Dr. Ann Benson

Dr. Ann Benson, assistant professor of music, won the Columbia College Students’ Choice Award for 2005. The award is determined entirely by student nomination and vote. Students are asked to nominate faculty members who exemplify teaching excellence and who have made a real difference in students’ learning and development.

A 1977 Columbia College graduate, Benson holds a master of music degree from Indiana University and a doctor of musical arts degree from USC. She made her New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall in 1989 and her New York operatic debut in the title role of Puccini’s Tosca with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center in 1993. She has also performed with the Connecticut Opera, the Peoria Civic Opera, the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Syracuse Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Philharmonic, the Savannah Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Greenville Symphony, the Augusta Symphony, the USC Symphony, the SC Philharmonic, and others. She joined the faculty of Columbia College in 2001.