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Dean Semple
2002 Outstanding Educator

After 37 years Dean Semple retired in 1994 from a teaching career that brought him much joy and recognition. He spent 26 years conducting at the community college level and 11 years teaching music to high school students in California.

Under his direction, the award-winning Chamber Singers of Bakersfield and Porterville Colleges performed at two western division and two national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association.

"The teaching of choral music to high school and community college students has been a totally consuming occupation for me," Semple said. "The communication of human emotion through music is the element that excites me as well as my students, who then convey the emotion to the audience. When the expression in music is added to beautiful sound, the feelings of mankind are able to transcend generations."

Semple received a bachelor's degree in music education from Dakota Wesleyan in 1955 and a Master of Arts degree from California State University at San Jose in 1962.
The American Choral Directors Association of California honored him with the Howard Swan Award. The award is given annually to a conductor, retired from full-time directing, who has made significant contributions to the choral arts in California.

Semple has served as president of the California Music Educator Association-Central Section and the Tulare, Kings County Music Educators Association. He has also served as the CMEA's California State Choral Representative and is a life member of the American Choral Directors Association, serving on three national convention boards.

Semple and his wife, Joy, are the parents of three grown children and live in Springville, Calif.