President Warrick L. Carter

Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., is the President of Columbia College Chicago, the nation's largest arts and communications college. He joined Columbia in 2000, following a four-year term as director of entertainment arts for Walt Disney Entertainment. At Disney, he was responsible for developing global education and live arts programs for the entire corporation.

Prior to his engagement with Disney, Dr. Carter spent 12 years at Berklee College of Music in Boston, serving as dean of faculty and then as provost/vice president of academic affairs. At Governors State University in Chicago, where he served from 1971 to 1984, he began as a professor of music and was promoted to chairman of the division of fine and performing arts. He began his career in higher education as an assistant professor and director of bands at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, teaching at that institution while pursuing his doctoral studies. He received his doctorate of philosophy in music education from Michigan State University.

Warrick L. Carter is an educator, composer, and performer. In addition to his academic appointments at Berklee, Governors State, and Maryland, he taught in East Lansing, Michigan, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has consulted on music education and minority issues in music education for organizations worldwide. His projects have included work with the Wisconsin Music Educators, the Michigan Council for the Arts, the Philadelphia Public Schools, the Los Angeles Board of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Minister of Culture, Paris, France.

He has published and lectured extensively on the subject of music education, jazz, and African American music history and culture, sharing his expertise as a guest lecturer at Northwestern University, California State University, and University of Santa Catarina in Brazil, and at conferences worldwide. His articles have appeared in professional journals including IAJE Educator, Music Educators Journal, and The Quarterly Journal of Music Education.

As a composer and performer, Dr. Carter has an international reputation. He has created commissioned works for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. His recordings are on Mark and Capital records and his live performances include work with the Boston Pops Jazz Quartet, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Donald Byrd and many others. He has played at several collegiate and regional jazz festivals and in 1973 performed at the International Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.

A two-time recipient of the National Black Music Caucus Achievement Award, he is a member of the International Jazz Educators Hall of Fame and is listed in Who's Who in Black America. He has received the Lawrence Berk Leadership Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators. In 1997 Berklee College of Music established a lecture series in his name, and in 1996 Walt Disney Entertainment endowed a "Warrick L. Carter Scholarship" in the International Association of Jazz Educators.

Dr. Carter currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the International House of Blues Foundation, the Interlochen Advisory Board, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of Independent Colleges. He was the chairman of the Jazz Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts for three years and executive director of the National Black Music Caucus for ten. He previously served on the boards of the National Association of Jazz Educators, the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Council, and the Foundation for the Advancement of Music. He is a member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, as well as the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.