MEDIA CONTACT: Stacia Smith
561-297-2971, ssmith@fau.edu

FAU Professor Elected to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Florida Chapter

BOCA RATON, FL (June 24, 2004) - Grammy-nominated producer and Florida Atlantic University Professor Michael Zager was recently elected to the Board of Governors of the Florida Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for a two-year term. The Academy, considered by many to be the most prestigious of its kind in the world, was founded in 1957 to cultivate an appreciation of recorded music. It is responsible for the annual Grammy awards which honor artistic achievement and overall excellence in the recording industry. There are 12 chapters of the Academy nationwide and over 18,000 members.

The Florida Chapter of the Academy was established in 1995 and offers professional education, networking and panel discussions on current topics. Members are also involved, through their GRAMMY program, sponsoring recording industry career days at various Florida high schools. Another of their programs is the annual Florida Heroes Awards at which the Florida Chapter honors professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the recording industry.

Zager is one of 19 members of the Florida Board of Governors. Among the other members are Puerto Rican flutist and composer Néstor Torres and Paraguayan harpist and composer Roberto Perera, to name a few. Zager's professional experience brings much to his position on the Board. He has produced, composed and arranged music for albums, motion pictures and commercials. His recordings include 13 gold or platinum records for such names as Cissy Houston, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston. His awards include a Grammy nomination, France's Golden Boot award, the European I award (equivalent to a European Grammy), Spain's Olé award and two BMI Citations of Achievement awards given for most performed songs on radio in a given year. Zager recently donated his recording and original score of Whitney Houston's first release "Life's a Party," and the original scores to The Spinners' hits "Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl" and "Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also donating additional original material to the FAU library.

Currently, Zager is the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Performing Arts in FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. He founded the commercial music program at FAU in 2002 with the introduction of the Bachelor of Music with a Major in Commercial Music. Since then, the Master of Arts with a Concentration in Commercial Music and the Minor in Commercial Music have been added.

For more information about FAU's commercial music program, call FAU's Music Department at 561-297-0601.

- FAU -