Columns:: Trumpet virtuoso Fred Mills named first Prokasy Professor

since 12/15/98

Columns::April 29, 2002

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Campus News

Trumpet virtuoso Fred Mills named first Prokasy Professor

By Phil Williams
phil@franklin.uga.edu

W. Fred Mills, professor of trumpet and brass chamber music in UGA’s School of Music, has been named first recipient of the

Fred Mills

William F. and Pamela P. Prokasy Professorship in the Arts.
This endowed professorship in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is selected from art, music, drama or dance and honors a faculty member with an outstanding national reputation. Prokasy and his wife, Pam, contributed to the professorship, but numerous friends and supporters did as well. It’s a way of extending his legacy far into the future.
“I feel so honored by this professorship,” says Mills. “I have two honorary doctorates, and this is really so much more important to me.
“It’s also an honor because of the Prokasys’ dedicated interest in the School of Music and the arts in general.”
Dean Wyatt Anderson of the Franklin College says that the new professorship will help strengthen the arts on campus.
“We are really delighted at the generosity of Bill Prokasy, his wife, Pam, and his admirers who have endowed this wonderful new professorship,” says Anderson. “The real beneficiaries of this position will be the students who will be able to study with a professor of national reputation. This kind of professorship makes an enormous difference in our mission here at UGA.”
Mills has enjoyed 25 years of performances in the great concert halls of Europe, North America and Asia and made more than 40 recordings as a member of the Canadian Brass on ACA, RCA, Sony, BMG and Philips labels.
He has been instrumental in changing the standard repertoire for brass chamber music with more than 50 arrangements and transcriptions for the quintet, including the highly acclaimed Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach. During his 25 years with the quintet, the Canadian Brass was recognized as the world’s premier brass ensemble. At UGA, Mills also coaches a graduate brass quintet, the Bulldog Brass Society, that is comprised of graduate assistants specifically selected in a national competition. The brass faculty plans to produce chamber music concerts and international festivals that comprehensively explore the literature of brass instruments.
Prokasy came to UGA as vice president for academic affairs in 1988 from the University of Illinois. During his decade at UGA before his retirement, he was deeply involved in the changes in the university, including the construction of East Campus and an expanded recognition for teaching and an increased role for the Office of Instructional Development.

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