Associate Professor Karen Strand has been teaching oboe in PSU's Department of Music since 1989. Like so many of the music faculty, Karen maintains a busy schedule of performances and recordings which keep her teaching vital and give PSU oboe majors a boost into the competitive field of classical music upon graduation. The PSU Oboe Studio and its alumni are active in many facets of the musical life of the Portland metro area and throughout the region. "It is exciting not only to see and hear my current students develop as musicians, but to find that years later they entrust their students to our program here at Portland State. I love this phenomenon of being a 'grandteacher' and to make music with students past and present as part of a musical community that has its nucleus here on this urban campus in the heart of the Cultural District."
MM Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (1982); BMus University of Oregon (1980)