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- Heidi Upton
Associate Professor
The Institute for Core Studies (ICS)
Heidi Upton is an Associate Professor at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, where she has taught since the fall of 2003. A fulltime professor for Discover New York, a core-curriculum freshman transition course, she is also affiliated with the Department of Art and Design where she teaches other core curriculum courses including Introduction to Music, Music Theory, and The Creative Process. She is Faculty Advisor for St. John’s Chamber Music Society, a student group dedicated to the performance of collaborative music. Dr. Upton has published several works focusing on her research topic: aesthetic education and civic engagement.
Dr. Upton has been a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education (LCE) since 1998. She is distinguished as being one of its first full-time teaching artists, a post she was awarded in 2001. She has also participated in writing several special projects for LCE, resulting in publications such as Windows on the Work (resource manuals that accompany the Institute’s Repertory) and the Lincoln Center Institute/Time Warner, Inc. Professional Development Discussions: Aesthetic Education and Youth Programs: A Guide to Best Practices. She has been heard on National Public Radio as a pianist and commentator and on Public Radio International as an announcer. In addition, she can be heard as the narrator of several documentaries.
Dr. Upton, a pianist, was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. She received the Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Sascha Gorodnitzki. She has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, under such music directors as Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, William McGlaughlin, and Christopher Kendall. Ms. Upton has appeared in recital and chamber music with many artists in such venues as Caramoor Center for the Arts and on Martha’s Vineyard. She has performed extensively the music of composer and conductor David Amram with whom she has appeared at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Jewish Museum and on national radio broadcasts. As a member of Cicada Chamber Players, she can be heard on Listening for Blossoms, the recently released recording of the music of composer Lei Liang. A native New Yorker, Dr. Upton is a graduate of the famed High School of Performing Arts.
Courses taught:
First Year Seminar
The Creative Process
Introduction to Music
Music Theory
“Integrating Experience through the Work of William Newell and Maxine Greene”, Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 36(1), pp. 108-143 (2018)
"Aesthetic Education and Discover New York: Inquiry, the Arts and Civic Engagement", Inquiry-Based Learning for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: A Conceptual and Practical Resource for Educators (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 325-343 Published online 5 Dec 2014
"Noticing the Homeless: Civic Engagement Through Aesthetic Education", Journal for Civic Commitment, Spring 2013
Book Review of Reaching Out: A Musician’s Guide to Interactive Performance by David Wallace: Teaching Artist Journal, Taylor & Francis. Volume 6, Number 2, April-June 2008
Co-author – with Cathryn Williams, Director of Strategic Alliances, Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education: Lincoln Center Institute/Time Warner, Inc. “Professional Development Discussions”, 2007-2008
45th Annual Conference of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies: Transformative Shifts: Integration, Wholeness and Wellness, Interactive session/Workshop: “Awakening to the Global Community: A COIL Project Report”. October 26-28, 2023
First International Conference, Maxine Greene Institute “Global Perspectives: Aesthetic Education, Social Imagination and the Work of Maxine Greene”. Aesthetic Education Practice, A Model in New York with artist, Barbara Ellmann. January 12-14, 2023, Online
44th Annual Conference, Association for Interdisciplinary Studies: Wicked Problems and Interdisciplinarity: Sustainability, Resilience, and Designing the Future, at Sonoma State University. “Building an International Partnership from the Ground Up: A Story About Global Online Learning Exchange in Action”. Co-presenter, Heidi Upton with Paul Christensen, University of Goettingen, November 10-12, 2022
PSt. John’s University Ad Hoc Committee on High-Impact Practices, in the Association of American Colleges and Universities 2021 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, “Enhancing Institutional Capacity for Quality, Equity, and Student Engagement”, June 15-18, 2021, Online
42nd Annual Conference, Association for Interdisciplinary Studies: Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Navigating Between Generosity and Rigor, at Sonoma State University, (held virtually). “Rising on the Downbeat: Interdisciplinary and Aesthetic Inquiry through the work of art”. October 14-16, 2021
41st Annual Conference, Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, at University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands __“Arts and Humanities Section Workshop: Weaving Meaning through the Arts - Across, Along and Beyond”, Co-Presenters: Heidi Upton, Heather Van Uxem Lewis, Steven McAlpine, __ “Reading the World: A “Glocal” Approach , Co-Presenters: Heidi Upton (Moderator), Daniela Vicherat Mattar, Lutz Krebs, October 24-26, 2019
“Integrating Experience Through Aesthetic and Interdisciplinary Methodologies”, at the Fifth Annual Imagination, Inquiry and Innovation Institute: “The Art of Multiple Perspectives”. Manhattan College, NY, March 30, 2019
