Jessica Napoles, Associate Professor of Choral Music Education and Interim Chair of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles, was named College/Community Vice President and Allen Hightower, Professor and Director of Choral Studies, was named Church Vice President of the Texas Choral Directors Association.

Boonyarit Kittaweepitak (DMA ’20), is now euphonium instructor at the College of Music at Mahidol University in Thailand. He is also one of the founders and is music director of Mahidol University Brass Band. Boonyarit is a Besson performing artist.

Brendon Wilkins, (BM '16, MM '19) was selected to perform in one of the Emerging Artist Series concerts as a part of the National Flute Association's Summer Series. He will performed Zoom Tube for solo flute by Ian Clarke and Papilionian Dance for flute, clarinet and oboe by Gary P. Nash.

As Professor of Flute, she informally began the UNT “Summer Flute Class Series” at the onset of COVID-19 to build and retain the community of UNT flute students. Since then it has grown to a no-cost global gathering place. The recent class included more than 500 registrants with participants from across the globe and throughout the United States and welcomed professionals, amateurs, music educators and students of all ages. The esteemed William Bennett, OBE, considered widely as one of the foremost figures in the flute world, was included in the Zoom series.

Carolyn Cruse (BM '94) has been invited to lead an interest session titled "Creating Preparatory Sheets to Maximize Sequential Teaching" and is being presented with Denise Eaton at the 2021 ACDA national conference in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Cruse is Associate Director of Choral Studies and Associate Professor of Music Education at Texas Tech University.

Assistant Professor of Commercial and Popular Music, Jonathan "Capital" Patterson, is featured in an interview and pictured on the cover of the Fall issue of "Acoustic Guitar Magazine" in Japan. This quarterly publication selects only four artists per year for this honor. The theme of the issue is online content creators. Dr. Capital is featured as a master ("tatsujin" in Japanese) based on the success of his YouTube channel, with more than 5.3 million views and 86k+ subscribers.
 

Melanie Stapleton, (MMED August '20) was invited to present “Blurring the Binary: Transgender Students in the Choral Ensemble” at the 2021 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) national conference. https://blurringthebinary.com/

Erin Cameron will join the faculty at Arkansas State University this fall as professor of clarinet.

July 8, 2020 Update: Balcony removal began in the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater. It will be placed elsewhere in the room.

Richard Sparks, UNT Professor Emeritus was included in CU Boulder's Choral Conductors Colloquium.

Megan Koch, GAC singer and Fort Worth Opera Lesley Resident Artist, performed Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro,” and was featured artist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Opera, Texas Ballet Theater and The Cliburn in a first-ever collaborative concert. The pre-recorded performance was broadcast July 3, 2020 on WFAA Channel 8. Photo courtesy of FWSO.

Sean Powell, Chair of the Division of Music Education, elected Chair-Elect of the Society for Music Teacher Education. His 2-year term culminates by assuming the Chair role in 2022. Also, he will be joining the Editorial Board of the Journal of Research in Music Education