Paul Harris, Music History

Paul Harris joined the faculty at Puget Sound in Fall 2008 as a Visiting Assitant Professor. A person of diverse skills and experiences, he has bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Calgary in microbiology (1983), law (1986), and music (1996,1999). He recently earned his doctor of philosphy in musicology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He most recently was the Assistant Chair of Musicology at Boston University.

Harris' musicological activities are centered on popular music, both during the Renaissance and today. His dissertation examined the use of the recording studio as a compositional tool in the music of U2, a study currently expanding into a monograph on compositionals process and aesthetics in the postpunk period. His Renaissance studies focus on music printing and dissemination of songs of Jacques Arcadelt via intabulation, and the light that this sheds on popular culture and "mass media" in the 16th- century.  He has published articles in Notes and Musiktheorie, and is currently writing a monograph on U2.

"Having taught exclusively in large institutions before coming to the University of Puget Sound, I am enjoying the smaller liberal arts atmosphere. The students here are genuinely engaged."