Dr. Melita Belgrave, assistant professor in Music Therapy, has been part of the UMKC community for six years.
“I was drawn to UMKC because of the music therapy program and the location of the university, which provides many opportunities for a wide range of community-based service and scholarship,” she said.
Belgrave has received several awards and recognitions during her short time thus far at UMKC.
“I received a UMKC FaCET Teaching Enhancement Grant in the spring of 2013 to develop cognitive music therapy resources for students to use with community-dwelling older adults,” she said.
She received the UMKC Conservatory Kauffman Excellence in Research and Creativity Award for 2012-13. She also attends an international biennial conference – the Commission on Music in Special Education and Music Therapy for the International Society for Music Education.
During the fall and spring semesters, she teaches a year-long clinical experience related to music therapy with community-dwelling older adults.
“The undergraduate and graduate students from the 2012-2013, and 2013-2014 clinical course have presented with me at the annual national music therapy association conference in the fall of 2013 and fall of 2014,” she said. “These two peer-reviewed presentations were based on my community-based teaching, scholarship, and service on music-based intergenerational programs with community-dwelling older adults, college students, and elementary-aged students.”
While exploring undergraduate majors, Belgrave was introduced to music therapy.
“It was the perfect combination of music and helping people therapeutically,” she said. “I was interested in the music therapy program at UMKC based on the history of the program, the connection to the community, and the number of music therapists currently working in the Kansas City area that are alumni of the music therapy program at UMKC.”
Among Belgrave’s various roles with graduate students are: teaching in the music therapy program, directing research problems and thesis projects, and serving on comprehensive exam committees.
“My work with graduate students has helped to expand my research interests and projects due to the hands on experience they receive in the graduate music research courses,” she said. “I recently completed a research project on assessments of vocal abilities for older adults with a graduate student. This topic of interest was sparked from a research class she took with me. We recently presented the poster at a national conference.”
Belgrave said she doesn’t see her life in phases so much as in semesters.
“My next semester starts soon and I plan for the entire year,” she said. “I think about what conferences I would like to attend which then leads to planning research projects and presentations to submit for the conferences as well as what projects need to be written and submitted to journals or revised.”