Biography

Phillip J. Herr-Klepacki is the Director for Distance Education for the College of the Arts; he joined COTA full-time in 2011, having worked as a graduate assistant in the college’s graduate admissions office since 2004. In his role as director, Phillip manages three graduate degree programs, two graduate certificates, and one undergraduate degree program, providing administrative support and advising to students from recruitment through to graduation. He also serves as the academic advisor for the Digital Worlds Institute, helping students to navigate their degree requirements and stay on track to successfully complete the program.  In 2018, he received the Professional Advisor of the Year Award for the College of the Arts.  

Phillip is also an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Music, teaching for UF Online, and is an experienced instructor in the classroom as well. He was chosen to develop and teach the online Introduction to Music Literature course through the Provost E-Learning Initiative and, in 2010, was named an Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant.

Currently a doctoral candidate and past fellow in Historical Musicology at UF, Phillip is writing his dissertation on the art song cycles of American composer David Del Tredici, under the guidance of Professor Emeritus David Z. Kushner. His research interests include conducting, twentieth and twenty-first century music, queer musicology, popular musicology, and literary theory. Also an active conductor, Phillip is Music Director at St. Joseph's Episcopal Church in Newberry (FL), and is the assistant conductor and accompanist for the Voices Rising Community Choir. He served from 2004-2014 as the Associate Conductor for the Gainesville Civic Chorus (GCC) and as the conductor of their chamber choir, The Choristers.

Phillip earned the Bachelor of Arts in Music from The Florida State University, and the Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Florida. His professional affiliations include the U.S. Distance Learning Association, Florida Distance Learning Association, American Choral Directors Association, the College Music Society, Tau Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and the American Musicological Society, for which he has previously served as a board member for the AMS LGBTQ Study Group and as Student Representative for the Southern Chapter. He has published articles on Steve Reich and Suzanne Vega in the Salem Press volume Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century (2009), and an article on Bing Crosby in Salem's The Twenties in America (2012). 

An avid musical theater enthusiast, Phillip has worked with the Gainesville Community Playhouse (GCP) and Stagedoor Theater Arts Resource (STAR) Center as music/vocal director and principal pianist on a number of shows, including The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Hairspray, The King and I, The Wizard of Oz, and Once On This Island, for which he received the GCP's "Golden Apple" award for Outstanding Musical Direction.