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Evan Chancellor named top LU teacher for 2024

Apr. 18, 2024

Lakeland University Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands Evan Chancellor, D.M.A., is the 2024 winner of the annual Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Chancellor is Lakeland’s 33^rd winner of the Underkofler, which recognizes outstanding performance in undergraduate teaching.

A member of Lakeland’s faculty since 2017, Chancellor is known for being a student-focused instructor who helps his students develop a passion for music in his classroom and with performers through his conducting.

In nominating Chancellor, students noted he was encouraging, takes on additional responsibilities, demonstrates instrumentation by playing alongside them and delivers lessons that are clear and well thought out. Recently, Lakeland’s choir director abruptly left the institution. Chancellor seamlessly filled the role on an interim basis, and he created a space for students to share their opinions about the situation.

In addition to his work in the classroom, Chancellor founded LU’s Muskie Pride Marching Band, he directs the campus musical and he organizes Lakeland’s summer music camp. Outside of Lakeland, Chancellor serves as the music director of the Fond du Lac Symphonic Band and is active as a guest conductor and clinician. As a horn player, he has appeared with the Sheboygan Symphony, Milwaukee Philharmonic and other groups in Eastern Wisconsin.

In nominating Chancellor for the Underkofler Award, students offered these thoughts:

• “Music comes easy to some, and hard for others. And it can be hard to join an already established group. With this in mind. Dr. C is so exceptional because he is fully able to welcome and integrate people in the group and help them grow in such a natural way that it is barely noticeable. Not every teacher can create an environment like that.”
• “He is a great teacher who cares a lot about his students and wants everyone that passes through his classes to succeed in life.
• “Teaching doesn't just mean helping in an educational sense. Dr. C stops what he is doing the second any student needs something to help them.”
• “I switched to Music Education because Dr. C was able to help me make a smooth transition. I knew I had to sacrifice maybe being here another year to finish classes, but we put together a four-year plan and he made class scheduling seem like a breeze. I never have had a bad experience talking with Dr. C. He truly is a great human being.
• “The environment he creates in class is so positive, welcoming and productive, and I have always looked forward to every class with him.”

Before coming to Lakeland, Chancellor was assistant professor of music and director of bands at Oklahoma Baptist University. He also taught at East Central University and Oral Roberts University.

He is a founding member of the Frontier Brass Band and the Oklahoma Haydn Festival and performed regularly with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony, Enid Symphony and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. Chancellor is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Kappa Psi, the Wisconsin Bandmasters Association, the Collegiate Band Directors National Association and NAfME.

Chancellor has a bachelor of music, music education from the University of North Texas, a master of music, horn performance from Oklahoma City University and a doctor of musical arts from the University of Oklahoma.

The Underkofler Award is presented through the Alliant Energy Foundation and the Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges, Inc. The Underkofler Endowment Fund was created in honor of past Wisconsin Power & Light president and chairman James R. Underkofler to recognize his 48 years of service to the utility industry.