The Planning Committee—Members of the Symposium

David G. Woods was appointed Dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut on August 1, 2000. He was Dean of the School of Music at Indiana University from 1997-1999. He served as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma from 1991 to 1997. He was the Director of the School of Music at the University of Arizona from 1985 to 1991. From 1974 to 1984 he was Chairman of the Division of Music Education at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He was Director of Music at Colorado Academy from 1966 – 1974. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Washburn University in Topeka and a Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He has also studied at the Copenhagen Conservatory of Music and at the Aspen Institute.

Dr. Woods has written numerous books and articles on music education and has presented workshops, lectures and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and China. He has presented papers and lectures at the national meetings of the Society of Ethnomusicology, the College Music Society, the Music Educators National Conference, the National Association of Schools of Music, the Organization of American Kodály Educators, and the American Orff Schulwerk Association. He is a co-author of JUMP RIGHT IN!, a comprehensive music series for grades K-8. He is co-author of the books, Teaching Music in the Twentieth Century, and Teaching Music in the Twenty-First Century published by Prentice-Hall. He is the author of Creating Curriculum in Music, published by Addison-Wesley. In 1996 he published three books for children: Phoebe in Her Petticoat, Congotay, and Bean Bag and Ball Games for Children. He is a contributing author to Promising Practices in Pre-Kindergarten Music Education,The Handbook for Research in Music Teaching and Learning, and The Second Handbook for Research in Music Teaching and Learning, published by the Music Educators National Conference.

Dr. Woods was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Iceland in 1981 and completed an extensive research study of the langspiel, an Icelandic folk instrument. In 1987 he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Australia, where he lectured and initiated research studies in curriculum development in music at the University of Sydney. Dr. Woods is known for his writing, research, and study of early childhood music education. He was the Director of the Music Experience Laboratory for Preschool Children at Iowa State University and at the University of Arizona. He is Past-President of the Midwest Kodály Music Educators of America Association, Past-President of the First Iowa Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association, and former officer with both the Iowa Music Educators Association and the Arizona Music Educators Association. He is known for his pioneering work in curriculum development in music and was the Director of the Ford Foundation American-Icelandic Curriculum Project from 1978-82. He was a recipient of a Project II Grant from the Contemporary Music Project, and developed the first preschool through high school music curriculum design in the country at Colorado Academy in Denver, Colorado. In 1981, Dr. Woods was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year at Iowa State University. In 1992, he was named Outstanding Alumni Fellow by Washburn University. In 1993, he was named Outstanding Administrator of the Year at The University of Oklahoma and in 1995 he received the Governor’s Arts Award from Oklahoma Governor, Frank Keating.

Dr. Woods is a member of the advisory board of the International Violin Competition in Indianapolis, Indiana and the Van Cliburn Competition Board. He is the Chairman of the Publications Committee for the College Music Society and serves as a member of the International Advisory Panel for the Frank Callaway Resource Center for Music Education at the University of Western Australia. He has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the College Music Society, the International Council of Fine Arts Deans’, FORUM, and the OAKE ENVOY. He is frequently a curriculum consultant for universities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and China.

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