Melissa Ryan

​Dr. Ryan joined UNM in Fall 2024. She is dedicated to advancing the musical engagement, pedagogical learning, and social awareness of future and current music students and teachers. She has taught music in Hawaii, China, Nashville (TN), and Miami (FL) in elementary and secondary classroom settings. Additionally, Dr. Ryan has facilitated students’ musical learning by partnering with inclusive community music programs in under-resourced communities across the U.S. Dr. Ryan’s passions include creating actively inclusive musical experiences for all students and fostering agency and personhood through liberatory teaching practices.

As a practitioner, Dr. Ryan provides professional development opportunities for teachers at a local and state level. Utilizing her Orff, Modern Band, and World Music Pedagogy training, she facilitates workshops for current and future music teachers on classroom topics such as creativity, composition, movement, inclusivity, and world music curriculum.

Dr. Ryan earned her Ph.D. (2020) and M.M. (2017) from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She regularly presents her research at state, national, and international conferences. Some of these include the International Society for Music Education conference, National Association for Music Education conferences, Mountain Lake Colloquium, and the Desert Skies International Symposium on Research in Music Learning and Teaching. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and The Orff Echo. Her research interests include teachers’ perceptions of social justice in music teacher education, restorative justice teaching practices, and music teachers’ pedagogical creativity.