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	President Lee Eliot Berk
	Photo by Bill Gallery

The IAJE Humanitarian Award will be presented to President Lee Eliot Berk during Thursday evening's concert in the Grand Ballroom of the New York Hilton. Says IAJE Executive Director Bill McFarlin, "During his tenure as president of Berklee College of Music, Lee's open-door policy and his creation of the Berklee City Music program, which has provided full-tuition scholarships to over 50 inner-city youths, are examples of his deep commitment to putting students first. Furthermore, Lee has unselfishly given back to the field of jazz education through his service on numerous non-profit boards, including IAJE and his personal philanthropy, and his true love of jazz. No one is more deserving of this award."

The Humanitarian Award honors IAJE members whose love for teaching transcends the usual academic environment. Each year the award is presented to an individual who, over the past 20 or more years, has helped to perpetuate jazz and strengthen jazz education, and who embodies the four elements of humanism: dedication, non-prejudice, altruism, and love. Some of the past recipients of the IAJE Humanitarian Award have been George Wein, Ellis Marsalis, John LaPorta, Ed Thigpen, Alvin Batista, Jimmy Lyons, and Rufus Reid.

Lee Eliot Berk will be stepping down from the presidency of the world's largest independent college of music, effective June 2004, after 38 years of professional service at Berklee. At that time, his 25 years at Berklee's helm will be among the longest tenures of any college or university president in history.

As president of Berklee since 1979, Berk has played an important role in such advancements as:

• Developing jazz as both an academic discipline and a mainstream art form with integrity
  
  
• Establishing music therapy as an accepted component of modern medicine
  
  
• Elevating rock and contemporary music beyond mere cultural significance to their appropriate level of musical merit
  
  
• Integrating technology as part of the necessary evolution of music and extension of expression
  
  
• Cementing music as an international bridge between peoples, cultures, and countries
  
  
• Ensuring that music education is available to student musicians from all socioeconomic classes
  
  
• Serving as the launching pad for thousands of professional musicians, hundreds of whom have been honored for their prodigious talents with GRAMMY® nominations from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences

One of President Berk's proudest achievements has been the college's outreach to women and minorities, clearly reflected in the student body. Women, who have always been underrepresented in contemporary music, now comprise nearly one-quarter of the student body. Moreover, Berk has made it a concerted effort to reach urban teens who otherwise would not have the means to attend the institution through a variety of initiatives, most notably Berklee City Music, an instruction and mentoring program that each year awards eight inner-city graduating seniors four-year, full-tuition scholarships to attend Berklee.

A graduate of Brown University and the Boston University School of Law, President Berk has served on a number of boards, including the American Music Conference, Association of Independent Colleges and University of Massachusetts, and the Boston Arts Academy. Two years ago, at the 29th Annual IAJE Conference in Long Beach, California, he received the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his past service as a member of the IAJE Executive Board and for his significant philanthropic support to further IAJE's mission and programs. In addition, President Berk was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his book Legal Protection for the Creative Musician and is a recipient of the National Music Council American Eagle Award.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and non-performance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70-plus countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.

For more information, or a JPEG photo of Lee Berk, please contact:

Toni Ballard
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
tballard@berklee.edu

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Nick Balkin
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
nbalkin@berklee.edu