“From Classroom Spaces to Global Places” with Gregory Bruhn, Global Studies for AAC&U’s Global Engagement and Spaces of Practice: Global Challenges across Disciplinary Boundaries conference, Seattle, WA, October 11-13, 2018
40th Annual Conference of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies: Inter/diversities: Intersecting Race, Gender, Class, Abilities, Theories and Disciplines, Wayne State University, Michigan. “Adventures in InterSpace: Leaping borders while seeking integration through the arts and social imagination” October 11-13, 2018
39th Annual Conference, Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, Maryland . “Creativity, Intuition and Mapping: Navigating Information Through the Senses” with Heather Lewis, Steven Mcalpine, October 19-21, 2017,
“Spaces for Possibilities: A Moveable Feat of Ideas”, Plenary Panel Moderator, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) CUNY. Sponsored by Maxine Greene Center, College of New Rochelle, BMCC, March 11, 2017
“What Matters Most in Student Success”, Invited Participant in Colloquium, led by John N. Gardner, President, Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Founding Director and Senior Fellow, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina, New York, NY, December 8, 2016
38th Annual Conference, Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CA.: “Promoting a Healthy Climate with High-Impact Practices: The Why Behind Aesthetic Education and Interdisciplinarity in First Year Seminar” __ “Constructing Interdisciplinary Common Ground: The Arts and Humanities in Practice” with Steven McAlpine, UMBC, Simeon Dreyfuss, Independent Interdisciplinary Scholar, Allison Upshaw, University of Alabama, October 27-28, 2016,
“Aesthetic Education and Social Imagination: The Legacy of Maxine Greene”, with Karen Zorn, President, Longy School of Music and Paul Guyer, Jonathan Nelson Professor of Humanities and Philosophy: Art and Social Action: New Paradigms and Practices; Brown University, R.I. February 26, 2016.
37th Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Annual Conference; Merrimack College, North Andover, MA. ___“And now for something completely different: Interdisciplinarity in the Art and Humanities with Tanya Augsburg, Stephen McAlpine and Simeon Dreyfuss. ___“Releasing the Social Imagination: Lending our Lives to Works of Art” with actor, Jean Taylor ___” Moving Toward an Interdisciplinary Class Model: The Evolution of a Non-Traditional Common Core Course” with Dr. Robert Pecorella, October 22-25, 2015
“Maxine Greene Center for Aesthetic Education and Social Imagination Aesthetic Workshop” with Holly Fairbank, Exec. Dir, MGC, The American Educational Studies Association (AESA) & The International Association of Intercultural Education (IAIE) Joint Conference, Toronto, CA, October 29 - November 2, 2014.
36th Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Conference, Michigan State University, MI, October 15 19, 2014. __“Art, Politics and the Social Imagination: An Example of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research” with Dr. Robert Pecorella, __“The City, the Self, and the Social Imagination: A NY Photo Project Story” as part of a panel entitled “Art, Literature and Interdisciplinarity” with Grechen Schulz and Helena Talaya-Mano (Oxford College of Emory University)
Arts in Education Roundtable: Face to Face 2014, “Aesthetic Education and Social Imagination; Why a Maxine Greene Center?” April 16-17, 2014
Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University of Ohio, "Music, Science and the Space In-between", with Steven McAlpine (UMBC), November 7-10, 2013
"Noticing the Homeless: Aesthetic Education in Practice", Institute for Imagination, Inquiry and Innovation, NY, November 3, 2012.
"Shelter and Shoreline: Civic Engagement in the Modern City", Association for Integrative Studies, MI, with Elizabeth Albert, October 11-14, 2012.
"Creative Collaborations: Community-based Learning through the Arts", Imagining America, NYC, October 5-7, 2012.
"Learning About Homelessness through the Arts", Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness, NYC, January 19-20, 2012.
"Weaving Ancestral Muses; Two Perspectives from the Arts to the Academy", Association for Integrative Studies, MI, with Elizabeth Albert, October 13-16, 2011.
"Reaching Out, Reaching In: Embedding Student Engagement"; Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Symposium hosted by Sloan Consortium and MERLOT, CA, July 11-13, 2011.
"Translating Service Learning", Fourth Annual Institute on Global Service-Learning, NY, June 10, 2011.
Bridging Communities: Forum on Homelessness and Hunger, NYU, NY, November 16, 2010.
"Students and Sustainability: The Theatrical Imagination", 32nd Annual Conference Association for Integrative Studies, San Diego, CA, October 7-10, 2010.
"Youth Doing Research and Service Learning", Institute for Children and Poverty, PA, January 20-21, 2010.
"Creativity and the Core", 31st Annual Conference, Association for Integrative Studies, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, ALA, October 8-11, 2009.
"Student Engagement and Social Justice",30st Annual Conference, Association for Integrative Studies, University of Illinois, IL, October 23-26, 2008.
"Teaching Discover New York", 29th Annual Conference, Association for Integrative Studies, Arizona State University, AZ, September 27-30, 2007.
"Aesthetic Education in New Contexts", 28th Annual Conference, Association for Integrative Studies, Emory University and Oxford College of Emory University and co-hosted by the University of West Georgia, GA, October 5-8, 2006.