abarksda@wau.edu
Education:
Doctor of Musical Arts, Boston University
MS, Towson University
BMus, The Catholic University of America
Biography:
Barksdale attended the Catholic University of America, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Therapy – high honors while winning the President’s Award for scholarship, leadership and community service and becoming a member of Sigma Alpha Iota women’s music fraternity. She then attended Towson University, earning a master’s degree in music education. Barksdale completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University. Dr. Barksdale is a dedicated music therapist and educator and has given presentations on music therapy and adaptive music strategies throughout the United States. She has taught at Howard Community College and Towson University and is currently the Music Therapy Program Director at Washington Adventist University.
Research and Professional Activities:
Dr. Barksdale currently serves as a governor appointee on the Maryland State Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing-Aid Dispensers, Speech Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists. She received specialist training and is certified in Neurologic Music Therapy techniques. As a board-certified music therapist and music educator, Dr. Barksdale developed and implemented music therapy programs for students in non-public special education schools and taught in Maryland public schools as a choral and general music educator. Dr. Barksdale’s interests in adaptive music strategies and university teaching led to her dissertation research, The Self-Efficacy of University Music Majors with Disabilities. She authored a chapter, Music as Medicine, in Integrative Rehabilitation Practice: The Foundations of Whole-Person Care for Health Professionals (Singing Dragon, 2021). Her work was published in The International Journal of Community Music (February 2013). Dr. Barksdale is the author of the textbook, Music Therapy and Leisure for Persons with Disabilities (Sagamore, 2002).