1/09/08

KU alumna establishes voice and opera scholarship in honor of retired professor

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas alumna’s positive experience as a graduate student prompted her to establish a $100,000 endowed scholarship for graduate students studying voice and opera at KU.

Sue Wilkie Snyder, who earned her doctoral degree in musical arts performance at KU in 1988, named the new scholarship in honor of retired KU professor Phyllis Brill Munczek. The first scholarship will be awarded in fall 2008.

Snyder lives in Washougal, Wash., with her husband, Drew Snyder. She described Munczek as a mentor, friend and guide.

“She was everything I could have asked for in a teacher,” Snyder said. “She was such a strong supporter.”

Snyder began her graduate studies at KU when she was 40. She said Munczek, who lives in Lawrence, helped her with the challenges she faced as a nontraditional student.

“When you go back to school at that point in your life, you have a whole different perspective than you do as an 18-year-old,” Snyder said. “Because of the faculty at KU and the environment in the Department of Music, there was enormous support and encouragement, especially for someone my age. I wanted to give back to the situation that had given so much to me.”

After graduating from KU, Snyder led a successful academic career at three universities. She taught voice, music history, music theory, directed opera and was a choral director.

“I had such a broad spectrum of training at KU beyond just the study of voice,” Snyder said. “Everything I learned at KU helped me throughout my teaching career.”

Munczek said it was a humbling experience to have the scholarship named for her.

“When Sue told me she was going to do this, I felt like all of my years of teaching came together,” Munczek said. "The establishment of this scholarship made me realize that a part of me was going to live on at KU through this incredible gift being awarded
to talented graduate voice students. I just felt she was bringing my life full circle."

Munczek taught at KU from 1969 until her retirement in 2001. She taught voice, vocal performance, French vocal literature and French diction for singers.

“My feeling was that Sue should have put the scholarship in her own name,” Munczek said. “But she really wanted it in my name. That means a lot to me. I loved teaching, and she was a very special and gifted student. Teaching Sue was like teaching a colleague.”

Steve Hedden, dean of the School of Fine Arts, said the establishment of a new scholarship always is cause for celebration, but that this one had an added dimension because of the close relationship between Snyder and Munczek.

“We are grateful for this magnificent gift that will provide a valuable resource for our voice/opera program, a program that is held in high regard nationally and internationally,” Hedden said.
The Phyllis Brill Munczek Voice Scholarship Fund is managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit foundation serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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