Administration

Andrew Stetson — Director of the School of Music

Dr. Andrew Stetson is a versatile performer, clinician, educator, scholar, and administrator. Currently serving as Director and Professor in the School of Music at Texas Tech University, he previously held the positions of Senior Associate Director and Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies.

As a performer, Dr. Stetson serves as Principal Trumpet of the Steamboat Springs Symphony Orchestra (CO) and has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Alabama Symphony, Albany Symphony (NY), Arkansas Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Lubbock Symphony. He has also given solo recitals across the United States and appeared as a featured soloist with several Texas Tech University ensembles. Internationally, Dr. Stetson has been an invited soloist with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Recife, Brazil's oldest and longest-running symphony orchestra. Prior to his appointment at Texas Tech, he placed in the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition and performed in the live rounds of the National Trumpet Competition.

Dr. Stetson's debut solo album, "Rise Above," is available for sale and streaming worldwide on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube, and has received airplay in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and other countries. Dr. Stetson is committed to collaboration between students and professional performers, and was proud to feature over 100 Texas Tech University students on the release. Fanfare Magazine praised the recording, stating that "there's joy in Stetson's music-making, and it is captivating to hear his technical command and artistry."

Dr. Stetson's numerous performances, clinics, and masterclasses, as well as his debut album, have earned him the 2022 Chancellor's Council Research Award, the top faculty honor for research within the entire system of Texas Tech University.

Dr. Stetson is also a dedicated educator, and has received the 2016 Hemphill-Wells New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, a university-wide honor at Texas Tech University. His students have achieved numerous accolades, including performing in the solo and ensemble rounds of the National Trumpet Competition, being a finalist in the Ellsworth Smith International Trumpet Solo Competition, winning positions with full-time military ensembles, and gaining admission to top graduate programs. Several of his students have also been invited to compete in live, invite-only rounds of the National Trumpet Competition in recent years.

As a clinician, Dr. Stetson has presented at numerous high schools and educational conferences, including the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Convention and the Florida Music Educators Association Convention.

Dr. Stetson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University. His principal studies were with Charles Schlueter, Eric Berlin, Terry Everson, and Thomas Siders.

Dr. Stetson is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

To contact Dr. Andrew Stetson, please email music.directorsoffice@ttu.edu 

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Carla Davis Cash—Associate Director for Applied Studies & Faculty Affairs

Carla Davis Cash is Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Texas Tech University where she teaches graduate courses in pedagogy and supervises keyboard-area graduate part-time instructors. In addition to her instructional duties, she serves the School of Music as Associate Director for Applied Studies and Faculty Affairs.

For almost two decades, Cash’s body of research has centered on the processes by which novice and expert musicians learn and refine motor skills. She regularly presents her work at state, national, and international conferences of music performance, education, and psychology, and her articles can be found in leading journals and trade magazines of music education and music psychology, including Journal of Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, American Suzuki Journal, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, and the MTNA e-Journal. 

In recognition of her contributions to the field of music learning, Cash has received the Outstanding Service Recognition Award from the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy (2023), the Texas Tech University Chancellor's Council Distinguished Research Award (2015), and the Outstanding Research Award from the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP). (2007, 2009). She has been awarded an Arts in Medicine Grant from the Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts (2018), several Texas Tech Scholarship Catalyst Program grants, the Schovanec Teaching Development Scholarship (2021), and the inaugural Texas Tech Seed Grant for Interdisciplinary Research (2016), subsequently utilized to investigate the neural basis of skill learning in music using fMRI technology. In 2021, Cash was inducted into the Texas Tech Teaching Academy.

Professional activities include serving on the editorial boards of the Journal for Piano Research (2023-) and MTNA e-Journal (2021-2023) as well as on editorial and research committees for Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP). Carla also continues to perform, when time allows, with colleagues on stages across the U.S. and beyond. 

A native of Miami, Florida, she earned a B.M. in Keyboard Performance and an M.M. in Keyboard Performance and Pedagogy from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and holds a Ph.D. in Music and Human Learning from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Jacqueline Henninger — Associate Director for Academic Studies and Affairs

Dr. Jacqueline C. Henninger (PhD, Music Education, MM, Music Education, and BM Music Studies, The University of Texas at Austin) joined the Texas Tech University (TTU) School of Music (SOM) faculty in 2014 and is currently the Associate Director for Academic Studies and Affairs and an Associate Professor of Music Education.  In 2018, she was inducted into the TTU Teaching Academy and was also named a recipient of the TTU Alumni Association New Faculty Award. Prior to joining the faculty at TTU, Dr. Henninger was a Fulbright Scholar in Sub-Saharan Africa, which enabled her to teach and research at Tumaini University Makumira in Usa River, Tanzania, East Africa from 2012 - 2014. Dr. Henninger has also held faculty appointments at The University of Texas at Austin (2005-2013) and The Ohio State University (2000 - 2005). Her teaching responsibilities across these different institutions have included undergraduate and graduate courses in music education, coordinating and supervising student teachers, and advising master and doctoral level examinations, projects, theses, and dissertations.

