May 11, 2021
By: Franco LaTona
The Butler School of Music is pleased to announce two new faculty members, Dr. LaToya Webb and Dr. Justin West, who will both begin teaching next fall.
Webb is joining the Butler School as Assistant Director of the Longhorn Band and Assistant Professor of Practice in Conducting. She comes from positions at Auburn and Grambling State Universities where she is an instructor of wind conducting.
Webb is an active presenter and writer on music education topics like bias and diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2021 alone she will have appeared as a speaker at meetings of NAfME, the College Music Society, and the Midwest Clinic. She recently co-founded the organization I See You: Affirming Representation in Music.
“We provide a safe space for mentorship and networking opportunities,” Webb said. “It's also a resource for people who identify differently to learn of the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) experiences to navigate and champion a more equitable environment for all.”
Webb also organized the first United Sound collegiate program at Auburn University. It’s a national program that aims to remove barriers and cultivate social change through music, focusing specifically on helping students with special needs through peer mentorship.
“There is a place for everyone, no matter how you identify, in the music community,” Webb said. “We must do better to create and maintain a safe, respectful, nurturing, and welcoming environment for all.”
As a conductor, Webb was the recipient of a Reynolds Conducting Institute Fellowship in 2019. She holds degrees from Norfolk State University, George Mason University, and a doctorate in Music Education from Auburn University.
Dr. Justin West, a Houston native, is joining the Butler School as an Assistant Professor of Music and Human Learning. He comes from Louisiana State University, where he has been Assistant Professor of Music Education since 2018. West recently received a 2021 LSU Alumni Association Rising Faculty Research Award, a university-level recognition for assistant professors with “outstanding records of scholarship and published research.”
Passionate about applied learning, in 2018 West co-founded the Translational Research in Music Group with colleagues at LSU, intended to reduce the time for theory to become practice.
“In scholarly circles, sometimes it seems like we're just talking to ourselves--academics talking to other academics,” West said. “And that's not good when you're in an applied field like music education where you want your ideas implemented into practice.”
West ensures his students engage in a constant cycle of theory and application. They learn principles and strategies in class, then apply it with students in k-12 schools, reflect on the experience, then repeat.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I don’t think the students would have it any other way,” West said.
West has been active in promoting diversity and inclusion in music learning dating back to his time as a high-school teacher. At LSU, he was a faculty mentor in the Genesis Mentoring Program, which supports underrepresented students in their first semester as they transition academically and socially to college life.
He also served on the Policy Adjudication Committee in LSU’s Black Faculty and Staff Caucus. In that group, he developed policy recommendations based on the university’s 2020-2022 Diversity & Inclusion Roadmap.
“I think the biggest thing is to increase representation of people of color, women, and people who have been underrepresented,” West said. “But then all throughout their academic process, standing beside them, walking alongside them, mentoring them, providing them with support, so that way they can be successful.”
West earned a doctorate from the University of North Texas where he was a Ronald E. McNair Scholars Fellow.