June 19, 2015
Professor Jerry Junkin, director of bands, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor. The Midwest Clinic, an international band and orchestra conference, will present the honor to Junkin this December at the 69th Midwest Clinic during the United States Army Field Band concert.
The Medal of Honor was introduced in 1962 as a way to recognize conductors, educators, composers and others whose unique service to music education and continuing influence on instrumental music deserve the highest recognition. Junkin joins Paula Crider, a former University of Texas band conductor, on this list of distinguished recipients, making two University of Texas band conductors who have been so honored.
In a letter to Junkin, the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors wrote, "As a musician and educator of extraordinary stature in America and abroad, you are a role model within the profession and are welcomed into the group of honorees that includes Leonard Slatkin, Morton Gould, Howard Hanson, Karel Husa, Glenn Cliffe Bainum, William D. Revelli, conductors of America's premier military bands and other persons of distinction."
In response to the news, Junkin said, "I am deeply honored to receive the Medal of Honor from the Midwest Clinic, an organization I greatly admire. I am pleased to accept this wonderful recognition on behalf of my wonderful colleagues and the students from whom I have been so fortunate to learn. They have taught me more than I could ever teach them."
Mary Ellen Poole, director of the Butler School of Music, added, "Jerry Junkin is in heady company indeed with this wonderful honor. Our students are just plain lucky to be able to work with one of the finest conductors in any medium, period, ever."