Faculty Biographies
Jane L. Florine
Jane L. Florine, Professor of Music (ethnomusicology/musicology), is a specialist in the music of Latin America (Argentina). She has been a faculty member at Chicago State University, where she teaches classes in both Western and non-Western music, since 1997. Some of her current courses include Music History & Literature I, II, and III; World Music Cultures; Music of Latin America; and Music of Africa. Dr. Florine’s academic credentials include a B.A. summa cum laude degree (Spanish, music) from the University of Minnesota, the M.A. (intercultural relations) from Lesley College, and the Ph.D. (ethnomusicology) from Florida State University.
Dr. Florine was a professional flutist and chamber musician in Argentina from 1975-1987, where she was a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Orquesta Filarmónica del Teatro Colón, and Orquesta Estable del Teatro Argentino de La Plata; she offered frequent solo recitals. After returning to the United States, she taught flute part-time at Boston Conservatory and held a variety of administrative positions in higher education. Her Ph.D. fieldwork was carried out in Córdoba, Argentina, funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, and her dissertation was written with the support of a Florida State University Dissertation Fellowship. During the 2004/05 academic year, she used a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Program Fellowship to do field research in Cosquín, Argentina, about the country’s National Folklore Festival; she then held a 2005/06 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to begin writing a book on the same topic. The recipient of numerous other awards and grants in the areas of both performance and scholarship, she has presented papers at many national and international conferences in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She has also served as a consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has offered ethnomusicological and intercultural workshops/lectures in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Florine is the author of a book, Cuarteto Music and Dancing from Argentina: In Search of the Tunga-Tunga in Córdoba (University Press of Florida, 2001). She is currently working on a second book to be called A Hymn to Cosquín: Music and Meaning at Argentina’s National Folklore Festival. Other publications include articles, translations, and reviews found in Latin American Music Review, Popular Music and Society, Ethnomusicology, Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Genres (in press), and conference proceedings of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (Latin American branch).
An active member of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), Dr. Florine is a Past President of the organization’s Midwest Chapter. She hosted the 2000 regional SEM meeting at Chicago State University and has been a member of several SEM conference and award committees. Her other memberships include the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, College Music Society, Asociación Argentina de Musicología, Midwest Popular Culture Association (she is the Area Chair of Latin American Popular Culture), Latin American Studies Association, and National Flute Association. She has served as the Faculty Advisor of Chicago State University’s Gamma Nu Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon, and she has been the recipient of Chicago State University Faculty Excellence Awards in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Dr. Florine can be reached at jflorine@csu.edu or (773) 995-2119.
Francisco Garcia
Francisco Garcia Associate Professor, teaches music theory, arranging, form and analysis, computer music, counterpoint, twentieth-century compositional techniques, and music composition. In his career as teacher at various universities, he has also taught all the music history period courses (from the medieval to the twentieth-century), and courses that he developed concerned with the music of America, the music of Latin America (Hispanic American Music I and II), and world music.
He earned his B.M. from the University of New Mexico; then received a fellowship to work on his Masters from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He remained at Northwestern as a teaching assistant in the Department of Theory and Composition while he finished his Ph.D. in music theory.
He divides his time between research and music composition. His areas of research are time (as an interdisciplinary subject and for its theoretical implications for music) and rhythmicity, history of musical theory, and the music of Latin America. He has two forthcoming texts, a two part theory text, Rhythm and Time in Music and The Role of Music in the Social Processes of the Hispanic People of Northern New Mexico. The first volume of the theory text , which is speculative in nature, is concerned with rhythmicity and cognition in the structuring of musical time. The second volume is a practical tract that will include musical examples (on an accompanying CD) from a variety of different styles and cultures. The texts will be available in standard and digital form allowing the reader to manipulate any of musical examples and for distribution by conventional media and through the internet.
