Kevin Kastens retired in 2017.

Kevin Kastens served as associate director of bands and director of the Hawkeye marching band from 1998-2017. As a professor in the School of Music, he taught marching band techniques and band arranging and conducted the Concert Band.

Prior to his appointment at Iowa in July 1998, Kastens served for five years as the associate director of bands at the University of Missouri-Columbia and for six years as assistant director of bands at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

A native of Illinois, he received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education and Master of Science in Music Education degrees at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Before his appointment at Indiana, Kastens was Director of Bands at Wheeling High School from 1980-1987 in northwest suburban Chicago. His concert, marching and jazz bands at Wheeling received numerous honors and awards, including performances at the Mid-East Instrumental Music clinic in Pittsburgh, PA; the Music Educators National Conference in Anaheim, CA; and in Dublin, Limerick and Galway, Ireland.

While he was a faculty member at the University of Missouri, Kastens was awarded the Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Education by the office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs. In 1996 the members of the Missouri marching band elected him to the Marching Mizzou Hall of Fame (the first director to be so honored). The Missouri student organization Mizzou Spirit elected Kastens "Faculty Member of the Year" in 1998.

Kastens' professional affiliations included the Iowa Bandmasters Association, CBDNA, NBA, Phi Beta Mu, Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is active as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Kastens has had numerous articles published on various topics of instrumental music education. He has served as a conductor/clinician for the Bands of America Summer National Workshops, the Smith-Walbridge Drum Major Clinics, and is a leader in the field of computer-assisted marching band drill design.