans. We are grateful to members who have designated their gifts to benefit the Bienen School of Music.

Anonymous
Jeanne Maxant Blanchet
Timothy Broege
David and Barbara Brubaker
Gwen Brubaker
Michael P. Buckley and Joellen Brassfield
Raymond E. Carnes
Christine Casey
Brenda Born Conklin
Joanne (Kriege) Cruickshank and Ian Cruickshank
Sally S. Dobroski
Nancy Dussault and William Valentine Mayer
Julius and Rebecca Erlenbach
Sheran K. Fiedler
Margee Filstrup and Scott H. Filstrup
Scott G. Golinkin
A. John Holstad
William T. Hopkins
Martin J. Koldyke
David Landis and Sean Dowdall
Barbara Leibundguth
Janet Tuggle Leigh
Donald V. Lincoln
Kenneth D. Lowenberg
Eric A. Lutkin
Sharon Foster Martin and R. Eden Martin
Nancy L. Meendsen
Toni-Marie Montgomery
William Allen Murdock
Muriel Cooney Nerad
Lynn M. Nothdurft
Nancy P. Orbison
Catherine White O'Rourke
Rollin R. Potter and Joanne McDade
Carolyn M. Pruyne
Dr. James Daniel Redmond and Cheryl Ann Redmond
Carole M. and Jerry N. Ringer, MD
Elizabeth B. Roghair and James E. Roghair
William E. Rosner and Linda M. Rosner
Mary Ann Novak Sadilek
Patricia Schaefer
Jeannette J. Segel
Mallory B. Thompson
Anne Sautebin Tomlinson
Sharon Mohrfeld Werner
Kiki L. F. Wilson

Donor Honor Roll

The Bienen School is grateful to all who have made donations. The following donors have generously given $500 or more to the school from July 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025.

1 Northwestern Trustee 
2 Music Advisory Board
3 Rogers Society
4 Deceased
5 Current Bienen School Faculty
6 Emeriti Bienen School Faculty 
7 Lutkin Society

A-C

Anonymous
Benjamin C. Adams (’26 P) 7
Jennifer G. Adams (’26 P) 7
Peter M. Alexander ’98
Paul Aliapoulios (’85, ’90 P) 6 7
Nicola Allais (’27 P) 7
Stephen W. Alltop ’96 DMA 5 7
Alumnae of Northwestern University
American Online Giving Foundation, Inc.
Daniel A. Anderson ’70
Joan Philbrick Anderson ’45 4
John L. Anderson ’76, ’77 MBA (’03 P) 7
Judith Adams Anderson ’70
Megan Paynter Anderson ’76 (’03 P) 2 7
Megan P. Anderson Declaration of Trust
Carol Hall Armstrong ’72
Edward A. Armstrong ’73
Mary M. Ashley ’82 7
Association of American Railroads
Nick Atkins 7
Richard S. Bair ’68 MS 3
Diane Albanito Balke ’71 MMus
Jon W. Balke
Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund
David Yorke Bannard ’82 MMus 7
Elizabeth Phelps Barber ’01, ’08 MMus, ’12 DMA 7
Adrienne Chagares Barris (’11 P) 2 7
Peter J. Barris ’73 (’11 P) 1 7
Thomas Hughes Bell 4
Gail J. Berenson ’67, ’68 MMus 7
Bessemer Giving Fund
Claire Bienen (’19 P) 7
Henry S. Bienen ’09 H (’19, ’25, ’28 GP) 1 7
Leigh Buchanan Bienen (’19, ’25 GP) 7
Jennifer Billman (’22 P)
Matthew Billman (’22 P)
Christina Sammann Binder ’70 MA
John F. Binder ’62 MA, ’70 PhD
Blackbaud Giving Fund
Alison Brunton Blackstone
Franklin Blackstone III ’81
BNY Mellon Charitable Gift Fund
Shirley Borloz (’22 P) 7
Boston Foundation
Melanie L. Bostwick ’04 7
Carol Rice Bowditch 7
James Bowditch 7
Alejandra Valarino Boyer ’07 MMus 2
Evan Michael Boyer ’07
Richard O. Briggs ’69, ’77 JD 3 7
Sara Schulz Briggs 3 7
Eric N. Britton ’87 MD, ’92 GME
Leslie Drescher Britton ’85 MMus
James B. Bronk ’77 7
Suzanne Becker Bronk 7
Gwen L. Brubaker ’82 PhD 3
Judy Iwata Bundra ’76, ’80 MMus, ’93 PhD (’19 P) 2 7
Stephen J. Bundra ’76, ’85 GME (’19 P) 7
Jill E. Bunney ’97 7
Gary W. Burns 7
Michelle Miller Burns ’90 2 7
Ross David Cahn 7
Drew Cahoon
James M. Caldwell ’81 MMus, ’84 DMA 7
Nancy J. Caldwell 7
James M. and Nancy J. Caldwell Revocable Trust
Joseph T. Castello ’75 MMus
Conan J. Castle ’51, ’52 MMus 4 7
Debra A. Chapman 7
Donald L. Chapman 7
Pegi Grossman Chapman ’73 7
Chicago Community Trust
Ellie Y. Choi ’94 2
Larry L. Christopherson ’68 MMus, ’73 PhD
Donna Gavin Clarke ’60
Roger M. Clarke ’60
Claib L. Cook IV ’82 7
Leila Holmes Cook 7
Linda Tatman Crisafulli ’68, ’69 MMus 7
Peter P. Crisafulli ’68, ’70 MMus ⁷
Joanne Kriege Cruickshank ’57, ’58 MMus 3 7
Stefanie Crumbley ’91 MMus
Patricia J. Cunningham 7
Chie Curley 7
Robert E. Curley ’56 7
Cyrus Tang Foundation

