Professor Stuart Chapman Hill Named an Emerson Excellence in Teaching Recipient

Stuart Chapman Hill, an associate professor in the Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts Department of Music, was selected as a 2023 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award recipient. He is one of nearly 100 teachers in the St. Louis region who are being recognized for outstanding educational excellence.

Hill is the director of Music Education and teaches courses in music education and conducts the treble-voice ensemble, Aurelia. He completed his doctoral studies at Michigan State University, where he studied music education and choral conducting and taught courses in music education foundations and songwriting.

"The Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award is a much-deserved recognition for Dr. Hill,” said Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts Dean Paul Steger. “This award, and his many other accolades, clearly makes him one of our region's most celebrated faculty members.  We are so proud to have him recognized as one of the top teachers in the St. Louis area."

While at Michigan State, he received the Excellence-in-Teaching Citation, a university-wide award given annually to six graduate students in recognition of their work in the undergraduate classroom. In 2021, Hill was awarded the Wilma and Roswell Messing Jr. Faculty Award at Webster; in 2022, he won Webster's William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Hill’s scholarly interests include music teacher identity musicianship, curriculum, and music education philosophy. His scholarship appears in the “Journal of Research in Music Education,” the “Philosophy of Music Education Review,” and “Research Studies in Music Education.” He is a co-author of the recent book “Q&A for MLT: Choral Perspectives on Music Learning Theory.” 

He previously taught middle school chorus in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was a member of the choral music faculty of the Governor's School of North Carolina (East campus).

Hill serves as Artistic Director of CHARIS, the St. Louis Women's Chorus and maintains an active schedule as a choral composer and conductor. In 2019, he was interviewed on St. Louis Public Radio about CHARIS. His choral compositions are published by Hinshaw Music and G. Schirmer. Recent guest conducting engagements include the North Carolina Middle School All State Chorus in Greensboro, NC; the New York State School Music Association Zone 2 All State in Batavia, NY; and the Middle East South Asia Conference Senior Arts Festival in New Delhi, India.

The Emerson Excellence in Teaching Awards, now in its 34th year, is one of the St. Louis region’s most recognized teacher recognition programs.