By: Kristin Kite
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – Earlier this spring semester, Lia Uribe was named chair of the Department of Music. She is the second woman and first person of Latin heritage to chair the department. The Columbian native said she is ready to step into this role because it gives her more agency. Uribe said she realized after expanding her role and connecting with the community more, her agency grew. She said working closely with the city of Fayetteville and having conversations with the people in the area excites her.
“Opening these spaces in administration, community service and community work, I see myself doing more and more in the future,” Uribe said.
Uribe’s instrument of choice is the bassoon. She is an international musician with her work as a bassoonist. She is also a chamber musician, orchestral player and teaching artist.
Uribe holds a B.M. in bassoon performance from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, an M.M. in bassoon performance from the U of A and a D.M.A. in bassoon performance from the University of Kansas.
After becoming chair of the department, Uribe said she feels like it has been a full circle journey from graduating at the University of Arkansas in 1999 and becoming a professor for nearly a decade.
She said colleagues around her notice a difference in leadership compared to previous chairs.
“We’re very different people,” Uribe said. “One of the things that are evidently different for me and many of my colleagues is like I’m a woman of the LGBTQ plus community. I have an accent, I am 5-2.”
The music professor also has a weekly segment on the KUAF public radio station titled Sound Perimeter. On this podcast, Uribe stretches musical boundaries with new interpretations of classical pieces and themes.
Leigh Wood, the general manager for KUAF said she appreciates Uribe for reaching out to her at a time she was needing support as a fellow female in leadership.
“We just lost our music director, and she just immediately was concerned about having a gap in classical music presence on KUAF,” Wood said.
At this time, Wood said Uribe came to her with the fully formed idea for Sound Perimeter which took classical music and looked at it through a new lens.
“She is a great partner to work with,” Wood said. “I mean she really kind of has no limit to what she can dream up and what she is able to pull off.”
Uribe said the forefront of her agenda is to make sure the right people are being represented when it comes to being in the spotlight.
“I’m really all the time questioning who is being programmed in the concert, who is being highlighted, who is being uplifted, who is being chosen.”