Clancy Smith, instructor of philosophy, will present a paper titled “Surplus Scarcity: A Critique and Amendment of Marcuse’s Freudian-Marxism” for the Rethinking Marxism: 8th International Conference (Surplus, Solidarity, Sufficiency) at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in September.

Premier Guitar featured longtime audio engineering technology adjunct instructor Bil Vorndick as a Studio Legend in a recent issue, noting, “Experienced acoustic musicians know that when it comes to making stellar recordings, there are only a few engineer/producers who get the call, and Nashville legend Bil VornDick is at the very top of the list.”

Music Business Instructor David Schreiber recently presented a paper at the annual European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) conference held in Montreal, Canada.  Of more than 2,000 submissions his study on “Strategic decision-making practices in music industry micro-firms: A Bourdieu practice perspective” was chosen to be discussed in the strategy-as-practice theme.  This paper provides a rich description into the practices of decision-making within the music industry. He has a forthcoming book review publication in the Management Learning Journal (2013).  The book titled, Practice Theory, Work and Organization: An Introduction by Davide Nicolini, addresses the multiplicity of practice theories available for organization studies today and argues for a pluralistic approach to using them in research. Schreiber also submitted his Ph.D. dissertation for examination with the University of Westminster in London, titled, “An Investigation of Influences on Strategic Decision-Making in Popular Recorded Music Industry Micro-Enterprises,” to be defended in late September.

Songwriting instructor Drew Ramsey co-wrote and produced three songs on the new Robert Randolph and the Family Band album “Lickety Split” on Blue Note Records. He also co-wrote one song and played guitar on three songs on the upcoming Jonny Lang album on Concord Records and co-wrote and co-produced one song and played guitar on four songs on the new India.Arie record on Motown Records. Along with fellow songwriting faculty James Elliot and Ginny Owens, Ramsey co-wrote the song “Don’t Waste Your Life” for Owens’ upcoming release, on which he also plays and sings. Finally, he co-wrote the song “Last Good Girl in the World” for Matt Wertz’s upcoming “Heatwave” record, and he played guitars and sang on Dave Barnes’ upcoming original and Christmas records.

James Weldon Johnson: Songwriter, a book written by Music Business Professor Don Cusic, has been released. Johnson was a noted Harlem Renaissance figure, author, poet (“God’s Trombones”) and Civil Rights leader during the 1920s and ’30s. Johnson was a popular Broadway songwriter, part of a team of writers, who wrote numerous hits like “Under the Bamboo Tree” and “Lift Every Voice.” The book collects Johnson’s early lyrics and tells the story of how he became a New York songwriter at the beginning of the 20th century.

Four audio engineering technology faculty from the College of Entertainment and Music Business (CEMB) presented at the Audio Engineering Society’s (AES) 50^th Audio Education Conference held at Middle Tennessee State University in July.  Dr. Wesley Bulla, CEMB dean, participated in the panel, “Accreditation, Certification and Licensure: A Place in Audio Education?” and clarified the processes involved and shared what motivated CEMB to seek accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). New faculty hire Doyuen Ko contributed his expertise to the panel discussion, “Towards a Systematic Ear-Training Curriculum: Effective and Efficient Learning in Audio Education.” AET Chair Dan Wujcik led a panel presentation on “Current Practices in the Delivery and Assessment of Internships in Audio Education,” exploring what institutions were doing at the public, private and non-profit and for-profit levels. Dr. David Tough presented a summary of research results from his doctoral dissertation as part of a panel titled, “Audio Education Report Card,” which was covered in ProSound News.

Dr. Cheryl Slay Carr, assistant professor of music business, attended the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Board of Directors meeting in Dallas in August, where she was named chair of the JEN Music Business & Jazz Industry Committee.

Nathan Adam, assistant professor in audio engineering technology, recently engineered Vince Gill and Paul Franklin in New York playing “Together Again” for a piece on CBS.com.