Dr. Lucas H. Petersen is thrilled to join Purdue Bands & Orchestras this fall as a Clinical Assistant Professor. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Kansas, his Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Northern Iowa, and his Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance and Music Education from the University of Iowa. His primary teachers have been Paul W. Popiel, Danny Galyen, Ronald Johnson, and Maurita Murphy Marx.

Most recently, he spent two years as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the University of Kansas, where his duties included teaching undergraduate and graduate conducting, directing the KU Women’s Basketball Pep Band, assisting with the Men’s Basketball Pep Band and the KU Marching Jayhawks, and guest conducting the KU Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and University Band.

Outside of his graduate studies, Dr. Petersen spent eight years as a high school band director, most recently at Winterset High School in Winterset, Iowa. Under his direction, each of the major performing ensembles–Wind Ensemble, Jazz I, and the Husky Marching Band–earned statewide recognition and acclaim, including an invitation to perform at the 2019 Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music, and he is an alumnus of the Beta Nu chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Dr. Petersen will be working with the “All-American” Marching Band, Boiler Box Band, Gold and Black Sound and concert bands. He and his wife, Kaitlyn, just celebrated their one-year anniversary, and they are adjusting to life in West Lafayette with their two year old Cavapoo, Ruthie.