Biography

Dr. Megan Sheridan is an assistant professor of music education at the University of Florida, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. She received her Ph.D. in music from The Ohio State University, her master of arts in music and music education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her bachelor of music in music education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University.  Dr. Sheridan is Kodály certified and has completed Level II Orff-Schulwerk training.  She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of General Music Education. Locally, Dr. Sheridan frequently works with the Gainesville Youth Chorus and is a member of their board of directors. Prior to teaching at the university level, Dr. Sheridan taught elementary general and choral music in public and private schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland.  She was also the director of the Victory Choir, a choir of cancer survivors and caregivers, at The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.   

Dr. Sheridan’s research interests include children’s vocal development, pedagogical approaches in the elementary music classroom, music for children with special needs, music teacher education, and qualitative research methods.  Her recent publications include "The Kodály Concept in the United States: Early American Adaptations to Recent Evolutions" in the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education and “A Content Analysis of Assessment in General Musis Today' in the book Selected Papers from the 6th International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education.  She has also co-authored the chapter "Alternative Assessment for Music Students with Significant Disabilities: Collaboration, Inclusion, and Transformation," which was published in the Oxford Handbook of Philosophical and Qualitative Perspectives on Assessment in Music Education. She has given conference presentations at the Early Childhood Music Education Seminar in Taipei, Taiwan, the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE) Symposium, the Mountain Lake Symposium, the Florida Music Education Association (FMEA), the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), the Maryland Music Educators Association (MMEA), the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS), and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) - Music Education.  Dr. Sheridan also frequently serves as a clinician and guest choral conductor for public schools across the state of Florida.