Frederick (Ted) Tims, PhD, MT-BC, Associate Director for Graduate Studies at the Michigan State University School of Music, where he is also Professor and Chair of Music Therapy, will speak on "How Music Affects Our Health" Monday, June 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the John Paul Hammerschmidt Lecture Series at North Arkansas College. The JPH Lecture Series is open to the public free of charge. The lecture by Dr. Tims will be held in the JPH Conference Center.

      Tims grew up in Harrison, the son of Fred C. and Estella Tims, and graduated from Harrison High School and Hendrix College before earning his master's degree in piano performance from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. degree in music therapy from the University of Kansas. He has been involved with the practice of medical music therapy for the past 20 years and is one of the leading researchers in this area.

      Tims is a past president of the former National Association for Music Therapy and secretary of the Certification Board for Music Therapists. For many years he served as a consultant to the Professional Association of Music Therapists in Great Britain. He is well known nationally and internationally as a presenter on music and wellness, medical music therapy, improvisational music therapy, and multicultural music therapy. He has been an invited guest speaker in Canada, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Ghana, and Japan. In 2001 Ted was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Music Therapy Association for his efforts to advance the profession of music therapy during his professional career.

      Ted has taught at the University of Kansas, Colorado State University (where he began a new music therapy department), the University of Miami, and now Michigan State University, which is the oldest music therapy degree program in the world. Ted says that it is always a great feeling to be back in Harrison and his beloved Ozark mountains. "Harrison was the ideal place to grow up," he recalls. "We all never knew how good we had it back then or how beautiful the surrounding area was. We all just took that for granted."

      Tims' talk will be the eighth JPH Lecture. He follows astronaut Dr. Jerry Linenger, Sherpa mountain guide Jamling Tenzing Norgay, CIA officers Tony and Jonna Mendez, syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer, former North Vietnam prisoner of war Colonel Edward L. Hubbard, 1972 Olympic 800-meter-run champion Dave Wottle, and Chief Richard "Pitch" Picciotto, the highest-ranking firefighter to survive the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the collapse of the Twin Towers, as a speaker in the series.

      Funded by private gifts to the North Arkansas College Foundation, the JPH Lecture Series sponsors national experts to speak about topics of interest to the people of northern Arkansas. Congressman Hammerschmidt has an office at Northark, and many of his photographs, awards, and other memorabilia area on display in the building that bears his name.

 

Last Updated: 04 June, 2003