Greetings, and welcome back to a new school year! As I begin my time as President of the Higher Education Division, I would first like to take this opportunity to recognize the contributions of Dr. Jim Zingara. Under his leadership, faculty members from across the state have been engaged in forward-thinking dialogue toward the advancement of music education through AMEA. Alongside President-Elect Mildred Lanier (Jefferson State Community College) and Secretary-Treasurer Katrina Phillips (Alabama State University), I hope to continue strengthening the HED membership through communities of scholarship, productive and engaging conference sessions, and in collaboration with the Collegiate Division.
Each year, the AMEA In-Service Conference offers a poster session for students and faculty who are engaging in innovative and rigorous studies toward the advancement of music education locally, nationally, and globally. The deadline for submitting a poster is Monday, November 7, 2016 by 11:59 p.m. CST. More information can be found here:
http://www.alabamamea.org/ conference/ 2017-AMEA-Research-Call.pdf. This session gives faculty members an opportunity to meet with colleagues from across the state that may have similar research interests.

This January at the AMEA In-Service Conference, the HED will feature a panel session titled I’ll Follow You: The role of the accompanist in collaborative playing. This interactive session will focus on the collaboration between applied faculty, student, and accompanist in performance preparation. Topics for discussion may include selection of music, rehearsal techniques, communication, and other aspects of accompanying that may maximize successful performances. Immediately following this session, the Higher Education Division Recital will feature the panelists, who will perform the music discussed in the session.

As the coming years bring change to the teacher certification process in the state of Alabama, it is important for teacher education programs to prepare for the challenges of EdTPA. By working with the Collegiate Division to face this challenge, students and faculty can support each other in their analogous roles.

I hope that the coming school year brings much success, as our university programs prepare students for their future music classrooms. Please contact me with any questions or comments (ahalliday@montevallo.edu). I look forward to working with you!

As I leave this office, I would like to share a few thoughts regarding the importance of an organization such as AMEA to those of us who work in higher education. Participation and recruitment to HED has been the emphasis of this term, and in partnership with Mildred Lanier and Becky Halliday, I have tried to increase awareness and membership through new conference activities such as the President’s Panel Discussion and the Student Ensemble Showcase Recital. I believe that these are a start, but there are many other reasons to be involved with AMEA as a higher education professional:

Recruitment of students is a large part of what we do in higher education. Membership in AMEA not only helps in this area by allowing us to network with active and motivated middle and high school directors, but will also allow us to have access to mailing lists which we can use to promote events available for them and their students.

Professional development and creative activity is a big portion of the tenure/promotion process, and the annual AMEA Conference provides many opportunities through holding office as well as participation in conference sessions, panel discussions, and recitals.

Membership in HED helps create a support network of people with similar backgrounds and situations in which to discuss issues endemic to Higher Education including promotion/tenure, the future of college music programs, recruitment/ retention, dealing with budgetary constraints, and our individual roles and futures in an ever-increasing online teaching environment.

Developing a support network to address problems in the workplace. If there are individuals who have the unfortunate happenstance to experience academic bullying and/or negative departmental politics, there may colleagues from other institutions that can offer advice and support without the fear of in-house reprisal.

Developing a unified group to speak for Higher Education music programs in the current political climate of budget and program slashing. With the recent examples of draconian higher education cuts in such states as Wisconsin and Louisiana, members of the higher education community will need to justify and sell their programs in a much more emphatic way than ever before. Unity of institutions can provide strength of message to political and academic entities.

Begin dialogues and share ideas between programs from various institutions. Great ideas are often an amalgamation of shared visions. HED can provide a “think tank” to nurture and hone ideas.

To eventually expand HED to preside over independent activities and sessions other than the annual conference. This will not only provide additional opportunities for professional growth and development, but will further strengthen HED as a Division and voice in the state.

If you are already a member, please renew in the coming year. If you are not a member, I encourage you to join a growing group of like-minded and enthusiastic professionals throughout the state. In closing, I would like to extend to the current HED Team of Becky Halliday (President), Mildred Lanier (President-Elect), and Katrina Phillips (Secretary-Treasurer), all my best wishes in their continued endeavors to grow and expand the Higher Education Division.