AMEA 2014 Featured Speakers Nancy Ditmer, President, National Association for Music Education
Nancy E. Ditmer, NAfME President and Board Chair for 2012-2014, is currently the Director of Bands and Professor of Music Education at the College of Wooster, Ohio, and has been a respected and devoted leader in music education for many years. She is a past President of the Ohio Music Education Association, the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the OMEA, and past President of the North Central Division of NAfME. In 2008, she was designated a Lowell Mason Fellow by NAfME. She continues to serve the OMEA as chair of the collegiate member committee and as co-chair of Ohio’s Professional Development Conference in 2009. A respected scholar and author, Ms. Ditmer edited the OMEA publication, Triad. She has been a frequent presenter at state and national music education conferences over the last 15 years, on such relevant topics as education reform, music education advocacy, and professional development issues for teachers. Nancy is the founder and director of the Wooster Music Camp, which has hosted 450 music students playing in five bands and
two orchestras since 1997. This camp provides junior high and high schools students with memorable performance opportunities with renowned clinicians and educators. As a music consultant, she has assisted the Canton Symphony in implementing an education grant, including developing professional development materials for symphony personnel. A member of the Arts Education advisory Committee in Wooster, she worked to strengthen the arts programs offered in the public schools served by the Tri-County Educational Service Center.
Christine Fisher, President, NAfME, Southern Division
Tommy Bice, Alabama’s State Superintendent of Education
Dr. Tommy Bice was appointed Alabama’s State Superintendent of Education on November 10, 2011, and assumed the position on January 1, 2012. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Bice was Alabama’s Deputy State Superintendent of Education for Instructional Services; Superintendent of the Alexander City School System, high school
principal, career tech director, alternative school teacher/director, special education/residential school director, early childhood teacher/parent trainer; and began his career as a teacher at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. Dr. Bice also serves as an adjunct professor of Educational Leadership at Auburn University. He received his B.S. and Ed.D. degrees from Auburn University and his M.S. degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Bice resides in Alexander City with his wife, Nancy, and their three sons, Andrew, Bennett, and Cambron.
Christine Fisher grew up in Asheboro, N.C., where in sixth grade she made up her mind that she wanted to be a band teacher. Fast forward to 1998 when she was selected as the South Carolina Teacher of the Year for her work at Southside Middle School in Florence, representing 47,000 public school teachers in South Carolina. She is the only music teacher ever to hold the honor in the history of the Teacher of the
Year program in South Carolina. Fisher became director of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project at Winthrop in 2001 where she has been influential in helping advocate for the arts across South Carolina. Last year, she assisted the S.C. Department of Education in revising the South Carolina 2003 Curriculum Guides to correlate with the latest Visual and Performing Arts Achievement Standards. She was selected as member of the Arts Integration Committee of the Arts Schools Network and worked with the Disney Imaginers to develop arts integration sessions at the National Arts Schools Network Conference held at Disney Land. Fisher serves as President of the Southern Division of the National Association for Music Education and was inducted into the South Carolina Music Education Association Hall of Fame. She received the Life Time Achievement Award from the South Carolina Theatre Association and the S.C. Verner Award for Arts Education. (Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts), as well as the President’s Award for the South Carolina Dance Association. Fisher also has been a clarinetist in the Florence Symphony Orchestra for 34 years. She is married to Tim Fisher.
26 October/November 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64