IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Theatre at Iowa State University
Amanda Petefish-Schrag is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Iowa State University. Her professional credits include work as a playwright, puppeteer, director, actor, and mom. Her playwriting work has been produced at festivals and theaters in London, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Iowa City, and has been published by Playscripts, Inc., and Smith and Kraus. Her current puppetry research and performance work explores the use of discarded materials as a means of preserving puppeteers' historical social-ethical function. Amanda is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the International Union of Marionette Artists, the Puppeteers of America, and is a past recipient of the Kennedy Center National Teaching Artist Grant, and the Missouri Governor's Award for Excellence in Higher Education.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor
Amy is the Associate Teaching Professor of oboe and English horn at Iowa State University, where she also teaches Introduction to Music Listening to more than 500 undergraduate students each semester. She recently published a digital textbook and complete curriculum called Between the Notes: the Music of Your Life for use in high school and college-level music appreciation courses. Amy also maintains a very active freelance career throughout Iowa and is currently the principal oboist of the Ottumwa Symphony and has performed as Acting Principal and English horn with the Des Moines, Dubuque, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Central Iowa, and Oskaloosa Symphonies as well as with the Des Moines Metro Opera. Before returning to Iowa to raise her four daughters, she actively performed with many ensembles in New England, including the New Haven Symphony, Wallingford Symphony, Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard, Lexington Symphony, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, North Shore Philharmonic, Melrose Symphony, Dudley House Orchestra at Harvard and the Harvard Summer Pops Band as well as the Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra, Festival Orchestra, and Symphonic Band. She earned her Master of Music at the renowned Yale School of Music, where she was a student of the beloved Ronald Roseman.
Andrew Bishop has enjoyed a successful and diverse career throughout the Midwest and Colorado front range area. After moving back to the Midwest, Andrew won the Principal Trumpet chair with the Des Moines Symphony in 2019, and in the fall of 2021 became the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Iowa State University. Since then he has also appeared with the Kansas City Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Wichita Symphony and Quad City Symphony.
Andrew was born and raised in Lindsborg, KS, known as "Little Sweden U.S.A." He cultivated his musical endeavors under Lindsborg's extraordinary support of the fine arts and strong musical traditions. During his youth, he performed in the Bethany Oratorio Society's production of Handel's Messiah and studied trumpet with Roger Thorstenberg. He studied trumpet performance at Wichita State University, where his primary instructors were Les Linn, Bob Grim and John Hagstrom. He also holds a Masters degree in trumpet performance from the University of Missouri.
During his academic studies, Andrew was a winner of the Wichita State University Concerto/Aria Competition and performed the Tartini Concerto in D with the WSU Symphony. He won the 2004 University of Missouri Concerto Competition and performed the J.F. Fasch Concerto in D for Trumpet, 2 Oboes, Strings and Continuo with the University Philharmonic. He was a recipient of the MU Emerging Artist Award, and appeared as a featured soloist with the University of Missouri Trumpet Ensemble at the 2004 International Trumpet Guild convention in Denver, CO, performing the Concerto in E-flat by G.H. Stölzel.
In 2010, Andrew won the Principal Trumpet chair with the Fort Collins Symphony, performing to acclaim Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on his first Masterworks Concert. He was granted full tenure after his first full season in 2011 and went on to appear with FCS as a featured Guest Artist performing Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E-flat.
While in Colorado, Andrew was also Principal Trumpet with the Colorado Bach Ensemble, Opera Fort Collins, and Canyon Concert Ballet. He has also appeared regularly with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Greeley Philharmonic, Pro Musica Colorado, and Cheyenne Symphony. As a chamber player, Andrew is a Co-Principal Trumpet with the Apollo Chamber Brass, as well as a member of the Boulder Brass. He has also appeared with the Denver Brass, Epic Brass Quintet, Wichita Brass Quintet, and the University of Missouri Faculty Brass Quintet. He has been a trumpet lecturer at the University of Northern Colorado and is also in demand as a featured soloist and clinician.
