Dr. Steven Hankle is the Associate Professor of Choral Music and Music Education at the University of Dayton, where he directs the University Chorale and Bella Voce and teaches choral conducting and methods. Dr. Hankle also serves as choral faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, where he directs the Staff Choir and Vocal Ensemble, Alumni Choir, and Festival Choir. As the Chorus Director of the Alumni Choir and Festival Chorus, Dr. Hankle has directed live Blue Lake Radio broadcast performances of John Rutter’s Gloria and Andre Thomas’s Celebration Mass of Love and Joy. He also conducted Johannes Brahms’s Liebeslieder Walze Op. 52 during Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp Summer Festival. Hankle is the Chorus Director for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus, where he prepared the chorus to perform major and minor Choral and Orchestral works of Boulanger, Faure, Handel, Holst, Mozart, Thompson, and Winteregg with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. An active clinician and adjudicator, he has worked with or directed choirs in California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kenya, Africa, and Tijuana, Mexico.
Dr. Hankle is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), where he served on the state board in Ohio, Chorus America, National Association for Music Education (NAfME), National Collegiate Conductor Organization (NCCO), where he serves on the National Board, and Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA). Dr. Hankle has presented his research at the Florida Music Education Association (FMEA), Arizona Music Education Association (AMEA), NAfME, and ACDA conferences. His primary area of interest is developing choral music programs in urban secondary public schools, student engagement through movement, developing sight-reading skills through repertoire in the choral rehearsal, leadership in the choral classroom, and wellness for choral conductors to prevent teacher burnout.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Steven Hankle received both undergraduate and master’s degrees in music education and choral conducting from San Francisco State University and his Ph.D. in choral conducting and music education from Florida State University. Prior to his appointment at the University of Dayton, he served as choral music and music education faculty at Penn State University and successfully developed a new choral music program at Mission High School in San Francisco, California.
