Amanda Greenbacker-Mitchell

Amanda Greenbacker-Mitchell is Director of the Wind Ensemble, Music Education Program Coordinator, and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Northeastern Illinois University. At NEIU, she teaches music education courses, supervises music student teachers, oversees the music Teaching Licensure Program (TLP), conducts the Wind Ensemble, and provides oversight to the music education department. 

Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell has presented her research at state, national, and international conferences. Her recent presentations include t the National Association for Research in Music Education (NAFME) Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference in Long Beach, California (2026), the International Society for Music Education (ISME) conference in Montréal, Canada (2026), and the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University (HEFNU) Lessons and Legacies Emerging Scholars Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts (2025). Her research interests include music learning practices within the context of genocide and human atrocities, historical research in music education, social and historical contextualization of learning practices, interdisciplinary methodologies in music education, and preservice music teacher education.

Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell earned degrees from The University of Missouri (PhD Music Education) and Syracuse University (MM Wind Conducting, BM Music Education), where she studied conducting with Amy Knopps, Brian Silvey, Bradley Ethington, and Timothy Diem. During her graduate studies she served as a Teaching Assistant for both the Syracuse and Missouri band programs, wherein she conducted both concert and athletic bands and taught music education courses. During her time at Syracuse, Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in Student Research for her interdisciplinary music performance curriculum written on behalf of the Defiant Requiem Foundation (Washington, DC), as well as the Setnor School of Music Graduate Academic Award. At the University of Missouri, she was awarded the Green Chalk Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant, and honored as one of the Mizzou 18.

Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell is an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, having worked with bands across the United States. As a conductor-teacher, she endeavors to create musically and intellectually stimulating programs, focusing on richly diverse repertoire and socio-historical contextualization of performance. Dr. Greenbacker-Mitchell is a passionate guest lecturer on the education circumstances, musicians, and repertoire affected by the Holocaust, having shared her work on childhood music learning practices and music as a sociopolitical mechanism of the Holocaust in numerous professional and educational series.