Justin Caithaml
they/themBIO
Education
MA (Music) Teachers College
MA (Music Education) Columbia University
BME Baldwin Wallace University
PhD (Music Education) University of Maryland
Courses Taught
Beginning Fall 2026
About
Justin Caithaml (they/them) serves as Professional Lecturer of Vocal Music Education at the DePaul University School of Music. A passionate advocate for equity and access in music education, their current research focuses on more deeply understanding gender and sexuality discourse in the music education profession. Prior to this appointment, they served as Assistant Professor, Chair of Music, and Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Bridgeport. They completed their PhD in music education at the University of Maryland, where they served as an instructor for student teaching seminars and as a research assistant in the Music and Arts Education Data Lab, an NEA research lab. They also hold degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University (MA in Music and Music Education) and Baldwin Wallace University (BME).
Their research was recently awarded the Outstanding Graduate Paper Award in Music Education at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, the world’s largest education research conference, and their co-authored research is published in Arts Education Policy Review and Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. They served as choir director at Midview Local Schools in Ohio for six years and are a Past President of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. Dr. Caithaml was a key contributing author of several documents that were crucial in guiding Ohio arts educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Sustained Relevance for Arts Education: A Shared Vision, Arts Education Recommendations: Making School Safe for Students and Teachers in Ohio Schools, and the Statewide Arts Education Action Plan for Ohio.
Ensembles under their direction have collaborated with choirs from Westminster Choir College and have performed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Their work has been accepted for presentation at a variety of conferences, including the International Symposium on Research in Choral Singing, the Symposium on Music Teacher Education, and the 5th Symposium for LGBTQ Studies and Music Education. In addition, they have presented practitioner sessions on advocacy and inclusive policy at state music education conferences in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.