Dean Shelton G. Berg, stated: “Congratulations, Don! This is a wonderful and significant recognition of your contributions and service to your students, our school, and the field of music education.” Dean Berg also acknowledged Dr. Carlos Abril, Professor of Music Education and Associate Dean of Research at Frost for nominating his colleague.
In notifying Dr. Coffman, Debbie Fahmie, FMEA Awards Chair, stated: “Thank you for your dedication to our profession and for all that you do to enhance music education for Florida’s students. I look forward to honoring you as part of this year’s FMEA Professional Development Conference. “
Dr. Coffman remarked, “I am honored to be recognized. And I wish to thank my wonderful colleagues and students (current and former) for sharing their lives with me. The rewards of teaching come from experiences with others because we teach people, not music. Teaching is an invitation to learning, so how we treat others has to come first.
About Dr. Don Coffman:
Dr. Coffman is a Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Department of Music Education and Music Therapy at the Frost School of Music. He teaches courses in instrumental conducting, methods of teaching instrumental school music, and community music programs.
Professor Coffman has over 40 years of teaching experience spanning elementary, junior high, high school, university, and community band settings. He is an internationally known scholar with over 100 publications and 100 presentations in 13 countries around the globe. He holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, where he taught for 24 of those 40 years. In his storied career, Professor Coffman has conducted over 300 wind band performances and clinics. He founded the Iowa City, Iowa New Horizons Band in 1995 and led it for 16 years. That program continues to provide an opportunity for senior adults to learn or reacquaint themselves with wind and percussion instruments and the opportunity to use them to make music. He continues to teach adults in Frost’s New Horizons Band program. In 2002 he spent three months as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania (Australia) researching their community music band program. His greatest passion is making music with “chronologically gifted” adults in wind bands.
Professor Coffman has chaired the Community Music Activity Commission of the International Society for Music Education and the Adult and Community Music Education Special Research Interest Group of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). He has served on NAfME’s Society for Research in Music Education Executive Committee and twice served as a member of the editorial board of NAfME’s Journal of Research in Music Education. He is an associate editor of the International Journal of Community Music and editor of Research Perspectives in Music Education. Professor Coffman received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, an M.M.E. from Wichita State University, and a B.M.E. from the University of Kansas.
