Dr. David Ragsdale currently serves as the conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Director of Bands, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Associate Director of Bands for the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami where he directed the internationally-acclaimed "Band of the Hour" for the Miami Hurricanes, along with various other campus bands, including a two-year post as the Assistant Conductor of the Greater Miami Symphonic Band – one of the oldest and most storied Community Bands in the nation.

In addition to university teaching responsibilities in the areas of music education and conducting, Dr. Ragsdale is an active performer/conductor and founder of the Huntsville Chamber Winds, a professional chamber music ensemble in the Huntsville area. He has also recently authored a research essay entitled, “A Formal, Historical, and Interpretive Analysis of Equus and October for Wind Ensemble by Composer Eric Whitacre.”

Prior to his collegiate teaching career, Dr. Ragsdale taught music in the public schools of North Carolina where his bands earned consistent Superior ratings and numerous awards in concert and marching festivals across the state and the Southeast. During his public school career, he was named teacher of the year at the then-largest high school in the state and was a finalist for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1997.  

Dr. Ragsdale is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the Southeast. He holds memberships in the College Band Directors National Association and the National Band Association. Additionally, he is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia – Professional Music Fraternity for Men, Pi Kappa Lambda – National Honorary Music Fraternity, Kappa Delta Pi – National Honorary Education Fraternity, and is an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma – National Band Fraternity. In 2004, Dr. Ragsdale was inducted into the Iron Arrow Society, the highest honor attainable at the University of Miami.

Dr. Ragsdale holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Appalachian State University (NC), a Master of Music degree from Winthrop University (SC), and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami (FL). He and his wife Jennifer, also a musician, currently reside in Madison, Alabama along with their daughter, Ella Leigh.

Email:  Dave.Ragsdale@uah.edu