The Women In Music speaker series is a popular component of Tau Beta Sigma. Guest speakers have included prominent faculty members, composers and conductors as well as other important women associated with the music profession. The National Council invites speakers for both District and National Conventions. Chapters and district councils are encouraged to submit speaker recommendations in order to expose our members to the outstanding women in their colleges and communities.

Dr. Laura Artesani is an Assistant Professor in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine, teaching courses in the areas of music education, music history, and Women and Music.  She serves as piano accompanist for two choral ensembles at the School of Performing Arts: the University Singers and the Athena Consort, and performs frequently in faculty and student recitals.  She is the faculty advisor for the UMaine Collegiate Chapter of MENC, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Maine Music Educators Association.  She has also served as secretary of the Maine Music Teachers Association.

Dr. Artesani graduated summa cum laude from Barrington College in Rhode Island, and received a M.M. in piano performance from the University of Maine.  She earned a D.M.A. in piano performance from West Virginia University, where she was the recipient of the Swiger Teaching Fellowship for four years.  She has taught at the Lincoln School in Providence, RI; Center Drive and North Orrington Schools in Orrington, ME; and the Stillwater Montessori School in Old Town, ME.  Dr. Artesani has completed Levels I-III of Orff Schulwerk Teacher Training, and was recently awarded a Junior Faculty Research Fellowship from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Maine to support her research on Gunild Keetman and Doreen Hall.  In addition to her duties at the University of Maine, Dr. Artesani is the Music Director at the Old Town United Methodist Church, where she directs the Adult, Youth and Handbell Choirs.

Kate Fitzpatrick is Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Michigan. In addition to holding BME and MA degrees from The Ohio State University, Dr. Fitzpatrick holds a PhD in music education from Northwestern University, where her dissertation focused on the experiences of inner-city instrumental music teachers in the Chicago Public Schools.  
Before coming to Michigan in the fall of 2008, Dr. Fitzpatrick served as Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Louisville. While at Louisville, Dr. Fitzpatrick conducted the UofL Symphonic Band, an ensemble composed of undergraduate and graduate music majors who perform standards of the wind band repertoire. At the University of Louisville, Dr. Fitzpatrick also taught courses in music education, graduate quantitative and qualitative research, and conducting.

Dr. Fitzpatrick is an active and prolific researcher, specializing in urban music education, mixed methods research, and music teacher education. Her research has been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and presented at numerous state and national conferences. Dr. Fitzpatrick also serves as a frequent clinician and guest conductor with bands across the United States.

An avid supporter of public school music programs, Dr. Fitzpatrick is the former Director of Instrumental Music at Northland High School in Columbus, Ohio, where she spent five years directing the district’s largest band and orchestra program. Dr. Fitzpatrick is the recipient of the 2003 God and Country Award, presented by the Salvation Army and the Brass Band of Columbus for her “outstanding, sensitive leadership of young people.”

Dr. Elizabeth Schauer accepted an appointment as associate director of choral activities and associate professor of music at the University of Arizona in fall 2004. An award-winning educator, Dr. Schauer directs the Symphonic Choir and University Community Chorus, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, literature and methods. In addition she serves as Chancel Choir director at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Tucson, and on the summer faculty at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Before coming to Tucson, Dr. Schauer was director of choral activities at Adams State College in Colorado, and also taught at Centenary College in New Jersey. 

Dr. Schauer has conducted college, community,  church, honor and public school choirs, and has served as music director of community and university theatrical productions as well. She is in demand as an adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor and presenter throughout the United States. She has presented sessions at the national conventions of American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and College Music Society (CMS), and will be presenting at the March 2010 Western Divisional Convention of ACDA to be held in Tucson. Her choirs have been invited and selected by audition to perform at local, state and regional events of Music Educators National Conference (MENC), ACDA and CMS. 

Dr. Schauer has held state and regional leadership positions with ACDA, CMS and MENC, and currently serves as youth and student activities chair for the Western Division of ACDA. She received her DMA in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, her MM in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College, and her BM in music education with distinction from the University of Michigan. She has studied conducting with Patrick Gardner, Thomas Hilbish, Joseph Flummerfelt, Frauke Haasemann, Allen Crowell, Elmer Thomas, Earl Rivers, John Leman and Dale Warland.

