Emily Milius is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the UNC Greensboro School of Music. She comes to UNCG from Eugene, Oregon, where she was a teaching assistant in music theory and aural skills at the University of Oregon. Prior to this position, Emily taught full-time on the music faculty at her alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Texas for three years.
A PhD candidate at the University of Oregon, Milius is completing her dissertation, “Vocal Timbre and Sexual Trauma in Women’s Popular Song,” in which she focuses on the ways that singers can portray symptoms of trauma through vocal timbre. More specifically, she demonstrates the ways that women express their experiences of sexual violence—in the music industry and writ large—with their voices. In addition to her studies in music, Milius has also completed coursework to earn a Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Milius has presented her research at regional conferences and meetings of the Society for Music Theory and received the South-Central Society for Music Theory’s Best Student Presentation Award for her paper “Voice as Trauma Recovery: Vocal Timbre in Kesha’s ‘Praying’” in 2021. Additionally, she has presented her research at several Feminist Theory and Music conferences.
Milius has also worked as a crisis and support advocate at a domestic violence agency and is dedicated to incorporating trauma-informed pedagogical practices in the classroom.
Emily Milius holds a BM in Vocal Performance, where she graduated magna cum laude, and an MM in Music Theory from Stephen F. Austin State