PHILADELPHIA --- Michael J. Rose, Executive Director of the Glassboro Center for the Arts at Rowan University, has been named Managing Director of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, effective March 16.

"Michael Rose is exactly the person we need to lead the Annenberg Center into the 21st Century," said Penn's Interim Provost Michael L. Wachter. "He is enormously creative, energetic and knowledgeable about the performing arts and he has strong financial, marketing and managerial skills."

The Annenberg Center has achieved national recognition for its outstanding Dance Celebration Series (presented in partnership with Philadelphia's Dance Affiliates), a New Music Series and superior offerings for children, including both a Theatre for Children Series and the acclaimed Philadelphia International Theatre Festival for Children, which was founded at the Annenberg Center in 1983.

Rose has been Executive Director of the Glassboro Center for the Arts since 1988, managing the Center's various performance spaces, including a 910-seat concert hall and a 235-seat recital hall. He has also conducted artistic outreach, developed its marketing and public relations strategies, acted as liaison to the University's development staff and collaborated with artists, faculty, students and staff to further enhance programming. He also was Executive Director of the Performing Arts Center at Richard Stockton College for 11 years.

During his tenure with Glassboro, Rose was responsible for building a broad base of world-class programming ranging from the New York City Opera and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre to the Canadian Brass and Moscow Radio Symphony; from classical soloists James Galway, Isaac Stern, and Andre Watts to actors Mandy Patinkin and Loretta Swit; from jazz musicians Wynton Marsalis, Diane Schuur, and Pat Metheny to international programs such as the Chieftains, Vienna Choir Boys, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo; from nationally touring Broadway musicals such as Grease, Tommy, and Damn Yankees to family events such as the Flying Karamazov Brothers and Peking Acrobats. Rose also developed an extensive program of young people's matinees.

Rose has helped establish Glassboro as southern New Jersey's major performing arts venue, with an ambitious and successful presenting program and the most diversified audiences among New Jersey's state universities. He established innovative programs linked to students, introduced magnet programs for area school children, developed a broad-based Leadership Board to aid the Center's development and marketing efforts, instituted well-managed budgets, and established broad public recognition for the University based upon its quality arts programming.

Rose received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Michigan. He also received a master's degree in comparative literature from Brooklyn College at the City College of New York, a master's degree in German Literature from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in business administration from Drexel University.

"I look forward to working with the University's many constituencies on campus, in the local community, and in the Philadelphia arts community," said Rose. "My goal will be to grow the Annenberg Center's audiences and broaden its programming base."

The Annenberg Center is engaged in a three-year reorganization process, the result of a comprehensive six-month review conducted last year. The reorganization will accentuate the Center's strengths including dance and children's theatre, and build broader programming that will appeal to the Penn community as well as the greater Philadelphia community.

Annenberg will also continue to support the wide range of student performing arts groups that use the Center as their home.

Rose succeeds outgoing Managing Director Stephen Goff, who resigned last August and has stayed on to ensure a smooth transition. Goff has been associated with the Annenberg Center since its inception in 1971.