Dr. Baruch J. Whitehead is a professor of music education at Ithaca College and the founding director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers (DCJS), an ensemble dedicated to preserving the Negro Spiritual in the concert tradition. Since 2010, he has led DCJS in performances at major venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and internationally in Toronto, Canada. In 2026, DCJS will perform Lena McLin’s Free at Last Cantata at the ACDA Eastern Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, furthering the ensemble’s mission of social justice and racial healing through music.
In 2024, Dr. Whitehead conducted research in Ghana, West Africa, at the Mbangba Cultural Center in Medie Village. In 2025, he served as Artist-in-Residence at Illinois State University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he taught music education classes, led African drumming and dance, presented workshops with Bloomington middle and high school choruses, and collaborated with the ACDA student chapter.
Dr. Whitehead established the Orff–Schulwerk certification program at Ithaca College and Marshall University and previously directed Boston University’s Orff Certification Training Course. He is also a co-founder of the Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP), launched in 2002 to provide accessible music and arts education rooted in inclusion and equity. Through partnerships with the Southside Community Center, he mentors Ithaca College students in teaching music that builds collaboration and respect.
A recognized scholar and advocate, Dr. Whitehead’s areas of expertise include diversity in music education, gospel music, African American sacred music, and the music of the Civil Rights Movement. He is the author of the Civil Rights Movement chapter in Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics (I.B. Tauris, 2008). He has presented nationally and internationally at NAfME, NYSSMA, NJMEA, the American Orff–Schulwerk Association, the International Arts and Humanities Conference (Honolulu), the International Music Education Conference (Spain), the World Music Village (Finland), and the ISME Conference (Porto Alegre, Brazil).
As a peace activist, Dr. Whitehead has collaborated with Israeli composer Yair Dalal, bringing together youth from Muslim and Jewish communities in a peace concert. His Peace Cantata premiered at the 2006 Martin Luther King Celebration at Ithaca College. He has studied African drumming and dance in Ghana, West Africa, and remains deeply committed to global and cultural exchange through music.
His service and teaching have been recognized with numerous honors, including the 2022 Ithaca College Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching, Scholarship, and Service, the 2020 Shirley M. Collado Faculty Award for Outstanding Service to the Ithaca College Community, the 2016 Henry Highland Garnet Lodge Award, the 2015 Southside Community Spirit Award, the 2014 Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award, and the 2005 Ithaca College Excellence in Service Award.
Dr. Whitehead holds a doctorate from Capella University, an M.F.A. from the University of Florida, and B.A. and B.M.E. degrees from the University of Cincinnati.