Janice Killian

Dr. Janice N. Killian is a Professor and Chair of Music Education where she teaches doctoral, masters and undergraduate music education majors, and conducts music education research. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Tech she served as Head of the Music Program at Texas Woman’s University.

Killian is an experienced public school educator, focusing primarily on the junior high choral experience throughout her career, teaching grades K-12 in Kansas, Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas. She is recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, including the prestigious Mary Mason Lyons prize for outstanding teaching, research and service to Texas Woman’s University.

Killian holds the PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, a masters from the University of Connecticut and bachelors from the University of Kansas. She is past head of the College Division of the Texas Music Educators Association, chairs the statewide taskforce on Music Teacher Recruitment and Retention, and serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Research in Music Education and the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing.

Dr. Killian’s research appears in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council of Research in Music Education, UPDATE: Applications of Research in Music Education and elsewhere on the topics of the boys’ changing voices, teacher preparation and retention, and topics related to music preference. A frequent presenter at national conferences, she is known for her ability to translate research issues into practitioner terminology. Killian frequently serves as a choral clinician and adjudicators, and is the co-author of Essential Elements for Choir, a textbook series for grades 6-12 choirs, and is senior author of the Teacher Resource Kit for Essential Elements for Choir.

Dr. Killian may be reached via email at: Janice.Killian@ttu.edu.