Erin Hopkins she/her/hers

Assistant Professor of Music

• Phone: 309-794-8054
• Email: erinhopkins@augustana.edu
• Office: Bergendoff 120

Dr. Erin Hopkins specializes in general music methods and assessment in music education. She holds Level 1 certification in both Orff Schulwerk and Music Learning Theory– Early Childhood. Prior to joining the Augustana faculty, she taught elementary general music for eight years in Michigan and Ohio, the majority of which was in urban and Title 1 public schools. She has also taught middle school general music, beginning orchestra, and beginning band.

Dr. Hopkins created the Music Makers program for Gigi’s Playhouse Cleveland, a nonprofit organization that provides free educational and therapeutic programming for children and adults with Down Syndrome, which she led for six years. She is pleased to continue this volunteer work with Gigi's Playhouse Quad Cities.

Dr. Hopkins's research is interdisciplinary, focusing on intersections between neurodiversity studies, music cognition, and music education praxis. She has conducted studies on topics including the perspectives and expertise of neurodivergent music educators, equity of access to music for students with disabilities, musical stimming in autistic adults, and cognitive processes involved in reading music notation. She has presented her work at state, national, and international conferences and has published articles in the Journal of Music Teacher Education, Contributions to Music Education, and Science.

Find more from Dr. Hopkins at www.neurodivergentmusiceducation.com.

Specializations: Elementary General Music Education