An anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and musician who specializes in the study of music and culture in Africa and the Americas, Waterman has been dean since 2003. He was appointed acting dean in 2002.

He joined UCLA in 1996 as a professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance and became chair in 1997. Previously, he held visiting faculty appointments at Bowdoin College and the University of Oslo, and was an associate professor of music at the University of Washington, where he served as head of the ethnomusicology program and chair of the African studies committee.

Waterman has conducted extensive field research among the Yorùbá people of Nigeria and is the author of “Jùjú: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music” (1990); co-author of two textbooks, “American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3 (4th ed.)” (2013) and “Rock: Music, Culture, and Business” (2012); and guest editor of the volume “Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation,” in Sage Publications’ Cultures and Globalization Series (2010).

His scholarly work has been recognized with Fulbright and Social Science Research Council fellowships, a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University’s Society for the Humanities, and awards such as the University of Michigan’s Ethel V. Curry Distinguished Lectureship in Musicology, the Class of 1960 Lectureship at Williams College and the College Music Society’s Robert Trotter Lectureship. In 2009 he was the keynote speaker for the Third International Symposium on the Music of Africa at Princeton University.

"Chris also has overseen a successful fundraising program that has generated more than $150 million in extramural support, including landmark gifts to establish the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA and build the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center, which is now under construction," Waugh said in his letter.

"Chancellor Block and I are confident that Chris will continue to be a tremendous asset to the school and to UCLA during the next two years, and we look forward to his ongoing contributions when he returns to the faculty and continues his work as a scholar and musician in the years to follow," Waugh said.

A search committee will be formed next spring.

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