The choir performed with the USU Symphony Orchestra on November 11, 2008 in a Veteran's Day tribute. On November 15, 2008, the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra debuted with a performance of Mozart's Requiem. On February 28, 2009, Jessop was invited to guest conduct a special concert with BYU's choirs. On April 2, 2010, USU announced that Jessop would become the first dean of the Caine College of the Arts (CCA), created out of a split of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences into two colleges: CCA and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Since 2011, Jessop has served as Artistic Director for National Memorial Day Choral Festival held annually in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, sponsored by Music Celebrations International and the American Veterans Center. An uplifting and inspired program of patriotic music is selected each year by Jessop and is performed by choirs from around the United States to honor veterans past and present. On December 22, 2012, Jessop conducted Joy to the World Christmas Musical Celebration Hosted by LDS Church in central Oklahoma. The 60-member orchestra and 300 choir members are volunteers from many faiths in central Oklahoma, with the core membership drawn from 44 Latter-day Saint congregations. From November 19–21, 2014, Jessop directed 440 of Nebraska's best choir members in the Nebraska Music Educators Association All-State Choir at the annual NMEA conference. On November 16, 2015, Jessop conducted a concert called Through The Eyes Of A Child in Columbus, Ohio with the Hilliard Darby Symphonic Choir, Una Voce and the Columbus Children's Choir. The pieces included Count Your Blessings from White Christmas, Mass of the Children by John Rutter and When You Wish upon a Star from Disney's Pinocchio. On April 10, 2017, Jessop conducted at the WorldStrides Festival of Gold Honor Choir and Honor Orchestra in San Francisco. He conducted children in middle and high school at this prestigious event. This event took place at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and the group performed "Proud To Serve". In August 2018, after nearly 11 years as dean, Jessop announced his resignation from the CCA, effective June 1, 2019. He was replaced by Rachel Nardo. The announcement stated his plans to return in the fall of 2020 as a professor after a sabbatical. References External links http://americanfestivalchorus.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20151021220732/http://music.usu.edu/facStaff/bio.cfm?facID=50 American choral conductors American male conductors (music) Latter