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D-G

Nancy Dadigan
Sandra Schubert Dagon ’62 7
Barbara Daly 7
George G. Daly ’65 MA, ’67 PhD 7
Jane Stowers Dean ’70 (’96 P) 7
Richard H. Dean ’69 (’96 P) 1 7
Barbara Varsik Deboer ’77 MMus, ’83 PhD 3 7
Michael C. Dennis ’97 7
Paul Joseph Dickinson ’88 MMus, ’95 DMA
Stephan Clark Dimos 7
Sally Seibert Dobroski 3 7
Samuel Noah Dorf ’09 PhD 7
Megan Felsburg Doud ’02
Nathaniel Thompson Doud ’02
Diane S. Douglas (’98, ’03 P) 2 7
Emily Rice Douglass ’66 7
Sean P. Dowdall 3 7
Brian S. Doyal ’86
Janet Sally Dumas
T. Jefferson Eby III ’80 MBA
Zartouhi D. Eby ’87 DMA
Barbara Seablom Edwards ’55
Bruce J. Edwards
Julius E. Erlenbach ’68 MMus, ’72 PhD 3 7
Rebecca Jane Erlenbach 3 7
Gary M. Esayian (’19 P) 7
Katherine Westerbeck Evans ’76
Robert Edward Evans ’75, ’76 MMus
Xuan Fang 7
Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation
Julie Ferrell Farrell ’01
Timothy R. Farrell ’02
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
Sheran K. Fiedler ’74 MMus, ’82 PhD 3 7
Margee Filstrup 2 3 7
Scott H. Filstrup ’65, ’67 MBA 2 3 7
Scott H Filstrup Trust
Stacey L. Fineburg ’86
Selme Finnie (’16 P) 3 7
Shaun Finnie ’95 MBA (’16 P) 2 3 7
Deborah Fowler (’23 P)
James Fowler (’23 P)
Erin R. Freeman ’95
Helen Clay Frick Foundation
Marcia Lynn Friedl 7
Anne Lawrenz Geissinger ’69 MMus
Susan Nigro Gelsomino ’73, ’74 MMus
Sarah Elizabeth Generes
Felicia Lynn Gerber Perlman ’92 JD (’23 P) 7
Michelle M. Gerhard ’82 3 7
Alan Glen Gibson ’82 3 7
James B. Gibson ’74 MMus
Linda Laird Giedl ’69 MMus
Martha Schmaling Gilmer ’78 2 7
William White Gilmer ’80 MMus 7
Katie Isaak Ginsberg ’89 (’15, ’16 P) 7
Peter Ginsberg ’84, ’89 JD (’15, ’16 P) 7
Mrs. Jerry Borchers Glennie ’53 7
Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund
Edwin G. Goldstein ’61
Scott G. Golinkin ’74, ’75 MMus 3 7
Yijia Gong (’28 P) 7
Donald N. Gray ’67 MMus, ’72 DMA 7
Scott M. Green ’77 7
Alan C. Gregory ’71 7
Byron L. Gregory ’66, ’69 JD 3 7
Susan Gregory 7
Kay Griffel ’60 7
Roger Grubb
Giancarlo Guerrero ’92 MMus (’22 P) 7
Carol Shepard Gutknecht ’68 MMus

