Board Members
Board Members
Laurie Scott
President
Laurie Scott is Associate Professor of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, she serves as the director of The University of Texas String Project, named "String Project of the Year" in 2008 by the American String Teacher's Association and the National String Project Consortium. Previous to this appointment, Dr. Scott served as professor of violin and viola and director of music education studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Dr. Scott was co-director of the Armadillo Suzuki Organization, the Austin Metropolitan Suzuki School, and the Texas Suzuki Tour Group. She holds a master's degree in applied violin from the University of Nebraska, and a bachelor's degree in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia. She received her Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Texas. Before moving to Texas in 1981, Dr. Scott taught in rural string programs in Nebraska and performed with the Omaha and Lincoln Symphonies and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra. As a music educator in Texas, Dr. Scott has served as an officer of the Texas chapter of the American String Teacher's Association, taught for eight years for the Austin ISD at Lamar Middle School and Travis and McCallum High Schools, was co-conductor of the Austin Youth Symphony, and served as Region XVIII College Division Chair for the Texas Music Educator's Association. Professor Scott was co-editor of the public school column in the American Suzuki Journal and was named chairman of the Suzuki in the Schools division of the 1998 International Teacher's Conference. She has performed with the Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin Orchestras. Dr. Scott has been the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the School of Music as well as the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. She is one of only two registered "Suzuki in the Schools" teacher trainers for the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and is on the editorial board for the American String Teacher. She is a guest clinician and conductor at state and national conventions speaking on string pedagogy, inclusive school music programs, and character development through the arts. Her articles have appeared in The American String Teacher, The American Suzuki Journal, and The Journal of Research in Music Education.
Carolyn Hagler
Past-President
carolyn.hagler@yahoo.com
Carolyn Hagler is a tenured member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and holds Master of Music degree in performance from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also certified as a K-12 teacher in the state of TX. Carolyn is founder and director of https://cellodiscovery.com, an online cello school for adult learners.
Carolyn has performed all over the globe and garnered international acclaim with her “soulful stirrings” as a cellist – both in the US and abroad. She has performed on many recordings and movie soundtracks as well as on stage with Harry Connick Jr, Steve Wariner, Andrea Bocelli, Smokey Robinson, Kat Edmonson, Itzthak Perlman, Joshua Bell and a host of others. One of Carolyn’s performance ensembles was featured on NPR and on National Radio Spain. Carolyn was also one of the earliest members of the New World Symphony in Miami FL – (America’s Orchestral Academy, preparing highly-gifted graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles around the world).
Carolyn is a member of these professional string educator associations: American String Teacher’s Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Austin Federation of Musicians
Shana Thomas
Vice-President
SThomas@AustinYouthOrchestra.org
Norma Martinez
Treasurer
NMartinez@AustinYouthOrchestra.org
Kathy Hill
Secretary
KHill@AustinYouthOrchestra.org
William Dick
Programming Adviser
William Dick was the recipient of the 1994 Elizabeth Green Music Educator of the Year award from the American String Teachers' Association. He has also been named “Director of the Year” by the Texas Orchestra Directors Association and is the recipient of the Music of the Heart Educator Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. For twenty-seven years he was on the orchestra faculty of the Austin ISD. During that time he instituted the Fall Festival for Strings, the AISD Best of Class Solo Recital, and conducted the Austin Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has presented sessions and conducted at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conventions, the American String Teachers' Association Conventions, and at numerous state music conventions. Mr. Dick is a registered Teacher Trainer for the Suzuki Association of the Americas. Since retiring from the Austin ISD, Mr. Dick has been on the faculties of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, the 'Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Vandercook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois
Hermes Camacho
Community Outreach Advisor
Hermes Camacho is the program director for the El Sistema-inspired music education nonprofit, Austin Soundwaves, where he oversees programming activities, including the Draylen Mason Fellows Program. He is also an adjunct in theory/composition at the University of the Incarnate Word and serves on the boards of El Sistema USA and Picardy Learning. Hermes' music has been performed throughout North America and Europe and received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and the Vermont Arts Council, among others. Highlights of conducted performances to his credit include a performance for a delegation of 45 United Nations Ambassadors and a nationally televised broadcast for the 2013 Mexican Independence Day festivities in Austin.
Hermes studied music at CSULB, CU-Boulder, and UT-Austin, where he earned the doctorate in composition in 2011. Originally from California, Hermes and his wife live in Austin with their two young sons and two disgruntled cats.