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Dr. Erin Bodnar is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ where she conducts the Wind Symphony and Concert Band, instructs courses in conducting and coordinates the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ Conducting Symposium. Under Dr. Bodnar’s baton, the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ Wind Symphony performed at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Buñol, Spain in July 2019. The ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ NuMIX, co-directed by Dr. Bodnar and Dr. Venet, performed at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference in February, 2022. Prior to her appointment at ÀÏ°ÄÃÅ×ÊÁÏ, Dr. Bodnar was Director of Bands at Graceland University for four years during which time the Symphonic Band performed at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference. During 2013-2014, Dr. Bodnar was the conductor of the Wind Symphony and Orchestra at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Bodnar maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician, traveling to Argentina, Thailand, Indonesia, and throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. Bodnar has contributed to A Composer's Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band, Volume 5, the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance Series for Volume 7 and the revised Volume 1. She excelled at teaching both middle and high school band in Alberta, Canada for which she received the Keith Mann Young Band Director’s Award and the Edwin Parr First Year Teacher Award. Dr. Bodnar has presented at conferences in Canada, the United States, Scotland, Thailand and Austria. Her research interests include conducting pedagogy and motor cognition, and her articles have been published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education and Music Perception. An avid runner and group fitness instructor, Dr. Bodnar has completed 54 marathons, including 6 Boston marathons, ten 50 km races and one 100 km race.

Dr. Brittan Braddock completed her D.M.A. in Wind Conducting and Literature at the University of Colorado Boulder after earning her M.A. in Wind Conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.) from Concordia University Chicago. She comes to Mercer from the University of West Florida’s Dr. Grier Williams School of Music, where she served as visiting assistant professor, director of bands and music education. She is active nationally and internationally as a conductor, clinician, presenter, clarinetist, and adjudicator. Passionate about mentoring the next generation of conductors, she is a co-chair of the mentorship committee through Women Band Directors International. As a clarinetist, she has performed with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Winds, the International Youth Wind Ensemble, and at Carnegie Hall with the National Youth Wind Orchestra. She taught music and band in the public school systems in Chicago, IL. and Westcliffe, CO. and is dedicated to inspiring young musicians and future music educators.

Chandler Wilson is the Assistant Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Florida State University. His responsibilities with athletic bands include being a part of the creative team behind the Marching Chiefs and FSU’s athletic pep band program, Seminole Sound, which primarily supports the men’s basketball program, the women’s basketball and volleyball programs. As a part of the wind band conducting and music education faculty, Dr. Wilson teaches courses in music education and conducts various concert ensembles.

​Dr. Wilson is a native of Miami, FL. He attended Florida A&M University (FAMU) where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Music Education. While a student at FAMU, he served as the University Band President and section leader of the saxophones. During his time at FAMU, he
was selected as the student arranger and conductor for the marching and symphonic bands and was selected as one of the first student staff members for the "Marching 100". Dr. Wilson earned a Master of Arts in Wind Band Conducting from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in Music Education with an emphasis in Wind Band Conducting from Florida State University.

Timothy Salzman is in his 37th year at the University of Washington where he serves as Professor of Music/Director of Concert Bands, is conductor of the University Wind Ensemble and teaches students enrolled in the graduate instrumental conducting program. Former graduate wind conducting students of Professor Salzman have obtained positions at 70 universities and colleges throughout the United States and include past presidents of the American Bandmasters Association and the College Band Directors National Association. Prior to his UW appointment he served as Director of Bands at Montana State University where he founded the MSU Wind Ensemble. From 1978 to 1983 he was band director in the Herscher, Illinois, public school system where the band program received regional and national awards in solo/ensemble, concert and marching band competition.

Professor Salzman holds degrees from Wheaton (IL) College, and Northern Illinois University, and studied privately with world-renown wind instrument pedagogue Arnold Jacobs former tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has numerous publications for bands with the C. L. Barnhouse, Arranger's Publications, Columbia Pictures, Hal Leonard Publishing and Nihon Pals publishing companies, and has served on the staff of new music reviews for The Instrumentalist magazine.

Professor Salzman has been a conductor, adjudicator, arranger, or consultant for bands throughout the United States and in Canada, England, France, Russia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, China, and Japan, a country he has visited twenty-one times. Recently he has frequently traveled to China where he served as visiting professor at the China Conservatory, given master classes for numerous wind bands, and conducted several ensembles including the Shanghai Wind Orchestra, the People's Liberation Army Band, the Beijing Wind Orchestra, and the Tsinghua University Band in concerts in 2016/2017/2018. He also served on three occasions as an adjudicator for the Singapore Youth Festival National Concert Band Championships. He has also conducted several of the major military bands in the United States including a 2019 world premiere with 'The President's Own' United States Marine Band.

He is compiling editor and co-author (with several current and former UW graduate students) of A Composer's Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band, a five-volume series of books on contemporary wind band composers. He is a contributing author to a new book (2022) about his former teacher Arnold Jacobs: His Artistic and Pedagogical Legacies in the 21st Century. He is also an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and is a past president of the Northwest Division of the College Band Directors National Association.