A retirement reception for Ann Chang, artistic director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts, will be 6 p.m. March 1 in the Lied Commons.

Chang is retiring after 24 years at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She came to campus in 1995 as senior lecturer in the Glenn Korff School of Music, serving in that position until 2012. Chang has worked as associate professor of practice through 2018. Her responsibilities included teaching all levels of applied piano lessons and coaching chamber music ensembles. She also taught the course “Career Development — Music Entrepreneurship,” where she helped the next generation of musicians think creatively and thrive in the performing arts.

In 2009, following one year of service as interim executive director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Chang accepted a newly created position as its artistic director. She stepped down from her teaching duties in 2018 to work full time at the Lied.

Chang played a key role in helping bring the greatest artists in the world to Nebraska. In cooperation with Bill Stephan, Lied Center executive director and chief artistic officer, the two presented the American Ballet Theatre’s Firebird with Misty Copeland and the St. Louis Symphony, multiple performances from Yo-Yo Ma and many of the world’s most celebrated pianists and distinguished artists in every genre.

Chang also helped launch the Lied Center’s new Mosaic program, which features inclusive and cultural programs that support diversity at the university and in the arts. Beyond programming, Chang was active in the development operations of the Lied Center, making exceptional programs possible with support from the community.

“Ann Chang has made an incredibly positive impact at the Lied Center and the arts in Nebraska. Her fingerprints are on so many of the life-changing performances and educational outreach programs that have taken place at the Lied for more than a decade. I am incredibly grateful for her dedicated service and sharing her unique talents with the Lied Center and community,” Stephan said.