Originally from Indiana, Dr. Leslie Odom is Associate Professor of Oboe and Music Theory at the University of Florida.  Her teachers include Richard Killmer (Eastman School of Music), James Lakin (University of Iowa), Malcolm Smith, (Butler University), and Marion Gibson (Principal Oboe, Louisville Symphony Orchestra).

Dr. Odom received her Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana; her Master of Music in Music Theory and her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.  She also received the coveted Performer’s Certificate during her doctoral work.  Dr. Odom was Principal Oboe on the CBS Masterworks recording (1988) with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.  She was awarded first runner-up in the Graduate Performance Competition during the Sigma Alpha Iota Convention held at Tucson, Arizona in 1988.

Prior to moving to Gainesville, Dr. Odom performed with the Indianapolis Symphony, as Principal Oboe with the Indianapolis Opera Company, the Quad Cities Symphony (Davenport, Iowa) and as Principal Oboe with the Cedar Rapids, IA, Symphony.  Since moving to Gainesville in 1989, Dr. Odom has performed with the Jacksonville, FL, Symphony, as Principal Oboe with the Flagler (Florida) Symphony, and is currently Principal Oboe of the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra.

Dr. Odom is an active performer in Europe, South America, and Canada.  She has also presented recitals and master classes throughout the United States, including the Eastman School of Music, the University of Illinois at Champagne/Urbana, the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of Georgia, Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Louisiana State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.   Dr. Odom has attended both the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals and was a Guest Artist in Residence at the Banff, Canada, Centre for the Arts.  She has also worked as a faculty member at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan.

A member of the International Double Reed Society, Dr. Odom has performed at conferences held in Tallahassee, Florida and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Along with performing, Dr. Odom writes reviews of music and compact disks for the Society’s Journal.  She is also a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary Society.  She is sponsored by Carlos Coelho Woodwinds.

Dr. Jean Boyd is the current Department Chair of the Baylor University School of Music.  Dr. Boyd earned her PhD in Musicology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 where she evaluated Phillip Hale, a Boston Music Critic. Dr. Boyd also teaches classes in Music History.

Dr. Boyd is a member of numerous professional societies, including the Society for American music, Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, Mu Phi Epsilon Professional Music Fraternity, and the Kansas Western Swing Society Hall of Fame.  Dr. Boyd has been involved in numerous research projects focusing on the history of swing.  Her current research is called “Dance All Night, Those Other Western Swing Bands, Past and Present”

Heidi Brende Leathwood has been a certified teaching member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) for 15 years.  She received her training at the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles, and currently teaches at Denver University’s Lamont School of Music in Denver, Colorado.  She gives numerous talks and workshops on the Alexander Technique at colleges, universities, and music camps, and has been a presenter at the MTNA national convention, the International Horn Symposium, and the AmSAT national convention.  As a pianist, she is an active performing member of The Playground, a Denver-based contemporary music ensemble.

Captain Michelle A. Rakers of Aviston, Ill., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in May 1998 as a trumpeter/cornetist. She was appointed Assistant Director and commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2004 and promoted to her current rank by the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Michael W. Hagee on Jan. 1, 2006. She is both the first female Assistant Director and first female commissioned officer in the history of “The President’s Own.”

With the Marine Band, Capt. Rakers has performed at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour. She has served as a conductor and coordinator for the fall and winter Chamber Music Series, and was nominated for her current position in 2003. On June 13, 2004, she conducted her first band concert, at the U.S. Capitol.

Capt. Rakers, a 1986 graduate of the Marian Heights Academy in Ferdinand, Ind., received a bachelor’s degree in music management from the University of Evansville in Indiana in 1990. She continued her studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she earned a master’s degree in music performance in 1991. She is currently pursuing a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where she is studying with Harlan Parker. Her trumpet instructors include James Bursen of the University of Evansville, Vincent Cichowicz ofNorthwestern University, and Chris Gekker from the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Her conducting instructors include Mallory Thompson of Northwestern University and Kate Tamarkinof The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 2005, she received the University ofEvansville’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and she was granted an honorary induction into Tau Beta Sigma, a national music sorority.
Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Capt. Rakers performed with the Kalamazoo Symphony inMichigan, and the Evansville Philharmonic in Indiana.

