[3] Opera singer and Professor of Voice Eileen L. Strempel[4] was appointed as the school's inaugural dean, effective July 8, 2019.

The series, which took place from February 26–28, 2023, centered around a historic performance of The Gates of Justice, jazz legend Dave Brubeck's rarely presented large-scale sacred composition.

In addition to the concerts, a daylong public conference on February 27 brought together prominent scholars and experts to discuss the historical and cultural connections between Black and Jewish communities in the United States, intimate analyses of Brubeck's Gates of Justice, and the contemporary relevance of music to social justice.

[10] The Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center, completed in 2014, “includes a high-tech recording studio, spaces for rehearsal and teaching, a café and social space for students, and an Internet-based music production center.”[10] Paid for in part by a $10 million donation by Music Industry Executive and Philanthropist Morris “Mo” Ostin and his late wife, Evelyn Ostin, to his alma mater, the center was designed by LA-based architects Daly Genik Architects under the direction of principal Kevin Daly.

Mantle Hood brought to the program a belief that “ethnomusicology includes the musical practice, and "instrument" is interpreted in its literal meaning.

[12] Since its founding the institute has hosted a large number of internationally-known master musicians and instructors from different world traditions; purchased an impressive collection of world musical instruments; the collection of traditional sound recordings for what is now one of the largest sound archives in the U.S.; supported scientific work in systematic musicology, particularly the development and use of the melograph, an automatic music writer, for musical transcription; and 5) supported the research work of ethnomusicology faculty by creating a publications program for the dissemination of their work.” Established as a college outreach program by the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz in Washington D.C., the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA[13] is a two-year tuition free study program.

The Institute only accepts one ensemble per class annually with students participating in many international and domestic outreach events such as the 40th anniversary of the coronation of the King of Thailand.