Lisa Garner Santa is an Artist-Performer and Professor of Flute at Texas Tech University, where she enjoys a diverse career as a teacher, recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician, as well as Director of the Institute for Inclusive Excellence and Co-Director of the Faculty Mentoring Program. Garner Santa's playing has been described as "the kind of tone I prefer - rich, colorful, perfectly in control, and always in tune. Her phrasing is all well-shaped and thoughtful...a truly remarkable artist with dazzling musical ability." (American Record Guide)

Lisa Garner Santa's versatile programming ranges from the elegant Baroque music of Bach to the jazz-inspired writings of Mike Mower. Her passion for contemporary flute repertoire was sparked by the early flute works of Lowell Liebermann, the topic of her dissertation. Since then, she has supported the effort to expand and promote new music by performing and commissioning works from young as well as established composers, including Ahmed Al Abaca, Derek Bermel, Valerie Coleman, Peter Fischer, Amanda Harberg, Warner Hutchison, Mike Mower, Joel Puckett, Matthew Santa, and Roger Zare.

As a pedagogue, Lisa Garner Santa presents masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. International exchanges include masterclasses at the Royal College of Music in London, England, and Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, as well as Peking University in Beijing, China. She has presented and performed in symposiums in Naolinco (Mexico), San Jose (Costa Rica), and Mendoza (Argentina). Appearances at various regional and national conventions include a 2020 performance as soloist on Joel Puckett's Shadow of Sirius at the Regional CBDNA conference with TTU's Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Eric Allen. Her research, pedagogical articles, and interviews are published in The Flutist Quarterly, Flute Talk, and The Instrumentalist. She is a recipient of the Texas Tech Big 12 Fellowship, the Texas Tech Alumni Association New Faculty Award, the President's Excellence in Teaching award, the President's Excellence in Diversity and Equity Award, and she was recognized in 2020 as a TTU Integrated Scholar. She also serves as Chair of Texas Tech University's prestigious Teaching Academy​.

Currently serving on the National Flute Association Board of Directors, Dr. Garner Santa has been a featured performer at numerous conventions. She has served as an adjudicator and/or coordinator for many NFA events and competitions, including the High School Soloist Competition, the NFA Newly Published Music Competition, the NFA Professional Flute Choir Competition, the General Competitions Coordinator, and as NFA Convention Associate Program Chair for the 2002 convention. She served the NFA as Program Chair for the 2011 convention held in Charlotte, NC, followed by membership on the NFA Executive Committee, Performance Health Care Committee, and Archives and Oral History Committee.

With co-authors Matthew Santa and Thomas Hughes, Lisa Garner Santa developed the Flute/Theory Workout, a method that efficiently introduces full-range scalar and chordal flute technique while introducing music theory fundamentals at the same time. The Workout, which comes with entertaining audio accompaniment, is available through Carolyn Nussbaum Music Co., and Flute World. You can also find all-level tutorials online through MusicProfessor.com or Udemy. Dr. Garner Santa holds performance degrees from West Texas State University, Florida State University, and The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Her teachers to whom she is eternally grateful include Carol Wincenc, Charles DeLaney, Sally Turk, Helen Blackburn, and Jamie Shipp.

Additionally, Dr. Garner Santa is a certified Professional Yoga Instructor through the Kripalu Center (E-RYT 500) and teaches Yoga and the Creative Arts: Philosophy and Practice, a core curriculum course at TTU.

Lisa Garner Santa is a Wm. S. Haynes Ambassador/Clinician.