Today's front-page story in The Pitt News introduces our three new Department of Music faculty members: musicologists Rachel Mundy and Emily Zazulia and ethnomusicologist Gavin Steingo. Noting how unusual it is for a department to bring in three new faculty members at the same time, the article provides insight into how Mundy, Steingo, and Zazulia understand their respective disciplines and how they envision contributing to the Department’s mission.

Even more unusual are the previous connections the new faculty members share.

“Mundy, an assistant professor of 20th-century music, and Steingo completed the same postdoctoral study at Columbia University before entering Pitt. Zazulia, an assistant professor in medieval and Renaissance music, also attended graduate school with Steingo at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Steingo, an assistant professor of African music, marveled at the improbable hirings. “They ended up getting three people in the same year, which is very unusual,” Steingo said. “And not only that, but three people who were quite closely connected, even though the search had nothing to do with that.”

It’s exciting to have an influx of new people and fresh ideas in the Department of music, and we’re glad to see that the rest of the Pitt community is taking notice too. You can read the full Pitt News article here. And you can find out more about all our faculty here.