Shawn Kimbrel

Shawn Kimbrel is a music teacher, learner, and researcher. Before starting his Ph.D. studies in Music Learning and Teaching at Arizona State University in the Fall of 2023, Shawn was a middle school music teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, IL for 6 years. During his time there, he maintained an ongoing relationship with the University of Illinois Music Education Department, where he hosted dozens of pre-service music teachers as both observers and student teachers. He focused his work at Jefferson Middle School on integrating justice-based practices into the music curriculum. Shawn has toured internationally with Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp International Exchange Program and has taken teenage musicians to Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy. Shawn enjoys investigating creativity, music history pedagogy, music technology, race and gender in music education, diversifying musical theater, and music teaching as a spiritual endeavor.