Jeff Todd Titon

College of Liberal Arts, October 17, 2017

Jeff Todd Titon received a master of arts degree in American studies (1967) and in English (1970), and a Ph.D. in American studies (1971) from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. A foundational figure in ethnomusicology, Titon has earned an international reputation as one of the premier educators in his field. He is considered to be a world authority on the relationship between music, environment, and society whose scholarly research, publications, and pedagogy have profoundly influenced generations of students, academics, and musicians. He is a professor emeritus at Brown University where he directed the Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology for 27 years and today holds the Basler Chair of Excellence for the Integration of the Arts, Rhetoric, and Science at East Tennessee State University. Widely published, Titon is the author of numerous essays, and the author of eight books including Worlds of Musics, an ethnomusicology textbook that has gone through six editions (1984-2016) and has been translated into Italian, Greek, and Chinese. In addition, Titon has directed two documentary films and has also produced several recordings from his field tapes. In 2015, his field recordings of Old Regular Baptist music from southeastern Kentucky were named to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. Titon is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. In 2014, he was awarded a lifetime membership from the Society for Ethnomusicology, a recognition that he is among the field’s foundational figures.