​Suzanne L. Burton, associate professor of music education and coordinator of music education, specializes in music teacher preparation, general music, early childhood music and the professional development of music teachers at the University of Delaware. She teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses and supervises theses and projects. Her research interests include school-university partnerships, the development of music teachers’ professional knowledge, music acquisition and intercultural competence through global music education.

Dr. Burton is frequently sought after as a clinician and has presented her research and professional seminars in local, national and international forums. She is the co-chair for the Delaware Department of Education Visual and Performing Arts Statewide Curriculum and consults regularly with school districts on curriculum development. Dr. Burton is on the certification faculty of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning.

Known for her editorial work, Dr. Burton is the former editor of the Early Childhood Music & Movement Association publication, Perspectives, and is on the editorial board of Visions of Research in Music Education. Dr. Burton is guest editor for the Arts Education Policy Review issue on school-university partnerships and the Visions of Research in Music Education special issue on early childhood music. Her work is widely published and may be found in Arts Education Policy Review, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Visions of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal, ECMMA Perspectives, Early Childhood Connections and in the books Applications of Music Learning Theory published by GIA Publications and Collaborative Action for Change: Selected Proceedings of the 2007 Symposium on Music Teacher Education published by Rowman & Littlefield. Dr. Burton is the lead editor and contributor for the upcoming books Learning from Young Children: Research in Early Childhood Music and Engaging Musical Practices: A Sourcebook for Middle School General Music published by Rowman & Littlefield. The first recipient of the College Music Society’s Robby Gunstream Music in Education Award for the service-learning project ProjectMUSIC, she is also a recipient of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s Jessie Ball du Pont Educators Award. Dr. Burton holds two national positions within the National Association for Music Education (NAfME; formerly MENC): NAfME Collegiate national chair and the Early Childhood Special Interest Research Group national chair. Dr. Burton is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies and holds degrees from Michigan State University and Spring Arbor University in music education and piano pedagogy.