Dr. John McCluskey
Lee University’s School of Music will host Shorter University professor and Lee alum Dr. John McCluskey to present a guest lecture on musical segregation in American college football on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
“I am personally and professionally pleased to welcome Dr. McCluskey back to his alma mater to speak on this timely topic,” said Dr. Phillip Thomas, chair of Lee’s Department of Musicianship Studies. “He is a bright, engaging scholar of whom we are very proud.”
Dr. McCluskey’s lecture is influenced by his recently completed dissertation, “This is Ghetto Row: Musical Segregation in American College Football.” This project led to presentations at a number of national and regional (ethno)musicological conferences, including the American Musicological Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the International Conference on Sport and Society, the Futures of American Studies Institute, and SEM’s Midwest Chapter meeting, where his presentation received the JaFran Jones Award.
His paper examines musical segregation in college football during the 2013 season via case studies and interviews with university musical coordinators from the nation’s five largest collegiate athletic conferences. He highlights the type of music university marketing departments allot time for players to listen to before a game, how marketing and athletic departments employ music as a means of intentionally misrepresenting their institution to high school recruits, and how the marching band continues to be the musical embodiment of college football.
In addition to serving as an assistant professor of music at Shorter, Dr. McCluskey is the chair of music, theatre, and dance at Shorter. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts in musicology and ethnomusicology from the University of Kentucky and his bachelor’s degree in music education at Lee University.
Dr. McCluskey has previously taught at Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky. He designed and taught courses in topics such as American music, the history of jazz, innovation and creativity in rock, and music appreciation. His efforts resulted in being awarded the University of Kentucky’s inaugural Kristen Stauffer Todd Memorial Award for Exceptional Graduate Teaching and Service in Musicology and Ethnomusicology in 2015.
He is also a member of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, and the Society for Ethnomusicology. His writing has appeared in the “Journal of the Society for American Music.”
The lecture will take place in the Humanities Center, 1250 Parker St., Room 104. For more information, contact Lee’s School of Music at 614-8240.