The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance announces that Kelli Smith-Biwer will join the Department of Musicology as an assistant professor this fall. Smith-Biwer’s work seeks to broaden the conversation around gender and audio technologies by leveraging her past work experience in IT and network engineering.
“I am honored, and a little star struck, to join the faculty at this storied institution,” shared Smith-Biwer. “The faculty, students, and staff have already given me a wonderfully warm welcome and I cannot wait to get the school year started. The energy in this department is electric and I am coming to understand what makes it one the most esteemed in the field.”
Her current book project, The Hi-Fi Man: Masculinity, Modularity, and Home Audio in the US Midcentury brings together methods from media, gender, and music studies to examine the masculinities represented and reproduced during the 1950s hi-fi boom in the United States. Smith-Biwer has published in the Journal for the Society of American Music and has a chapter forthcoming in the edited volume Instruments, Interfaces, Infrastructures: Thinking Across Musical Media (Oxford University Press). She has presented her work at both national and international conferences, including the annual meetings for the American Musicological Society, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, the Society for American Music, and others. Smith-Biwer won the 2018 Somers Award for Excellence in Teaching, received the 2019 James W. Pruett Research Fellowship, and was the inaugural UNC Arts Everywhere Music Technology Fellow. Her archival work has been supported by the Hagley Museum and Library, the Library of Congress, and the Royster Society of Fellows.
“The Musicology Department is excited to welcome a colleague so accomplished and well-positioned as a scholar at the forefront of popular music research,” said Gabriela Cruz, professor and chair of the Department of Musicology. “Kelli is an imaginative teacher, an erudite scholar, and an energetic colleague whose presence further elevates our department’s commitment and reputation for excellence in the field of popular studies.”
A vital aspect of Smith-Biwer’s work hinges on community engagement and advocacy. She has arranged workshops taught by Black, queer, and femme-identifying producers; facilitated hands-on music technology demonstrations in local venues; and founded gender inclusive electronic music ensembles at Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina.
Smith-Biwer teaches courses on a variety of topics, including music and gender, popular music, digital cultures, media studies, and the history of music technology. She holds a PhD in musicology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and previously taught at the Ohio University School of Music.