Last Thursday, April 25, President Walter Harrison and Provost Sharon L. Vasquez walked in on Joshua Russell’s class holding red and white balloons.

This has become the traditional way for the University of Hartford administrators to announce the winner of the 2013 Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize.

The prize, which includes a $10,000 award, was established in 2009 by supporter and life-long regent of UHA, Belle K. Ribicoff. For the past five years it has been annually awarded to a faculty member who is on a tenure track but not yet tenured.

Russell, assistant professor of music education, is the first prize-winner from the Hartt School.

Who chose Russell?

President Harrison, Provost Vasquez and student Tara Reuter selected the winner of the prize this year.

Why Russell?

No one was more deserving than Russell to receive this award. Russell has completed an extraordinary amount of research and published multiple works at such an early point in his career.

He has presented his scholarship not only across the nation but across the world.

His scholarship ranges from researching alternate methods of string music instruction to issues that influence the success of music education undergraduates.

His articles have been published in some of the most prestigious journals in music education, and he has been appointed to the editorial review boards of the String Research Journal and the Journal of Research in Music Education.

Due to his extraordinary research at such a young age, Russell became the first-ever recipient of the American String Teachers Association’s Emergent String Researcher Award in 2012.

“This amount of recognition by a junior faculty member is extraordinary,” wrote Hartt School Associate Dean T. Clark Saunders.

Hartt students have had the incredible opportunity to learn from his immense knowledge and expertise. Along with colleague Warren Haston, Russell developed a program in which music education students in Hartt give music lessons to children at the University of Hartford Magnet School.

Russell has also committed himself to improving the music education graduate program at the university. He has recently become the Director of Doctoral Studies in Music Education and has restructured many of the graduate research courses in his area of expertise.

He also serves as the Faculty Advisor for the student chapter of the American String Teachers Association here at UHA.

As if his contributions to the Hartt School were not enough, Russell has repeatedly proven his dedication to the university as a whole. In the past he served on the President’s Commission on Faculty Compensation and he currently serves on the Faculty Senate.

Hartt School Dean Aaron Flagg, Associate Dean Saunders, and Director of the Music Education Division John Feierabend were also there on April 25 to give Russell the great news.

Russell’s colleagues within the Hartt School were eager to congratulate him as well.

Those who know Professor Russell could not be happier with the decision of the selection committee to award him with this year’s Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize.

Russell will be formally presented with the award at Commencement on May 19.