Tammie Walker is director of the University of Iowa School of Music and professor of piano. Since becoming director in 2019, she has championed student success, faculty excellence, competitive and innovative curricula, and the vital role of the arts in higher education and communities. A nationally engaged arts advocate and higher-education leader, Walker speaks and writes on leadership, arts education, accreditation, faculty success, and the future of music programs. She recently served on the College Music Society’s Presidential Task Force on Leading Change, a two-year appointment comprising 20 international music executives.
 

Walker holds the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied with Ian Hobson. She earned her Bachelor of Music in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she studied piano with Penelope Cecchini and violin with Nobuyoshi Yasuda (serving as concertmaster of the university orchestra), and began her musical training with Frances Karp (piano) and Leyla Sanyer (violin) in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Before joining Iowa, Walker spent 21 years at Western Illinois University, serving as professor of piano and, during her final four years, director of the School of Music.
 

As a musician, clinician, and educator, Walker has performed and taught extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and South Korea as a soloist, collaborative pianist, concerto artist, masterclass teacher, adjudicator, and conference presenter. Her artistic work includes international performances and recordings, including Narrative (2023), a collaboration with flutist Virginia Broffitt Kunzer featuring music by women composers, and Time Passages with trumpeter Bruce Briney.

 

Walker has published in American Music Teacher, Music Educators Journal, International Piano, and The Piano (Korea), and is an in-demand speaker on arts leadership and advocacy.