Andrew also founded his own music engraving business, TrptShallSound Publications, and recently through Art of Sound Music has published "The Andrew Bishop Orchestral Editions," a project that has so far created over 35 modern editions of popular standard orchestral repertoire for trumpet. The collection can be found at: Art of Sound Music - Andrew Bishop Orchestral Editions
Andrew enjoys spending his free time arranging music for trumpet, brass quintet, and large brass ensemble. He is a three-time World Champion (self-given title) Cribbage player. He also has an affinity for the game of baseball and faithfully carries on the Bishop family tradition of being loyal St. Louis Cardinals fans.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Director of Orchestral Activities
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Department
- Chairman, Department of Music and Theatr
- Chairman, Department of Music and Theatre
Brad Dell (he/him/his) is Chair of the Department of Music and Theatre and a Full Professor at ISU, where he teaches classes in directing and performing arts. He is the National Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) and the immediate past Chair of KCACTF Region 5. He is the recipient of the Broadway World Des Moines Art Educator of the Decade Award, the 2019 Kennedy Center Gold Medallion, the 2017 Outstanding Teaching Award from the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the 2017 Faculty and Staff Inspiration Award from the ISU Alumni Association, the 2017 Catch Des Moines Champion Award from the Des Moines Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and the 2012 "Local Treasure" award from the Ames, IA Community Arts Council. Brad is also the former Artistic Director of Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont, PA, Repertory Theater of Iowa, and Iowa Stage Theater Company. He has directly approximately 100 plays and musicals at theatres and universities around the country. Some of his recent directing highlights include Street Scene, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Godspell, Macbeth, Oklahoma!, Death of a Salesman, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Our Town, The Children's Hour, Romeo and Juliet, Company, Cabaret, The Secret Garden, Les Miserables, Next to Normal, Fiddler on the Roof, and Rent. Brad holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Western Illinois University.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Theatre at Iowa State University
Cason Murphy (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Iowa State University where he has taught classes in acting, musical theatre, and introduction to performing arts since 2018. He is the recipient of the 2021 LAS Cassling Family Faculty Award for Early Achievement in Teaching, the 2021 ISU Early Achievement in Teaching Award, the 2022 Arts Educator Award from the Ames Community Arts Council, and the 2023 ATHE/KCACTF Prize for Innovative Teaching. He holds his M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from Baylor University and his B.A. in Theatre Arts from UCLA.
Job Titles:
- Engineer Technology Consultant
- IT Support
- Member of the Audio Engineering Society
- Recording Engineer / IT Support
Chad Jacobsen is an in-demand recording engineer technology consultant. He's worked in studios around the world and has helped design studio facilities for Iowa State University, Drake University, SR Audio and many more. His recordings can be found on Centaur and Innova record labels and his work with Simon Estes was featured in the World Cup 2010.
Mr. Jacobsen is a long time member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES.
Job Titles:
- Artist
- Associate Teaching Professor of Music, Applied Voice and Opera Studio, Division Chair
Chad Sonka has established himself as an artist with a diverse array of skills in the world of voice. In a recent notable engagement, he performed the role of Marcello in Opera Quad Cities' production of La bohème. He was also a featured soloist with the Central Iowa Symphony, performing Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée. Previous performing credits include A Royal Feast by Ching (Alidoro, world premiere) with Savannah OPERA; Tosca (Scarpia - cover) with Central City Opera; Gianni Schicchi (Marco) with Savannah Music Festival; Man of La Mancha (Don Quixote) with Cedar Rapids Opera; The Mother of Us All (Virgil T.), The Rape of Lucretia (Junius), Elijah (Elijah) with Manhattan School of Music; and Amahl and the Night Visitors (King Melchior) with Nevada Opera.
Equally versed in concert works, he has performed Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, as well as Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem as his Carnegie Hall debut. He was the first-place winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions - Iowa District in 2017.
Chad's accolades extend beyond his own singing as a director, teacher, and administrator. Since 2017, Chad has served on Iowa State University's faculty, teaching voice and opera in his home state, and is currently the head of the voice division. Recently, he was named the Shakeshaft Master Teacher for 2022-2023 for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
He currently serves as President of the Iowa Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) where his students consistently place at the Regional and National levels. He is also the Education and Outreach Director of the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs, which mentors young singers as they begin their careers.
His stage directing credits include: Weill's Street Scene, Viardot's Cendrillon, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (virtual), and Ching's Speed Dating Tonight! at Iowa State University; Ragland's Charlie and the Wolf (outreach) with Cedar Rapids Opera; Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, Portman's The Little Prince, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Menotti's The Medium, and Ching's A Royal Feast (premiere) with the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Bands
- Associate Director of Bands / Director - Cyclone Marching Band / Associate Teaching Professor
- Head for the Phantom Regiment
- Member of CBDNA
Christian Carichner serves as the Associate Director of Bands, Director of the Cyclone Marching Band, and an Associate Teaching Professor at Iowa State University. He oversees all aspects of the Athletic Band program including the 350-member Iowa State University Cyclone Football ‘Varsity' Marching Band, Men's and Women's Basketball bands, Volleyball Band, Wrestling Band, and State Storm. In addition to his athletic band duties, Christian also conducts the Symphonic Band, teaches the Marching Band Methods course, and instructs the applied Tuba and Euphonium studios. Previously, Christian served as Assistant Director of Bands at ISU in addition to instructing the low brass studios, teaching low brass methods, and directing both the Concert and Campus bands.
Christian has served as Brass Caption Head for the Phantom Regiment and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps, as well as a lead brass instructor for the Aimachi Marching Band from Nagoya, Japan. Currently, he is in demand as a guest clinician, judge and show designer/arranger.
