Roger Smeltekop

ABOUT

Roger Smeltekop received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MSU and joined the university in 1977. A board-certified music therapist, he retired from the College of Music in 2012 as Associate Professor of Music Therapy, coordinator of the MSU Music Therapy Clinic, and supervisor of student therapists. He served as chairperson of the Music Therapy area from 1989 to 1997. Previously, he was in clinical practice at the Ypsilanti State Hospital, where he worked with emotionally impaired adolescents, and at the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry, where he worked with adults. He presented music therapy lectures and workshops to both lay and professional audiences. He is coauthor, with Robert Unkefer and Michael Thaut, of Music Therapy in the Treatment of Adults with Mental Disorders (2002), and he published widely on music therapy topics. Professor Smeltekop served for 30 years in the Assembly of Delegates of the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and in the Great Lakes Region of AMTA. He served for two years as chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Certification Board for Music Therapists. In 2009, he received a Sustained Effort Toward Excellence in Diversity award from MSU in recognition of his dedication to providing leading-edge music therapy clinical services to hundreds of mid-Michigan children and adults with disabilities.