Karlyn Bond will step into the role of the chair of the Department of Music on September 15, 2022. Bond is an alumna of Walla Walla University, having graduated with a bachelor of music in piano performance in 1989. Bond also holds both a doctor and a master of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Southern California.

Bond comes to the valley from Westminster College, a private institution in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she served as a faculty member in the music department for more than 20 years. For twelve of those years, she also served as the department chair. Bond is a master teacher who enjoys teaching music history, theory, and fundamentals, as well as developing interesting and fun courses for students to find their passion in music. Bond has been active in chamber groups, studio teaching, and solo performance.

She has long been interested in interdisciplinary studies in the arts. She has worked as a bookseller at The King's English Bookshop and recently established Portico MLA: Adventures in Music Leterature, and Art which is a learning community for readers and lovers of arts. Last year she re-released her 1996 CD, A Recital from the World of Jane Austen,—this time cast as a documentary recording of a hypothetical concert in Bath, England, in February of 1816, and attended by many music-loving characters in Austen’s novels.

When not on the job, Bond likes spending time with family and friends, walking, hiking, birdwatching (especially with her parents), reading, and watching baseball. We are blessed to have such an accomplished musician lead our music department here at WWU.