Following a national search, the School of Music is pleased to announce the hire of Heather Lofdahl who joins the faculty as Assistant Professor of Music Education. As a strings education specialist, she has over a decade of experience teaching elementary through university orchestra students in Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina. Most recently, she served as a string techniques instructor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG), music director of the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra, assistant conductor of the UNCG Sinfonia, program coordinator for the Peck Alumni Leadership Program, and violin and viola teacher at The Music Academy of North Carolina, where she was awarded the Mary Elizabeth King Brown Teaching Excellence Award in 2014.

Lofdahl is published in the String Research Journal and American String Teachers Journal. She is an active member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and she has served on the AST Editorial Committee. Through these organizations as well as the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the International Society for Music Education, she has presented research at the Symposium for Music Teacher Education, International Society for Music Education Conference (Glasgow, Scotland), American String Teachers Association National Conference, and various state conferences. Her research is focused on equity and access in music education, best practices of outstanding string teachers, and practice behaviors of string students.

"A national leader in the field of string music education, Professor Lofdahl will carry on the legacy of preeminent string music education at The Ohio State University School of Music. The music education area and I are thrilled to have her join our faculty and look forward to her sharing her expertise in the areas of string education, string pedagogy, conducting and research with our community.”

— Daryl W. Kinney, PhD, Associate Professor and area head of Music Education

Lofdahl will receive her PhD in music education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro this May. She completed her Master of Music degrees in both viola performance and music education from University of North Carolina Greensboro, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in music education and viola performance from Augustana College.