Christian is a member of CBDNA, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi, and the International Tuba Euphonium Association. He is an honorary member of both Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Christian is also the first marching brass artist for Pearl/Adams where he consults on the design of their marching brass instruments and is also an Adams Custom Brass artist.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor of Music Education
- Education
Christina Svec is the Assistant Professor of Music Education at Iowa State University specializing in elementary general music and secondary choral methods. Prior to receiving a PhD in Music Education from the University of North Texas, she taught elementary music and directed church choirs in Texas. She has also taught early childhood music in both Texas and Michigan. Dr. Svec's research interests include research methodology, research pedagogy, and singing voice development. She has presented at conferences locally, nationally, and internationally. Her publications can be found in Update: Applications of Research in Music Education and Psychology of Music.
Job Titles:
- Costume Designer
- Costume Shop Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor, Emeritus
David Stuart is professor of trombone, principal trombonist of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, and trombonist with the Des Moines Symphony Brass Quintet and Des Moines Metro Opera. At Iowa State, he taught low brass, introduction to music listening, and the history of rock ‘n' roll. He was recognized for his innovative use of technology in a large-lecture format in 2001, when he was named a Master Teacher for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His music listening course is based on Music in Our World, a text that he co-authored with Gary White and Ellen Aviva. The book and course refer extensively to music from non-Western cultures and a wide variety of popular and classical music. Dr. Stuart is co-author of From Bakersfield to Beal Street, A Regional History of American Rock ‘n' Roll, and co-editor of Regional Cultures in American Rock ‘n' Roll: An Anthology. He is also the author of Beginning on the Slide Trombone (Yamaha Music Corporation).
Dr. Stuart studied trombone Don Kneeburg and John D. Hill as well as with Jeff Reynolds of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria with Johann Bauer and Josef Rohm of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Trombone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. He has served as Visiting Professor of Music at National Taiwan Normal University in the Republic of China, and researched Scottish folk and popular music in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Job Titles:
- Morrill Professor of Voice - Music and Theatre, Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Costume Shop Supervisor
- ISU Theatre Costume Shop Supervisor
Doris Nash is a 1991 graduate of Iowa State with a degree in clothing and textiles; Doris has been the ISU Theatre costume shop supervisor since 1989. She has designed costumes for several productions, including A Christmas Carol, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Kiss Me, Kate, Treasure Island, Little Women, and Orpheus in the Underworld. Her summer employment has been with theaters such as the Santa Fe Opera, Emporia State University Summer Theatre, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Doris is an Iowa native and sings with Good Company and Ames Choral Society. She also has a BM in vocal performance from Coe College. In 2007, she bought a house, and shares it with a very spoiled cat! In 2008 she realized a lifelong dream and appeared on Jeopardy!, winning one game.
Dr. Charissa Menefee is a playwright, poet, director, and performer. She has been a Tennessee Williams Scholar in Playwriting at the Sewanee Writers' Conference and a finalist for the Julie Harris Playwright Award. Her plays have been honored by the Utah Shakespeare Festival's New American Playwrights Project, Pandora Festival of New Plays, American College Theatre Festival, Arizona Theatre Conference, Christian H. Moe Awards, and City of Charleston Literary Arts Awards. PRETTY LUCKY is included in 105 FIVE-MINUTE PLAYS FOR STUDY AND PERFORMANCE (Smith & Kraus). Recent productions include OUR ANTIGONE, adapted from Sophocles, premiered at Story Theatre Company (Iowa); YOUR SOUP, SIR, part of Paula Vogel's UBU ROI Bake-Off at the Playwrights Center (Minnesota); SARAH'S POEM, premiered in Rover Dramawerks' 365 Women a Year Festival (Texas); CHECK YOUR TICKET, included in the What She Said Festival at The Underground Theatre (Minnesota); and LYDIA'S PLAN, named Best Play in the Theatre Lawrence Short Play Festival (Kansas). HOW LONG IS FIFTEEN MINUTES? was supported by a research grant from Iowa State University's Center for Excellence in the Arts & Humanities and recently featured in Tennessee Women's Theatre Project's Women's Work Festival; the anchoring monologue is in production as a short film, directed by the author.
Dr. Menefee has been involved with two hundred plays, give or take, as writer, director, producer, dramaturg, actor, designer, and technician. Favorite directing projects include OEDIPUS THE KING, A LIE OF THE MIND, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, and TOWARDS ZERO, as well as children's theatre productions of ANDROCLES AND THE LION, THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, THE GREAT ALPHABET ADVENTURE, and EARTHLINGS! Her work as an actor includes musicals, improvisational comedy, and roles in AGNES OF GOD, TO GILLIAN ON HER 37 TH BIRTHDAY, BELLS ARE RINGING, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE GUYS, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, and THE ELEPHANT MAN. Dedicated to the development of new plays and playwrights, she regularly serves as artistic director and producer for The One Day Plays, and she was co-founder and co-producer, with playwright Micki Shelton, of Tomorrow's Theatre Tonight, a new play reading and development series that ran for nearly a decade in Arizona. During the past year, she has co-produced, with director Vivian M. Cook, three theatre actions on campus, including Iowa State's contribution to the international Climate Change Theatre Action.
