Bob Foster Page Updated 04/11/99

Robert E. Foster has been director of bands at the University of Kansas since 1971. He had previously taught at the University of Florida and in the public schools of Austin and Houston, Texas. Under his leadership the KU Bands have experienced unprecedented growth and success, and today they include 3 concert bands, the wind ensemble, 3 jazz ensembles, 9 combos, 2 basketball bands, and the well-known Marching Jayhawks; and a graduate program leading to the masters and/or doctorate degrees in band conducting. The program has received critical acclaim and national recognition in all of these areas, receiving the Sudler Trophy for Collegiate Marching Band in 1989. The University of Kansas was only the 7^th University Marching Band to receive this national award. In recent years KU ensembles have presented major performances at national and regional conferences of NBA, CBDNA, ABA, MENC, IAJE, and at numerous state conventions. A recent survey revealed that the University of Kansas Symphonic Band has performed at more MENC Conventions than any other band under the same conductor.

Mr. Foster has served on the board of directors of the National Band Association, Kansas Band Association, John Philip Sousa Foundation, College Band Directors National Association, and the American Bandmasters Association. He is Past-President and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past-President of the National Band Association, the world's largest band organization. He has served as President of the Southwest Division of the College Band Directors National Association, and as chairman of the 1989 North American Band Directors Coordinating Committee, is on the Selection Committee of the ABA/Oswald Composition Contest, and is a member of the International Jury of the Sudler International Wind Band Composition Contest. He is on the Board of Advisors for The Instrumentalist magazine, and is the band editor for the MENC Adviser column in the Music Educators Journal.

A well-known composer and author, he is also a member of MENC, KMEA, TBA, Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha, and an honorary member and former district governor of Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma. In 1983 he was selected one of ten outstanding music educators in the nation by The School Musician magazine, and in 1988 he was selected as the Outstanding Band Director by the Kansas Bandmasters Association and Phi Beta Mu. He is married, and he and his wife, Becky, have three children.