DIRECTOR OF PITT'S CENTER FOR AMERICAN MUSIC HONORED FOR CONTRIBUTIONS IN TEACHING AND RESEARCH

PITTSBURGH, April 20 -- Deane L. Root, professor of music and director of the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh, has received the Distinguished Service Citation from the Society for American Music—the highest honor the Society bestows on a member.

Root, who also holds the Fletcher Hodges, Jr. Curatorship of the

Pitt-based Stephen Foster Memorial and Collection, was recognized for his leadership in the Society for American Music, for laying the groundwork for a respected journal in American music, and for incorporating the nation's music into middle and high school curricula, both in Pittsburgh and nationwide. Root is the 11th recipient of the award in the Society's 26-year history.

"Under Root's tutelage," said a Society spokesman, "the University of Pittsburgh has come to be at the epicenter of activity in American music," and has prompted the Society to recently relocate its offices to Pitt. In 1996, Root helped to establish Pitt's Center for American Music, which is dedicated to documenting 19th century American music and the role it has played in our lives. It keeps the works of Stephen Foster alive and vibrant through an annual concert series, research, publications, educational programs, exhibits, and broadcasts.

Root received a Ph.D. and master's degree in Musicology from the University of Illinois, and went on to teach at the University of Wisconsin. He served as an editor for the 20-volume "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians," and helped develop "The New Grove Dictionary of American Music." Root was

co-editor of "The Music of Stephen C. Foster" for Smithsonian Institution Press and created the series, "Nineteenth-Century American Musical Theater."

Prior to accepting his position at Pitt in 1982, Root worked with museums and public institutions in Florida to incorporate American music into their programs and missions. He helped start an Elderhostel Program for the Stephen Foster State Folk Cultural Center in White Springs, Florida. Locally, he is a past president of the Greater Pittsburgh Museum Council and Friends of the Carnegie Music Library, and is president of Gateway to the Arts.

Root is also the driving force behind "Voices Across Time," a project that uses our nation's original music to educate young people about American literature and history.

In recognizing Root, the spokesman said, "Deane's trajectory through the cosmos of American music reminds us of how far we have come, but also of what is ahead, for Deane is a young star and he has yet to reach his zenith."

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