Laura K. Hicken, Assistant Professor of Music Education, joined the faculty of Bowling Green State University in 2024 as an instrumental music education specialist. Prior to her appointment at BGSU, Hicken was on the faculty at Towson University in Maryland. Hicken earned her Ph.D. in Music and Human Learning at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin, her Master of Music degree in Music Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Bachelor of Music Education degree at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Prior to teaching at the collegiate level, Hicken taught high school and middle school band, middle school general music, and elementary music in South Carolina and Florida.
As an active clinician, Hicken presents sessions at state and national teacher in-service conferences and at professional development meetings for local school districts. Hicken’s research is in the area of music teacher cognition. She is especially interested in teacher attention and decision making during various teaching situations and uses eye-tracking data to study these processes. Hicken is also interested in teacher perceptions and practices of including students with disabilities in music classes. She has presented her research at state, national, and international conferences, and is published in The Orff Echo, The Journal of Music Teacher Education, and The Journal of Research in Music Education.
Hicken’s professional memberships include the International Society for Music Education (ISME), The National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Society for Research in Music Education, and the Society for Music Teacher Education.
