Sommer Helweh Forrester

Sommer Forrester serves as an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She teaches undergraduate music education courses in instrumental music and conducting, advises undergraduate music majors, conducts the UMass Boston Orchestra, and oversees all aspects of the Music Teacher Licensure Program. A former classroom teacher, Forrester taught instrumental music for eight years in four countries: Kuwait, Palestine, Israel, and Canada. In addition, Forrester was an instructor at a local conservatory of music that served refugee children from the West Bank.

Forrester is committed to creating a learning space that privileges the process of learning over a definitive goal. She frequently collaborates with scholars, educators, and performers to inspire and guide her research and creative output, while serving as an example for students. She is deeply invested in examining teacher education in different disciplines to inform and reimagine preservice and in-service music teacher education. Forrester examines education in different contexts including overseas, to understand the experiences of first-generation minority students in North American schools. Her current research project involves studying music teaching and learning in Palestine. Forrester is actively involved in community partnerships and service-learning initiatives within the Boston Area. In 2018, Forrester was awarded the Community-Engaged Innovative Teaching Award from UMass Boston.

Dr. Forrester earned her PhD in Music Education from the University of Michigan with a cognate in Wind Conducting; a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan; a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto; and a Honors Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Western Ontario.