Dr. Bridget Sweet, pictured with Provost John Coleman, is awarded a medallion at her investiture.
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On Thursday, November 6, 2025, the School of Music celebrated the investiture of Dr. Bridget Sweet as the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education. The ceremony featured remarks by Dr. Linda Moorhouse, Director of the School of Music; Dr. Ollie Watts Davis, Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts; Dr. Janet Revell Barrett, Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education Emerita; Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs John Coleman; Dr. Elizabeth Cassidy Parker, Professor of Music Education at Temple University; Dr. Jeremy Manternach, Associate Professor of Music Education, University of Iowa, and Dr. Sweet herself. In addition, the Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School 8th Grade Choir, directed by Brian Lonergan and assisted by Nicole Kuglich, sang two songs: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burnin’ – Traditional Spiritual, Arr. Greg Gilpin, and Nothing is Gonna Stop Me – Arr. Pinkzebra. Dr. Sweet’s son was in the choir and sang as part of the celebration. Dr. Sweet was awarded a medallion, and the investiture was followed by a reception.
The Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education is funded by a generous gift from the Vernon K. and Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Foundation, established in honor of longtime music educator and alumna Marilyn Zimmerman (MS ’55 Music Education, EdD ’63). This chair supports excellence in music education, advancing scholarship, performance, and pedagogy while reinforcing the University of Illinois’ commitment to engaging the community through the power of music.
Dr. Bridget Sweet, pictured with Provost John Coleman, is awarded a medallion at her investiture.
Dr. Bridget Sweet stands with Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Chair emerita Dr. Janet Revell Barrett, along with Dr. Elizabeth Cassidy Parker of Temple University and Dr. Jeremy Manternach of the University of Iowa.
About Dr. Sweet
Bridget Sweet is Professor of Music Education and the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Illinois. After completing her Bachelors Degree in Music Education at Western Michigan University, Dr. Sweet enjoyed a successful tenure as a middle school choir teacher for nearly ten years. Her interests in adolescent music education intensified during her Masters and Doctoral programs in Music Education at Michigan State University, which contributed to her research focused on characteristics of effective and exemplary middle-level music teachers. At the University of Illinois, Dr. Sweet teaches secondary music education pedagogy, including choral methods and literature, graduate courses in music education, as well as a course focused on the development of healthy practices for all musicians. She is a Licensed Body Mapping Educator through the Association for Body Mapping Education.
Dr. Sweet continues to work extensively with adolescent singers as a teacher, clinician, and conductor; she has been invited to conduct middle and high school All-State Choirs and Honors Choirs in over a dozen states. Dr. Sweet wrote the books Growing Musicians: Teaching Music in Middle School and Beyond (2016, Oxford University Press) and Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Voice Change in Music Education (2020, Oxford University Press). She co-edited the book Motherhood in the Music Education Academy (2025, Oxford University Press). Dr. Sweet’s research interests include middle level choral music education, [assigned at birth] female and male adolescent voice change, musician health and wellness, intersections of LGBTQ+ topics and the music classroom, as well as intersections of motherhood and academia. Her research has appeared in publications of Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Choral Journal, International Journal of Music Education: Research, Journal of Research in Music Education and Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. She has authored chapters within The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research in American Music Education (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education (2023), and The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Queer Studies in Music Education (in press). She is currently the guest editor of a Music Educators Journal special focus issue on health and wellness in the music education profession (anticipated, 2026). Dr. Sweet was initiated as a Friend of the Arts to the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity (2021).
Dr. Bridget Sweet stands with Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Chair emerita Dr. Janet Revell Barrett, along with Dr. Elizabeth Cassidy Parker of Temple University and Dr. Jeremy Manternach of the University of Iowa.
The Mahomet-Seymour 8th Grade Choir 8th Grade Choir perform at Dr. Bridget Sweet’s investiture.
Dr. Bridget Sweet, Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education celebrates with Janet Barrett, Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education Emerita