National officer candidates for the 2005-2007 biennium

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2005

In accordance with Article VI, Sec. 2. of the MTNA Bylaws, this slate of two candidates per office was prepared by the MTNA Nominating Committee, consisting of R. Wayne Gibson, NCTM, Atlanta, Georgia, chair; Carleen Graft, NCTM, Plymouth, New Hampshire; Scott McBride Smith, NCTM, Irvine, California; Julianne Miranda, NCTM, Greencastle, Indiana; Debra Ronning, NCTM, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Jody Graves, Cheney, Washington; Celinda Hallbauer, NCTM, Belton, Texas; Roy Wylie, NCTM, Auburn, Alabama; Cheryl Pachak-Brooks, NCTM, Portales, New Mexico; and Janice Wenger, NCTM, Columbia, Missouri.

President-Elect

Gail Berenson, NCTM, is MTNA vice president and on the MTNA Board of Directors. She has been a member of MTNA since 1968, joining as a fledgling faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since then, she has held a variety of MTNA, Ohio MTA (OMTA) and Illinois State MTA (ISMTA) offices. After accepting a position on the piano faculty at Ohio University in 1975, she prompted the founding of the Southeast District of OMTA in 1978. She has served as OMTA state president, co-chair of the Ohio 1980 and 1990 state conventions, Collegiate Buckeye Competition chair, OMTA student chapters chair and OMTA historian. She holds the MTNA Master Certificate in piano and piano pedagogy and also was awarded the 1999 OMTA "Outstanding Certified Teacher of the Year" award. Recently nominated by the OMTA Southeast District as "Outstanding Certified Collegiate Teacher of the Year for 2004," she currently serves as the district's vice chair for teacher activities.

Her national involvement in MTNA began in 1995 as a member of the MTNA Pedagogy Committee. In addition, she has served as MTNA piano chair on the 1996 and 1997 convention committees and was a two-term member of the American Music Teacher Editorial Committee. She was national conference chair for the 2002 and 2003 MTNA conferences.

Berenson is professor of piano and chair of the keyboard division at Ohio University in Athens, where she was awarded the "Distinguished Teacher of the Year" Award for 2000. An active performer, as well as a noted expert on musician wellness issues, she is a coauthor of A Symposium for Pianists and Teachers: Strategies to Develop Mind and Body for Optimal Performance, a contributor to the new piano method Piano Discoveries as a member of the Lorenz Advisory Board and is a coauthor of its newly released supplemental series, Ask the Professor.

Holding degrees from Northwestern University, Gail has performed and lectured in more than twenty-five states, as well as Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel and Canada. Her students are performing and teaching in private studios and on college faculties throughout the United States and abroad.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the MTNA membership most recently as MTNA vice president and a member of the Board of Directors. Throughout my career, MTNA has been an important part of my life, supporting me in countless ways as a teacher, benefiting my students and providing me many long-lasting and meaningful friendships. MTNA is viewed as one of the worlds' pre-eminent music teacher organizations. I would work to continue the traditions of MTNA we all treasure, and to join with our membership in exploring new avenues to help serve and support today's music teachers," she says.

Kathleen Murray, NCTM, is dean of the faculty and professor of music in the piano department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she served the past five years as dean of the conservatory of music. She holds degrees from Northwestern University, Bowling Green State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. Murray has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in recitals throughout the Midwest, including performances at the Ravinia Summer Music Festival and Wisconsin Public Radio's Live from the Elvehjem series. She is featured on LUPE, a CD recorded by the Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble, and on A La Par, a CD recorded live during Lawrence University's 1997 Martin Luther King Day Concert released on the CRI label. A frequent adjudicator and clinician, she has contributed several articles to the Proceedings and Reference of the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy and has served as an associate editor of Keyboard Companion magazine.

Kathy has been a member of MTNA since her graduate school years and became actively involved in the Wisconsin MTA in the mid-1980s. In Wisconsin, she has served as student chapters chair and first vice president for conventions. She accepted an appointment as East Central Division president-elect in 1998, went on to serve as president of the division and then joined the MTNA Board of Directors in 2002, completing her term in March 2004.

"I feel that my experiences at the state, divisional and national levels of MTNA have helped me to prepare for the possibility of this next leadership role. In my work in academic administration, I have developed a collaborative, consensus-building leadership style. I believe that all constituents need to feel ownership of decisions affecting the organization as a whole, but realize that not everyone will have the time to devote to the depth of study required for the thoughtful development of a specific course of action. It is the leadership's responsibility to research and present suggested actions along with supporting rationale so that the membership can make informed decisions about accepting or rejecting those suggestions. It is unreasonable to expect that everyone will agree with all decisions, but it should be possible to explain all decisions based on an established, known set of principles. I am both excited and humbled by the thought of continuing the long tradition of strong leadership for this wonderful organization," she says.