A 37-year-old band director from California State University-Fresno has been chosen to lead the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band.

Timothy Anderson – who for the past five years has served as the leader of the marching band and concert band, among other things at the Fresno school – will assume the role of band director at UMass this fall, according to a University release.

“Tim will be an outstanding leader for one of the University’s most cherished organizations, our nationally recognized marching band,” Chancellor Robert Holub wrote in an email to the campus community Monday. “He is an accomplished director who was trained in some of the best programs in the nation, and he has a wealth of experience with Division I marching bands.”

Anderson will succeed George Parks – the leader of the Minuteman Marching Band for 33 years – who abruptly passed away Sept. 16, 2010 while en route to a performance at a football game at the University of Michigan. Thom Hannum, the band’s associate director, had served as the interim director of the band.

“Everyone in the marching band world is familiar with George Parks and all that was accomplished during his tenure,” Anderson said in the release. “This is an extraordinary opportunity, and I am excited about coming to Amherst to work with students, alumni and the entire UMass community.”

Anderson – who has music degrees from schools in Illinois, Florida and Iowa – will visit the UMass campus in the next few weeks to prepare for the upcoming season, the release states.

-Collegian News Staff