UNI's music building was named for Myron E. Russell who joined the faculty in 1929 as a band conductor and music instructor. Russell was head of the Department of Music from 1951 until 1972. He retired in 1973. Russell was born in 1904 at Stafford, Kansas. In 1927 he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Kansas State University. In addition, he earned a Master of Music degree at the University of Rochester in 1932 and Ph.D. in music from the University of Michigan in 1953. Before coming to UNI in 1929, Russell taught music at the University of Kansas and participated in several bands and orchestras. He was a founding member of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra and its conductor from 1958-1971. He died on July 13, 1993, at the age of 88.
Compiled by Susan Witthoft; edited by Gerald L. Peterson Special Collections and University Archives January 1996