Employee Directory
Terry Beckler
Terry Beckler
Professor of Music, Percussion
Johnson Fine Arts Center 174
- 605-626-3436
Ph.D. University of Minnesota
M.M.E. University of Northern Colorado-Greeley
B.M.E. South Dakota State University
Dr. Terry Beckler, NSU professor of percussion and associate director of bands, previously was director of bands at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., and at Huron University. He also has 10 years of public school experience as band director for the Red Rock Central (Lamberton, Minn.) and Sioux Valley (Volga, SD) school districts.
Dr. Beckler was a member of the 147th Army Band based in Mitchell, SD, for 36 years, retiring as Chief Warrant Officer 5. He enlisted in 1986 as a percussionist, took over command in 1998 and completed his career as Chief, Army National Guard Bands. In January of 2006, the 147th Army Band was awarded the Howard Citation of Musical Excellence from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Dr. Beckler was named South Dakota Outstanding Bandmaster in 2018 and received the South Dakota High School Activities Association Distinguished Service Award in 2022. He is an active clinician in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota and a former member of the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps.
Kenneth Boulton
Kenneth Boulton
Dean, NSU School of Fine Arts
Spafford Hall 316
- 605-626-2500
D.M. University of Maryland at College Park
Darci Bultema
Darci Bultema
Professor of Music, Voice/Opera
Spafford Hall 320
- 605-626-7759
B.S. North Dakota State University
M.M., G.P.D. Peabody Conservatory of Music
D.M.A. North Dakota State University
In addition to her operatic repertoire, Dr. Bultema has appeared as a soloist in an assortment of orchestral works with The Florida Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Miami Chamber Symphony, Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC Youth Orchestra, and the Fargo Moorhead Symphony. In these venues her voice has been showcased in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the Chants d'Auvergne of Canteloube, Griffes' Three Poems of Fiona Macleod, and oratorios of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Rossini.
Dr. Bultema’s talent and promise were recognized and nurtured through her participation as a Young Artist with Florida Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Natchez Opera. Adding to her acclaim, a concert review by Classical New Jersey of her interpretation of Cilea’s Il son l’umile ancella, Son pochi fiori from Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Bachelet’s exquisite art song Chére Nuit, was quick to note “Miss Bultema’s ability to float those stratospheric notes with ease and grace,” as well as her “luscious legato line, completely even production throughout the compass and sumptuous crescendos.”
A frequent recitalist, Dr. Bultema has long been a supporter of lesser-known song composers, including Amilcare Ponchielli, on whom her doctoral document was written. Under the auspices of the International Grieg Society, she was recently selected to present art songs composed by Edvard Grieg in Norway. Her recent introduction to Norwegian and the songs of Grieg has provided her with exposure on the international scene.
Voice students of Dr. Bultema's are frequent winners and finalists with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) auditions in South and North Dakota. Many of her students continue their vocal training and education at prestigious institutions such as Peabody Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, University of Maryland Opera Studio, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. A champion of music education, Dr. Bultema consistently has graduates from her voice studio experience success as music educators throughout the region and country, winning many accolades for their choirs and classroom teaching.
Dr. Bultema has earned a bachelor of science degree from North Dakota State University and a master of music degree from Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she earned a prestigious graduate performance diploma in voice and opera. She also has a doctor of musical arts degree from North Dakota State University.
Marla Fogderud
Marla Fogderud
Professor of Voice
Spafford Hall 309
- 605-626-2255
D.M.A., Michigan State University
M.M., Wichita State University
B.M., Concordia College
Dr. Marla Fogderud, a native of North Dakota, is an active stage performer and recitalist throughout the United States and Europe. She was an apprentice artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera and has performed roles with Opera Kansas, Wichita State University Opera, Fargo Moorhead Opera, and Michigan State University Opera. She has been a soloist with the Cincinnati International Chorale, Wichita Symphony, Wichita State University Orchestra, Greater Grand Forks Symphony, Michigan State University (MSU) Concert Band, MSU Philharmonic and MSU Symphony.
