Westgate Selected for Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series

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AMHERST – Department of Music and Dance chair Dr. Matthew Westgate has been named a Distinguished Faculty member for the 2025-26 academic year, the University announced on Monday afternoon. 

In his December 2nd lecture, entitled The Art of Conducting: Creating Community Through Music, Professor Westgate will share methods (both musical and non-musical) that bring people together around common goals and, in turn, help connect them as a community.

Established in 1974, the annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture is dedicated to acknowledging the work of our most esteemed and accomplished faculty members. The lecture series not only honors individual faculty members and their achievements, but also celebrates the values of academic excellence that we share as a community. Each honoree is presented with the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest recognition bestowed upon faculty by the campus.

With Westgate’s selection, there have now been six members of the Department of Music and Dance selected to this distinction, including four in the past five years. In 1980, Fred Tillis became the first Music faculty honored, with Horace Boyer joining him ten years later. After three decades, the department quickly produced three more Distinguished Faculty winners - Felipe Salles (2020-21), Ayano Kataoka (2023-24) and Jeffrey W. Holmes (2023-24). Westgate is also the 52nd faculty member to represent the College of Humanities and Fine Arts with this award.

Attendees to Westgate’s lecture, to be held on December 2nd at 4:00 PM in the Old Chapel, will learn methods to tap into the energy that exists within themselves, find ways to focus their intent, and explore what it feels like to lead, empower, and connect others without words. The lecture will include an opportunity to learn basic conducting techniques, examine meaning expressed through universal body language, and discuss the positive effects that learning to communicate nonverbally can have on everyone. Participants will end the session by making some music together. 

Professor Westgate approaches community connection from his vantage point as a professional conductor and musical leader of international renown. Under his direction, UMass ensembles have been invited to perform at multiple College Band Director National Association (CBDNA) Conferences (Yale University, 2018; U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 2016) and on concert tours of Ecuador (Quito, Otavalo) in May 2024, and Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Cork, Killarney) in summer of 2017. 

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Westgate began his musical career as a jazz/classical trombonist and public-school educator in southwest Michigan. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Music Education degree from Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), then eventually went on to earn his Master’s Degree in instrumental conducting from WMU in 2006. 

He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Cincinnati, OH) in 2009. His primary conducting teachers and mentors include Robert Spradling, Rodney Winther, Terence Milligan, and Frank Battisti. 

Prior to his appointment at UMass Amherst, Westgate was the Director of Instrumental Activities at Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH), where he conducted the symphonic band, jazz ensemble, Xavier Pep Bands, and chamber orchestra. 

In addition to his role as chair of the department, Westgate serves as Director of Wind Studies and conductor of the UMass Amherst Wind Ensemble.

Off campus, Dr. Westgate is active in his profession; he is the President of the Eastern Division of the College Band Director’s National Association and serves on the national board. In his spare time, Westgate is an avid ultra-marathon and marathon runner and hiker. He recently completed his first Boston Marathon.

For more information, go to the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series website.