Gary Boerckel joined the faculty of Lycoming College in 1979 and has been chair of the Department of Music for over ten years. A native Philadelphian, he studied at both the Settlement Music School and Temple University before receiving undergraduate degrees in piano performance and European history from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. While a doctoral student at the University of Iowa, he served as pianist for the university's renowned Center for New Music. He has been a guest soloist with the Ohio University Symphony Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, and the Susquehanna Valley Symphony Orchestra. Numerous solo recitals, including programs devoted to ragtime and early jazz, have taken him to artists series, colleges and universities throughout the East Coast and Midwest. Dr. Boerckel also serves as the director of the Lycoming Scholar program, which provides yearly interdisciplinary seminars to over one hundred college honor students.