Anita Hardeman named as School of Music director

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois University has named Anita Hardeman the director of the School of Music, effective July 1.

Hardeman joined the faculty of the school in 2013 as an assistant professor of musicology and served as the school’s graduate coordinator from 2019-2024. Hardeman has served as interim director of the School of Music since 2024.

“It is an honor to work with the talented and dedicated faculty, staff and students of the School of Music,” Hardeman said in a press release. “I look forward to a vibrant and exciting future for the university, especially with the Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts slated to open in the next year.”

A specialist in French opera of the 17th and 18th centuries, Hardeman has presented her research at national and international conferences, including the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society and the Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music and published in international journals including, “Early Music and the Journal of the American Musicological Society.”

Hardeman received the Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching in 2019, the College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018 and the Honors College Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2016. She serves as faculty advisor for the Beta Omicron chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon and InVoxicated, the WIU A Cappella Association.

Hardeman earned her Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario and has been a visiting instructor of Music at Kenyon College.

For more information on the WIU School of Music, visit wiu.edu/music.