Music Education Faculty

Judith Kritzmire – Music Education
Office: 29 Bohannon
Office Phone:726-8260
E-mail: jkritzmi@d.umn.edu

Judith Kritzmire is professsor and Chair of Music Education at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she held the position of Department Head from 1989-2006. She continues to serve as NASM Institutional Representative for her institution. In 2009-10 she served as Director of the UMD "Study in England Programme", living on-site in the UK for that year. She returns to that position in 2011-12, as the Programme relocates from the University of Birmingham to the University of Worcester. Professor Kritzmire has held prior positions in music administration at the American Conservatory of Music and Eastern Michigan University, and teaching appointments at Bemidji State University and Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. She is an experienced NASM accreditation evaluator, and has been past-president of Region 4 and member of the NASM Board of Directors. She has served as chair of various NASM and College Music Society committees and is an active presenter of research on music administration and leadership. Her commentaries and research have appeared in the College Music Society Newsletter, Arts Education Policy Review, International Journal of Music Education, General Music Today. Dr. Kritzmire holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, a master's degree from Central Michigan University, and a doctorate from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Jessica Leibfried – Music Education
Office: 29 Bohannon
Office Phone: 726-8208
E-mail: jaleibfr@d.umn.edu

Jessica Leibfried teaches the Elementary Music Methods course at UMD and also serves as the Education and Community Engagement Director for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Music Education with a concentration in Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from St. Olaf College. A Duluth native and active violinist in the community, Jessica has taught elementary music in the Twin Cities, Hong Kong and Japan.

Patricia Smith – Music Education
Office: 231 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-8208
E-mail: pesmith@d.umn.edu

Patricia E. Smith is serving as the supervisor of Music Education Student Teachers at UMD. She has taught in 4 high schools, 3 middle schools and has been the Director of Music Programs at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. and the Director of Music Education at Shorter College in Rome, GA. She has served as a reader for the National Standards in Music Education and as Senior High School Choral Chair for the Eastern US. She was appointed to the Board for ACDA in New York State, received a National Honor Society Commendation in 1992, was accepted into the Choral Guild in 1994 and was inducted into Phi Kappa Delta in 1997.

Her conducting has been centered in several areas including major choral works with full orchestra - the most recent being Carmina Burana by Orff, Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughn Williams, Requiem by Mozart and Messiah by Handel. She has also conducted pit orchestras for 24 musical shows, the Gala Opening of the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, NY, show choirs and vocal jazz groups. She has been a guest conductor for numerous Area All State and All County Choirs in several States. She is a commissioned composer and has published many articles on music, teaching and learning, revitalizing programs and raising standards and expectations.

She has served on the New York State Curriculum Committee, as the Chair of the Applied Music Programs, on several Review Committees for curricular revision, as the Educational Advisor for several school districts across the East Coast, as Guest speaker for Boards of Education from New York to Florida to schools in France. She was the founder and director of the Summer Arts Theater program in Western New York, Co-Director of the Summer Arts Program at SUNY Fredonia, and acted in the capacity of a clinician for MENC, ACDA, CMEA and NYSSMA.

Most recently she was asked to initiate and lead a Freshman Academy in a rural high school in Georgia. She accepted and became the Dean of Freshmen Students with a first year drop of failure rates from 77% to 12%. Her own education began with a BS in Music Education from The Crane School of Music at the State University of NY at Potsdam and an MM in Music Education from the University of Buffalo. She earned her Ph.D. in Humanities from Columbia Commonwealth University, Rock Spring, Wyoming in 2001.

Tina Thielen-Gaffey – Music Education
Office: 234 Humanities
Office Phone: 726-8140
E-mail: tthielen@d.umn.edu

Tina Thielen-Gaffey is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and has recently completed her doctoral coursework in the Choral Conducting program at the University of Iowa. At UMD, she conducts Concert Chorale, two Vocal Jazz Ensembles (Lake Effect and Chill Factor), teaches elementary music, aural skills, and applied voice. A mezzo-soprano, she completed the M.M. degree in Choral Conducting at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI and her B.M. in music education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Prior to her studies in Michigan, the Wisconsin native taught for eight years in the public schools of her home state, where she was responsible for choral ensembles, band ensembles, vocal jazz and show choirs, musicals, madrigals and madrigal feasts, festivals, and touring. At WMU, Ms.Thielen-Gaffey soloed with the Treble Chorus, University Chorale, Opera Workshop, and the award winning vocal jazz ensemble, Gold Company. Ms. Thielen-Gaffey is a past president of WMU's student chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. At the 2003 and 1999 national conventions of that organization, she was a national finalist in the graduate student conducting competition.