Justice named new director of KU Presents

Kutztown University has named Dr. Deborah Justice its new director of KU Presents. A native of Lancaster, Justice brings more than 20 years of performance, production and arts executive experience in nonprofit, higher educational settings. She begins at KU on March 10.

Dr. Deborah Justice

Justice comes to KU after nearly 10 years managing the Cornell Concert Series at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She has extensive experience in programming a live concert series with community engagement components.

At Cornell, she booked more than 65 concerts and led a team that attracted nearly 35,000 ticket holders. Ensuring diverse representation of the world's sounds on stage, she programmed artists from more than 50 musical traditions.

She won more than $125,000 in supporting grants in her time at Cornell. Justice enhanced and solicited funding for the concert series, collaborating with administrators, faculty, board and other stakeholders to develop and implement a strategic vision, which garnered a $2 million endowment from the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation.

"I'm so excited for this opportunity to put my professional skillset to use in my home region," Justice said. "I look forward to engaging in a lot of active listening and relationship building to learn how KU Presents can maximize its positive impact on the campus and community."

Justice has hands-on experience with every aspect of concert series administration, from marketing, ticketing platforms and front of house management, to fundraising, budgeting, contract negotiation, community engagement and artist hospitality. Justice also coordinated special events and conferences, including Society for Ethnomusicology regional meetings, archival openings, multi-day symposiums, among others.

"Kutztown University is excited to have Deborah join our division as the new director of KU Presents," said Matt Santos, vice president of University Relations and Athletics. "She brings a wealth of talent and knowledge to the position and has a clear plan and vision for the department to help the university enhance community engagement, student recruitment and retention."

Prior to joining Cornell, Justice spent three years as the Schragis Postdoctoral Fellow at Syracuse University. She enjoyed teaching so much that she worked an additional four years as a lecturer at Syracuse while also working at Cornell. Her teaching experience spans five universities. She is also an experienced researcher and author with multiple peer-reviewed publications, including three books, seven book chapters, eight journal articles, nine book reviews and more than 30 conference presentations.

Justice earned her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. She also earned a bachelor's degree in music and Middle Eastern studies from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., and a master of arts in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.

As the director of KU Presents, Justice is tasked with providing visionary leadership for Kutztown University's performing arts series, ensuring the program engages both the campus and surrounding community through a diverse range of high-quality arts experiences.

Books

On March 11 at 7 p.m., the Midtown Scholar Bookstore,, 1302 N. Third St., Harrisburg, will welcome Ali Watkins for a conversation and signing of her new book, "The Next One Is For You: A True Story of Guns, Country, and the IRA's Secret American Army."

"The Next One Is For You: A True Story of Guns, Country, and the IRA's Secret American Army" by Ali Watkins. (Courtesy of Midtown Scholar Bookstore)

In the book, Watkins uncovers the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles — a true-crime saga that illuminates Irish America's central role in the conflict and its legacy.

Ali Watkins (Courtesy of Reg Gordon)

Ali Watkins, who grew up in Fleetwood and graduated from Temple University, is a journalist for The New York Times in Ireland. She was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for coverage of the Senate's report on the CIA.'s post-9/11 torture program.

In 1975, the Irish Republican Army, Loyalists and British soldiers clashed in the streets of Belfast in a guerilla war. No longer contained by the borders of the island, the violence spread across the Atlantic and into the mailbox of a girl in Philadelphia. She opened her mailbox to a letter with a bullet and a message: The next one is for you or your family.

This nonfiction thriller details how a rudimentary group of amateur soldiers spanning from carpenters to fugitives in the United States helped to end the violence in Northern Ireland.

Later dubbed the Philadelphia Five, this group of Irish nationalists supplemented the Irish Republican Army during its greatest times of need by smuggling guns and other weapons across the Atlantic Ocean.

As European and American authorities began closing in and once-loyal allies turned their backs, the gunrunners remained dedicated to their cause and refused to back down.

"The Next One is For You" is a thrilling true story about crime, rebellion and America's lasting impact on Ireland's fight for independence.

Watkins previously covered crime and law enforcement on the Metro desk and national security in Washington, also at The New York Times. She has also worked for BuzzFeed and at McClatchy Newspapers.

Events

The Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading has announced the following events:

• April 27: No Small Endeavor Live, 7:30 p.m.

• May 10: Vince Gill, 7:30 p.m.

• June 1: CoComelon Sing-A-Long Live, 2 p.m.