Program Recognition
•Bullet: School of Music is a fully accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)
•Bullet: UNO Jazz Ensemble won a Global Music Award Silver Medal (Latin Jazz) for its February 2024 Great Plains Jazz Festival performance with José Valentino; UNO says it was "one of only two student groups recognized among the professionals" (unomaha.edu news, April 2024)
Training
•Bullet: Bachelor of Arts track: jazz study folds directly into a single combined 53-hour major (through Music Core III) rather than the BM's separate 31-hour core plus concentration structure, leaving room for a second major or minor
•Bullet: Coursework includes Jazz Improvisation and Theory, Arranging for Jazz Ensemble I & II, Music of the People: Jazz, and African-American Popular Music From Bebop to Hip-Hop
•Bullet: Music-industry electives built into the major: Sound Reinforcement, Exploring Music Technology, and Business of Music
•Bullet: Applied lessons stay at 1 credit each semester across all four years, with one senior recital rather than the BM's junior-plus-senior recital requirement
•Bullet: Study with the UNO Faculty Jazz Combo (Darren Pettit, sax; Jason Johnson, trumpet; Pete Madsen, trombone; Mark Misfeldt, piano; Brad Thomson, guitar; Andy Hall, bass)
Performance & Productions
•Bullet: UNO Jazz Ensemble performs swing, Latin, and contemporary big-band charts and tours nationally and abroad
•Bullet: Host of the UNO/OPA Great Plains Jazz Festival (founded 1973), which UNO calls "one of the biggest educational jazz festivals in the midwest" (unomaha.edu/college-of-communication-fine-arts-and-media/music/student-involvement/jazz-bands.php)
Facilities
•Bullet: Strauss Performing Arts Center — concert and recital halls plus an on-site recording studio
