Nathan B. Kruse, Professor of Music Education, begins the role of chair of the Department of Music effective July 1, 2024. Kruse has been promoted from associate professor while he served as associate department chair and coordinator of undergraduate studies in music. He replaces David Rothenberg, who announced at the start of the 2023/24 academic year that he would step down as chair but continue as a faculty member. Rothenberg has been the department chair since 2015.
Kruse joined the CWRU faculty in 2013 and teaches courses in research methods, the sociology of music education, vernacular music, and classroom guitar. His research interests include adult music education and lifespan learning, ethnographic traditions of community music, and informal music-learning. Kruse is recognized as a wonderful, conscientious, strategic, and fair leader.
Kruse's career honors include:
- Graduate Fellow in the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2006-07)
- Recipient of the Excellence-in-Teaching Citation at Michigan State University (2006-07)
- Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Adult and Community Music Education Special Research Interest Group (2008)
- Distinguished Alum, University of New Mexico, College of Fine Arts (2018)
- Nominations for the J. H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award at the University of North Texas (2010) and the John S. Diekhoff Award for Graduate Mentorship at Case Western Reserve University (2015, 2018, 2021, 2024)