Professor Stephanie Cronenberg of the Mason Gross Music Department has been chosen to serve as the school’s inaugural Director of Research for a three-year, renewable term. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2024. According to Dean Jason Geary, this new position is meant “to build on the interdisciplinary initiatives underway at the school and to help enhance MGSA’s standing across the university and beyond by building much-needed research infrastructure.”
Cronenberg is an associate professor of Music Education, where she also serves as area head and a member of the Executive Committee. She also has chaired the Core Curriculum Committee within the Music Department, charged with reviewing the Bachelor of Music degree program. Her research, which is informed by both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, focuses primarily on K–12 middle-level music and arts learning, as well as teacher education practices. This work has been supported by the National Association for Music Education and the Rutgers Research Council, among other grants and fellowships, and has been disseminated through dozens of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and conference presentations, along with a recent book published by Routledge Press.
“Stephanie brings to this role not only a strong administrative background but also on-the-ground experience navigating the research landscape at Rutgers,” Geary says. She also brings her perspective from past roles, including as a middle school general music and choral teacher, arts consultant, and director of Education and Community Programs at the Choral Arts Society of Washington.
Cronenberg received an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland, College Park, an EdM in Arts in Education from Harvard University, and a PhD in Curriculum, Instruction, and Aesthetics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.