UND to bring back music therapy major

Feb. 8—GRAND FORKS — UND will reintroduce its music therapy degree program after a yearslong hiatus, the university announced Thursday.

Students will be able to begin applying for the bachelor's degree program in August, according to a UND press release, with the first classes commencing in fall 2025.

"I'm feeling good about it," said Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Brad Rundquist. "We looked at the information we had and decided it was a good time to bring it back."

Music therapy is an established practice where music is used in a therapeutic relationship to address clients' physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs, according to the American Music Therapy Association.

UND operated the only degree-granting music therapy program in North Dakota until 2016, when the state slashed budgets across the North Dakota University System, including more than $9 million from UND's academic programs.

Then-dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Debbie Storrs recommended the program suspend admissions in 2015, a decision that drew widespread ire from current students, program graduates and state and national professional groups.

A petition to save the program gathered more than 2,300 signatures, and students demonstrated in front of interim President Schafer's home. The Herald received a dozen letters advocating to keep the program.

Today, North Dakotans seeking a career in music therapy have to look outside the state for a degree program. The nearest AMTA-approved program is the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, according to the professional organization's directory.

Lindsey Moffitt graduated from UND with a degree in music therapy in 2014, and has worked at Valley Senior Living ever since.

She says she uses music therapy to improve the quality of life for long-term care patients, especially those with dementia or at the end of their lives.

"It provides me with many opportunities to establish relationships with people when their speech skills are no longer there," she said. "They say rhythm is the last part of your brain to go, so music pairs very well with that."

Moffitt, however, is the only full-time music therapist employed by Valley Senior Living, as well as the only one working in long-term care in Grand Forks.

The North Dakota Board of Integrative Health Care counts only 24 licensed music therapists, one of whom lists Indianapolis as their place of residence.

Though Moffitt completed a nine-month internship at Valley Senior Living in order to complete her degree, she hasn't had an intern since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Since we lost that program, it's been more difficult to get people to come and do music therapy in North Dakota," said Moffitt, who also serves as the current president of the Music Therapist Association of North Dakota.

Rundquist said bringing the program back was pragmatic both for the university and career-seekers, and would help address the increased need for mental and behavioral health care services in recent years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 4 percent increase in the job market for recreational therapies from 2020 to 2030, slightly above the national average.

In North Dakota, adults age 65 and older are expected to grow to 18% of the population by 2029, compared to 16.7% in 2022, according to North Dakota Compass.

In addition, growing enrollment at UND made the university comfortable offering a new program.

"We feel we have a more stable budget situation and a more sustainable budget situation," Rundquist said.

Since the university only halted the program instead of cutting it outright, it will not have to go before the State Board of Higher Education for approval.

The program also aligns with the university's goal to improve health outcomes for rural North Dakotans. According to Moffitt and the Board of Integrative Health Care, most music therapists practice in the state's largest cities.

"The rural areas are definitely underserved, and I'm looking forward to this discussion about how to better serve the state and also the community," Rundquist said.

UND has not yet begun seeking instructors, and administrators haven't discussed whether the position will be tenure-track, Rundquist said. The university is expecting to only hire one full-time position ahead of the fall 2025 term.

Past program director Meganne Masko left UND at the end of the 2015-16 school year, which left assistant clinical professor Natasha Thomas as the program's only full-time instructor, per the Herald's reporting.

Both Masko and Thomas are now listed among the faculty of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, also known as IUPUI.

In spring 2016, the music therapy program enrolled just shy of 50 students, a number Rundquist would like to see the revived program match.