Introduction to IN-ovations Council

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Here is an introduction to the Members of the NAfME IN-ovations council. We represent a broad range of backgrounds and ideas, and we look forward to breaking some new ground in music education, in areas like popular music, world music and technology.

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Here are our Council Members, with bios spread out over the next few reply posts (the forum wouldn’t let me put them all on one post). We look forward to supporting and creating new ideas in music education!

Sheila C. Woodward Ph. D.:
Dr. Sheila Woodward is Chair Elect of Music and Associate Professor of Music Education at Eastern Washington University, USA. She is a native of South Africa and earned her Ph. D. from the University of Cape Town and a Performer’s Licentiate in Organ from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She previously taught at the University of Southern California, The University of South Florida, and the University of the Western Cape. Dr. Woodward is President Elect of the International Society for Music Education and Chair of the NAfME (USA) Council on IN-ovations. She has previously served on numerous professional boards; among them being two terms on the Board of Directors of ISME (2004 – 2008), three terms on the ISME Early Childhood Music Education Commission (1992 – 1998, two as Chair), and two terms on the Executive Board of the Society for General Music (NAfME, USA). Dr. Woodward’s research focus is Music and Wellbeing. She explores this from before birth to adulthood, with studies on the fetus, neonate, premature infant, young child, at-risk youth, juvenile offender and adult musician. She has published numerous articles, in addition to chapters in Elliott’s Praxial music education: Reflections and dialogues (Oxford, 2005) and in Malloch and Trevarthen’s Communicative musicality: Narratives of expressive gesture and being human (Oxford, 2009). She has been awarded generous grants to promote international exchange programs, bringing South African musicians to perform in the USA alongside American students and professors, and she has directed numerous outreach programs in both countries.

Sara Hagen, Ph.D.:
Dr. Sara Hagen is Professor of Music at Valley City State University, Valley City, ND. She completed the Ph.D. from The Florida StateUniversity and the B.S in Education and Masters of Music from the University of North Dakota. Hagen currently serves as the Fine Arts Instructional Designer, emphasizing distance education pedagogy. Her current teaching assignments are in music education, theory, and business. Hagen’s teaching experience includes six years of K-12 music education and more than 25 years of private studio teaching for which she is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) through Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). Dr. Hagen currently serves as Past President of NDMEA, on the NAfME Council for IN-ovations Education and on the New and Emerging Technologies (NET) Committee for the College Music Society (CMS). She serves as an editor for the Journal of Technology in Music Learning (JTML) and for the College Music Symposium, an online publication of CMS. Hagen has served as guest conductor for NDACDA children’s choir events and for the state Treble Honor Choir. She continues to teach piano and directs the Valley Children’s Choir through the VCSU Community School of the Arts. She is a regular presenter at local, state, and national conferencesdelivering workshops on technology pedagogy in music education. Her articles have appeared in Keyboard Companion, JTML, the North Dakota Music Educator, the online Journal of Music, Technology, and Education and she co-wrote a chapter in an upcoming book, Research Perspectives and Best Practices in Educational Technology Integration published by IGI Global.

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Mary Palmer, Ed.D.
Dr. Mary Palmer is President of Mary Palmer & Associates, LLC, Consultants in Education and the Arts. This group works with schools and community organizations to assist them in transforming their practices through the arts. She has taught in colleges, universities, PK – 12 schools, and community settings throughout the United States as well as on five continents.
Palmer is Professor Emerita at the University of Central Florida – Orlando where she served as Professor of Music Education, Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Music Education, and Dean of the College of Education. As Dean of the College of Education at UCF, she pioneered leading edge educational technology and professional development programs for teachers. Her leadership of multiple national and state professional associations includes presidencies in MENC: The National Association for Music Education Southern Division; VSA Arts of Florida; Florida Music Educators Association; and the Florida Alliance for Arts Education. She is a member of the Board of the International Arts Schools Network as well as the IN-ovations Council of the National Association for Music Education. Her service on state and community Boards of Directors, including the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Florida Theatrical Association, Florida Music Educators Association, Florida Alliance for Arts Education, VSA Arts Florida, A Gift for Teaching, and others, underlines her commitment to service and connectedness.
Since 1985, Palmer has served as senior author of multiple Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8 music textbook series published by Silver Burdett/Scott Foresman; these books are used by teachers and students worldwide. She is the Founder and first Director of Florida’s Arts for a Complete Education/Florida Alliance for Arts Education; this program has been instrumental in developing programs and policies affecting arts education in Florida. Palmer’s extensive travels and teaching experiences are evident in her global perspective.
A multitude of programs and studies have been led by Palmer. Some highlights include Florida’s Arts Integration Programs for teachers, teaching artists, and community members; Arts and Technology linking the arts to the teaching of career and technical education programs at the secondary level; Children and the Arts which emphasizes arts integration for children from age 3 upward; Arts Build Communities (ABC), an arts integration program with the Orange County (Florida) School District. She has established award-winning collaborative programs with Walt Disney World, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Junior Achievement, and others. Palmer’s Through the ARTS program has transformed schools across the country; her Connect with Music program for babies from birth to age 2 has received international attention.
Palmer’s many awards include recognition from Florida’s Governor, Legislature, and Department of State for her leadership in Arts Education; ACE of Hearts; Pi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year; Florida Music Educators Hall of Fame; UCF Quill Award. As a Fulbright Scholar, she conducted arts research in South America. Her client schools have received prestigious awards including the Kennedy Center Arts Education School of Distinction, Florida Department of Education Music Demonstration School, and Magnet Schools of America School of Distinction.
Mary holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois.

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Ian Ramsey
A native of Maine, multi-instrumentalist and writer, Ian Ramsey has taught for fourteen years at North Yarmouth Academy, an independent day school in Yarmouth, Maine. He has toured Europe playing jazz, been in a Trinidadian Mas Band, played bluegrass in China, led chants in Northern Japan’s Nebuta Festival, and performed as a member of a subarctic Inuit dance troupe. A published poet and writer, he is committed to environmental work, arts activism and building community. He has been an artist-in-residence, teacher and performer throughout much of America and several foreign countries. Ian is a founder of the Maine State Acoustic Music Festival, a statewide auditioned roots music festival that is the first of its kind in America. In 2003 he was a featured artist in Maine Governor Baldacci’s conference on “The Creative Economy” and in 2007 he was chosen to participate in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. Ian is also a licensed Maine Guide and has taken students and music ensembles to Costa Rica, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, China, Ireland, and backcountry locations around North America. In addition to his work at NYA, Ian is the director of Pan Fried Steel, a not-for-profit community Steel Band. Ian is currently an MFA student in the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. He is devoted to place-based education, using the arts to bridge cultural divides, and inhabiting the rich and challenging terrain between diverse disciplines and ideas.

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