​Dean - College of Fine Arts & Communication


Valerie C. Cisler

NFAC 101
(715) 346-4920
Valerie.Cisler@uwsp.edu



Biography

Valerie Cisler is Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication and Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. A champion of American music, Cisler has given numerous performances and presentations at state, regional, national, and international conferences, including the premieres of eight state-commissioned works for Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), most recently, Ghosts of Old Pianos by Grammy Award Winner Libby Larsen, in addition to performances at Regional NATS (Texas), the American Composers Alliance (New York City), Festival of Women Composers (Pennsylvania), and at CMS, NASA, and NASM conferences in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, Washington, D.C., San Jose, Costa Rica, and Bangkok, Thailand. Her publications include the Composition Book series for Alfred's Basic Piano Library and Technique for the Advancing Pianist: An Essential Collection of Exercises and Etudes with Maurice Hinson, Alfred Publishing Co., Los Angeles. The books receive international distribution, including Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the U.S., with translation of four books to Korean. Her current research is focused on keyboard skills preparation, with the forthcoming Functional Skills for Pianists slated to be released by Oxford University Press, NY, in 2022. As a professional clinician for Alfred Publishing, she has presented numerous workshops for piano teachers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Her D.M.A. document, The Piano Sonatas of Robert Muczynski (University of Oklahoma) was selected for The Center for American History permanent collection at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Cisler previously held an appointment as Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska Kearney, where she served as Director of the Piano Pedagogy Program, Graduate Music Program Chair, and then as Chair of the Department of Music & Performing Arts (ten years). Her teaching encompassed applied and class piano, a three-year piano pedagogy/internship curriculum, along with graduate aesthetics of music coursework. Her mentorship of students included a number of state and national conference presentations, performance competition awards, master class performances, and grant awards, and extended to service as Reviewer for the National Council on Undergraduate Research. She is a member of the Society for American Music, College Music Society, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, Nebraska Music Teachers Association (former state President), and holds National Certification (piano, pedagogy, and theory) with the Music Teachers National Association.

Cisler's awards and honors include:

  • 2013 Leland Holdt/Security Mutual Life UNK Faculty Award for Superior Teaching, Scholarship, and Service (campus-wide award)
  • 2009 Awarded Fellow with Music Teachers National Association
  • 2008 New Frontiers: "Teaching and Scholarship in Harmony at UNK"
  • 2007 Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA)
    (University of Nebraska system-wide teaching award)
  • 2006 Creative Teaching Award (campus-wide award)
  • 2005 Pratt-Heins Foundation Faculty Award for Research/Scholarship (campus-wide award)
  • 2000-2008 Nebraska Arts Council: Touring Artist Program
  • 1998-99 Nebraska Humanities Council: Major Grant for Lecture/Recital Tour