Paul A. Gutknecht

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H-L

Kara Hailey (’27 P) 7
Beth A. Hebert ’72, ’73 MA/MS 7
Katherine Fisher Heeren ’63
Barry S. Herbert ’74 7
Elizabeth Ames Herbert ’74 7
Emilee Griffin Hervey ’76, ’77 MMus 7
Richard L. Hervey ’74 MA 7
Lisa K. Hightower ’78 3 7
Phyllis A. Hill ’58
James Durham Hobbs III ’84 DMA
Tracy L. Hoffman ’83
Jackie Holland 7
James M. Holland ’54 MD (’86 P) 7
Ingeborg Schneider Holliday ’92 (’25, ’27 P) 7
Mark E. Holliday ’90 (’25, ’27 P) 7
A. John Holstad ’62 MMus, ’74 DMA 4
Esther Holt
William T. Hopkins PhD ’55 4
Elizabeth Schroeder Hough ’94 MBA (’21 P) 7
Stephen C. Hough ’99 MBA (’21 P) 7
James E. Houston 3 4 7
Mary Lunz Houston ’70 MA/MS, ’74 PhD 3 7
Mary Lunz Houston Revocable Trust
Michael R. Jacobson (’13 P) 7
Elaine Kondelis Jaharis ’81 (’17, ’18 P) 7
Steven M. Jaharis (’17, ’18 P) 7
Jaharis Family Foundation Inc
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco
Doris J. Johnson ’55 MA/MS, ’71 PhD
Erik Johnson (’27 P) 7
Jeraldine Sloan Johnson ’68 MMus
Nea D. Johnston ’78, ’87 MBA
Elizabeth Kain (’27 P) 7
Jay Kennedy ’73, ’74 MMus 3 7
Hyun Seoung Kim (’27 P)
Jennifer Sulyun Kim-Matsuzawa ’97
Maria Isabel Kisel ’05 MA, ’08 PhD 7
Charlie Weaver Kobida 7
Daniel Kobida ’63 7
Uri Kogan ’02, ’08 MBA
Lawrence Kohn
Denise Kohn-Staehli
Karen Koronkowski 7
Kelly L. Kuhn ’87 7
Kurt G. Lageschulte ’91 (’27 P) 7
Kathleen Foyt Lamkin ’72 MMus, ’81 DMA
Ada Jung Lamont ’53
David L. Landis ’78 3 7
Katharine Lockwood Lang 7
Ron Lang 7
Virginia Croskery Lauridsen ’82, ’87 MMus 7
Lauridsen Family Foundation
Paul J. Lee ’92
Marc D. Levy ’82 7
Elmer E. Lewis (’92 P) (’21 GP) 7
Michael Li (’22 P)
Gerrie Liaw ’00 7
Chengpin Lin (’26 P) 7
Donald V. Lincoln ’57 3
Daniel Tuchler Linder ’94
Jeffrey A. Linder MD MPH ’92, ’97 MD
Donald C. Little ’71 MMus 7
David Loebel ’72, ’74 MMus 7
Christina Fountain Loeffler ’04 7
Sheryl Loyd Long ’81 7
Yinhui Lou (’22 P)
Kenneth D. Lowenberg ’61 3
Eric A. Lutkin 3 7

