Higher Education News

Kent State University

Kent State faculty have been busy with international presentations and teaching. During the Spring 2025 semester, Dr. Craig Resta delivered multiple lectures, coaching, and residencies at the University of Toronto, Education University of Hong Kong, University of Reading, Music Generation Dublin, University of Pretoria, South African Society for Music Teachers, Nelson Mandela University, University of Trossingen, Schola Cantorum Basel, Vilnius College, and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, among others. We congratulate Dr. Resta on his achievements during his sabbatical semester.

Also in Spring, Dr. Butch Marshall gave presentations to the National Organization of Kodály Educators in Chicago and did a live demonstration class and workshop on Early Childhood Music and Movement in Cincinnati for the Ohio Gordon Institute for Music Learning. There, he led a demonstration class of 12 toddlers and then a debriefing of the pedagogy behind that instruction. He was the featured Music Learning Theory expert for a national virtual workshop sponsored by the Council for General Music of NAfME.

In Summer, 2025, Dr. Marshall made his second trip to Seoul, Korea, to help lead a workshop for 30 teachers. With virtual instruction by Jennifer Bailey, host Dr. Joohee Rho, and two amazing translators, Dr. Marshall facilitated demonstration classes with Korean toddlers and guided Korean music educators in leading early childhood classes and composing their own songs and chants to use in their teaching. The teachers created over 600 compositions over the ten-day course!

The Kent State Youth Orchestra (KSYO), a new initiative of the Glauser School of Music, serves Northeast Ohio’s string community by offering talented pre-college musicians—primarily high school and advanced middle school students—an enriching orchestral experience. The KSYO welcomes all passionate string players, with auditions used mainly for placement. As an official Kent State ensemble, it connects young musicians with our faculty and programs while fostering the region’s musical community. More information and registration are available at https://www.kent.edu/youth-orchestra.

This past summer, Kent State welcomed music educators to five professional development courses from late June through mid-July, attended by 54 educators–undergraduate, in-service, MMME, and PhD students. Attendees included cohorts from Akron Public Schools and Cleveland Metropolitan School District, plus participants from throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virgina, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Texas. If you have a specific topic you would like to see for a course or a cohort of students who are interested in specific content, please contact Dr. Marshall (hmarsha6@kent.edu) to see if we can help meet your needs.

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