For more than 30 years, Michael Brownell has been a music educator at McGraw High School, located in central New York. His membership in NAfME and his state association has been foundational to his professional growth and enrichment. Mr. Brownell also currently serves as Immediate Past President of NYSSMA, where he has been working at a grassroots level with the county MEAs and their leadership throughout New York State, assisting with the rollout of the new music standards and membership initiatives.
His experience with leadership in music education began during his undergraduate studies when he served as President of the collegiate MENC chapter at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. In the years that followed, Michael held various leadership positions where he worked to develop numerous initiatives in support of topics and goals shared with both the Eastern Division and NAfME.
The underlying theme of his two-year tenure as NYSSMA President was Music: Success for All! With a vision of retaining relevance in today’s world, he campaigned with his state association to acknowledge the changing demographics of our students and schools and to continue their work on the issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access for all students. Much progress was made, and more work remains.
