COTA in conversation with College of the Arts Dean Kevin Robert Orr  

Kevin Robert Orr was appointed Dean of the University of Florida College of the Arts, July 1, 2026, following eleven years as Director of the UF School of Music, 2015-2026. As school director, Orr led a vast expansion of faculty and staff specializations across multiple new full-time appointments, oversaw the development of innovative undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and coordinated fundraising success exceeding $72M, including many new scholarship endowments, and thus far over 94% of funding for the ongoing $65M School of Music Building Renovation and Expansion campaign. 
 
Orr studied at the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University and the Cleveland Institute of Music at Case Western Reserve University, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance. He joined UF School of Music in 2000 and served as a faculty member for 15 years before moving into his administrative role as school director. 
 
Read Kevin Robert Orr’s full bio here.   
 
In the Loop sat down with Dr. Orr to discuss his new role as dean, discuss the strengths of the college and look ahead at what’s to come.  

Dr. Orr, thank you for speaking with us today. You have a long history with the College of the Arts. What are some of your proudest accomplishments throughout your time here?  

I’d certainly say one of my proudest accomplishments during my time here has been getting the opportunity to build the International Piano Festival, which started in China in 2006, and growing to the program which continues today under the leadership of Dr. Jasmin Arakawa.  

A pianist friend, Alexander Tutunov, and I started the event under the name Chinese-American International Piano Festival; we brought American teachers to Southwest China — Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu — and worked with students and professors from all over China, South Korea, the United States and Europe. It was a measurable kind of growth that we all experienced — every person who attended those events. 

You come away from that just learning so much about yourself — not just musically, but far, far beyond musically. It was just extraordinary. It sent me on a different kind of path, with new standards that I set for myself both artistically and in leadership. And it came with profound support from the university to make that happen, and a belief that I could even do it as a young faculty member back in 2006. 

After joining the School of Music as faculty in 2000, you became the school’s director in 2015 — and now the dean of the college. What has the journey been like from assistant professor to dean? 

It was a unique situation, having become a leader in a school where I’d known all the faculty for 15 years and worked with them, performed with them, done research with them, served on committees with them. I was inspired by how quickly we came together and started solving problems and figuring things out.  
 
As I pass the leadership torch at the School of Music, I’m thrilled that my longtime colleague, Dr. Paul Richards, Professor of Composition, has been appointed as acting director. I’ve collaborated with Paul often, performing his imaginative compositions while also observing his steady leadership in service both to Composition and the broader School of Music. Paul’s deeply thoughtful approach is a perfect fit for the school, and I’m excited to see him lend his talents to the outstanding cohort of directors leading COTA’s schools, centers and institute.

What are you looking forward to the most as you transition from School of Music leadership to being the dean of the college? 

Learning what the initiatives are in the academic and research units — aspirations, what the concerns might be, what the successes have been, the major achievements, the way that our units across the college and our students are recognized by their peers across the disciplines … These are things that I am very much excited about plugging into. Of course, I’m most familiar with what’s happening in the School of Music. But having been here for this duration of time, I’ve worked with our amazing faculty in the college for many years now. 
 
I’ve also had the great pleasure of working with COTA staff in so many different capacities over the years. The staff at this college are such extraordinary professionals. As dean, I am mainly interested in knowing what our staff needs to improve upon the work that I know they already have such high standards at achieving.  

In the director role for the past 11 years, I’ve also had the privilege of sharing ideas and developing solutions with our incredible college directors. These are inspiring leaders who bring passion and commitment to their work, day after day. We are fortunate to have such strong arts advocates in this college, and I am eager to elevate my engagement with them as dean.  
 
I think this learning phase should be thoughtfully approached with a broad, structural perspective. Are people given the opportunity to plug into initiatives in a way that makes the most sense for their skill set? 

How do you think the college can leverage its curricula to help students gain a competitive edge as they enter the workforce? 

Curriculum is one of the areas I’m proudest of from my time as School of Music director — the things we’ve built, the new programs and how we’ve been responding to what the field has needed. I believe our curriculum has played a role in the enrollment stability we’ve seen over the years. 
 
I think, very fundamentally, that our curricula should relate and should connect to what students need in 2026. And that’s not to say that we should only train for specific job placement. I think a university is broader and bigger than that, but curricula does need to be cognizant of what professional opportunities exist. 
 
Now that I’m taking a college-wide view as the dean, I’m really looking forward to learning how the other schools and the centers see themselves and how they are responding to this. 

As an arts college at an R1 university, what do you think are some of COTA’s greatest assets and opportunities? 

I think we have an opportunity to do a better job of championing the extraordinary work that our faculty and students are doing on a regular basis: publications they’re earning, the books they’re publishing, the performances, the reviews, the contributions that they’re making across disciplines, the extraordinary community work that’s happening, the extraordinary partnerships with industry.  
 
Sponsored research in the arts is not what it is in STEM, right? But our STEM colleagues want to connect. That’s where the optimist in me comes into this and says: what more can we do to put ourselves in those conversations, through the unique tools that we bring to the table? Sponsored research is an area that stands to benefit from the unique assets of this college. 
 
I love getting the opportunity to have conversations with someone, who — maybe they’re a little bit of a blank canvas who is trying to understand: what is it about the arts that I need to know? How can the arts bring renown to the University of Florida? How can the arts make an economic impact in this state? How can the arts uniquely bring the community together?

How is the College of the Arts uniquely positioned to reach beyond the university walls to create meaningful connections with the broader public and our campus partners?

I have learned, and continue to learn, that if we are thoughtful about meeting new people that might have some possible capacity as a supporter of our college, and if we are perceptive enough, we can probably find, without looking too hard, some connection to the arts in their lives.  
 
That’s the opportunity that we have in our particular college. We can reach people who don’t necessarily even think about the arts as central to their lives, but at the same time have benefited, have grown and have experienced great memories where the arts have been significant. 
 
It happens quite often, where someone will speak to me after a concert about a family member who played an instrument, or who had some experience with the arts, and they were reminded of that experience after having attended this event. I think that’s as impactful as any imaginable way, because you can then start having a conversation about specific areas that they might be passionate about.  
 

Bringing them into the program, bringing them to our events, talking about the specific needs that we have in our programs and the specific opportunities that they might be able to make a small impact in — so they could see, “well, with not too heavy a lift, I can actually make an impact on this area that has a personal interest in me. It’s kind of a shout-out to my past lived experiences that I’m helping the arts in this interesting way.” 
 
As you step into the role of dean, what lessons in leadership do you want to bring with you?  

I think that to be a leader is to be an ardent supporter of the mission of the professional community, of the students — and of what it is that your people believe in and want to move forward. 
 
As I’m acclimating to my new role as dean of the college, it’s about finding that dynamic; finding a way to thread that needle so that I can effectively advocate on behalf of the College of the Arts, as the voice that represents the college community.  
 
It comes from listening; it comes from this fundamental buy-in to this as a service role. I think it takes willingness to change presuppositions and things you thought you may have learned from the outside — but you really learn once you are on the inside. I’m approaching it, in every meeting I’m having, as, “I think I know this. Now, tell me what I don’t actually know.” 

Having built my career at the College of the Arts over the last 26 years, stepping into the dean role feels, in many ways, generous to me. Now, I have an opportunity to return that generosity in service — in leadership — to this community of people who I have such deep respect for. I know there are such fabulous people across the faculty and staff in this college, and of course, the amazing students that we have.  
 
Being in a position of leadership within that group is a profound honor.