Christopher Waterman stood in the theater lobby four hours before his first Musicians’ Union gig and nervously played his bass arrangement over and over.
He was 19 years old and had recently left his home in Florida to attend college in Boston and become a professional musician – a decision that would bring him to dozens of towns and cities across the United States and lead him toplay with artists such as Zoot Sims, Larry Coryell and the Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras.
“You follow your heart and hopefully it doesn’t lead you over a cliff,” Waterman said. “That’s what you do as a young person, and that’s what my parents told me to do.”
At that point in his life, the current dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and ethnomusicologist would never have imagined that he would make a career for himself in academia. But change is something he has encountered many times before and expects to meet again.
Earlier this month, Waterman announced his plans to step down from his position as dean in June 2015 and return to teaching full time in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance department. When he steps down, he will have served as dean for 13 years.
He said he wants to return to teaching students more regularly, and let a new dean take over as the UCLA centennial fundraising campaign kicks off. The campaign is expected to launch in 2014 and end in 2019, with the university’s centennial.
“Teaching is like blood in my circulatory system,” he said. “It’s what keeps me going.”
Waterman said that music and an interest in anthropology have shaped his life and greatly influenced how he approaches his role as an administrative leader.
When he was 25 years old, Waterman traveled to Nigeria to study ethnomusicology and learn about the Yoruba people.
This experience is one of many on-the-road travels that have left memories or lessons imprinted in his mind.
He remembers one moment in particular from his first visit to Nigeria in 1979 that has shaped the way he views his role as an administrator.
He said he did not speak Yoruba, the local language, very well and was sitting alone in a Nigerian bar one night when a musician named Kola went out of his way to befriend him even though he was obviously a stranger.
He recalls walking down the street with Kola, seeing the moon come up over rusty roofs and being grateful that someone reached out to him.
“It’s a feeling that ‘Maybe I can get along here, I can belong,’” he said.
For Waterman, Kola reaching out to him decades ago is something he keeps in mind when new faculty and students enter UCLA.
“It teaches you lessons when you come back home,” he said. “When somebody comes here, I always try to give them a chance. You have to give people a chance if they’re trying (to adapt to a new situation).”
Paul Chihara, a professor of theory and composition in the department of ethnomusicology and head of the Visual Media Program, said he has known Waterman for four years. He said that Waterman was always supportive of his decisions.
“It’s difficult to get traditionally minded institutions to move forward, not backward,” he said.
During his tenure, Waterman has helped raise more than $150 million in gifts, which have helped support the Herb Alpert School of Music and the current construction of the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center.
James Newton, a professor of ethnomusicology, said he thinks that Waterman’s background as a musician has helped him lead the School of the Arts and Architecture and that his commitment to his work is visible in his actions.
“He knows what it’s like to put an instrument in his hands and strive for a level of excellence,” Newton said. “His performance history and his experience with the arts gives him a sensitivity that other leaders in the area might not have.”
Waterman compared serving as dean to playing the bass. He said bassists are the roots or the foundation of an ensemble, playing backup for the different people around them and sometimes being in the front.
While he said he enjoyed being dean, he does not think moving higher up in academic administration is the path that fits him.
“That’s not the way I’m put together,” he said. “You want to remember why you came to the dance in the first place.”