As long as Ben has introduced the subject, perhaps a slightly more salient description is in order. As those of you who are politically involved in PTG are aware, there is a proposal before council this year to establish a credential for cauts, under the name of College and University Technicians Endorsement (CAUT-E). This is the result of many years of discussion, and various efforts to put ideas into practical form. It is different in form from anything I remember being discussed in this forum, though maybe that is just my bad memory. In any case, the proposal is based on a series of four intensive training sessions, each to be three days in length, under the name "CAUT Academy." They will cover, under a prescribed curriculum, topics to do with administration, management, planning and the like; concert level tuning and preparation; historical instruments and related topics; and a miscellaneous category that will include techniques for maintaining high use instruments at a high standard. Each of these sessions will have an exit exam related to it. Passing the four exams will constitute receiving the endorsement. The fact the there is a practical proposal before council is pretty remarkable. Kudos to Dale Probst and many others for pushing to make this real, rather than just a lot of continuing talk. As to what council will make of it, that remains to be seen. But we hope that most of you will take a positive view of this, as a step in the right direction. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu
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