Biography
Dr. Rosita M. Sands, Professor of Music, is Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts. Her research and teaching specializations are in the areas of ethnomusicology, black music research and pedagogy, and music education. Prior to joining the Columbia College faculty, she served as Associate Director and Director of Columbia College's Center for Black Music Research and its remote site, the Alton Augustus Adams Music Research Institute, in St. Thomas, USVI. She is published in the areas of African-American-Caribbean carnival traditions, multicultural music education, and the pedagogy of black music. Dr. Sands has contributed essays and chapters to African American Music (Burnim/Maultsby eds.), Multicultural Perspectives in Music, Kaleidoscope of Cultures: A Celebration of Multicultural Research and Practice, Critical Issues in Music Education, and The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. She is also published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education, The Black Perspective in Music, Black Music Research Journal, and Action, Criticism, and Theory in Music Education. She has presented conference papers at the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives in Sydney, Australia, the Caribbean Studies Association in Kingston, Jamaica, the International Conference on Education, Research, and Innovation in Madrid, Spain, College Music Society, Society for American Music, and the Music Educators National Conference (MENC). Prior to her tenure at Columbia College, she served as Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Graduate Coordinator and Director of Music Education at California State University, Long Beach. She previously served as the Higher Education Chair and President-Elect of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association and Chair of the California Council for Music Teacher Education. She is a participant in the Caribbean Repatriation Program of the Association for Cultural Equity, Alan Lomax Archives and a Board Member of the National Association for the Study and Performance of African-American Music.
Instructional Areas
African-American Music History, Music of the African Diaspora, World Music Cultures, Music Pedagogy
Creative Practice and Research Interests
African-American-Caribbean Carnival Traditions; Black Music Pedagogy, Black Music Research, Caribbean Musical Traditions, Oral History, Migration Studies, African-Bahamian-American Cultural Traditions; Multicultural Music Education
Degrees
B.S., Instrumental Music Education Florida State University 1976
M.A., Humanities/Ethnomusicology Florida State University 1977
M.Ed., Music and Music Education Columbia University, Teachers College 1982
Ed.D., Music Education Columbia University, Teachers College 1983