Her chapbook, WHEN I STOPPED COUNTING, is available from Finishing Line Press, and her poetry can also be found or is forthcoming in ADANNA, POETRY SOUTH, TERRENE, POETS READING THE NEWS, THE PADDOCK REVIEW, TWYCKENHAM NOTES, AMYGDALA, THE INDIAN RIVER REVIEW, FOOTNOTES, DRAGON POET REVIEW, Telepoem Booths, and collections such as THE HIPPOCRATES PRIZE FOR POETRY & MEDICINE ANTHOLOGY, SURPRISED BY JOY, and THE POEMING PIGEON: IN THE NEWS. Her collection, I AM TRYING TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU REMEMBERED ME, was in the finals for the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award and the semi-finals for The Washington Prize, and her poem, "Get the Story," was a finalist for the Charter Oak Historical Award. Dr. Menefee is on the faculties of the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment and the MA Program in Literature, and she is a 2018 Writer-in-Residence at the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor of Music / Composition and Music
For Iowa State, Dr. Hopkins has been Director of the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, and developed a Minor in Music Technology, an Integrated Electronic Arts Cluster for Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies, and new courses in composition and creative computation in music. He was for several years on the faculty of the graduate program in Human-Computer Interaction. He frequently offers courses in the Honors Program and Frontiers of the Discipline courses for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is curator for the Lipa Festival of Contemporary Music and hosted the 2007 national conference of the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States, subsequently serving for six years on the board of directors as Director of Conferences. Prior to joining the faculty of Iowa State University in 2004, Dr. Hopkins taught at the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota, and Syracuse University, offering courses in composition, electroacoustic music, form and style analysis, and interdisciplinary courses in digital arts media.
Job Titles:
- Group USA and a Vandoren Performing Artist
- Professor of Music, Clarinet, Performance, and Pedagogy
Gregory Oakes is an exciting and energetic clarinetist and a passionate champion of the music of our time. From his Carnegie Hall debut with members of Ensemble Intercontemporain and Pierre Boulez to his performances as a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Oakes has been praised by critics for his "outstanding performance" (New York Times) and "jazzy flourishes" (Denver Post). American Record Guide says "Oakes is the rare player who has both excellent classical training and a mastery of the otherworldly procedures demanded by non-traditional repertoire," and Fanfare Magazine lauds the "formidable technical armamentarium at his command."
A flexible and versatile musician, Mr. Oakes has performed with notable musicians in prestigious venues around the world. He has been a concerto soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Denver Brass, performed with Grammy® Award-winner Terence Blanchard at the Telluride Jazz Festival, and appeared at the Chicago Arts Club. His recordings have been released on Bridge, Centaur, CRI, Gothic, Karnatic Lab Records, and Naxos and broadcast on National Public Radio. His recent CD, Aesthetic Apparatus: Clarinet Chamber Music of Helmut Lachenmann, appears on the New Focus Recordings label.
As a soloist, Mr. Oakes has performed at multiple International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, the New Music Gathering, the International Computer Music Conference, the Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival, Boulder's Modern Music Festival (M 2 F), and the Pendulum New Music Series. An international artist, Mr. Oakes has performed frequently in the Netherlands at Amsterdam's venerable new music hall De IJsbreker, Gaudeamus Music Week, Concerten Tot en Met, the Karnatic Lab concert series, De Badcuyp, STEIM, and Utrecht's Theatre Kikker. He has been a featured soloist at the prestigious MaerzMusik festival in Berlin. He has also toured Brazil-performing in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and Campinas-and conducted masterclasses at notable Brazilian universities UnB, UNIRIO, and UNICAMP. He was in residence as a guest artist at the MUPA Festival of Contemporary Music in Bangsaen, Thailand. In the summer, Mr. Oakes is on the faculty of The Cortona Sessions festival for new music in Tuscany, Italy.
Mr. Oakes has been a member of several orchestras including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, Central City Opera, and the Colorado Music Festival. He is currently the principal clarinet of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. He is also an active chamber musician. As a founding member of the new music and creative arts ensemble Non Sequitur, he has been in residence at Princeton University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and the Aspen Music Festival. Oakes has also performed as a member of the woodwind quintet Category 5 and the award-winning clarinet quartet Ensemble Syzygy.
