• Kate Goodwin

    Director - TN GSFTA

    Director, Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Kate Goodwin is the Director of the Tennessee…

  • Amanda Dillingham

    Chair for Filmmaking

    Nashville based artist Amanda Dillingham graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts from Watkins College…

  • Dr. Jerome Reed

    Music Chair

    Jerome A. Reed is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Piano at Lipscomb University.…

  • Greg Snodgrass

    School Coordinator

    Greg Snodgrass comes to the Governor’s School from Lipscomb University where he served as an…

  • Lauren Shouse

    Theatre Chair

    Lauren is the Theatre Chairperson at GSFTA, Assistant Professor of Theatre Directing at MTSU, and…

  • Laurie Merriman

    Dance Chair

    Laurie Merriman, Professor Emeritus of Dance and Associate Dean Emeritus of the College of Fine…

  • Rodger Murray

    Visual Art Chair

    Rodger Murray retired in 2006 from teaching visual art in Tennessee public schools for 33…

  • Thomas Chesnut

    Dean of Students

    Thomas Chesnut is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. Upon graduating, he started teaching…

  • Garrett Doo

    Assistant Dean of Students

    Garrett Doo has been teaching in Rutherford County since 2017. He currently serves as the…

  • Sarah Thomas

    Dean of Students

    Sarah Thomas is currently the assistant band director at Columbia Central High School in Columbia,…

Kate Goodwin

Director - TN GSFTA

Director, Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts

Kate Goodwin is the Director of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. She teaches Stage Management and Theatre Education for the Department of Theatre and Dance at MTSU and has spent her Theatre Career as a production/stage manager and sometimes director and designer. Following undergrad at MTSU, she taught at the Nashville School for the Arts, chairing the Theatre Department from 2003-2006. The pursuit of a MFA in Stage Management at UIUC led to an exciting array of opportunities, including touring internationally with The Builders Association production of Continuous City. Other adventures include serving as Director of Education and Touring for Voices of the South Theatre Company in Memphis, TN; teaching at University of Memphis, Eastern Kentucky University, Asbury University, and Centre College; and in 2014, helping found AthensWest Theatre Company in Lexington, KY, where she served as Production Manager before joining the faculty at MTSU.

Amanda Dillingham

Chair for Filmmaking

Nashville based artist Amanda Dillingham graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts from Watkins College of Art & Design in 2005 and with an MFA in Studio Art from Vermont College of Fine Art in Montpelier, Vermont in 2008. Amanda’s growth as an artist has benefitted from mentorships with established artists such as Faith Wilding, Judy Chicago, Jeanne Dunning and William Pope L.

After exhibiting in shows across Tennessee, as well as exhibiting nationally in cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia and New York City, Amanda made the leap into the film world. Starting in the art department, she art directed feature films before truly finding her knack as a producer. Amanda currently works as a freelance producer and production manager in Nashville working on commercials, music videos, shorts, features and more.

 

Dr. Jerome Reed

Music Chair

Jerome A. Reed is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Piano at Lipscomb University. He has performed extensively in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America, giving recitals and masterclasses in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, England, Hungary, and Uruguay. He has recorded works for piano and tape for Capstone Records and in 2009 released a recording of sonatas for flute and piano with Deanna Little. In August of 2014 Navona Records released his recording of Elizabeth Austin’s Rose Sonata. He has given over fifty performances in the U.S. and abroad of Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata, which incorporates a multimedia presentation and readings from Ives’s writings. In 2003 he was awarded the Avalon Award for Creative Excellence, in 2006 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Music Teachers Association and in 2010 he was named Teacher of the Year by the same organization. In 2019 he was inducted into the Steinway Teachers Hall of Fame in New York.

His students have won many competitions, including first place in Tennessee Music Teachers Association competitions, the first Nashville International Piano Competition, the Tennessee Tech Young Artist Competition, and Clavierfest at MTSU. His student piano trio placed third at the Music Teachers National Association Competition in New York in 2012. He has served on the faculty of the InterHarmony Music Festival in Italy and the East/West International Piano Festival in China. He is also chair of the music division of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.

He holds the D.M.A. and M.M. in piano performance from The Catholic University of America, where he was a student of Béla Börzörményi-Nagy. He also studied with Jeanne-Marie Darré at the Conservatoire de Musique de Nice.

 

Greg Snodgrass

School Coordinator

Greg Snodgrass comes to the Governor’s School from Lipscomb University where he served as an Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions for the College of Entertainment and the Arts. Prior to Lipscomb he worked for 15 years at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC in conference and camp management. Six of those years he was the administrator for Cannon Music Camp, a three-week, comprehensive, music camp in the Hayes School of Music. He holds a B.S in Communication (Public Relations) and an M.Ed. His wife, Jenny, is the Director of the School of Music at Lipscomb University. They have one daughter, Katie. He loves music, the arts, and is an avid potter.

Lauren Shouse

Theatre Chair

Lauren is the Theatre Chairperson at GSFTA, Assistant Professor of Theatre Directing at MTSU, and is a working freelance director. Most recently, she was the Associate Artistic Director at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre. Her recent directing credits include:  Something Clean with Rivendell and Sideshow Theatres, The Cake at Rivendell Theatre (nominated for Joseph Jefferson Award for best director), The Legend of Georgia McBride at Northlight Theatre, Nice Girl and Betrayal at Raven Theatre; Avenue Q; Rapture, Blister, BurnSuperior Donuts, and A Christmas Story at Nashville Repertory Theatre, the world premiere of Long Way Down with 3Ps productions (nominated for American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg New Play Award 2011); the world premiere of Religion and Rubber Ducks with Ovvio Arte; Parallel Lives, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Last Five Years and Chess in Concert with Street Theatre Company; the world premiere of Rear Widow at Chaffin’s Barn Theatre, and Sylvia Plath’s 3 Women. As Artistic Associate at Nashville Rep, Lauren directed the Ingram New Works Play Lab and Festival, which developed new works by John Patrick Shanley, David Auburn, Steven Dietz and Victoria Stewart.