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M-R

Andrea Swanson Magee ’05
Glen I. Magee ’02
Nancy Tims Magill ’86 MMus 7
R. Hugh Magill 7
Suzanne Mandell
Mary Crawford Mark ’73 (’08 P) 7
Michael S. Mark ’72, ’73 MMus (’08 P) 7
Barbara Wood Marsh ’57 3 7
Rosemaria Martinelli ’82, ’84 MMus 7
Jane C. Marvine ’75, ’77 MMus (’04 P)
Takumi Matsuzawa ’96
James H. McCartney
Virginia Rassman McCartney ’53 MMus
Howard M. McCue III 7
Judith W. McCue 7
Alicia M. McGinnis ’87 (’26 P) 7
Victoria McGinnis (’26 P) 7
Jill E. McGovern ’66 7
Carole P. McMahon ’97
John P. McMahon
Anton Mestek Jr. ’85
Parinaz Mirfakhraie (’26 P) 7
Toni-Marie Montgomery 3 6
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc.
Joseph R. Moskal 3
George C. Mulacek ’48 MMus 4
Thomas G. Murray ’89
Elizabeth Schlecht Murrill ’71 (’08 P) 7
Stephen R. Murrill (’08 P) 7
Dorla Bushnell Nary ’52 MMus 4
National Christian Foundation Tampa Bay
National Philanthropic Trust DAF
Negaunee Foundation
Amy Schlichtemeier Neumeister ’96
Melissa Ngan ’04 MMus 2
Richard Allen Niven ’72 MMus
Naomi Jean Norwick ’76
Elizabeth R. Nowicki 7
William I. Nowicki ’79 7
Orchard Alliance
Loretta A. O'Driscoll ’94
Joonhee Oh (’27 P)
James R. Olin Jr. ’76 (’04 P)
Nancy P. Orbison ’75, ’81 MMus 3 7
Catharine White O'Rourke ’73 MMus 3
Bonita Berning Paynter ’72, ’74 MBA 7
Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc.
Jon K. Peck 7
Davin E. Peelle ’02
Jennifer Harris Peelle ’02
Linnea Marie Perelli-Minetti ’09
Michael A. Perlman ’00 MBA (’23 P) 7
Linda Wagoner Perry ’62, ’64 MMus 7
Anne Marie Person ’84
Karen Petersen
Frank H. Philbrick Foundation
Frederick Pierce
Julia Chung Pierce ’84, ’85 MMus
George Stephen Pope ’75 MMus
Allison M. Porterfield ’92
Presser Foundation
Princeton Area Community Foundation, Inc.
Rasmussen University
Guy J. Raymaker 7
Helen Jang Raymaker ’86, ’90 MBA 7
Sarah Anne Reckmeyer ’89 MMus
Edgar C. Reihl ’74, ’76 MS
Jack H. Reiske ’56, ’57 MS, ’62 PhD 7
Renaissance Charitable Foundation, Inc.
Rice Family Foundation
Carole Merrick Ringer ’60, ’61 MMus 2 3 7
Jerry Ringer 3 7
Tim Robblee ’01 MMus
Kate Kloss Roberts ’94
Kenneth W. Roberts ’93 MEM, MBA
Stephen Roche 3 7
Elizabeth B. Roghair 3 7
James E. Roghair 3 7
Alexander I. Rorke ’75, ’75 MA 2 7
Elizabeth Sturgeon Rorke 2 7
Russ W. Rosenzweig ’93 7
Linda Rosner (’05, ’07, ’10 P) 3 7
William E. Rosner ’75, ’76 MBA (’05, ’07, ’10 P) 3 7
James M. Roth ’82
Molly D. Roth
Jessica Rothstein (’27 P) 7
Mary Kathleen Rundell