Mr. Oakes holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University, a master's degree from DePaul University, and a doctorate from the University of Colorado. His teachers include Bil Jackson, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, and John Bruce Yeh. He has been honored as an Aspen Music Festival Fellow, a Tanglewood Music Festival Fellow, and a Fulbright Scholar Finalist. Mr. Oakes has presented masterclasses at numerous institutions including the University of Michigan, the University of California Berkeley, Peabody Conservatory, the Amsterdam Conservatory, and the Aspen Music Festival. He has previously taught at the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS) and Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN). Mr. Oakes is on the faculty of Iowa State University (Ames, IA).
Gregory Oakes is a Buffet Group USA and a Vandoren Performing Artist.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Coordinator of Class Piano
- Teaching Professor
Dr. Janci Bronson is the Coordinator of Class Piano and Piano Pedagogy at Iowa State University. She teaches the music major class piano courses (MUS 127, 128, 227, 228); Functional Piano Skills for Keyboard Majors (MUS 327A); and Piano Pedagogy (MUS 415B). In 2021 and 2022, she won two ISU Miller Open Education Mini-Grants to create "Instructional Videos for Class Piano Courses." In 2018, she was a recipient of ISU's Outstanding Teaching by a Lecturer award.
Her education includes a Ph.D. in Music Education, an emphasis in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma, where she studied with Drs. Jane Magrath and Barbara Fast. She holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. A Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, in Piano Performance was earned from Kansas State University.
Dr. Bronson is an active leader within the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). She is currently the Iowa Music Teachers Association (IMTA) Immediate past state President. Previously, she served as the IMTA state President, and state Technology chair, where she wrote biannual articles published in the Iowa Music Teacher magazine. She chaired the 2017 IMTA state conference planning committee, hosted at ISU.
Dr. Bronson was chosen as the 2016-2017 IMTA State Certified Teacher of the Year and received the 2017 IMTA State Distinguished Service award. Previously, Dr. Bronson served as the University of Oklahoma MTNA chapter President when they won the MTNA-Benjamin Whitten National Collegiate Chapter of the Year award. As an undergraduate, she served as the Kansas State University MTNA collegiate chapter President.
She frequently serves as an invited adjudicator, master class teacher, and guest clinician. Dr. Bronson has been invited to present for other universities, state MTNA conferences, state Pedagogy Workshops, and local music teacher groups
Additionally, Dr. Bronson maintains a successful private piano studio for beginners through advanced students. Her students win district and state performance competitions and have been accepted into prestigious undergraduate and graduate piano programs. In the summer of 2019, she solitarily designed and taught Children's Intro to Piano classes for the Ames, IA, and surrounding communities.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Choral Activities / Assistant Teaching Professor of Voic
- Assistant Director of Choral Activities / Assistant Teaching Professor of Voice
Dr. Jennifer Rodgers is the Assistant Director of Choral Activities and an Assistant Teaching Professor in the voice division at Iowa State University. She directs the Cantamus and Lyrica ensembles and her voice studio encompasses voice majors, performance arts majors, and non-majors. With a bachelor's and master's degree in performance, Dr. Rodgers is a voice pedagogue dedicated to work in the choral setting and bridging contemporary and traditional solo voice styles. While completing her DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington, she served as the voice instructor and program coordinator for musical theater majors. Her own performances span from opera and concert work to theater and commercial/contemporary styles.
Dr. Rodgers' primary area of research is the definition and training of the choral singing voice and the development of an expanded field of choral pedagogy. She is also an expert in the contemporary language and practice of solo voice pedagogy. Jennifer has presented internationally on the topic of musical self-image and avocational adult singers, and has a growing body of published work and presentation in choral relevance - a movement to examine the field of choral music through a lens of inclusivity and connective dialogue.
Prior to her appointment at ISU and her doctoral work in Seattle, Dr. Rodgers was a freelance conductor, voice teacher, and performer in the Washington, DC area. She founded a non-profit theater company that forges relationships between educational and community service organizations and has used her love of creative programming and social change to re-envision two large community choruses as their Artistic Director.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor of Percussion at Iowa State University
Dr. Jonathan Sharp is currently Associate Professor of Percussion at Iowa State University where he teaches private lessons, percussion methods, percussion pedagogy and literature, and directs the percussion ensemble. He is a highly regarded percussion artist and educator with an extensive and diverse teaching background, holding previous faculty appointments at Morehead State University and Centre College. Dr. Sharp has performed concerts throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, and has performed with a wide variety of ensembles, including the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Sinfonia Da Camera, Pink Martini, Ute Lemper and the Bahama Brothers Steel Band. He was also a member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps snare line in 2005.
Jonathan recently recorded an album entitled "The Percussion Works of Warren Benson" with the Kollective Percussion Group, with whom he is a founding member. He frequently tours schools presenting recitals, workshops, and clinics on topics including electro-acoustic percussion, contemporary marimba, multiple percussion, concert snare drum, and marching percussion.
