Penny Dimmick is an associate professor and coordinator of the music education department at Butler University where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in music education. Dr. Dimmick holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Taylor University and a Master of Music and Doctor of Arts degree in music education and percussion performance from Ball State University. She is a specialist in the Orff and Kodály methods in music education and holds three levels of certification from the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Her twenty-five plus years of teaching experience include teaching K-6 general music and choir, teaching percussion with several middle and high school band programs in Central Indiana, and teaching applied percussion and music education at Taylor University, Ball State University and Marion College prior to her appointment at Butler University in 1991. She is a recipient of several teaching awards at Butler and she was named the Outstanding Alumnus at the school of music at Ball State University in 2001.
Dr. Dimmick is a frequent presenter at both state and national music conferences, focusing on the areas of teacher preparation, arts integration and arts technology integration in the K-12 classroom. She has served as collegiate chair for the Indiana Music Educators Association (IMEA) for the past twelve years, and she has seen CMENC in Indiana grow from 400 members to over 650 members. Dr. Dimmick has also served as collegiate chair of the North Central division of MENC and is continuing to serve on the National Collegiate Advisory Board of MENC. She has recently been elected vice president of the Indiana Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society.
Dr. Dimmick is an assistant director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir where she teaches and directs the third and fourth grade preparatory choirs, a part of the Early Childhood Division of ICC. She is also active in the musical life of her church as both conductor, singer, and percussionist.