Ingalls Named Ammann Endowed Chair in Church Music and Worship

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Music Monique Ingalls, Ph.D., who has been named the School of Music’s Ammann Endowed Chair in Church Music and Worship. The role will provide vital support for Ingalls's research on the congregational music of Christian communities around the world.

“Dr. Ingalls’s appointment to this endowed chair is a fitting recognition of the contributions she has made to the field of church music," says Dean Kevin Sanders, D.M.A. "Her scholarship, leadership, and commitment to both academic and congregational communities continue to shape the future of church music in meaningful ways. This chair not only honors her past achievements but also supports the vital work she continues to do on a national and international scale.” 

Through this endowed chair, Ingalls will be able to more readily engage in fieldwork and archival research abroad, to pursue new international and interdisciplinary collaborations, and to contribute more broadly to global academic conversations about the intersections of music and religion.

"I am deeply honored to be named to this endowed chair," says Ingalls. "It is a meaningful recognition of the work I have been privileged to do at Baylor, and I am grateful for the additional support it will provide for my research."

"Monique Ingalls’s work is recognized throughout the world as informative, innovative, collaborative, and hospitable," said Dr. Randall Bradley, Director of the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies and Church Music Program. "Not only is she one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of church music, but she also serves as partner and enlivener of the work of many other scholars. She established the Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives biennial conference which in its eighth iteration has drawn together scholars from around the globe. Since its inception, this important gathering has been the catalyst for much of the most important research among scholars of music and worship. Adding to her global impact is the dissertation guidance she has given to PhD students at Baylor. Since the inception of Baylor’s doctoral program in church music in 2014, Dr. Ingalls has supervised most of the PhD dissertations. With many of her students publishing a monograph shortly after graduation, her students are forming the foundation of the next generation of scholars in the field."

"Monique Ingalls’s work is recognized throughout the world as informative, innovative, collaborative, and hospitable."

Monique Ingalls joined the Baylor Church Music faculty in 2014. Prior to her appointment at Baylor, she spent three years as a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the University of Cambridge. From 2014-2015, she was appointed Senior Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music. Dr. Ingalls’s research examines the effects of 20th and 21st century social, cultural, and technological changes on Christian communities through the lens of congregational music-making, both in and beyond North America. Her work has been published in journals, encyclopedias, and edited books in several fields, including ethnomusicology, media studies, hymnology, religious studies, and ecclesiology.

Dr. Ingalls is dedicated to building collaborative research networks for the study of Christian music and religious music more broadly. She co-founded the “Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives” conference, a biennial international gathering which meets in Cuddesdon, Oxford, UK (congregationalmusic.org). She is senior series editor for the Congregational Music Studies book series with Routledge Press. She also was co-founder and first president of the Religion, Music, and Sound Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology. 

Dr. Ingalls’s courses on music in Christian communities draw insights from music studies, anthropology, media studies, and practical theology. In addition to her classical training as a pianist and choral singer, she has also enjoyed stints as a cover band keyboardist, a Javanese gamelan percussion player, and a singer of traditional polyphony from the Republic of Georgia. Dr. Ingalls resides in North Waco with her husband, daughters, and cats, and serves as Music Liturgist for Holy Spirit Episcopal Church.

Read more about Dr. Ingalls and her work here.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Ingalls!