Dr. Sharp received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Kentucky, under James Campbell. He is also a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MM) and Morehead State University (BM), where he studied with William Moersch, Ricardo Flores, Brian Mason and Frank Oddis.
Job Titles:
- Morrill Professor of Music, Emeritus
Jonathan Sturm serves many roles in the music world, especially in Iowa. He is in his 28 th season as concertmaster of the Des Moines Symphony, with which he has performed eight concertos as soloist. Other orchestras in Iowa have also invited him to perform with them featuring repertoire from romantic concertos to Piazzolla's tangos. Jonathan's performances have taken him to Cuba, Russia, Germany, South Africa, and to cities across the United States from Seattle to Palm Beach, Florida. He has been on the faculties of Eastern Music Festival, Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, and Stringwood Music Camp. In 2011, his 2-CD and DVD project Fire and Romance won the silver medal for instrumental performance and bronze medal for music video in the Global Music Awards competition.
In addition to his violin performing career, Jonathan is an award-winning professor of music history at Iowa State University and was named by the Iowa String Teachers Association as the Leopold LaFosse outstanding studio violin teacher in Iowa for 2018. His students have graduated to attend some of America's major universities and conservatories, and have won competitions in Iowa that brought them performances with several orchestras in the state.
Prior to his tenure at Iowa State University, Jonathan taught at Drake University and at Rhode Island College. He also previously served as the concertmaster of the Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
Besides his extensive career as a violinist and published music educator, Jonathan performed for 19 years as the violist in the internationally acclaimed Ames Piano Quartet. With this ensemble he recorded ten compact discs released on the Dorian, Albany and Sono Luminus labels.
His diverse interests have also led him to serve two terms as the President of the Iowa State University Faculty Senate, working with the Board of Regents and the university administration to govern the faculty and improve the teaching and research missions of that university. Jonathan holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied with famed violinist Josef Gingold, and Master's degrees in violin and musicology from the Eastman School of Music. He received his Bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Music / Music
- Research Associate of the Virtual Reality Application Center
Dr. Kris Bryden joined the faculty of Iowa State University in 2001 as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Music. She teaches music theory and music technology. She recently completed a Ph.D. degree in music theory with a minor in composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has received a Master of Music degree in music theory from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from Idaho State University. Her current research interests include closure in late twentieth-century music and developing atonal music composition tools that can be used to create music on-the-fly. She is active as a composer and enjoys playing the recorder.
Dr. Bryden is a research associate of the Virtual Reality Application Center. She is currently collaborating with computer science, mathematics, biology, and engineering faculty to develop music composition tools to allow the user to hear scientific data as music without human intervention. These tools will be used to examine complex data sets for a wide range of applications in engineering and biology and will be coupled with three-dimensional virtual reality environments.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Professor of Cello at Iowa State University
George Work, professor of cello at Iowa State University, holds his bachelor's and master's degrees of music and a performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he also served as teaching assistant to Robert Sylvester. His principal teachers include Robert Sylvester, Paul Katz, Ronald Leonard, Gabor Rejto and Carol Work.
Job Titles:
- Box Office Supervisor
- Director
- Costume Designer
- Costume Shop Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Associate Teaching Professor of Music, Emeritus
James R. Tener, baritone, an applied voice instructor of non-voice majors and performing arts majors in the Dept. of Music at Iowa State, served ISU for 25 years. He has received Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees from the University of Iowa, a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University and completed a Teacher Certification program at Iowa State. In the fall of 2016 he received an award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. While he has recently retired from active professional singing, he has a long list of oratorio and recital performances to his credit in Iowa and Connecticut. (Please link to this Resume below.) Among these many performances are the following: in 1996 he performed as bass soloist with the Iowa City Chamber Singers in their performances of the Requiem of Mozart and the St. Matthew Passion of Bach with instrumentalists and soloists from the University of Iowa. He has performed as soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic in a performance of the Requiem of Mozart in Ames, and was the last-minute substitute for Simon Estes with the Des Moines Symphony in the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven and the Te Deum of Dvorak in October of 1997. In 1998 he performed the midwest premier of the Elegy for Mother Theresa for baritone and orchestra by William Zinn with the Iowa State University Symphony Orchestra, and in 1973 he was soloist in a Bernstein Festival in New York. He was the Music Director for 4 Musicals at ISU and one at Actor's Community Theatre and works closely with the ISU Theatre faculty. As a church musician, he spent 30 years as Director of Music in three Iowa churches. Currently he focusses on teaching voice and classical guitar on a private basis, preparing layouts and arrangements on Finale, and repairing and restoring guitars. He has been granted the use of his studio in the Simon Estes Music Hall for private voice teaching of students and non-students. Contact him at 515-291-5494 for further information.
