Biography
Katherine Ramos Baker, Professor of Music, CSU Northridge, joined the full-time faculty in Fall 2001. She received her Doctor of Education in Music Education degree from the University of Illinois and the Master of Music in Choral Conducting degree from CSU Fullerton. She also holds a Life Teaching Credential in Music from the State of California.
Dr. Baker has an array of professional experience teaching in higher education, high school, and middle school. Prior to coming to CSU Northridge, she was Director of Choral Activities at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where she was received the “Excellence in Teaching” award for the School of Arts and Sciences, 1996. Her choirs have performed internationally in the Benedictinus 2000 Festival in Rome and the Innsbruck International Choral Festival in Austria. Her CSU Northridge Women’s Chorale performed for the first time in China in June 2007; in June 2011 they completed a 7-concerts-in-8-days performance tour of Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, China. She is sits on the boards of CSU Northridge’s The China Institute and the International Education Committee, working groups dealing with educational international issues and agreements among various institutions of higher education. She has had the privilege of serving as a cultural advisor with nearly two dozen visiting scholars from China over the past five years. In August 2010, Dr. Baker made presentations at the International Society for Music Education’s World Conference in Beijing, and then presented lectures on music education to teachers in the Min Hang District of Shanghai and graduate students at Shanghai Normal University. In May 2011, she received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the CSUN chapter of Phi Beta Delta, the international education society.
At CSU Northridge, her work has continued in conducting/performing, music education and music technology, and assessment. The CSU Northridge’s Women's Chorale, under her direction, premiered works by California composers at CMEA conference, performed Holst's The Planets and Debussy’s Nocturnes with the San Fernando Valley Symphony, recorded music by colleague and Chair Elizabeth Sellers for the documentary film by Karen Kearns, That All May Be One, and has been invited to perform in Europe and Asia. Dr. Baker also has served as an adjudicator/clinician and as an honor choir conductor for state and regional ACDA, MENC, and SCVA festivals, as well as “Music in the Parks” festivals and “Festivals at Sea.” In October 2010 she also gave workshops and presented a solo recital of the music of Hildegard von Bingen for the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho.
Her work in technology includes participation in federal and state technology programs, web-enhanced and distance learning courses, presentations at national MENC conventions, and the publication of interactive multimedia software for Bach's Magnificat, Vivaldi's Gloria, and Mozart’s Requiem by Educational Courseware Systems.
Her experience in assessment in music includes: presentations for AssessNet consortium in Nashville, for CMEA, IUPUI, and ISME (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); an article published by the Idaho State Music Educators and reprinted in the CMEA Journal; and serving as a Field Reviewer of the Draft Standards for Programs in Music for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Her latest presentation in assessment was “Program Assessment and Syllabi: Intersection of Theory and Practice in Music and Theatre” in October 2010 at the Assessment Institute at IUPUI, Indianapolis.