Despite the challenges of working at a smaller
private institution, Hamel has relished the opportunity to
provide her students with the same sort of quality liberal
arts education she received at Dana. She volunteers to teach
CMU’s Character and Life course, in which students spend
90 percent of their time reading and discussing. As a keyboard
instructor at three different institutions of higher learning,
she has inspired hundreds of students to continue to pursue
the arts along with more monetarily profitable career-training
studies.
“I never planned to be a college music teacher, but
that (happily) is where I’ve been led,” Hamel said. “My
students often ask me where I got my undergraduate degree,
and I tell them to picture their own college and just insert
a Lutheran theme rather than Methodist. Central Methodist University
and Dana College are eerily similar: both small, set in a rural
community on a beautiful campus, of a liberal arts tradition,
church related, and know for personal attention to students
and an extremely dedicated faculty.”
Beyond her attention to a liberal arts education, nominator
Nathan Krämer cited Hamel’s long list of published
academic articles as evidence of her achievements. Hamel has
published in Piano Guild Notes, Teaching Music, Assessment
Update and Missouri School Music Magazine. A sample work, “Playing
piano across the curriculum: Preparing our music majors for
the real world,” reveals her continued dedication to
a broad-based learning environment.
Dana College is a place where all students make things happen — in
their own lives and in the lives of others. Through a highly
supportive faculty and campus community, Dana students develop
interpersonal skills, leadership abilities, and other important
values and knowledge as they make choices about their future.
Dana’s outstanding academic programs in business, education
and social work, among others, ensure that students have the
knowledge, skills and experience necessary to pursue challenging
careers or placement in graduate school.
Dana College is a private, liberal arts institution in Blair,
Neb. To learn more, visit www.dana.edu.
Dana College: Develop talents, Take charge, Build a future — We’re
with you all the way.
— END—
For more information contact:
Sarah Cavanah
Communications Coordinator
Dana College
(402) 426-7216
scavanah@dana.edu |
