Chris Jenkins

(he/him/his)

  • Associate Dean for Academic Support
  • Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology

Areas of Study

Offices

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

At Oberlin Conservatory, Christopher Jenkins is the Associate Dean for Academic Support, the Conservatory Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology. In 2023 his first book, Assimilation v. Integration in Music Education, was published by Routledge Press and the College Music Society. Chris is currently earning a DMA in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a PhD in musicology from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), where his work focuses on African-American musical aesthetics. Before coming to Oberlin, he was Deputy Director and instructor of viola and violin at the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah, West Bank.

In 2022, alongside music theorist Philip Ewell, Chris was a co-founder and co-organizer of the Theorizing African American Music conference held at CWRU. Chris is the winner of several awards for scholarship and music performance, including the Karamu House “Room in the House” Fellowship; CWRU’s Adel Heinrich Award for Excellence in Musicological Research; American Society for Aesthetics’ Irene Chayes “New Voices” award; the American Viola Society’s David Dalton Research Competition; and as third-place laureate in the Sphinx Competition. His alma maters include Harvard University, Columbia University, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music.

Fall 2023

The Racial Politics of Classical Music — MHST 333

Spring 2024

Hip-Hop History and Analysis — MHST 222

Notes

Chris Jenkins First Book Published

August 8, 2023

Conservatory Associate Dean Chris Jenkins’ first book, Assimilation v. Integration in Music Education, was published in late July by Routledge and the College Music Society. In it, he writes about issues of diversity in classical music education.

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

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