His dissertation was concerned with sixteenth century Spanish musical theory. His studies dealing with Spanish musical traditions logically led him to study the music of Latin America; first, the academic musical traditions; then, the musics of African-Americans and Native Americans, and currently, the syncretic process that has occurred in the borderland areas of the United States and Mexico -- particularly the areas of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. His studies of the musics of Latin America (for which he has received grants to conduct research in Latin America, Spain and the Canary Islands) led to the development of two courses at C.S.U. (Hispanic American Music I and II); the production of a weekly bilingual (English/Spanish) radio program that aired nationally and internationally over the Public Broadcasting System; and, the performance of a series of recitals in the Chicago metropolitan area featuring Latin American music for flute and keyboard. In addition to scholarly papers concerned with the musics of Latin America that he has presented locally, nationally, and at international conferences, he has a forthcoming text The Role of Music in the Social Processes of the Hispanic People of Northern New Mexico.
His research concerned with African and Native American musics together with his interdisciplinary study of time led him to the study world musics and ethnomusicology. His study of ethnomusicology included an intense eight week session at the University of Texas, Austin, as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities: Summer Seminar for College Teachers: Music in Latin American Society.
In music composition, he writes for traditional instruments and electronic instruments and computer. The computer is also used for its interactive potential as well as to realize compositions that explore temporal simultaneities. Many of his recent works for traditional instruments reflect the eclectic nature of his research and background, incorporating, as they do, elements from different cultures, findings from his study of rhythm and time and his strict academic training.
Long an advocate of utilizing the computers to enhance music teaching, he uses a computer as an integral teaching tool in all his courses. He developed and maintained the computer music lab for the Department with the intention that any instructor would be able to use the latest computer technology for their courses and teaching.
He began his formal music training on the violin and string bass then transferred to flute and tuba. He performed with the Alberquerque Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Orchestra, and New Mexico Brass Quintet while an undergraduate and with the Chicago Brass Quintet (funded by the Ford Foundation) while a graduate student at Northwestern. He performed as a flute soloist in the Chicago Metropolitan area from 1978 to 1987, featuring in particular the music of Latin American composers.. Since 1987 he has mastered the AKAI wind instrument which he uses for performance, teaching, and composition (improvisation and recording).
At CSU, he has been the recipient of a Faculty Development Grant, selected to teach a special course (University-wide competition -- concerned with world music), and voted outstanding teacher in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is an accomplished artist who has studied and been influenced by the arts of China, Japan, and Africa. He continues to pursue his love of the visual arts as computer multimedia projects.
James P. Hendricks
James P. Hendricks, Assistant Professor of Piano, has an extensive background in both jazz and classical piano studies/performance. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance with a jazz emphasis from Northern Illinois University, where he was a University Presidential Scholar and graduated cum laude. He later completed a Master of Music degree in piano performance and pedagogy, also at Northern Illinois University. Hendricks, who formerly taught at Elgin Community College and Northern Illinois University, has given private lessons and jazz clinics as well.
His jazz experience includes performances with jazz orchestras/big bands (the Glen Miller Orchestra, the All-American College Orchestra, and the Carnival Cruiselines Holiday Ship Big Band), jazz combo/solo work (conducting/performing in productions of 1940's Radio Hour and The Taffetas at Dreamstreet Theater, Chicago; playing at the Indianapolis Jazz Festival [with the Piotr Bal Jazz Group]; and performing regularly at Chicago's most prominent jazz clubs), and performances as a competitor at several jazz piano competitions. As a classical performer, he won the all-school concerto competition at Northern Illinois University in 1994; he has also qualified and competed in several local and international piano competitions, has performed with the Rockford (IL) Symphony Orchestra, and has served as an accompanist at Northern Illinois University. Hendricks is presently a concert pianist for the Turning Tides concert series, which does a mixture of jazz, classical, and gospel selections. He currently has four compact discs to his credit and is under exclusive booking through Interact Agency, which handles engagements for clients such as George and Barbara Bush, Bill Hybles, E.V. Hill, Oliver North, and Among Thorns.
