Dr Maria Grenfell is a Hit in the USA!
The exchange program between Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music and the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music is proving to be a win-win collaboration for everyone lucky enough to find themselves involved. Although separated by continents and oceans, both universities share a common vision of supporting the benefits of international study as a transformational experience for their students and faculty.
Since the spring of 2011, music composition students at Stephen F. Austin State University have been traveling to the University of Tasmania to study for one or two semesters. Last fall, the exchange was expanded, with a UTAS piano student studying at SFA for a semester, and another UTAS student will study at SFA during the coming fall semester.
This semester, Dr. Maria Grenfell, coordinator and senior lecturer in composition at UTAS, is on the receiving end of the exchange. Grenfell, who is living in Nacogdoches this semester, is a visiting professor at SFA teaching composition students and a music analysis class. She arrived in Nacogdoches with her family in January and will return home to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, at the conclusion of the spring semester. She is filling in for Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition at SFA who initiated the exchange with UTAS in 2010, while Lias is on sabbatical this semester pursuing other projects. While there have been other visiting professors at SFA, this is the first faculty exchange of this nature. Click here for the full story.
