For Samantha's Availability, See Calendar and Scheduler Below

Samantha Bassler (she/they) is a musicologist, educator, activist, and degree candidate in social work (MSW), behavior analysis (ASU), music therapy (postbaccalaureate, Slippery Rock University), and anthropology (ALM, Harvard Extension School). She will be one of the first Master of Science Candidates in Health and Behavior Analytics at Yeshiva University's Ferkaupf's Graduate School of Psychology, starting in Fall 2026. 

While completing a PhD in Musicology and teaching as an adjunct assistant professor of music at universities such as Rutgers University at Newark and New York University Steinhardt, Samantha developed expertise in early music, reception history, the long eighteenth century, intersectionality, disability studies, trauma studies, and gender studies. 

Samantha was a founding member of the Society of Music Theory and American Musicological Society special interest groups in Music and Disability Studies. Samantha herself has been disabled since birth; they published their first academic research, in 2009, on the lack of accommodations for academics in academia and in the music profession.

Samantha's most recent work focuses on trauma-informed pedagogy and universal design for learning strategies for teaching music, including music history and aural skills. She is expanding her academic work and has invested in studies across behavioral and psychological disciplines and will graduate with her MSW and BCBA at the end of Summer 2026. In Fall 2026, they will be part of the inaugural class of the Master of Science in Health and Behavioral Analytics at the Ferkaupf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. After that, Samantha aims to pursue a second PhD in Clinical Psychology, researching the relationship of epigenetics and trauma to growing up as disabled.

Recent Citations:

Bassler, S. (2025). Trauma-Informed and Universal-Design Approaches for Rigorous Training in Aural Skills. In Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and the Post-Secondary Music Class (pp. 104-113). Routledge. 

Bassler, S. (2025). “Trauma-Informed Pedagogy and Universal Design to Benefit Music Students with PTSD.” In “Roundtable on Universal Design for Learning,” convened by Tekla Babyak, James Deaville, and Rena Roussin. Journal of Musicology Pedagogy 15, no. 2. 

Samantha is MSW intern (social work intern) at AHRC NYC.

Samantha is a BCBA intern (Board Certified Behavior Analysis intern) at BK Behavior and Manhattan Psychology Group.