Dr. Fogderud has appeared on the Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., faculty recital series; Minnesota Public Radio Regional Artist broadcasts; North Dakota Museum of Art Summer Concert Series; Plymouth Music Series (Wichita); Nordvændt Concert Series (Minneapolis); the 2006 National Opera Association Convention and the 49th NATS National Conference (2006).
In 2009, she attended the Lotte Lehmann Akademie in Perleberg, Germany, on a full-tuition scholarship, where she worked with renowned soprano Karan Armstrong. Dr. Fogderud was invited to return to the program in 2010. A specialist in Norwegian art song, she has also appeared as a guest performer in Rolf Stang’s play Grieg, Edvard Grieg. Since 2007 she has performed a lecture recital, “Norwegian Art Song in the 'Golden Age,' ” for multiple audiences, and developed a Norwegian song workshop first given at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, in 2009. International engagements include solo recitals in Hamar and Oslo, Norway, and concerts in southern France and the Brandenburg region of Germany. She performed in May 2015 at the International Grieg Songfest in Bergen, Norway. Most recently, she presented a lecture recital at the May 2017 conference, “SalzBergen: Exploring the Intersection of W.A. Mozart and Edvard Grieg,” hosted by the Edvard Grieg Society of the Great Lakes.
Dr. Fogderud received her D.M.A. from Michigan State University, M.M. in voice and opera from Wichita State University and a B.M. degree from Concordia College. She also studied at the Norwegian National Academy of Music (Norges musikk høgskolen) in Oslo, where she worked with sopranos Ingrid Bjoner and Siff Pettersen. She is in demand as a private voice teacher, vocal adjudicator, language coach, and translator.
Epiphany Knedler
Epiphany Knedler
Assistant Professor of Art, Chair, Department of Art
Spafford Hall 209C
- 605-626-7766
MFA, East Carolina University
BFA and BA, University of South Dakota
Epiphany Knedler is an interdisciplinary artist + educator exploring the ways we engage with history. She is inspired by the aesthetics and geopolitical landscapes of the Midwest, surveying the storied past of bold exploration and quiet melancholy. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Political Science and completed her MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography at East Carolina University.
She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota, serving as a Lecturer of Art, a Content Editor with LENSCRATCH, and the co-curator for the art collective Midwest Nice Art. Her work has been exhibited in the New York Times, Vermont Center for Photography, Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, and awarded through the Lucie Foundation, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass.
Jason Knowles
Jason Knowles
Assistant Professor of Art
Dacotah Hall 208B
- 605-626-7763
M.F.A. Digital Filmmaking - University of Central Arkansas
M.S. Instructional Design & Technology - Emporia State University
B.G.S. Special Major: Digital Film & Computer Production - University of Kansas
Originally from Northeast Kansas, Jason Knowles is an award-winning filmmaker who teaches courses in digital media, video streaming and digital filmmaking, podcasting and sound design, game-app-web design, and animations and visual effects at Northern. At other institutions, he developed and facilitated in-person and online classes in video and multimedia journalism, screenwriting, film history and theory, promotional and corporate video production, and documentary filmmaking.
Knowles' media production interests include writing and directing screenplays with strong, complicated female lead characters whose journeys transcend the genres of action-adventure films, science fiction, and romantic comedies. Every November, he serves as executive producer and director of Northern's filmmaking team for the international Four-Points Film Project competition, which is open to all Northern students and employees as well as members of the Aberdeen community.
Knowles' research has involved documentary collaborations with visual history, investigating discipline-specific instructional design methods for adult higher education, and exploring and uncovering facts behind myths and folklore in the Ozark mountains. His current research is focused on modeling and animating photo-realistic digital human characters as well as developing and implementing integrated andragogy for media curricula (the fusion of media theory and history with production practices within each course).
John Kosch