Mark Smith, Associate Professor of Percussion, is Head of CSU's Department of Music and Director of the CSU Steel Band. He earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music and is now pursuing a D.M.A. degree at Indiana University. Smith formerly taught percussion at South Suburban College, the American Conservatory of Music, and Park Forest Conservatory of Music; he also served as Director of the American Conservatory of Music's Steel Band and has offered percussion/steel band clinics locally. He has performed professionally on timpani, marimba/percussion, drumset, and steel drums for many venues/occasions, including television commercials and film soundtracks. In 1997 he supervised the recording and filming of the CSU steel band for the movie Mercury Rising, starring Bruce Willis. Smith currently performs on double tenor steel pans with "Pan Go," does keyboards, percussion, steel pan, and vocals with "Keith Eric & Waterhouse," and is the leader of "Steel Express," with which he performs on steel pan, drumset, and keyboards. He formerly played electric drumset with the Frank Gregory Band, a contemporary jazz group, acoustic drumset with Dave Uhrich's contemporary rock band, and was leader of Summer Daze.
He has recorded on several compact discs released by these same groups.
Roxanne Stevenson
Roxanne Stevenson, Assistant Professor of Music Education and Director of Bands (Concert Band and Community Concert/Jazz Bands), earned a B.A. degree in music education from Bethune-Cookman College and the M.S. degree in music education from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Among her duties at Chicago State University, Ms. Stevenson serves as woodwind instructor, supervises student teachers and field experience students, and acts as Departmental Advisor. A saxophonist, she currently performs with Singsation, a weekly gospel music show that is aired internationally. Among the many artists with whom she has performed are Bernie Mac, Vickie Winans, Jean Carnes, Cherelle, and the Chi-Lites. As a soloist, she has been featured with Chicago's "Gospel on the Pier," WGN's "Gospel Heritage," Fox Television's Christmas Special "For Colored Girls WGN," and the Chicago Jazz Festival. She has also participated as saxophonist and/or arranger on compact discs released by five different artists/groups, including "Cool Work" by Ron Haynes (Prosper Records, 1997). Ms. Stevenson, who is currently a panelist/reviewer for the Illinois Arts Council, has acted as adjudicator at numerous festivals and competitions such as the Chicago Public Schools Music Festival and the NAACP ACT-SO Awards Chicago Area/Far South Area Competitions. She has worked as a band/choral director and a classroom/music teacher in several public and private schools in both Indiana and Illinois, from elementary through high school, and has guest-directed many high-school and college bands. Ms. Stevenson, who is a member of the Women Band Directors National Association and the Music Educators National Conference, was recognized as a saxophonist/educator by the Absolute Winds of Change, the First Annual Tribute to Chicago's African-American Women in Jazz, in 1998.
Mark Sudeith
Mark Sudeith, Associate Professor of Music and Piano/Organ, has performed in numerous locations throughout Germany, Costa Rica, and the United States. He studied piano with Bernhard Weiser at the University of Minnesota as well as with Alfonso Montecino and Karen Shaw at the Indiana University School of Music. He captured third place in the Society of American Musicians Young Artist Competition. Studying organ with Heinrich Fleischer at the University of Minnesota, he was awarded first prize in the American Guild of Organists Competition, Twin Cities Chapter.
Deborah Williams
Deborah Williams, lyric soprano, is Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of the University Concert Chorale at Chicago State University. Ms. Williams earned the A.S. degree from Paris (TX) Junior College, holds the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music (voice) degrees from the University of Oklahoma, and did additional coursework in voice at the doctoral level at both the University of Texas at Austin and The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. While carrying out her studies, she was the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards. She formerly taught both voice and piano at Montclair State University and William Patterson University in New Jersey, served as outreach artist and rehearsal accompanist for the Austin Lyric Opera, and worked as a professional coach/accompanist at the University of Texas at Austin while maintaining private voice and piano studios. She has also offered master classes, notably one in conjunction with a recital at the International Festival of Modern Art in Odessa, Ukraine, has served as choir director/organist for churches in Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois, and has been a middle school music teacher. From 1978 to 1983 she was a principal artist for the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company, singing ten different operatic roles, and also participated in performances of musical theater. Since 1988 she has dedicated her talents to singing a wide variety of oratorios and recitals with numerous different groups, having made her Carnegie Hall Debut Recital in 1995. Ms. Williams is a member of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) and is Faculty Advisor of the Chicago State University.
Chapter of MENC; she is also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
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