Ben Hawkins

Ben Hawkins is Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Ensembles at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, where he has taught since 1985. At Transylvania, Dr. Hawkins conducts the Concert Band, Chamber Orchestra, Pep Band, and teaches courses in music theory, music education, and conducting. For eighteen years, he served as Program Director in Music. In addition, he has regularly taught in the Transylvania’s unique First Year Studies program, a foundational reading/writing/critical thinking course which the university requires of all students. Dr. Hawkins holds Transylvania’s Bingham Fellowship in Teaching Excellence. He serves as Music Director of the Central Kentucky Concert Band, a community band entering its 48th year of existence.

Prior to his tenure at Transylvania, Dr. Hawkins taught five years of band in grades 5-12 in Virginia and Texas. His arrangements have been performed by the United States Air Force Band and by numerous university and high school bands. He has served as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the United States, as well as in Mexico and Australia. Ben lives in Lexington with Cyndee, his wife of 41 years and a retired band director. They have two adult sons, Jay and Turner.