Capt. Rakers, the daughter of the late Rita and Aloysius Rakers of Aviston, currently resides inWoodbridge, Va.

Dr. Marian Dura joined the music faculty at Clarion University in 2005. She teaches courses in music education for music majors and elementary education majors, and supervises field experiences in elementary music. In 2007, Dr. Dura became conductor and music director of the Clarion University Community Symphony Orchestra and head of string studies.

Dr. Dura has 13 years of experience teaching public school general music and strings in Arizona,Illinois, and Connecticut, and she has served on the faculties of Illinois State University,Northwestern University, Texas Tech University, Central Connecticut State University, theUniversity of Connecticut, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Dr. Dura's publications include a book, Music Education and the Music Listening Experience, a chapter in Musical Understanding, and reviews and articles in Music Educators Journal and other professional venues. Her areas of interest include music teacher education, philosophy of music education, music cognition and psychology, and research methods in music education. She is active as both clinician and violin and viola soloist, and is a member of Music Educators National Conference, American String Teachers Association with National School Orchestra Association, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. She is the faculty advisor for Clarion's collegiate chapter of MENC and for the Music Department's Music Student Advisory Council.

Director of Bands at the Georgia Institute of Technology, holds the Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of South Carolina with an emphasis in clarinet performance, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education with a minor in conducting from the University ofSouthern Mississippi where she studied conducting with Dr. Thomas V. Fraschillo. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Strauss supervises the band program and music minor degree program, conducts the Symphonic Band and wind chamber ensembles, teaches wind literature, music theory, clarinet, conducting, and assists with the Marching Band. Under her leadership, the Symphonic Band and wind chamber ensembles have performed for the Southern Division College Band Directors National Association and National Band Association Conference, and the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conferences. In 2001, the Symphonic Band performed in Dublin,Ireland with the Dublin Institute of Technology Wind Ensemble. Recently, the wind chamber ensembles performed for the 2005 Shanghai International Arts Festival in Shanghai, China. In addition, the chamber groups performed collaborative concerts with the Sino-Canadian College inBeijing and the Shanghai Music Conservatory and Children’s Palace in Shanghai.

Dr. Strauss has presented her dissertation research, “Intonation Communication” at the 2004 Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, and has had articles published in the Music Educators Journal, The Podium (the official publication of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi), and the National Band Association Journal. Recently, Dr. Strauss presented “Conducting is Good for Your Health” for the 2006 GMEA In-Service Conference.

Dr. Strauss is a member of the 2006-2008 Board of Directors for the National Band Association (NBA). She has served as chair for the NBA Music Education Research Committee and as the NBA Mentor Director. In addition, she has served as state chair and national representative for the NBA, the College Band Directors’ National Association, and on the Board of Directors for Phi BetaMu.

Professor Strauss is an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States,Ireland, and Canada, and has conducted in Italy for the III Stage Internationale per DirettoriD’Orchestra di Fiati. Recently, Tau Beta Sigma has presented Dr. Strauss with the 2006 Outstanding Service to Music Award. She has received the NBA Citation of Excellence and the Women Band Directors’ National Association Scroll of Excellence. Dr. Strauss has been a recipient of the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture Outstanding Faculty for Education and Practice Award and was selected into Omicron Delta Kappa.

Having taught instrumental music at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels inGeorgia, Dr. Strauss continues to teach all ages and is currently the part-time band instructor for Christ the King School in Atlanta, GA. In addition to sustaining a career in public school teaching, Dr. Strauss served as the Associate Director of the 1992-1996 Atlanta Olympic Band. Professor Strauss continues to be a clarinetist and assistant conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony, and the Tara Winds Community Band, both of which have performed for the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, Ill.

