MENC: The National Association for Music Education Announces Candidates for National and Division Presidents-Elect
Membership-wide Elections to Be Held Online in Early 2010
RESTON, VA (October 1, 2009) – MENC: The National Association for Music Education has announced candidates for National President-Elect and North Central, Southern, and Western Division Presidents-Elect. MENC members are invited to vote online for these offices from January 1 to March 7, 2010.
For the first time, the MENC National Assembly, advisory board to the MENC National Executive Board (NEB), participated in the selection process for the office of MENC President-Elect. During the new MENC event, Music Education Week in Washington in June 2009, four potential candidates for 2010-12 President-Elect addressed the Assembly members, who then took part in a straw preference poll. After reviewing the results of the poll, the NEB approved two candidates to run for the office:
- Nancy Ditmer, Wooster, OH, North Central Division Past President
- David Weatherred, Spokane, WA, Northwest Division Past President.
Nancy Ditmer is director of bands and professor of music education at the College of Wooster. She serves on the Arts Education Advisory Committee in Wooster, where she makes recommendations for strengthening arts programs in 19 local districts. Ditmer is a past president of MENC’s North Central Division and has served the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) as president, Editor of the state journal Triad, State Collegiate Chairperson, Chair for the OMEA Memorial Scholarship, and Government Relations Chair. She was designated a Lowell Mason Fellow in 2008.
On her vision for MENC, Ditmer said, “Realizing that education is an ever-changing institution and that high stakes testing and lack of adequate funding seem to be the primary driving forces at this time in our history, it is imperative that we continue to educate others about the importance of music and what it can do to enhance learning skills and quality of life.”
David Weatherred is visual and performing arts and events coordinator of Spokane Public Schools, where he manages a budget of over $2.5 million. He is Northwest Division Past President and a past president of the Washington Music Educators Association. Along with preparing and editing Music Standards for the State of Washington, Weatherred has given presentations on arts assessment to teachers and administrators throughout the state. He received the Arts in Education Award from the Spokane Arts Commission and the Spokane City Council in 2008.
“Everything we are involved in should be about advocacy,” said Weatherred in his address to the National Assembly. “Every partnership, program, or event at all levels of MENC should be rooted in the idea of supporting the individual music educator in his or her classroom.”
The Division President-Elect candidates are
- North Central Division: Jeffrey S. Doebler (IN) and William K. Guegold (OH)
- Southern Division: Christine S. Fisher (SC) and James T. Perry (FL)
- Western Division: Julie Christofferson (UT) and Ellen Kirkbride (AZ).
Both the National and Division President-Elect terms begin July 1, 2010, with those individuals succeeding to Presidency July 1, 2012.
All members who are active as of December 31, 2009, are eligible to vote. Members with an e-mail address on file with MENC will be notified by MENC where they should vote online, and those without e-mail will receive paper ballots. Members who need to update their contact information with MENC should call Member Services at 1-800-336-3768 or e-mail mbrserv@menc2.org.
For more information call 1-800-336-3768 or visit www.menc.org.
MENC: The National Association for Music Education, among the world’s largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 active, retired, and pre-service music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, MENC serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school. MENC’s mission is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC’s activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education. MENC is located at the National Center for Music Education in Reston, VA.