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S-Z

Mary Ann Novak Sadilek ’61, ’62 MMus 3 4 7
Joan Bainbridge Safford ’76 JD 7
Saint Paul Foundation
Dolores Simmons Salzbrunn 4
Karen Carmichael Sauermann ’64, ’65 MMus
Dean H. Sayles ’60, ’61 MMus (’85 P) 7
Martha Stickney Sayles ’60 (’85 P) 7
Alan Scarrow (’27 P)
Meera Scarrow (’27 P)
Patricia Schaefer ’51 4 7
Patricia Schaefer Trust
Lynne F. Schatz
Nancy Gorgol Schkurman ’72 MMus
Elizabeth Runnette Schroeder ’59 (’21 GP) 7
Schroeder Foundation
Schwab Charitable Fund
David G. Schwaegler ’67, ’68 MMus
Kingsley G. Sears Jr. ’49 7
Lurline Willis Sears 4 7
Carole Browe Segal ’60 3
Gordon I. Segal ’60 1 3
Jeannette Junk Segel ’70 2 3 7
Marjorie F. Shansky ’70 7
Christina Conway Shaver ’97 (’28 P) 7
Jonathan F. Shaver ’98 MBA (’28 P) 7
Jonathan Shaver Revocable Trust
Ellen Shaw 7
Lowell E. Shaw ’51, ’56 MMus 4 7
David A. Sheldon ’61, ’62 MMus 7
Shirley C. Shriver
Bradford L. Smith ’88
Jeannine Smith
Lawrence R. Smith ’54, ’55 MMus
Todd A. Smith ’73 MBA 2 7
Smith Family Foundation
Trine J. Sorensen-Jacobson (’13 P) 2 7
Gary Steinbaum (’24 P)
Trang Steinbaum (’24 P)
Aric L. Stock ’90 7
Karen Mellow Stock ’90, ’91 7
Michael Stodd ’85 MMus 7
Josefien Stoppelenburg 7
Barbara McDermand Stumpf ’56
Kenneth D. Suh ’99
Pengfei Sun (’28 P) 7
Alumni Sundry Donors
Andrea Amdahl Taylor ’95 MMus 7
Mark Amdahl Taylor ’95 MMus 7
Dianne Tesler ’94
Jacalyn Thompson (’08 P) 7
Stan Thompson
William Thompson (’08 P) 7
Alice Welch Tolley ’60 MMus (’03 P) 7
William G. Tonkin ’65
Thomas J. Tropp Jr. ’14 DMA 7
Deanne Tucker 3 7
Vanguard Charitable Endow. Program
Eric B. Vincent
Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Vrenios ’63 MMus
Nicole Aaron Wagener ’97
William H. Wagener ’97
Robert W. Waldele ’72
Adair L. Waldenberg ’72 7
Michael B. Wallace ’91 7
Eugene Walters (’26 P) 7
Jennifer P. Wang ’95 7
Christina Ching-Yin Poon Wee ’07 DMA 7
Lawrence Wee 7
Janice Schroeder Weiland ’79 MBA 7
Jon D. Wenberg ’90, ’92 MMus 7
Winning Ways Foundation
Kimberly Winona White ’86
Kristina Follrath Wilson ’74 MMus 3
Darren Wu ’93 MMus
She-e Wu 5 7
Angie Xue 7
Peter Xue ’12 2 7
Jonathan Blake Yarbrough ’06 7
Jun Yeh (’28 P) 7
Su-Juen Yeh (’28 P) 7
Weilin Yih (’26 P) 7
Carl K. Yorita ’69 (’03 P)
Patricia Jane Yorita (’03 P)
Peter R. Young Jr. ’61
Susan Pennie Young ’62
Karen Nelson Zajac ’67 MMus
Hongxian Zhang (’07, ’15 P)
Weiping Zhang ’95 PhD (’07, ’15 P)
Charlene Johnson Zimmerman ’72 7

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