Karin Hendricks is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Ball State University, and served as Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois from 2009-2011. At the university level, she has taught courses in music education, research, sociology and psychology of music, and string pedagogy. She earned a B.M. in Cello Performance, Oberlin Conservatory; a B.A. in German Studies, Oberlin College; M.A. in Music Education, Brigham Young University; and a PhD in Music Education, University of Illinois.
Dr. Hendricks has presented workshops at national and international conferences, and has papers published or accepted for publication in journals such as the American Suzuki Journal, American StringTeacher, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education: Research, Research Studies in Music Education, Philosophy of Music Education Review, and Psychology of Music. She has served in a variety of service and leadership capacities, including as Orchestra Vice-President for the Utah Music Educators Association and President-Elect of Indiana Chapter of ASTA; on the Advisory Committee of the Music Educators Journal and Editorial Board of the American String Teacher; Co-Chair of the International Symposium for Research on Talent Education; and on the Advocacy Standing Committee for the International Society for Music Education.
Dr. Hendricks has conducted music research with an emphasis in social psychology and early childhood string pedagogy, with a particular focus on contextual and cultural influences upon motivation and musical engagement. While completing her doctoral dissertation on the sources of self-efficacy in music performance, she was awarded an American Dissertation Fellowship through the American Association of University Women and received an honorable mention for the Robert Ferber Dissertation Award through the University of Illinois Survey Research Laboratory. Subsequent research projects have included studies of the musical growth of young children and adolescents, and the means whereby teachers and musicians of all ages foster strong musical self-beliefs.
Before moving to the collegiate level, Dr. Hendricks enjoyed a successful public school orchestra career for 13 years in Utah and Idaho. She was named the 2008 "Secondary Teacher of the Year" for the Utah Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, 2005 "Teacher of the Year" at Logan High School in Utah, and was a 2003 recipient of the United States Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award, presented by First Lady Laura Bush. She has served as an orchestra clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States and has maintained a private string studio for 26 years, with students receiving state and national honors.