Jim Forger

In addition to serving as dean of the College of Music, James Forger is a professor of saxophone, an active performing saxophonist and an award-winning recording artist. He was appointed director of the School of Music in 1990, and since then the school (now college) has been recognized as a nationally ranked program. Forger is member of the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music and has served as an evaluator and consultant to music schools and nondegree-granting community music programs across the country. In 1994, he founded a new nondegree-granting division of the College of Music, the Community Music School, which enrolls 1,200 individuals each year. Forger has performed throughout South America, Europe, Asia and the former Soviet Union. He has been the guest saxophonist in residence at the International Chamber Music Festival of the Mayan Highlands in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. He has appeared as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Sinfonica de Vientos in Tunja, Colombia.