Job Titles:
- Director of Choral Activities
- Louise Moen Hamilton Endowed Chair
- Louise Moen Hamilton Professor of Music Director of Choral Activities
James Rodde is the Louise Moen Hamilton Endowed Chair in Music and Director of Choral Activities at Iowa State University. He conducts the Iowa State Singers, the 140-voice Iowa Statesmen, and teaches choral conducting and literature. Since his appointment at ISU in 2000, the choral program has grown to now include roughly 400 undergraduate choristers.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Theatre, Emeritis
Job Titles:
- Emeritus
- Associate Professor of Voice, Emeritus
Janet Alcorn earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree in Voice and Voice Therapy from Boston University. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Studio and the New York City Opera and sang major roles with the opera companies of Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia, Frankfurt and Manilla. She appeared as soloist with many symphony orchestras including Philadelphia, Cleveland and Cincinnati. She was on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music for many years, and retired from Iowa State University as Associate Professor Of Voice and Director of the Opera Studio with Emerita status. While in Iowa, she was district director of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She was on the faculty of the Hartt School of the University of Hartford from 2000 to 2003 and of Birmingham Southern College from 2003 until 2007.
Now retired from singing, her primary interests are vocal health and rehabilitation and musicians' health. She is on the faculty of the McClosky Institute of Voice, where she trains other teachers in vocal health techniques. She has also studied extensively in somatics, body mapping and the Alexander Technique. She is a certified Andover Educator, teaching courses and giving workshops such as "What Every Singer (Musician) needs to know about the Body".
Jeffrey L. Prater teaches in the Department of Music at Iowa State University, where he is professor of music, chair of the music theory division, and past director of the ISU Chamber Singers. He holds the Ph.D. degree in music composition from The University of Iowa, Master of Music from Michigan State University, and his bachelor's degree from Iowa State University. He has written over seventy works in various genres, and has pieces published by G. Schirmer, E.C. Schirmer, Bourne, ALRY Publications, and Pro-Motion Music, and Cornucopia Press. Among his principal teachers are: William Bergsma, Richard Hervig, H. Owen Reed, and Gary C. White. In addition to his position at Iowa State University where he has served on the faculty for nearly thirty years, Prater has taught at The University of Washington, University of Northern Michigan, University of Wisconsin Center - Marinette and Michigan State University. In 2002 he was named a Master Teacher by the ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and in 2003 ISU named him a Distinguished Scholar in the Arts and Humanities.
Prater's musical compositions are performed in Iowa, throughout the U.S. and internationally. As both composer and conductor, he participated in two important international music festivals held in the Germany in 1995 and 2000. In 2003 he was nominated by the Koenigsberg Foundation in Duisberg, Germany for the Grawemeyer Prize in Music Composition (one of the most prestigious international competitions for new musical works) for his oratorio Veni Creator Spiritus. In August 2005, the Kaliningrad (Russia) Symphony Orchestra performed an entire concert of his recent orchestral compositions as a part of a summer-long festival commemorating the 750th year since the founding of the city of Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad. In support of this concert, Prater received an F.W. Miller Foundation Grant that helped defray the costs of bringing professional American soloists to Russia for the performance.
Along with his work as a composer, Prater has also taken a strong interest in the pedagogy of music theory (especially in the areas of history of music theory and analysis for performers). He regularly visits and spent one year living and working in the Federal Republic of Germany. He has translated two book-length musicological treatises by living authors from German into English: The Study of Harmony: an historical perspective by Diether de la Motte (W.C. Brown, 1991) and J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue: the work and its interpretation by renowned German musicologist, Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Iowa State University Press, 1993). During Fall Semester 2005, Prater served as a U.S. State Department Fulbright Scholar at Emmanuel Kant Russian State University in Kaliningrad, where he lectured on topics concerning musical culture in the United States.
Job Titles:
- Accompanist
- Teaching Professor, Opera / Vocal Coach / Accompanist
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Teaching
- Associate Professor of Teaching, Horn
Josh is an Associate Professor of Teaching in Music - Horn at Iowa State University where he runs the horn program and teaches brass methods. In addition to ISU, he maintains a private horn studio in Des Moines and conducts the Des Moines Horn Club. As an orchestral performer, Josh appears as 4th Horn with the Des Moines Symphony, 3rd Horn with the Quad City Symphony, and Utility Horn with the Omaha Symphony. Josh also performs in Broadway shows at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha and the Civic Center in Des Moines.
Job Titles:
- Teaching Professor of Music / Music
Julie Sturm joined the music theory faculty of the Department of Music at Iowa State University in 2010. Dr. Sturm is a Fulbright scholar, studying German Harmonielehre (instructional texts in music theory) from 1990-91. Her PhD in music theory is from the University of Arizona.
