Kamile Geist

Associate Professor of Music Therapy
Ava & Cordell Haymon Endowed Chair

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Biography

Dr. Kamile Geist is the Program Coordinator of the new LSU Bachelor of Music Therapy program. Dr. Geist joined LSU as chair of Music Therapy in 2022 after teaching and directing the Music Therapy undergraduate and graduate programs at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio since 2003. While at Ohio University, she coordinated the undergraduate and graduate Music Therapy programs and created a graduate-level Arts in Health curriculum, a certificate, and a master’s degree.

At LSU, Dr. Geist created the first LSU Bachelor of Music Therapy program at a state school in Louisiana. She teaches undergraduate Music Therapy curriculum and advises undergraduate and graduate research projects related to music and health. She serves on various School of Music committees including curriculum and promotion and tenure and is the faculty advisor for the first LSU Undergraduate Music and Health Research Forum. College and university service includes supporting university-wide recruitment experiences such as the LSU 6th Grade Day and the LSU Academic All-Star Program. Dr. Geist is the CMDA representative on the Discover Undergraduate Research Advisory Board.

At Ohio University, Dr. Geist received the Ohio University School of Music Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award in 2012 and the prestigious 2022-2025 Ohio University Presidential Teaching Award. Dr. Geist has long-standing service for the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), having served on the Anti-Discrimination Policy Statement Task Force and the Education and Training Advisory Board. Her distinctive national service includes being co-chair of AMTA’s Academic Program Approval Committee and chair of the AMTA Competency Review Task Force.

In 2017, Dr. Geist received the AMTA – Great Lakes Region’s Scholarly Activity Award for her innovative research. The mission of Keep a Beat is to empower teachers and caregivers of young children to use accessible, evidence-based, live music strategies to promote positive social/emotional interactions and health and learning outcomes. Dr. Geist's professional publications include the Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives, Young Children, the Journal of Instructional Psychology, and the Journal of the International Association of Music and Medicine.

Dr. Geist’s Keep a Beat scholarly research funding includes the Ohio University Innovation Strategy, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the LSU College of Music and Dramatic Arts. Her presentations and guest speaking/trainings for Keep a Beat include regional, national, and international venues, including Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Scotland, Ecuador, Austria, Canada, Italy, and Finland.

Dr. Geist earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Baylor University in Waco, TX, and taught middle school band in Plano Independent School District in Plano, TX. After earning a Master of Arts degree in Music Therapy at Texas Woman’s University, working as a music therapy clinician in Plano, Highland Park, and Frisco Independent School Districts, and running her own private practice business, she found her calling to train music therapists to be professional and advanced clinicians, as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University. During her tenure as a music therapy professor at Ohio University, she earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a cognate in Educational Research Methods from the Patton College of Education at Ohio University.