JUDY BOWERS, Professor of Choral Music Education at Florida State University, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music and music education, as well as conducting the Women’s Glee Club, a performing group that also provides Adopt-A-Choir and Study-Buddy partnerships with area secondary public school choirs. She has received a University Award for Excellence in Teaching at FSU.

As a choral educator, she is an active conductor of all-state and honor choirs across the United States, and in 2005 was awarded the Wayne Hugoboom Distinguished Service Award from Florida ACDA Chapter. Bowers frequently presents workshops and clinics for teachers, and her research interests include learning partnerships, developmental choral groups, the adolescent voice change, and at-risk music students. She has published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, was a contributing author to the MENC publication Music at the Middle School Level, and was co-editor of another MENC publication, Strategies for Teaching Elementary and Middle-Level Choir.

Professor Bowers holds music degrees from Louisiana State University (Ph.D.) and Texas Tech University (B.M.E.). From 1990-2000, she led the Capital Children’s Choir program at FSU and more recently has developed a community service partnership with an inner city middle school. Since 2000, this collaboration has provided additional music ensembles for the middle school students (a jazz band, steel drum ensembles, and a world music choir) while also enriching the teacher preparation experiences for Florida State University students.