Music professor Gail Barnes wins for University of South Carolina
Gail Barnes, professor of music education in the School of Music, has been named winner of the 2020 SEC Faculty Achievement Award for the University of South Carolina, the SEC announced Tuesday.
The SEC Faculty Achievement and Professor of the Year Awards recognize faculty from SEC universities with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship. Winners, one from each of the SEC’s 14 member universities, will receive a $5,000 honorarium and become their university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year Award winner receives an additional $15,000 honorarium and will be recognized at the annual SEC awards dinner in Destin, Florida.
The awards began in 2012, and Dr. Barnes is one of three UofSC music professors who have been awarded the honor. Scott Price was honored in 2012 and Marina Lomazov in 2015. It’s impressive for any college to have had three of the nine recipients.
A career educator and violist, Barnes teaches courses in stringed instrument methods, orchestra literature and sociology of music education. She has also conducted all‐state orchestras and presented teaching clinics around the United States. She is co‐author of Measures of Success for String Orchestra, a method book for young musicians, and she founded a forum for string and orchestra teachers on Facebook which has more than 9000 members. Before joining the faculty in Columbia, Dr. Barnes played professionally in the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera, and she continues to play viola with the South Carolina Philharmonic.
“Dr. Gail Barnes has served for more than 20 years as director of the nationally recognized USC String Project, which provides music instruction and community outreach opportunities while becoming a model for universities around the nation,” said Dr. Tayloe Harding, interim executive vice president and provost at the University of South Carolina. “She teaches and conducts elementary through adult-age musicians and remains an active researcher with interests in music education access for under-served youth. Dr. Barnes represents the finest in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level of music education.”
Read last year’s story highlighting the impact of Dr. Barnes and the String Project.