Amanda Greenbacker-Mitchell

Music and Dance
Assistant Professor of Music Education, Director of the Wind Ensemble, Music Education Area Head
Office:
FA 135
Email:
A-GreenbackerMitchell@neiu.edu
Education
PhD Music Education, The University of Missouri
MM Wind Conducting, Syracuse University
BM Music Education, Syracuse University
Background
Amanda Greenbacker-Mitchell is Assistant Professor of Music Education, Director of the Wind Ensemble, and Music Education Area Head at ÌìÌì³Ô¹Ï. At NEIU, she teaches music education courses, supervises music student teachers, oversees the music Teaching Licensure Program (TLP), conducts the Wind Ensemble, and provides oversight to the music education department.
Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell has presented her research at state, national, and international conferences. Her recent presentations include the upcoming Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University (HEFNU) Lessons and Legacies Emerging Scholars Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts (2025), the National Association for Research in Music Education Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia (2024), the International Society for Music Education conference in Helsinki, Finland (2024), and the International Association of Genocide Scholars in association with the Educators Institute for Human Rights Alliance Against Genocide Summer Conference (2024). Her research interests include historical research in music education, music learning practices within the context of human atrocities, social and historical contextualization of learning practices, interdisciplinary methodologies in music education, preservice music teacher education, and Holocaust music history and education.
Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell earned degrees from The University of Missouri (PhD Music Education) and Syracuse University (MM Wind Conducting, BM Music Education), where she studied conducting with Amy Knopps, Brian Silvey, and Bradley Ethington. During her graduate studies she served as a Teaching Assistant for both the Syracuse and Missouri band programs, wherein she conducted both concert and athletic bands as well as taught music education courses. During her time at Syracuse, Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in Student Research for her interdisciplinary music performance curriculum written on behalf of the Defiant Requiem Foundation (Washington, DC), as well as the Setnor School of Music Graduate Academic Award. At the University of Missouri, she was awarded the Green Chalk Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant, and honored as one of the Mizzou 18.
Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell is an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, having worked with bands across the United States. She is a passionate guest lecturer on the repertoire, circumstances, and musicians affected by the Holocaust, having presented on music as a sociopolitical mechanism of the Holocaust in over fifty classrooms and educational series.