The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) has announced a $3.5 million gift from the Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation to support the music department’s first-ever endowed chair.

The Professor Barbara Barnard Smith Endowed Chair will support a revitalization of the university’s ethnomusicology program and honor the legacy of the late UH Mānoa professor, who died in 2021. The grant also funds two additional faculty positions and will bolster enhancements to the ethnomusicology program, including student support services. The program educates students in world music, with a special focus on Asia and the Pacific.

“The Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation grant is a truly transformative one,” said UH Mānoa provost Michael Bruno. “It will build on the amazing legacy of Professor Smith and the internationally recognized ethnomusicology program she pioneered, as well as secure UH Mānoa’s future significance in the field. I am deeply grateful for this grant and the profound impact it will have on students, faculty, performance, and scholarship.”

(Photo credit: Hawaiʻi Arts Alliance)