Four faculty members and one staff member with a combined service total of 150 years are retiring from the Glenn Korff School of Music.
The university community is invited to attend the two public celebrations planned for these retiring faculty and staff.
• Alisa Belflower, lecturer and coordinator of musical theatre studies, is retiring after 22 years of service to the university. There will be a private dinner to celebrate her retirement.
Belflower joined both the Glenn Korff School of Music and Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film faculty in 2000. She taught a studio of both classical and music theatre voice students. In addition to her teaching, she is the coordinator of musical theatre studies in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and an associate producer in music theatre development with the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
She has music directed, coached and/or staged more than 100 productions. She was also the writer and director of the university’s annual Celebration of American Song series founded in 2004. Earlier this year, she was elected the National Association of Teachers of Singing national vice president for auditions for 2022-2024.
• Gretchen Foley, associate professor of music theory, is retiring after 21 years of service. There will be a private dinner to celebrate her retirement.
Foley has taught in the Glenn Korff School of Music since 2001. She is an active member of the Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Midwest and the College Music Society.
Her research interests focus on George Perle’s theory of 12-tone tonality and music theory pedagogy, with additional interests in analysis for performance, genre fusion and progressive rock. She has presented her work internationally, and her research has appeared in a variety of journals, including Music Theory Online and the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.
She received the Hixson-Lied College’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007.
• Peter Lefferts, professor of music history, is retiring after 33 years of service. There will be a public farewell celebration for Lefferts from 3 to 5 p.m. April 26 on the stage in Kimball Recital Hall.
Lefferts has taught in the Glenn Korff School of Music since 1989. His teaching responsibilities have spanned a broad range from introductory courses in listening for freshman non-majors; courses in music history and theory for undergraduate majors; to doctoral seminars. He also served a full term as the Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at the university.
In fall 2007, he was appointed chief adviser for music majors on the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees. He won the college’s Achievement Award in Academic Advising in 2010 and was also awarded a Hixson-Lied Professorship from 2009-2015.
Lefferts was the associate director for the Glenn Korff School of Music from 2014-2016, served one year as interim director in 2016-2017 and reassumed the position of associate director for 2017-2018 before returning to the teaching faculty.
His areas of research specialization include medieval and Renaissance English music, the medieval motet, early music notation, early music theory in Latin and English, the tonal behavior of 14th- and 15th-century songs, and the relationship between church architecture and liturgy.
His most recent book, “The Dorset Rotulus: Contextualizing and Reconstructing the Early English Motet” was published by Boydell Press in London in 2021.
• Colleen McDonald, administrative tech II, is retiring after 31 years of service.
McDonald works with undergraduate and graduate students in the music degree programs. She keeps student files and serves as the initial contact for information regarding student registration and record problems. In 2013, she received the Hixson-Lied Staff Award for Outstanding Service.
• Glenn Nierman, the Glenn Korff chair of music, professor of music education and associate director of the Glenn Korff School of Music, is retiring after 43 years of service. There will be a public farewell celebration for Nierman from 3 to 5 p.m. May 3 on the Kimball Recital Hall stage (please enter through the west doors).
Nierman has taught in the Glenn Korff School of Music since 1979. He is past president of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and a recent member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Music Education (ISME).
He has authored numerous journal articles, made presentations at national NAfME national conferences, and has given addresses at ISME World Congresses on five continents. He has also served on the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Council of Research in Music Education for 17 years. He is currently chair of NAfME’s Council of Past Presidents.
His research interests have been in the areas of assessment, teacher education and instructional strategies.
Learn more about the Glenn Korff School of Music faculty and staff retirements here.
