Music Professor Jeffrey Rupert has been honored as a “foremost scholar” by the UCF Board of Trustees and has been granted one of eight “Trustee Chair” awards.
Designed to both retain and attract exceptional faculty, the five-year Trustee Chair appointments offer an annual stipend of $50,000. In order to be eligible, nominees must be professors who are ranked as a “foremost scholar” in their chosen area of expertise and known for making a positive scholarly impact on others at UCF. Professor Rupert is the first professor from the arts to be given this award.
Professor Rupert is a Pegasus Professor of Music educator, saxophonist, composer and arranger, internationally recognized Jazz luminary, and Trustee Chair. A Grammy Award winner, his credentials include thirty recordings as a featured soloist and eight recordings in the top fifty of the Jazz charts. Professor Rupert’s founding of UCF’s Flying Horse Records, UCF teaching — entrepreneurial endeavor, has enabled Jazz students to become marketable and employable. Due to his efforts, UCF is the only institution in the world to have a Jazz Studies degree, an active record label, and a 24/7 NPR number one ranked Jazz station.