William P. Dougherty is the Ellis and Nelle Levitt Professor of Music Theory and Composition. Professor Dougherty teaches courses in music theory, composition, and MIDI techniques. His research is directed toward developing a viable semeiotic of music and he has published numerous articles on musical semeiotic, Beethoven, and music and text relationships in the art song. In addition, Dr. Dougherty has presented over twenty papers at national and international conferences. He is currently working on a book that details a semeiotic approach to the settings of songs from Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. He has twice been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellowships to pursue his research.

Also active as a composer, Dr. Dougherty has been commissioned to write compositions for the Brass Band of Columbus, the Fine Arts Trio, the Pioneer String Quartet, the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, the New England Symphony Orchestra, the New England Wind Ensemble, and several chamber groups and soloists. In 2002, he was commissioned by the Iowa Music Teacher's National Association, and the resulting composition placed second in the MTNA national competition. Dr. Dougherty's orchestral and band works are published by MMB Publishers and much of his solo and chamber music is published by Heilman Music. He received his bachelor's degree in music education from Illinois Wesleyan University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in music theory from The Ohio State University. He is currently serving as Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences.