Millennium Magazine_8th Ed

29 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine ARTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT a band director of the Iowa City, Garner and Lake Park High Schools in Iowa between 1956 and 1959. Briefly employed as a brass instructor at Adams State University from 1962 to 1963, Mr. Colson then served in the same capacity at Bettendorf Middle School for the following two years. Beginning in 1965, Mr. Colson served as a professor of music and the director of orchestra and brass at South Dakota State University. During his tenure with the university, he was a conductor and music director of the university’s Civic Symphony Orchestra, in which he coordinated 142 performances of musicals. Attaining emeritus status in 2002, he taught trumpet and the French horn. Likewise, he played trumpet professionally in the Tri- City Symphony for eight years and in the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra for an additional eight years, as well as served as a coordinator for the Contemporary American Music Festival in Brookings, South Dakota, for a decade. Furthermore, he excelled as a program coordinator for the Brookings Chamber Music Society between 1975 and 2002 and previously was a guest conductor for various orchestra and band festivals in the Midwest from 1965 to 2002. Demonstrating versatility in his profession, Mr. Colson has also contributed to several written works, including as author of the unpublished book, “It’s Really All About Collaboration and Creativity: A Textbook and Self Guide for the Instrumental Music Conductor.” To attest to his success, he was honored with a Distinguished Service Award from Phi Beta Mu in 1990 and a Governor’s Award for outstanding service in arts education from the State of South Dakota in 2019. Named Outstanding Music Educator by the National Federation of Interscholastic Association in 2001, he was recently inducted into the South Dakota Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame in 2020. B eginning his musical endeavors when he was in the fifth grade, John Francis Colson took trumpet lessons from distinguished brass player William Gower. During his collegiate studies, Mr. Colson earned a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Arts from the University of Iowa in 1955 and 1956, respectively, prior to serving his first role as JOHN FRANCIS COLSON PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF MUSIC, MUSIC CONDUCTOR School of Performing Arts, South Dakota State University Brookings, SD