Before moving to Nashville, Lauren lived in London, UK and worked with Producer/Director Hugh Wooldridge. Her work abroad includes: Production Executive for The Night of 1000 Voices (celebrating John Kander and Fred Ebb and starring Joel Grey with Avenue Q) at The Royal Albert Hall; Production Executive of An Evening with Michael Parkinson at The Theatre Royal – Windsor, Children’s Director/Assistant to the Director of A Gift of Music, and Assistant Director of The Night of 1000 Voices at The Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Ireland.

Lauren holds an MA in Performance Studies from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill where she adapted and directed The Time Traveler’s Wife. She received her MFA in Theatre Directing at Northwestern University where she directed Stop KissEurydice and  In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play.  

In Chicago, Lauren has also worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Sideshow Theatre, The Gift Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, and Stage Left Theatre. (Photo credit: Joe Mazza, Brave Lux, inc.)

 

Laurie Merriman

Dance Chair

Laurie Merriman, Professor Emeritus of Dance and Associate Dean Emeritus of the College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University, earned her B.F.A. (double major) in Ballet & Modern Dance from Texas Christian University and her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She began her professional training at The National Academy of Dance in Champaign as a young ballet dancer and eventually became a scholarship student with the Joffrey Ballet School and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. Laurie’s dual respect and love for both ballet and contemporary dance has afforded her the opportunity to perform and learn the works of many great artists in the field such as Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Bebe Miller, Dwight Rhoden, Stephen Koester, Jose Limon, Doris Humphrey, Vaslav Nijinsky, Michel Fokine, Marius Petipa, Robert North, and Frederick Ashton (among many others).

Laurie has been the recipient of various grants and fellowships for her work in choreography, teaching, and research. Her choreographic work has been performed by the Columbus Dance Theatre, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre, the University of Minnesota at Duluth, and presented at the Southwest Regional Ballet Festival, the Harold Washington Library Theatre in Chicago, Illinois State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Winona State University, the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, several American College Dance Festivals, and beyond.

She has served on the National Board of the American College Dance Festival, Illinois State Board of Education Dance Content Advisory Committee, adjudicator for the Springfield Area Arts Council, panelist for a variety of learning symposiums in the arts and in general education, ballet mistress for Twin Cities Ballet, Executive Director of Illinois Summer School for the Arts, Chair of the Illinois Dance Association, adjudicator for Beloit College, panelist for the Illinois Arts Council Artist-In-Residency program, and initially hired as a ballet guest artist from 2006 – 2010, she has served as the Dance Chair for Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts since 2010.

 

Rodger Murray

Visual Art Chair

Rodger Murray retired in 2006 from teaching visual art in Tennessee public schools for 33 years. He taught at Franklin County High School, Winchester, Tennessee, for 12 years and at Tullahoma High School, Tullahoma, Tennessee, for 21 years. During his high school teaching career Mr. Murray was chosen by his peers as ‘Teacher of the Year’ five times. He is an adjunct ‘Art Education’ teacher at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, and Cumberland University in Lebanon.

Ever since the Governor School curriculum added visual art in 1986, he has been part of the faculty, either as a teacher or on staff. In his free time, Mr. Murray sings with a community chorus in Nashville and works at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center as an usher. He holds a B.S. degree from Middle Tennessee State University and a M.Ed. degree from Tennessee State University.

Thomas Chesnut

Dean of Students

Thomas Chesnut is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. Upon graduating, he started teaching band in Bedford County at Cascade High School and then spent three years at Harris Middle School, Shelbyville Central High School, and also Liberty School where he founded the band program. He continued on to work at Middle Tennessee Christian School where he taught for four years. Currently, he teaches at Blackman Middle School in Murfreesboro, TN.

Thomas also serves as the dean of students for the TN Governor’s School for the Arts. He is an active musician performing on tuba with the Southern Stars Symphonic Brass and teaches low brass lessons in schools around middle TN.

 

 

 

Garrett Doo

Assistant Dean of Students

Garrett Doo has been teaching in Rutherford County since 2017. He currently serves as the Choir Director at Smyrna High School where he directs the Concert, Treble, and Chamber Choirs. He also teaches beginning piano and serves as the music director for the musicals.
He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Middle Tennessee State University in 2017. Prior to being at Smyrna, he taught K-12 Vocal and General Music at Eagleville School.

Garrett is an active member of the Middle Tennessee Vocal Association, American Choral Directors Association, Tennessee Music Educators Association, and the National Association for Music Education. He also regularly performs with the Middle Tennessee Choral Society.

Sarah Thomas

Dean of Students

Sarah Thomas is currently the assistant band director at Columbia Central High School in Columbia, TN. Originally from the Memphis area, she found her home here in middle Tennessee when she attended Middle Tennessee State University and received her degree in instrumental music education in 2019. After graduating she served as an elementary general music teacher in Rutherford County schools for two years before being hired at Columbia Central.

Empowering students through the arts is Sarah’s passion in education. The life skills, interpersonal skills, and self-awareness gained through the arts are fundamental to her philosophy of teaching and serving students. Her professional affiliations include the Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, Tennessee Music Educators Association, and the National Association for Music Educators.

 

 

 

 

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