Reflections Magazine Issue #75 - Winter 2012 | Page 12

Campus Feature A New Voice Beth Tibbs Has High Hopes for Music at SHU By Michelle Blackerby—Student Writer I n a large, white room filled with mementos of the retired faculty member who preceded her, Elizabeth Tibbs, Ph.D., assesses her new surroundings. Tibbs, the new full-time music faculty member at Siena Heights University, is working to remake not only her office, but SHU’s music program as well. The Lenawee County native has had ties with Siena Heights since her childhood. She was trained on piano by now-retired Sister Magdalena Ezoe ’55, a longtime Siena Heights faculty member, and had been neighbors with previous Siena Heights art faculty member, the late Father David Van Horn. Most recently, Tibbs comes to SHU from Arizona Western College, where she taught piano, voice, music history and the choirs as a professor of music. While teaching in Arizona, Tibbs created a non-profit organization called the Yuma Youth Choir. 12 Reflections Winter ’12