Jackson ’12, ’16, ’19 Awarded (MAR AMTA) Graduate Research Award

Valerie Jackson ’12, ’16, ’19 (Bachelor of Music in Performance, Certificate in Music Therapy, Master of Music Therapy) was awarded the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association (MAR AMTA) Graduate Research Award for her study on music therapy and harm. This is the first study in the field to focus on instances of harm in clinical practice, with the aim of developing a fuller understanding of the boundaries of safe practice.

This is the second year in a row that a Shenandoah Conservatory student has won the award. Ray Leone ’86, ’17 MT-BC, was awarded the 2017 Mid-Atlantic Region (MAR) Graduate Research Award for his research, “The Impact of Two Music Therapy Interventions on Vital Signs, Pain and Anxiety for Adult Patients in an ICU.” His award included $1,000 to pay for statistics consultation and was a featured presentation in the research track at the MAR American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2018. Leone consulted with Associate Professor of Public Health Audra Gollenberg, Ph.D., in the public health program at Shenandoah University on the statistics, and she helped with the write-up of his results section.