Jaclyn Kottman Hittner (Girl Choir Artistic Director, Arioso teacher-conductor) is an alumna of Lawrence University (2012), where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in choral and general music education. She also holds a Master of Music degree in music education from Boston University, where her capstone research project focused on facilitating empowerment through the adolescent female voice change. She has been a member of the Girl Choir staff since 2011 as a manager, conducting intern, and teacher-conductor, and currently serves the mission of the program as its Artistic Director.
Hittner taught choral and general music in the Appleton Area School District for almost a decade, where she was also a teacher-leader and advocate for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive (CLR) Teaching & Learning. She is the Director of Operations for the Mile of Music Festival's Music Education Team and works with the music education program at Lawrence University teaching music education courses and mentoring student teachers. She has served as a clinician and guest conductor for festival and honor choirs throughout Wisconsin and is a member of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA) and the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association (WCDA). As a guest speaker and presenter for professional conferences and pre-service teacher preparation programs, Hittner has facilitated sessions on a variety of topics including community-building through inclusive pedagogy, culturally responsive classroom management, instructional technology in the secondary ensemble classroom, teaching music literacy through kinesthetic engagement, and empowering singers through the adolescent voice change. An advocate for the Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) teaching model, she is a recipient of WCDA’s Outstanding Young Choral Director Award and Lawrence University’s Pi Kappa Lambda Award for excellence in music education.
