by Jennifer Schneider
Staff Writer
Dr. Cathy H. McKinney, director of Appalachian State University’s
Hayes School of Music music therapy program, received the American
Music Therapy Association Award of Merit.
The award was presented at the association's annual conference in
November in Minneapolis, Minn.
“I am honored and humbled by the award,” McKinney said.
“I have many fine colleagues in this work.”
“The Award of Merit is the most prestigious recognition one
can receive from the American Music Therapy Association,”
Hayes School of Music Dean William Harbinson said.
“The annual recipient must demonstrate excellence in the areas
of teaching, research and service to the profession,” he said.
“I have known Dr. McKinney for approximately eight years,”
music therapy professor Christine Pollard said. “Her musical
abilities are excellent and are a core part of her daily life. She
is a professor with high standards for her students, both academically
and interpersonally.”
McKinney said she has always had music in her life.
Playing piano and participating in her high school marching band,
she said she never knew how important music was in her life until
she got into college.
“I had always taken the music part of my life for granted,”
McKinney said. “My first semester in college was the first
year that I did not have piano lessons and I realized how much I
missed it."
Originally, McKinney planned to double major in music and psychology.
“I had never heard of music therapy,” McKinney said.
While working a summer job at a psychiatric hospital, McKinney discovered
music therapy and began reading into what it was and started training.
Working as a music therapist since 1973, she earned a Ph.D in music
therapy and behavioral medicine.
She has been teaching at Appalachian for the past nine years.
“Dr. McKinney’s colleagues at the Hayes School of Music
are very proud, but not surprised, to learn that she is this year’s
recipient of the AMTA’s Music Therapy Award of Merit,”
Harbinson said. “She is a tireless advocate for the profession
and an outstanding educator.”
“She listens to what is said, but she can hear what is left
unsaid and encourage personal growth,” Pollard said.
“She inspires me to develop all areas of myself, including
the musical, the intellectual and the psychological. It is a privilege
to know her as a colleague, mentor and friend.”
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