William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award winners are honored for a comprehensive and sustained record of scholarly excellence in research and/or creative activities, instruction and outreach. The William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Awards are supported by the Office of University Development. Michael Largey is professor of ethnomusicology in the Michigan State University College of Music.

Internationally recognized award-winning scholar, Michael Largey, is one of the world’s foremost authorities on music in Haiti. He has mentored a generation of ethnomusicologists working on music in the Caribbean, who have benefitted greatly from his intellectual brilliance and wisdom. A true leader, he has influenced many as a researcher, a teacher, a mentor and an actively engaged volunteer within the community. 

Largey is one of the most well-respected figures in the field of ethnomusicology today, which is evident through the number of awards and honors he has received for his work. His second book, “Vodou Nation: Haitian Art Music and Cultural Nationalism,” received the 2007 Alan Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology, one of the highest honors in the field. His first book, “Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae,” received two prestigious honors in 1996: the Gordon K. Lewis Memorial Award for Caribbean Scholarship and the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award. Largey has published nearly 20 articles, book chapters and reviews and presented more than 30 professional papers. 

As a dedicated teacher at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Largey has served as an adviser to an impressive list of students, making a significant contribution to the development of the ethnomusicology field. In the words of one of his undergraduate students who went on to receive a PhD, “his guidance led me to pursue ethnomusicology.”

His success as a teacher has been recognized through the receipt of an MSU Teacher–Scholar Award in 1998, the MSU College of Music Dortha J. and John D. Withrow Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010 and the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence from the MSU Center for Integrative Arts and Humanities in 2012. 

In terms of professional service, Largey has served as president of the Midwest chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, served on review panels for the National Endowment for the Humanities and served on the editorial advisory board for the Center for Black Music Research and CR: The New Centennial Review. 

Largey’s generosity extends to the community at large. Fluent in Haitian Kreyòl, he has volunteered his skills as a translator for several nonprofits working with Haitian refugees and supported the rebuilding of cultural centers damaged by the 2010 earthquake. 

For his accomplishments as a scholar, teacher and mentor, Michael Largey is most deserving of the Michigan State University William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award.