Dr. Patricia S. Foy
Assistant Dean of the Petrie School of Music
Associate Professor of Music Education
patti.foy@converse.edu
864-596-9172
Blackman Music Hall, Room 132

Patricia S. Foy, Associate Professor of Music Education and Interim Assistant Dean, has been a member of the Petrie School of Music faculty since 1990. Before beginning her career as a college-level educator, she taught general and choral music for twelve years in the public schools of Greenville and Darlington Counties (SC) and in Cobb County, GA. In addition, she has served churches in the roles of accompanist, children’s choir director, and adult choir director, and currently serves as the choir director at Sharon United Methodist Church in Greer, SC. At Converse, she teaches choral and general music classes on both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. The founder and director of the Converse Music Technology Institute, she has received grants of more than $400,000 from the South Carolina Department of Education and the South Carolina Arts in Basic Curriculum Project to train South Carolina music teachers in the use of music technology.

Dr. Foy is active in the Southeast as a clinician, consultant, and choral adjudicator. An active member of MENC: The National Association for Music Education, she is the immediate Past-President (Vice President) of the South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA), the SC affiliate of MENC. She is a past president of the College Division of SCMEA, a former Teacher Education Chair for the organization, and is a past member of the Board of the Southern Division of MENC.  Dr. Foy served thirteen years as a member of the Steering Committee for the South Carolina Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, and has served as a consultant to the South Carolina Department of Education in the assessment of college and university music teacher preparation programs. She currently serves on the Board of the SC Alliance for Arts Education, an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and her biography is included in the most recent publications of Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and Who’s Who in American Education.

Dr. Foy earned the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Converse College in 1977. She earned a Master of Music Education degree in choral music education in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Music Education in 1988 from the University of South Carolina, where she served as the graduate editor for Update: the Applications of Research in Music Education. Dr. Foy is a Kodály specialist, having completed Levels I, II, and III of the certification program.