Buddy James is Professor of Music at California State University, East Bay, where he serves as Chair of the Department of Music, was Founding Director of the School of Arts and Media, was the 2015-16 George and Miriam Phillips CSUEB Outstanding Professor, and is the 2022-2023 recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in the College of Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences. He previously taught at Millersville University of Pennsylvania where he was named Professor of the Year in 2004. He was named the Outstanding Doctoral Graduate in Choral Music at the University of Southern California and was a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California Irvine. He has held leadership positions in ACDA, CCDA, NAfME, and IMC and was a Founding Officer and Past-President of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. His teachers included William Dehning, Joseph Huszti, Edward Maclary, Morten Lauridsen, and Robert Page and he is currently the Artistic Director for Schola Cantorum Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir.