Aimee Beckmann-Collier is Director of Choral Studies at Drake, where she has taught since 1989. She is a frequent clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor for high school and college choral festivals and contests throughout the country. She made her Carnegie hall debut in June 1998, conducting Haydn's Heiligmesse, with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and choirs from throughout the United States and she returned there to conduct in June 2002. Recently she has conducted the Colorado, Utah, Missouri and Nebraska All-State Choruses, the New England Music Festival, the Honor Choir of the University of Wisconsin Madison Summer Music Clinic, and the Iowa Collegiate Honor Choir. She will conduct the New York All-State Chorus in December 2007.

Dr. Beckmann-Collier served as president of the Iowa Choral Directors Association from 1999 to 2001 and has served as chairperson of the 1992 ACDA North Central Division Convention and the 1995 ICDA Summer Symposium. She is a former editor of Melisma and Sounding Board. Her articles on Renaissance performance practices, music of the Classical period, and teaching critical thinking skills in the choral rehearsal have been published in the Choral Journal. Currently she serves as co-chair of the Iowa Comprehensive Musicianship Project.

A graduate of Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana, which presented her with its first Distinguished Music Alumna Award, Dr. Beckmann-Collier received master's and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from The University of Iowa where she studied with Don V. Moses. She recently received Drake University's Madelyn Levitt Award for Distinguished Community Service, the National Federation Interscholastic Music Association Outstanding Music Educator Award, and the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Iowa Music Educators Association.