Dear Colleagues,
I hope everyone is having a restful and restorative summer.
It is my honor to begin a 2-year term as Chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education. Below, you will find important information regarding site selection for the 2023 Symposium on Music Teacher Education. However, as my first order of business, I want to thank the following colleagues who are departing the SMTE Executive Board after years of outstanding service.
James Austin
Kimberly Councill
Tami Draves
Brett Nolker
Crystal Sieger
Linda Thornton
We are thrilled to welcome six new members of the SMTE Executive Board.
Christopher Baumgartner
Colleen Conway
Sommer Forrester
Peter Hamlin
Daniel Hellman
Ann Marie Stanley
You can find the complete directory of SMTE leadership here: https://smte.us/smte-leadership/
Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can serve you in any way.
Site Suggestions for 2023 Symposium
In September, the SMTE Board will convene to select a site for the next Symposium, to be held in September 2023. We will adhere to our agreed upon guidelines for site selection as described in our statement on Procedures and Values for Symposium Site Selection. We anticipate a largely in-person conference format, and we are planning accordingly. The Board welcomes suggestions from SMTE members who can offer connections to local resources and institutional supports. The SMTE Symposium does not happen without the strong support of a local music teacher education program. Historically, SMTE owes a great debt to the University of North Carolina Greensboro, the University of St. Thomas, and their faculty and administrations for contributing time, facilities, and financial resources so that we could hold successful Symposia in Greensboro and Minneapolis since 2005. While the Symposium does not need to be held on a college or university campus, a small organization like ours whose events are planned entirely by volunteers depends on those local supports. We are open to considering any locations for the 2023 venue, and we will evaluate all suggestions according to the above-mentioned policy statement.
If you would like to suggest a site and volunteer the support of your institution, please contact me at sean.powell@unt.edu by September 12, 2022. We recognize that the current challenges presented by COVID-19, institutional budget restrictions, and other factors may make it difficult for any institution to commit to an event that is more than a year away. With that recognition, we are not asking for formal proposals or commitments at this time. Instead, if you have a site to suggest and would like to volunteer your institution’s potential for support, we will begin a conversation involving you and the Symposium Chair to discuss what information and details the Board will need to consider in order to make a decision about your site suggestion.
Thank you in advance for contributing to the planning process for the 2023 Symposium!
Sean Powell