Dr. Gerard L. Knieter

A renowned music educator of four decades, Dr. Gerard L. Knieter is an influential teacher, mentor and interdisciplinarian in the arts. After a 20-year tenure at the California State University, Northridge, in which he served as a professor of music, dean and executive assistant to the vice president for administration, he was honored as professor emeritus of music upon his retirement in 2006. Among other teaching roles throughout his career, Dr. Knieter has also taught at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, the University of Akron, Temple University, Duquesne University and San Jose State University in various music education capacities. Earlier in his career, he was a teacher at multiple middle schools and high schools on Long Island, New York.

Outside of teaching, Dr. Knieter further enhanced his career as a management and arts consultant for Human Resources Unlimited Inc. in Valencia, California. He also served on the board of directors for the National Center for Research in Arts Education at New York University and for the Theodore Presser Company in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Likewise, he has served as the vice president of the board of directors for the Initial Teaching Alphabet Foundation and was active on the San Fernando Valley regional council of the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County. To remain abreast of his field, Dr. Knieter maintained affiliation with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the American Association of Higher Education, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the National Association for Music Education and the International Council of Fine Arts Deans.

Finding great success through his professional achievements, Dr. Knieter has been the recipient of several accolades, including being featured in professional publications such as the International Who’s Who in Music and Musicians’ Directory of the International Biographical Centre. Recognized among the Leaders in America in the Human Development Profession by Alum News in the School of Education at New York University, the university also presented him with an Arch Award. Additionally, Dr. Knieter has been named to The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, which is recognized as the highest honor bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky, for his contributions to his local community. He attributes his success to the inspirational educators he has had over the years.

In the earlier years of his professional journey, Dr. Knieter served in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s while teaching at the Naval School of Music in Anacostia, Washington, D.C., where he was teacher of advanced theory and wrote the curriculum for the warrant officers’ program. Subsequently, he went on to matriculate at New York University, earning a Bachelor of Science in music education in 1953 and a Master of Arts in music education, with an emphasis in higher education, in 1954. He followed by attaining a Doctor of Education in music education with an emphasis in psychology and teacher education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1961