In July, Donald Simonson, professor of music, took over as chair of the Department of Music and Theatre. The position was relinquished by Michael Golemo, professor of music and director of bands, who held the role since 2005.

Simonson has been a faculty member at Iowa State for 39 years. Before accepting the department chair position, he had been serving as chair of the voice division within the music department.  

Golemo believes that Simonson’s experience will serve him well to lead the department.

“[Simonson] knows the department. He knows the faculty. He knows the students. He knows Iowa State,” Golemo said. “He understands the culture. He knows who we are, where we are [and] where we need to go. And we’re delighted to have him as our chair.”

Simonson has devoted many years being a vocal teacher at Iowa State. However, teaching was not his initial career plan. When Simonson graduated with his masters from Drake University, he set out on carving a career as a singer.

A foundation fellowship allowed him to go abroad and further his studies at the Academy of Music in Vienna, Austria. While there, he started auditioning for different kinds of singing opportunities.

Within a year, Simonson was earning a living singing in recitals, operas, symphony orchestra concerts and chamber music performances across Europe.

“In my education, I thought I was going to be a performer and that I would do that [for a career]. Having that fellowship to go to Europe was the opportunity to find out if I could do it. And after I had been doing it for a couple years, I realized that I [could be successful],” Simonson said.  

After he proved to himself he could make it as a singer, he wondered what the next step would be in his musical career. Simonson said he was looking for the next goal to achieve. 

While busy with performances in Europe, Simonson decided to come home to Iowa over a Christmas holiday. This was when he received his first opportunity to get into teaching.

Simonson learned about a singing opportunity in a concert being put on by the music department at ISU. He decided to meet with the music department chair about the opportunity and was given a role singing tenor in the concert.

After two performances at Stephens Auditorium, Simonson was approached by the music department chair, voice division chair and the dean of the School of Sciences and Humanities. They told him about a part-time teaching opening, and they wanted him to fill the spot as an artist-in-residence teaching vocal instruction.  

Simonson had to decline their offer because at the time he had contractual obligations for performances in Europe. 

He would return to Europe for a short period, before he was eventually contacted again by Iowa State about the teaching position. This time, he was able to accept the offer.

“I ended up here [at Iowa State] that first year, and I loved it. I knew that that was the next step for me to take,” Simonson said.

The professor who he was temporarily replacing ended up not returning, so Simonson stayed on permanently.

“I come from a family of educators and teachers. So [teaching] was always kind of placed out there as something that was noble; something that was good for the greater good of the community. And I knew that somewhere along the line I would probably do it. I didn’t think it would happen as soon as it did, but I’m very thankful that it did happen,” Simonson said.

Simonson taught at Iowa State for four years, before he was granted a year off to start his doctorate. He then went Northwestern University and then returned to Iowa State.

The next 30-plus years would be spent teaching vocal instruction to countless students. In that time, his students have had careers performing in the U.S. and Europe. He has also had students become teachers in the elementary through university education levels.

“It’s an exciting thing to be able to see your students doing things for their students that your teachers did for you and hopefully you did for them,” said Simonson.

Jenna Sandquist, a senior in music and global resource systems, has had Simonson as a vocal teacher for the past three years.  

“He’s a really great person and professor. He’s been there for his students ever since they start the program,” Sandquist said. “He’s also very humble. He has a lot of accomplishments, but he’s very humble. You can tell he really wants his students to succeed, and he makes every effort to help them.”

Sandquist says the music department wouldn’t be the same without Simonson.

Since taking the department chair position, Simonson still finds time to teach students, though not as many as he used to.

Most of his time is now spent on the business side of running the department. Some of his responsibilities include managing scholarships, overseeing the curriculum, hiring faculty and making sure morale is good within the department.

Golemo, the former chair, said that most people probably are not aware of the amount of work required to do the job.

“It’s a lot of hours. It’s challenging because it is a lot of responsibilities … [and] there is a fair amount of stress involved with that,” Golemo said. “As department chair, you have all the duties.”

In addition to all his responsibilities during the school day, Simonson spends a lot of time attending student and faculty performances.

“Most evenings I come back and I go to concerts and hear the quality of our faculty performing, of guest artists performing, or of our students and their ensembles,” Simonson said.

“Sitting in that audience and hearing how beautifully an instrumentalists plays, or a pianist plays, or an organ student performs on our pipe organ, [it] makes all the work of the day worthwhile,” Simonson said.

Simonson says the department already does well to provide a quality learning experience for students. As department chair, he just wants to continue to provide learning opportunities to students.

“It’s enjoyable and fulfilling to be able to do the work that helps people create something beautiful,” Simonson said.