Chris Jenkins

(he/him/his)

  • Associate Dean for Academic Support
  • Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • Deputy Title IX and Equity Coordinator

Education

  • BA, Harvard College, 2001
  • MM, New England Conservatory, 2003
  • Performance Certificate, Manhattan School of Music, 2004
  • MIA, School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, 2011

Biography

Chris Jenkins is an educator, administrator, and performing violist. In 2017, through a Curriculum Diversification Grant from the American Society for Aesthetics, he published an annotated bibliography of works pertaining to African-American participation in the field of classical music, and he presents on issues of diversity in classical music.  

In 2011, Jenkins earned a master's degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, focusing on the study of human rights and conflict resolution. His international engagement has included performances and teaching in Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, China, Colombia, and South Africa, including a performance with the Jordan National Symphony at the World Heritage Site of Petra in 2016. In the summer of 2017, he served as a guest artist and teacher at the Afghan National Institute of Music in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He is pursuing a DMA in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a PhD in Historical Musicology from Case Western Reserve University, where his work focuses on the music of African-American composers. His teachers have included Lynne Ramsey, Michael Tree, Martha Katz, Karen Dreyfus, Karen Ritscher, Michelle LaCourse, and Carol Rodland.

Spring 2023

Hip-Hop History and Analysis — MHST 222
Individual Study — LEAD 900
Individual Study — LEAD 900B
Individual Study — LEAD 901

Fall 2023

The Racial Politics of Classical Music — MHST 333

Notes

Chris Jenkins publishes article

December 9, 2020

Christ Jenkins, conservatory associate dean for academic support, published an article on African American violists from the 20th century in the fall 2020 volume of the Journal of the American Viola Society.

Chris Jenkins Writes Piece for the National Center for Institutional Diversity

July 31, 2020

Chris Jenkins, associate dean for academic support, wrote the piece “Race and Racialized Aesthetics in Conservatory Education,” which was featured in Spark, the online magazine of the National Center for Institutional Diversity. 

News