Dr. Shane Mizicko, Professor, has been the Director of Percussion at Southeast Missouri State University since 2005. As the Director of Percussion, he coordinates all percussion activities on-campus as well as teaches applied percussion lessons, percussion ensemble, steel drum band, marching band drum line and front ensemble, and percussion techniques for music education majors. Since 2007, Dr. Mizicko has also been the Equipment Manager for the Department of Music at Southeast overseeing and maintaining an inventory of more than 1250 musical instruments. Before joining the faculty at Southeast, he was the Director of Percussion at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University, a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Kent State University.

Under Dr. Mizicko’s leadership, his ensembles have become very popular within the Southeast campus community as well as the southeast Missouri region. The percussion ensemble’s Family Holiday Concert has become a family tradition in the Cape Girardeau community welcoming thousands of people to River Campus since its inception in 2008. The steel drum band has performed hundreds of performances both on and off campus since its inception in 2011.

In addition to his ensembles being extremely active in the southeast Missouri region Dr. Mizicko has continued to lead various community outreach programs. Through a collaborative program with the Conextion Community Resource Center he co-directed an afterschool drumming ensemble for middle school and junior high school students entitled ‘Drumming Downtown.’ Through the City of Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation department he facilitated a monthly ‘Drum Circle.’ He was also the director of the Cape Central High School Percussion Ensemble for multiple years. To bring more students to the Southeast campus he has hosted numerous events for junior high and high school students such as the Southeast Percussion Summer Camp and the Southeast Percussion Festival.

As a specialist in contemporary chamber music, Dr. Mizicko has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians under the baton of Pierre Boulez and the coaching of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. He has also worked with such prominent composers as Augusta Read Thomas, William Kraft, Donald Erb, Michael Daugherty, David Gillingham, and Karel Husa. Since moving to Cape Girardeau he has performed regularly with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, the Jackson Tennessee Symphony, the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band, and has performed as a pit musician for more than a dozen musicals at Southeast Missouri State University. Dr. Mizicko was secretary/treasurer for the Missouri Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society for more than 10 years and is currently on the Board of Directors for the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band.

Dr. Mizicko resides in Cape Girardeau with his wife, Maria, the Director of Bands at Jackson R2 School District, and their two children, Logan and Sydney. His hobbies include working outside and travelling with family.