Dr. Grant Linsell Joins Fullerton College as Dean of Fine Arts
Fullerton College welcomes Dr. Grant Linsell as its new dean of Fine Arts. Dr. Linsell comes to Fullerton College after serving as the dean of Arts & Cultural Programs and the dean of distance education at Río Hondo College in Whittier and is a sought-after conductor, clinician, and clarinetist. Previous work includes being director of instrumental activities at Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon; director of the Wind and Percussion Program at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; and the director of bands at both Minot State University in Minot, North Dakota, and Lansing Eastern High School in Lansing, Michigan. He has worked with many ensembles – from middle school to professional – across the United States and Canada.
Dr. Linsell researches, writes, and presents internationally on music and music education. His main interests are electroacoustic clarinet composing/performing, the music and life of Igor Stravinsky, curriculum development, and conducting pedagogy. He is also known to give informal lectures on the neuroscience of music.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Linsell attended the University of Michigan and received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Clarinet Performance. There, he studied clarinet with Deborah Chodacki and Fred Ormand and played in H. Robert Reynolds’ Symphonic Band and the Michigan Marching Band. He holds a master’s degree in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Oregon (where he studied with Bob Ponto) and a Doctorate in Wind Ensemble Conducting from Arizona State University (where he studied with Gary W. Hill).
At ASU, he was a research fellow at the Intelligent Stage Motion Capture Facility in the Arts, Media, and Engineering Program, where he worked on computer-aided conductor motion analysis and on developing a conductor-driven and musically responsive computer system – the only such system in the world.
