Mary Lynn Doherty

Assistant Director of the School of Music
Professor and Coordinator of Music Education

Dr. Mary Lynn Doherty is the Assistant Director of the School of Music and Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Northern Illinois University. In this role, she teaches music education methods courses, directs the University Chorus, and works with undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Doherty was invited to lead the 2024 Illinois All-State 4th and 5th Grade Honor Choir, and has been honored to conduct elementary, middle, and high school level ILMEA District choirs over the past two decades as well as serving as the guest conductor of festival and honor choirs including the Rockford High School All-City Honor Choir, the Big Northern Conference Honor Choir, the Little Ten High School Choral Festival, the West Suburban Women’s Festival Choir, the North Central Junior Conference Honor Choir, and the U-46 Middle School Honor Choir. In 2020, Dr. Doherty was awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. She has also been nominated for NIU’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award four times, representing the School of Music and the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

In the summer of 2024, Dr. Doherty was selected to present her research on women conductors at the International Society for Music Education’s World Conference in Helsinki, Finland. Dr. Doherty is on the Illinois Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance Committee and is a proud graduate of Luther College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her mentors include Judy Hanson, Brett Goad, Gerald Olson, and Weston Noble.