Currently, Catherine Keener Booth is director of bands for Valley View Local Schools inGermantown, Ohio, where under her direction the Valley View High School Symphonic Band has earned consistent Superior “I” ratings at district and state adjudicated events sponsored by the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA). In addition, for several years Catherine Booth has established her reputation as a highly respected private music teacher throughout the Dayton-Cincinnati metro area and surrounding Southwest Ohio region. Specializing in flute, piano, and vocal instruction, her students have themselves garnered numerous recognitions as accomplished flutists in various youth orchestras, honor bands, collegiate ensembles, and scholarship competitions. Mrs. Booth is a magna cum laude graduate of Wright State University where she earned the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree and was granted teacher certification for the State of Ohio. During her student years she served as principal flutist for the WSU Wind Symphony and Chamber Players, and in Akron, Ohio competed and won the coveted 2001 Tuesday Musical Gertrude Sieberling Woodwind Competition prize. In more recent years, she has performed regularly for various events such as weddings, church services, and has appeared twice as featured soloist on the Dayton Art Institute’s Recital Series. She is the founder and director of Flutopia, a summer and winter music camp experience for flutists.

Valerie Cisler is an active performer, author, clinician, and adjudicator. Conference performances include the MTNA National Conference, Washington, D.C.; Festival of Women Composers - International, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and the College Music Society International Conference, University of Costa Rica-San Jose; with numerous performance premieres at state, regional, and national conferences in Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. She is on the roster for the Nebraska Arts Council Touring Artist Program and was selected to perform at the American Composers Alliance Conference in New York City in June. Dr. Cisler has written numerous journal articles, coauthored the Composition Book series for Alfred's Basic Piano Library, and recently published Technique for the Advancing Pianist, with Maurice Hinson. Her books are distributed internationally through Alfred Publishing, with sales of more than 50,000 world-wide. As a professional clinician for Alfred, she has presented numerous pedagogy/performance workshops for piano teachers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Cisler was elected as Fellow to the Center for Great Plains Studies for her scholarly work and lecture-recital performance tour featuring the works of Grammy-Award winning composer Libby Larsen on texts ofNebraska author Willa Cather. In 2005, Dr. Cisler received the Pratt-Heins Foundation Award for Scholarly Research.

She received the DMA from the University of Oklahoma in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, where she studied with Edward Gates, E.L. Lancaster, and Jane Magrath. Her DMA Document, The Piano Sonatas of Robert Muczynski, was selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of The Center for American History at the University of Texas-Austin. Currently, Dr. Cisler is Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music and Performing Arts, where she teaches applied and class piano, and directs the piano pedagogy program. She is a member of the Society for American Music, the College Music Society, Phi Kappa Phi, Nebraska Music Teachers Association, and holds national certification with MTNA. She is the recipient of the 2006 UNK Creative Teaching Award and the 2007 University of Nebraska system-wide Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award.

Eugenie Burkett, PhD is the Coordinator of Music Education programs at UNLV. She was awarded her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction (Music Education) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a masters in percussion performance from Manhattan School of Music, and her bachelors degree in music education from Baylor University. Recent presentations have included the College Music Society (CMS) conferences in Atlanta, GA ('96), Kansas City, MO ('03), and Miami, FL ('04), the WEDELMUSIC 2002 and 2003 International Conferences on the Web Delivering of Music in Darmstadt, Germany, and Leeds (UK), as well as the MENC National Conference in Minneapolis, MN ('04). Dr. Burkett has published research in National Association of College, Wind and Percussion Instructors, and Percussive Notes. Her most recent article, "Eugene E. Davis: Musician, Music Educator, and Entrepreneur" was published by the Journal for Historical Research in Music Education in April, 2005. She is the author of Music Education for Elementary Music Majors, Music Education for Elementary Music for Non-Majors, and Music for Special Learners published by Connect4Education of Reston, VA. Burkett has more than 15 years of experience teaching music education in the public schools and colleges throughout the United States.

