Leading the new School of Music at Kansas University must offer an exciting opportunity for the new dean.

KU officials announced Tuesday that Robert Walzel, director of the School of Music at the University of Utah in Salt Lake will take the reins of the KU School of Music on June 1. The KU music school has been operating with an interim dean since it became a separate school on July 1.

Walzel received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from universities in Texas, but he also has an important KU tie: the Midwestern Music and Art Camp. In the announcement of his hiring Walzel said that ever since attending the camp in the early 1970s, “I have enjoyed a fondness for everything about KU.”

Walzel’s success as a clarinet soloist and as a music educator is a nice recommendation for the well-known camp. It’s also good to know that his experience on Mount Oread as a junior high student gave him such a lasting affection for KU.

We hope Walzel will have many more positive experiences at KU while leading and building the new School of Music. Welcome to Lawrence.