Meet the Faculty

Elizabeth W. Zobel
Department Chair, Performing Arts Professor
D.M.A., University of Colorado

Bothwell 134
(217) 854-3231 ext.4264
E-mail: Elizabeth W. Zobel

Elizabeth W. Zobel is chair of the performing arts department at Blackburn College where she conducts the Blackburn College Choir and the Blackburn Voices chamber ensemble. Additionally, she teaches conducting, music theory, and voice lessons. A member of the American Choral Director’s Association, Dr. Zobel received the Julius Herford Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Research in 2003 for her dissertation on Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. Dr. Zobel earned the D.M.A degree in choral music from the University of Colorado, the M.M. degree in conducting from Butler University, and the B.A. degree in music from Northwestern University. In 2005, she studied advanced conducting techniques with the world-renowned conductor Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival. Dr. Zobel’s professional performing experience includes seasons with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and St. Martin’s Chamber Choir. Additionally, she has conducted ensembles of the San Francisco Girls Chorus and has taught music in grades K-12 in Oakland California. Dr. Zobel has also studied at the University of Munich and taught English in Bremen, Germany with a grant from the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst and the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Richard Young
Division Chair Humanities/Speech Communications Professor
M.A., California State-Fresno
M.F.A., Lindenwood University

Bothwell 9
(217) 854-3231 ext. 4310
E-mail Richard Young

Richard T. Young came to Blackburn College in the spring of 1990. Mr. Young is in his second three-year term as Humanities Division chair. He earned his Master of Arts in Speech-Theatre Arts from California State University Fresno, and his Master of Fine Arts in Theatre (directing) from Lindenwood University.

His plays are published by Encore Performance Publishing and I.E. Clark Publisher. Two of his works Paradigm Shift and Announcements are in the current repertory of Wycliffe Dinner Theater of Canada, and his children's piece How Reading Came Back to Nowhere has been performed throughout the United States and as far away as Australia. He has had articles published in Christianity and Theatre Magazine as well as Stage Directions.

He is the co-founder and artistic director of the Summer Repertory Theater at Blackburn College, which recently entered its second decade of successful community performance.

Meet the Adjuncts

See Tsai Chan (Theory, Rehearsal Accompanist and Organist) is a member of the music faculty at Blackburn College and the associate music director of the First United Methodist Church in Springfield Illinois. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music and her Master of Music with the honor of Pi Kappa Lambda from Northwestern University, with a double major in Organ Performance and Choral Conducting. In addition to her extensive recital work both in the United States and in Hong Kong, Dr. Chan has significant experience teaching music and conducting choirs. In her work with the Hong Kong Children s Choir, Dr. Chan has conducted overseas tours to Shanghai, Beijing and Japan. Their performances were highly acclaimed and broadcast on the Shanghai National Television and Radio Hong Kong.
 

Betty L. Schien, teaches piano in the Performing Arts Department at Blackburn. Dr. Schien earned a Bachelor of Music degree (magna cum laude) and a Master of Music at Millikin University in Decatur, Il. She did post-graduate work at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Il., the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Md. and received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Her performing experiences include many piano recitals and chamber music concerts in Williamsburg, Va. and the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. In addition, she studied and performed chamber music at workshops in Austria, France, the United Kingdom and Australia. She was a professor at a Baltimore County community college where she taught music classes and coordinated curriculum development and performance events. Also, she was Director of Music and Organist at several area churches while in Maryland. Dr. Schien returned to her home town of Virden, Il., in 2005 and is currently Organist at Zion Lutheran Church in Mt. Olive, Il., and substitute Organist/Pianist at St. Cabrini Catholic Church in Springfield, Il.
Also she is an adjunct faculty member at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Il., where she is teaching Music Appreciation. 

Brad Kuchan was a high school band or choral director for 25 years, retiring from full time teaching in 2003. His areas of special interest include Central European Band Music and the compositions of Max Bruch and William Sterndale Bennett. Mr. Kuchan holds a Bachelors degree from Ohio Northern University and a Masters of Music Education from Illinois State University.
 

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