Sue Samuels returned to Furman University, her alma mater, in 2019 as Director of Bands and Coordinator of Music Education Studies. Prior to Furman, she was Director of Visual and Performing Arts at Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama and served for 14 years as Director of Bands at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Samuels’ teaching experience prior to her arrival at UAB includes 12 years at Lassiter High School in Marietta Georgia, 1 year as Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Georgia, and 2 years as Director of Bands at WT Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. Under her direction, the bands at both Lassiter and Woodson performed at the Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, and the Lassiter Band performed twice at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and also won the 1998 Bands of America Marching Band Grand National Championships.
Having grown up as an Army brat, living in 5 different states by the time she was 6 years old, Dr. Samuels attended public schools in South Carolina. She is a graduate of Richland Northeast High School in Columbia and of Furman University in Greenville. In addition to her work as a band director, Dr. Samuels is developing research related to age, experience, and effective music teaching, and she enjoys being a mom to her beautiful son, Andrew, whom she adopted from Ethiopia in 2010.
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