Keith Ward received a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from West Chester University, Master of Music in Piano Performance Pedagogy from Northwestern University, and a Doctor of Music in Piano Performance, also from Northwestern. Currently he is Director of the School of Music at the University of Puget Sound. In the field of academic leadership he has been active as a writer, reviewer, panelist, workshop facilitator, and accreditation evaluator; currently he is a member of the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music. As a solo pianist and collaborative artist he has appeared in concerts on college campuses, on artist series, and on both commercial and public radio. He has presented clinics and workshops on piano teaching, piano repertoire, instructional technology, and piano pedagogy. In essays, reviews, critical editions, presentations, and his recently published book, For the Parlor & the Concert Stage, his scholarship has focused on Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives, American piano music of the 18th and 19th centuries, and musical responses to the AIDS pandemic.