As a cellist with international experience including concertos, recitals and orchestral performances, Julie also holds degrees in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory and Indiana University. Among her many and varied performance credentials, she has collaborated with the Munich Philharmonic, has toured Israel, Germany and the Canary Islands with Orchester der Nationen, has been the soloist in Dvorak's cello concerto in Taejon, South Korea, and has appeared as a recitalist in Mexico City, Berlin, Munich, Passau, Los Angeles and Boston, in addition to her more recent appearances in the cities of Iowa.
Dr. Sturm has held the principal cello chair of the Des Moines Symphony since 1998, during which time she has also held professorships at Drake University, Grinnell College where she has taught cello, chamber music and music theory. Prior to moving her career to Iowa, Julie directed the chamber music and theory programs at The Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant II
Job Titles:
- Professor of Teaching at Iowa State University
- Teaching Professor of Theatr
Kelly Marie Schaefer is a Professor of Teaching at Iowa State University specializing in Costume Design. Kelly designs costumes and makeup for ISU productions, teaches courses in Costume Design, Costume Technology, Makeup Design and Theatre and Society and mentors student designers. Some of her favorite ISU credits include: Night of the Living Dead! The Musical!, BABA, Iphigenia, The Tempest, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Secret Garden, Les Miserables, Into the Woods, and Arabian Nights. Kelly has also designed costumes for Repertory Theater of Iowa (King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, Our Town, Sense and Sensibility) as well as Stage West Theater Company (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play). Kelly also works with Iowa Stage Theatre Company in Des Moines and has designed the costumes for A Christmas Carol (2017 & 2018) and performed the roles of Sarah in Company and A Witch in Macbeth. She is also active in Region 5 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival as the immediate past Chair of the Design, Technology and Management area. Prior to moving to Iowa she had the pleasure of working in the shops of The Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and The Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago as well as Shakespeare & Co in Lenox MA. She holds an MFA in Theatre from Western Illinois University with a double emphasis in Acting and Costume Design. Her favorite acting credits include: Diana Goodman in Next to Normal, Margaret White in Carrie the Musical and Helen in Fat Pig with StageWest; Dottie Ottley in Noises Off, Antonio in The Tempest both at ISU. But her favorite role was playing the Gypsy Acid Queen in The Who's TOMMY at WIU in 1999.
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor
- Academic Advisor / Assistant Teaching Professor of Music, Bassoon
Job Titles:
- Associate Teaching Professor, Music Education
Job Titles:
- Facility Manager
- Technical Director
Job Titles:
- Director
- Costume Designer
- Costume Shop Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Theatre Administrative Assistant
Job Titles:
- Director of Choral Activities
- Louise Moen Hamilton Professor of Music Director of Choral Activities
Job Titles:
- Charles and Mary Sukup Endowed Artist in Organ
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Bands
- Assistant Director of Bands / Assistant Teaching Professor
- Assistant Teaching Professor
Javan Shields serves as an Assistant Teaching Professor as well as the Assistant Director of Bands at Iowa State University. He conducts the Concert Band and Campus Band. He also assists in aspects of the Athletic Band program including the Iowa State University Cyclone Football ‘Varsity' Marching Band, and Men's and Women's Basketball Bands. He serves as the instructor of State Storm which is the athletic band for soccer and wrestling matches.
Mr. Shields has served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the University Bands at The University of Akron while pursuing a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting. As a wind conducting student, he had numerous opportunities to guest conduct the Symphonic, Concert, and University Bands. Within the athletic band program, Mr. Shields had the opportunity to compose and teach drill for The University of Akron Marching Band. He served as the director for the women's Blue and Gold Brass Basketball Bands and the assistant conductor for the Blue and Gold Brass Basketball Bands for Men's games. At The University of Akron, Mr. Shields was a student of Galen S. Karriker and Andrew D. Feyes.
Before his graduate degree, Mr. Shields served as Assistant Director of Bands at Carrollton High School (OH) and was also the primary middle school choral director. He created a brass choir ensemble, which received superior ratings at the Ohio Music Education Association Solo and Ensemble Adjudicated Events, and his choirs also received superior ratings in adjudicated events.
Mr. Shields holds professional memberships in the National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, National Associations for Music, and the Ohio Music Education Association. He has also received honorary membership from Kappa Kappa Psi (16'), and Tau Beta Sigma (17').
Mr. Shields earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Indiana Wesleyan University in Voice and Trumpet. As a performer and teacher, he has traveled to Italy and New Zealand to teach music to children of all ages.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Trombon
Job Titles:
- Director
- Costume Shop Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Theatre, Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor of Music / Lecturer, Music Education
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor of Flute / Associate Chair for Department of Music and Theatr
Job Titles:
- Director
- Costume Shop Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Associate Teaching Professor of Theatr
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Keyboard Division
- Charles T. & Ivadelle Cobb Cownie Professor of Music ( University Carillonneur )
- University Professor
Job Titles:
- Resident Lighting Designer and Production Manager
Job Titles:
- University Professor of Music, Emeritus