Dr. D. Gause teaches clarinet, piano, and theory, and is the coordinator of the Music Theory Program. She is multiyear recipient of grants from the Nevada Arts Council, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts. These grants partially fund CCSN'sInternational New Music Festival, of which she is the Founder and Director. This annual event is held at CCSN the last weekend of September. D is co-founder of the New Music duo, Clarion Synthesis, and is a member of the CCSN Faculty New Music Ensemble Synchronix.

Anne B. Parker, MA, MHSA, MT-BC, FAMI has been a music therapist since 1977. She holds degree in music therapy, counseling psychology, and health services administration and completed a post-graduate fellowship in music centered psychotherapy. She has also completed post-graduate studies in expressive arts therapies and sound healing. Anne has professional experience in general, rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals as well as addiction treatment and cancer recovery programs. Since 1994, Anne has been in private practice in Tucson, AZ where she focuses in the area of wellness, living well with chronic illness and psycho-spiritual growth. She is also adjunct faculty to the Master of Arts program in Expressive Arts Therapy for Prescott College, Prescott, AZ and with the International School of Interdisciplinary Studies – Southwest (ISIS – SW) certificate and masters degree programs in Expressive Arts Therapies. She is a frequent presenter at professional conferences and for community groups. Anne is also a vocalist with an active performance schedule.

Lanette Compton earned her Bachelors of Music Degree in performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a student of Allen French and her Masters of Music Degree in performance from the University of North Texas as a student of Dr. William Scharnberg. Prior to her appointment at OSU, Lanette was an active horn performer and teacher in the Dallas area. She performed regularly with the Texas Wind Symphony, Allen Philharmonic Orchestra, Flower Mound Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony, Garland Symphony Orchestra, Los Colinas Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Chamber Winds and the Myriad Brass Orchestra. Lanette has performed on more than a dozen CD’s, including the critically acclaimed CD The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited featuring the Steve Houghton Quintet, and the University of North Texas Two O’clock Lab Band. She has performed as soloist with the Camerata Chamber Winds, North Central Texas College Singers and the University of North Texas Wind Ensemble. Lanette has extensive chamber music experience in both brass and woodwinds quintets, including being a finalist in both the Coleman and Fischoff chamber music competitions. Lanette is presently a member of the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with ensembles across Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

Dr. Zarina Melik-Stepanova received her Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music and the coveted Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with NatalyaAntonova. Before beginning her post at Oklahoma State, she held a position of the Assistant Professor of Piano at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. A native of the former Soviet Union, Dr.Zarina Melik-Stepanova began her music studies at the age of four at the Azerbaijan National Conservatory in Baku, USSR. She continued her musical education with Nellie Egiazarova in a special music school for gifted children. In 1990, Dr. Melik-Stepanova’s family was forced to fleeBaku due to religious persecution and moved to Moscow. She continued her musical studies in theMoscow music school system. In 1992, Dr. Melik-Stepanova moved to the United States and began performing throughout the Midwest. Appearances included Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha,Rochester, MN and Sioux Falls. She has won first prize at the South Dakota Symphony Piano Competition, the South Dakota MTNA Piano Competition, the Schubert Club Piano Competition and St. Paul, MN, the J. Earl Lee International Piano Competition, and was a top prizewinner at the Crane Festival of New Music at SUNY Potsdam, NY. She has also been a guest performer at the Eastman School of Music Young Artists International Piano Competition and Festival. In 2002, Dr.Melik-Stepanova participated and performed concerts at the Moulin d’Ande Music Festival in Ande,France, and was featured as a performer in a Live at Hochstein radio show in Rochester, NY. In August of 2003, Dr. Melik-Stepanova won first prize at the National Federation of Music Clubs Biennial Piano Competition, which rewarded her with two years of professional management for the federation. During the next two years, she was featured as a guest artist at the National Federation of Music Clubs Conventions in Ohio, Oklahoma, Iowa, Virginia, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and others. Dr. Melik-Stepanova is an active soloist and collaborator. She is a member of the piano duo,Solaris, founded in 2004 with her friend and Eastman graduate, Alexandra Nguyen. Besides receiving degrees in piano performance, Dr. Melik-Stepanova pursued a minor in Vocal Repertoire and Coaching, and specializes in Russian Diction and Repertoire.