News and Announcements

Dr. Bridget Sweet, assistant professor of music education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has had her book proposal, Growing Musicians: Teaching Music in Middle School and Beyond, approved for contract by Oxford University Press.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Sweet on this impressive accomplishment! Go Green!

Dr. Judy Palac, associate professor of music education at MSU, was appointed ASTA Publications Editor in May of 2012.  ASTA publishes up to 2 books a year, and it is Dr. Palac's job to solicit and initially review submissions, forward them for peer review to an editorial board of five, and to recommend publication to the national board.  As Publications Editor she is also a member of the national board of eight.  ASTA has approximately 8,000 members in the US and Canada, representing players and teachers of string instruments at all levels, public and private, and in many styles

In the summer of 2013, Judy was appointed a member of the national board of Andover Educators, the organization that trains and licenses music teachers in the somatic education technique, Body Mapping.  There are 60 licensed AE's around the world, and even more trainees.  

This summer, Dr. Palac was also elected to the board of the Performing Arts Medicine Association, the first and foremost interdisciplinary organization for the health of performing artists in the world.  Prof. Palac is the only music education specialist on the board of fourteen, and has also been appointed to PAMA's NASM task force that will help develop educational materials for implementation of NASM's new health accreditation standard.

Congratulations to Dr. Palac for this recognition of her leadership contributions to our profession!

Dr. Julie Kastner, assistant professor of music education at the University of Houston, recently had an article, “Becoming Music Teacher Educators: Learning From and With Each Other in a Professional Development Community,” accepted for publication in the International Journal of Music Education. 

One of Dr. Kastner's co-authors on this article is Dr. Bridget Sweet, from the University of Illinois.

Congratulations to both Julie and Bridget on this contribution to our professional literature! Go Green!

Robin Giebelhausen is an assistant professor of music education at the University of New Mexico, where she teaches foundations and methods courses in elementary and secondary general music.  She has a BME in music education from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (2004) and an MM from Northwestern University (2008).  Currently; she is a PhD candidate at Michigan State University with a cognate in creativity. In addition, she serves as the chapter advisor to UNM’s collegiate NAfME chapter.  She has completed levels training in Orff-Schulwerk and has studied Kodály and Music Learning Theory. 

Professor Giebelhausen was a public school music teacher for six years in Libertyville, IL specializing in middle school general music and choir. She spent three years as the general music teacher (PreSchool-8th grade) and choral director in Grand Ledge, MI.  She has research interests that include secondary general music, music technology, gender issues in music, and music composition pedagogy.  She has been published in the Michigan Music Educator.  She has presented at the Illinois Music Educators Conference, the Michigan Music Conference, the American String Teacher's Association Conference, the New Directions in Music Conference in E. Lansing, MI, and the Suncoast Music Education Research Symposium in Tampa, FL. She has served as a technology facilitator to teachers assisting in differentiated instruction for all levels of technological learning for adults.

For more information, go to:

http://music.unm.edu/faculty_staff/fac_profiles/giebelhausen.htm

Congrats to Dr. Steve Oare, who was recently awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor at Wichita State University! Way to go, Steve! And Go Green!

Congrats to Dr. Nathan Kruse, who begins his new position as associate professor of music education at Case Western Reserve University this Fall! Nate will also be guiding the graduate degree programs at Case as coordinator of graduate studies.

Please join us in congratulating Nate on this new chapter in his professional journey!

Congrats to Gina Yi!! This fall she will be assistant professor of music education at Indiana U-Purdue U Fort Wayne!