The Future of Education

Kamile Geist, Ph.D., MT-BC serves as Associate Professor and the Ava and Cordell Haymon Chair of Music Therapy at LSU, where she has been instrumental in developing a progressive and comprehensive music therapy program. The new Bachelor of Music Therapy, accepting its first cohort of students in the Fall of 2024, will be the first program at a public university in Louisiana. Dr. Geist's program development extends beyond the classroom and into community engagement, where she partners with healthcare institutions and other community organizations to help train future music therapists and to grow the Music Therapy workforce in Louisiana and surrounding areas. Dr. Geist is a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient and most recently, a recipient of the LSU Provost Big Idea Phase 1 award for her research. She and her interdisciplinary team explore the impact of rhythmic interventions on attention behaviors and stress reduction in young children and their caregivers. Dr. Geist’s dedication to the Music Therapy profession is reflected in national and international publications and presentations, distinguished national service to the American Music Therapy Association, and her active role in training and mentoring the next generation of music therapists.