Dr. Jess Mullen an Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in popular music pedagogy, curriculum theory, and equity issues in music teaching. His areas of research include critical race theory, popular music, music teacher education, the political economy of schooling, and educational policy. His work has been published in Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, and he has presented at national and international conferences hosted by the International Society for Music Education, May Day Group, and the American Educational Research Association, among others. Mullen has in press manuscripts for the Philosophy of Music Education Review, the Journal of Music Teacher Education, and a forthcoming chapter in The Sage Handbook of School Music Education.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Illinois, Mullen served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University. He began his career as an educator in the Chicago Public Schools, teaching high school general music and band. He has also taught PK-8th grade band and general music in Champaign, Illinois. Mullen earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Master of Music Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and  Bachelor of Music Education The Ohio State University.

The music of Roy David Magnuson has been performed throughout the United States and Europe at venues such as the World Saxophone Congress, NASA, WASBE, CBDNA, the RED NOTE New Music Festival, and the Robb Composers’ Symposium. Roy is an Associate Professor of Composition and Creative Technologies at Illinois State University where he serves on the Music Composition faculty, and as Associate Director of the Creative Technologies Program. Roy is also the creator of the virtual reality composition software solsticeVR (https://www.solsticevr.net/), and co-creator of the virtual reality conducting pedagogy RibbonsVR: Virtual Reality Assisted Conducting. He is a member of ASCAP, and his music is recorded on Albany Records and NAXOS.

Peter (Pete) Shungu is a lifelong musician and educator who is thrilled to be joining the School of Music in August, 2022 as a Teaching Assistant Professor in Music Education. Pete has taught Music, English, History, Service-Learning and other subjects on both the high school and university level in several different locations, including Champaign, IL, Boston, MA, Brooklyn, NY and Colima, Mexico. He comes to the U of I from Central High School in Champaign, where he has taught for 3 years as an ESL/Bilingual Education teacher. He is a “Double Jumbo”, having earned a Bachelor’s in International Relations and a Master’s of Arts in Teaching, both from Tufts University in Massachusetts. In addition, he holds teaching endorsements in ESL and Bilingual Education, and he is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and French. Pete was born in New Jersey to a father from the heartland of Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and a mother from the heartland of the U.S. (Kansas). He is a trumpet and piano player, and a hip-hop MC and spoken word poet. He is also the bandleader of Champaign-Urbana-based group Afro D and Global Soundwaves, a 7-piece blend of jazz, funk, soul and socially-conscious hip-hop. He has taught hip hop music to youth in a variety of settings, including at the University of Illinois’s ISYM Hip Hop Camp. Pete’s past experience with UIUC also includes 3 years working in the Office of Student Financial Aid. Pete and his wife Melissa are proud parents to four children: Paula (19), Malia (8), Naima (5) and Isaac (8 months).

Dr. William Patterson (Lecturer, “Decoding Dr. Dre: Exploring CS+X in Hip Hop, Cultural Engineering, and Technology Entrepreneurship,” fall 2018), earned the Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies from the University of Illinois and has served as an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Information Sciences and the College of Engineering’s Technology Entrepreneurship Center.

Dr. Patterson focuses on preparing students of various Hip Hop generations to be civic-minded urban global leaders in cultural innovation, entrepreneurship, engineering, business, art, and technology. He challenges students by contextualizing applied learning methods that encourage students to re-think various forms of traditional scholarship from a variety of disciplines in order to address contemporary issues that impact urban environments around the globe.

An entrepreneur at heart, Dr. Patterson has developed a plethora of scholarly initiatives utilizing Hip Hop such as the IPOWERED: Higher Ed Remixed Lecture Series and the Hip Hop Xpress Urban STEM Lab. The Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, College of LAS, College of Engineering, Student Affairs, College of Fine and Applied Arts, and the College of Business have utilized Dr. Patterson’s scholarship in a variety of capacities.  His course development cannon includes Service Learning from a Hip Hop Perspective, KRS: Hip Hop Artistry and Social Activism, C.R.E.A.M. (Cash, Rules, and Everything Around Me), Hip Hop and Social Entrepreneurship, Hip Hop and African American Studies in the Age of Obama, Hip Hop as Community Informatics, Decoding Dr. Dre: urban creativity in engineering and technology, and Hip Hop Entrepreneurship: Evolution in Engineering and Technology.

