Eric Whitmer
(they/he)
PhD Candidate
Bio
Eric Whitmer is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Michigan. Their research draws from the fields of disability studies and digital studies, and seeks to understand how and why people utilize music to make the world “better.” Their dissertation examines the development of the American orchestra in the 20th and 21st centuries as a privately-funded technology of social development and influence. In 2026, Eric was named a Gutsy Broad Fellow by the Center for the Education of Women+ at the University of Michigan for their research on accessible music education in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Their work appears in the Journal of Music History Pedagogy on access in the music history classroom, and in a forthcoming special issue of Ground Works on disabled art-making. Besides thinking and talking about music, Eric also plays music as a percussionist and carillonist, and is the Resident Carillonist at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church.