Dr. Henninger’s research, which has been presented at state, national, and international conferences, is focused on two academic areas: teacher preparation and DEIAB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Belonging) in the music classroom. Her articles have been published in the following journals:

Journal of Research in Music Education
International Journal of Music Education
Update: Applications of Research in Music Education
Journal of Music Teacher Education
Journal of Band Research
Texas Music Education Research
Southwestern Musician
Global Music and Culture: Intersections and Inclusion
Texas Music Educators Conference (TMEC): Connections
TRIAD. 

Dr. Henninger is the author of a textbook chapter entitled The Teaching and Learning of Music of East Africa: Songs and Dances of Tanzania, which is included within the textbook entitled Teaching General Music: A K-12 Experience and is published by Routledge. She also has another book chapter that is currently in press with Oxford Press.  This chapter is entitled The Life of a Single Mom of Color in Academia: Challenges and Rewards and will be within the book Motherhood in the Music Education Academy.  In addition to presenting at different conferences and publishing in various journals and textbooks, Dr. Henninger has also served (and is currently serving) on the editorial boards/committees for several state, national, and international refereed journals in the field of music education.

Dr. Henninger is active in state, national, and international professional organizations. She is currently the Board Advisor for the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE).  She has also served in several different roles on the executive board of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) – Texas, which is the state affiliate of the national organization. Those roles have included Past President, President, President-Elect, Member-at-Large, and a member of the Council of Chairs.  She has also served as a Facilitator for the SMTE ASPA (Areas of Strategic Planning and Action), Cultural Diversity and Social Justice for Music Teacher Education.  Additionally, Dr. Henninger has served as the Chair for the Special Research Interest Group (SRIG): Instructional Strategies with NAfME, is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Research Committee, and has served as a consultant for other professional organizations.

After earning her Bachelor of Music degree from UT-Austin, Professor Henninger had a highly successful public school teaching career as a choral and band director at Fulmore Middle School in the Austin Independent School District. Dr. Henninger continues to enjoy working with public school music students, prospective music educators, and music practitioners as an events adjudicator, guest clinician, guest conductor, guest lecturer/presenter, and guest panelist on local, state, national, and international levels.

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Alice Anne Light — Associate Director for Student Affairs

Dr. Alice Anne Light is a mezzo-soprano known for her versatility across opera, concert, recital, and musical theater. Praised for her rich and expressive voice, she has performed extensively in the U.S. and internationally. Her performances have included recitals in Italy, Romania, Ecuador, and China and collaborations with prominent organizations such as the Arkansas Symphony, St. Louis Bach Society, Bar Harbor Music Festival, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, and Central City Opera. She has been recognized multiple times by the American Prize in the categories of American Music, Art Song, and Collaborative Virtual Performance.

Dr. Light's influence extends beyond her performances. She is a vocal advocate for contemporary American art songs, often collaborating with composers to commission new pieces. Her innovative approach to performing these works in unique settings has redefined the traditional recital format. Notably, she commissioned and premiered hours by Cecil Price Walden, a project that seamlessly blends art song with visual arts. Dr. Light's debut album of hours is available for purchase and for streaming on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, and the PARMA music website.

In addition to her performing career, Dr. Light is a dedicated educator. Dr. Light is a frequent masterclass presenter and adjudicator across the country and the globe and has recently worked with students at the University of North Florida, Washburn University, and the University of Mississippi, and well as the Universidad de los Hemisferios in Ecuador, Guanxi Arts University in China, and the West University of Timisoara in Romania. At Texas Tech, Dr. Light has taught courses in English, Italian, and German Diction, Song Literature, and Vocal Pedagogy. Her students have garnered accolades such as the Helen DeVitt Jones Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, the Excellence in Graduate Music Study Award, and First Place in the Arts and Humanities Graduate Student Conference Presentation Competition. Her graduate students have presented nationally and internationally at the NATS National Convention, the National Association of Opera Conference, the International Conference on Women's Work in Music, and more.  

Dr. Light has served on the Board for the Kansas City Chapter of NATS and as Vice President, Auditions Chair, and President for the Panhandle Chapter of NATS. She is a member of AGMA.

Dr. Light holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harding University, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Mississippi, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

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