Dr. Susan K. Vaughan opens the Denton Suzuki Academy (DSA), Denton, Texas, in June, 2014. The DSA mission is to provide high quality piano instruction for Denton area students, adults, and families in the Suzuki tradition of excellence and rigor. Susan teaches young children through adults specializing in enjoyable lessons filled with fast-paced challenge and stimulation.
For the past dozen years, Susan taught piano at The Piano Studio of the Galveston Island Arts Academy, located in Galveston, Texas, where she has also served as executive director managing staff and an annual concert series. The concert series was an eleven-year collaborative project with the Mary Moody Northen Endowment.
Susan received M.A. degrees from Texas Woman\\\'s University and the University of Minnesota, Duluth in piano performance, music education, and art education. She studied piano with Merritt Johnson, Northern State University; Dr. Wilgus Eberly, Texas Woman\\\'s University; Mr. Terrence Rust, University of Minnesota, Duluth; Vladimir Levitski, Principal Pianist of the Minnesota Orchestra; Evelyn Chen, Columbia University Teacher\\\'s College; and Gustavo Romero, University of North Texas.
She received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Minnesota and M.B.A. in marketing and quality assurance from the CEMBA program at the University of Minnesota while serving as the Minnesota state fine arts specialist overseeing music and arts for the Department of Education.
Susan designed and implemented statewide testing for music and visual arts while in the Minnesota position. She also served as district special services and assessment director in Shakopee, Minnesota, before her family moved to New Mexico and subsequently Galveston and Denton, Texas.
When teaching art and music in the Minnesota Community College system, Susan directed musicals and the college\\\'s chamber band. Musicals under her direction included “Fiddler on the Roof” and the first amateur production of “Man of La Mancha.” Her chamber band performed at the Anglo-International Music Festival in Guildford, England.
While in Texas, Susan taught elementary and secondary music and art in Houston and Galveston before serving as Houston\\\'s secondary fine arts manager responsible for creating curricula and providing leadership in all secondary Houston schools for music, art, dance, and theatre in the fourth largest district in the USA. Susan most recently served as education committee chair of the Galveston Symphony Orchestra. She serves as a National Guild judge in Minnesota and Texas.
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