Mandy J. Smith

Mandy Smith playing the drums

Mandy Smith is the Education Programs Manager at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where she runs all preK-college programs. She earned a BA in Rock History from Indiana University and an MA in Musicology from California State University, Long Beach. Her dissertation investigates tensions between the rock drum kit’s ability to signify simultaneously the virtuosic and the primitive. Notable awards include a CWRU College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship in 2014 and the David Sanjek Memorial Graduate Student Prize at the 2015 IASPM-US National Meeting. Mandy has been rockin’ out behind the drum kit for almost 25 years.