He is a fellow of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies. His current research and action interests concentrates on urban STEM pedagogy development, organizing community code trainings, community sustainability, and entrepreneurship.  Additionally, connecting university students with indigenous community organizations is central to his areas of focus.

Jasmine Henderson is a native of Chicago, IL, and a two-time graduate from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Music Education with K-12 Licensure. Jasmine volunteers her time with community programs that focus on the advancement of oppressed and underserved populations and dismantling racial disparities. Currently, Jasmine is the General Music Teacher and Choir Director at Franklin STEAM Academy and is dedicated to empowering her students through music. 

Lamont Holden, known in the music production community as TheLetterLBeats, is a music producer, DJ, podcast host, videographer, social media content creator, sound designer, teacher and audio engineer. Returning to campus after four years in Atlanta, GA at the pulse of the music industry, he will continue teaching Beatmaking I & II, Critical Audio Listening and Audio Recording Techniques.

During the fall 2021 semester, Professor Holden is helping to launch the “Illini Anthem” project that combines hip hop music and culture with new athletic and school spirit traditions at UIUC.

Professor Holden earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 2004 and an M.A. in Teaching & Education at National Louis University in 2011.

Adam Kruse is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he teaches music education courses primarily in areas of popular music and music technology. He is a co-leader for the Hip-Hop Xpress project and also co-directs the Illinois School of Music's Summer Hip-Hop Camp. Kruse completed his Ph.D. in music education at Michigan State University and earned a Master of Arts degree in secondary education and a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Ball State University. As a graduate student, Kruse earned an Excellence in Diversity Award, a Research Enhancement Award, and a Dissertation Completion Fellowship. His dissertation titled, "'They Wasn't Makin' My Kinda Music': Hip-Hop, Schooling, and Music Education," won the 2014 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Council for Research in Music Education. Kruse's current scholarship focuses on Hip-Hop music learning and engagements of Hip-Hop culture in school music settings. He presents frequently at national and international conferences and has published in many of the field's leading journals.

At the University of Illinois, Kruse earned a Campus Distinguished Promotion Award in 2021 and the 2019-2020 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching from the College of Fine + Applied Arts. He also received a Creative Research Award from the College and an M3I4 grant from the School of Music to host the first-ever Hip-Hop Music Ed Symposium. Kruse was also recognized with the 2020 Outstanding Early Career Paper in Music Education from the American Educational Research Association and a 2017-2018 Technology Initiative Award from the College Music Society. The Hip-Hop Xpress project that Kruse co-leads with Dr. William Patterson and others has been awarded grants from the University's Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities; the Student Sustainability Committee; and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion's Call to Action to Address Racism and Social Injustice. This project also earned the 2021 Campus Excellence in Public Engagement award.

The Hip Hop Xpress: Double Dutch Boom Bus is envisioned to be a mobile classroom, sound studio, venue to collect and share the history of Hip-Hop culture, and platform for innovation and entrepreneurship modeled after George Washington Carver’s Jesup Wagon.

Students from the School of Architecture & School of Music will transform a 35’ school bus - building off previous versions of the Xpress that functioned out of converted trailers - into a dynamic platform with community programs, flexible interior space, and employ sustainable technologies that will minimize its environmental impact. They will research cultural and technological precedents, demo the bus's existing interior, design and develop new functionality, and lastly, fabricate and install all components during the Spring ‘20 semester.

Funding from the University of Illinois President’s Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and Humanities and the Student Sustainability Committee has been secured to support the work. 

The Hip Hop Xpress team includes Dr. William Patterson, Joe Bolton, Professor Kevin Erickson, Dr. Adam Kruse, and Dr. Malaika McKee.