If you find yourself in the Noel Fine Arts Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, you may see a new face in the front office. In July, Stuart Benkert joined the College of Fine Arts and Communication (COFAC), bringing a fresh perspective as a former K-12 music educator and champion of student success in higher education.
Benkert’s path to his current career was non-linear. A first-generation college student from Florida, he experienced several challenges and changes in direction before pursuing his passion for music education.
“When I first went to college, the school I was at was too big for me, and I didn’t do very well,” said Benkert. “I struggled with being able to support myself independently and just felt lost. It was one of the reasons I got involved in student success – I remember how tough it was to be a college student without all the support programs that we have now.”
He later went back to junior college and majored in law enforcement before re-enrolling at a four-year university. After six and a half years, he ended up graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in music education.
Although the experience of feeling lost and the challenges of staying enrolled in school would later fuel his career in student success, Benkert first spent several years as a K-12 band director, with a drive to do all he could to improve.
“All I ever wanted to do was be a good teacher, and I saw gaps in my skill set. I went to graduate school to fill them,” Benkert said.
After completing his master’s and Ph.D., Benkert had the choice between directing a highly competitive high school marching band program or a smaller regional university in Chicago. This helped him to realize his priority was not teaching students to play to win, but play to grow. He took a chance on higher education.
He eventually made his way to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he assumed several roles throughout his tenure. As director of bands, Benkert was tasked with drawing in students from underserved populations and helping them connect with careers in music education.
“When I started in Chattanooga, I spent a lot of time recruiting African American students in the urban areas of Tennessee,” he said. “Our recruitment numbers increased, but we had some very talented musicians who dropped out of the program. That’s when I realized we needed to start looking for ways to better serve our marginalized communities and help them stay enrolled.”
This led him to discover a new purpose in helping students succeed. From working on the policy level in the Tennessee state government, to establishing new student success programs within institutions, Benkert took a ground level approach to investigating the solution to this retention problem.
Whether working with students as a professor or larger administrative roles within the purview of the chancellor and provost, he continually established successful outcomes for students at previous institutions. Through connecting students with high-impact experiences and restructuring degree paths to meet student needs, enrollment and retention increased under his leadership.
Although degree completion was a priority, Benkert often reminded his students that focusing on fulfillment and the journey to get there held equal merit. His biggest piece of advice to students pursuing careers in the arts? Don’t limit yourself when it comes to degrees and career outcomes.
“I always tell my students not to lock yourself into the one thing that you think you want to do, but rather use that as your guiding star,” Benkert said. “When you focus on one thing and put in the work, you will probably get that thing. But if you focus on the process, you get the thing and you get more, a quality of life that just the degree doesn’t get you.”
In his more recent work, he is known for combining the science of student success with innovative curriculum to prepare students for the current landscape of artistic careers and skills. Most recently, Benkert was the head of Performing Arts and Technology at North Carolina State University, where he worked to create multi-disciplinary degrees between performing arts and STEM fields. He hopes to take this experience and apply it at UW-Stevens Point to provide a new level of vibrancy to COFAC programs.
“What I want to do is transform into what the next thing should be,” Benkert said. “I frequently ask our faculty, are we teaching our past or their future? My goal is for students to use the foundational skills that we provide them in their future endeavors, but use them in ways that we can’t even fathom right now.”
Benkert is excited to join the UWSP team and serve the students and broader community. Initially drawn to the wide array of accredited programs, he also notes that the people of UWSP immediately embraced him and made him feel welcome on and off campus.
“My favorite thing about Stevens Point is the people,” Benkert said. “From the beginning I felt supported, and that the students, faculty and community understand the importance of what we do. They understand the value of the arts.”
With robust professional experience, Benkert hopes to support and foster growth for COFAC students. Beyond innovating curriculum over the next school year, he is excited to get to know the students.
“I really enjoy talking to students and look forward to building better relationships with them. I am more accessible than they think and want to do what I can to support students,” he said. When he isn’t in the dean’s suite, Benkert can be found biking the Green Circle Trail, cooking Turkish cuisine or gaming Lord of the Rings Online and Baldur’s Gate 3. He loves outdoor recreation and fitness, frequently utilizing the new Health and Wellness Center on campus. He and his wife, Jackie, have two adult children.