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Pat Bivens

Director of Military and Veterans Services

In 2022, Bivens retired from full-time teaching and as the Director of Bands at Carson-Newman University to take over as the Director of Military and Veterans Services. The Dublin, Maryland native holds the Bachelor of Arts in Trombone Performance from West Virginia Wesleyan College, a Masters in Music Education from Texas Christian University (TCU) and has completed doctoral coursework in Music Education at Boston University. She has over 25 years experience in higher education and serves as an adjunct professor in the Music Department when needed.

Upon graduation from TCU in 1986, she entered the United States Air Force Band Program and was assigned the next four years to the 590th AF Band at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. After completing her tour of active duty, Bivens transferred to the Tennessee Air National Guard, where for the next eighteen years she performed on trombone, euphonium and as a vocalist with the 572 AF Band at McGhee-Tyson Air Base in Knoxville, Tennessee. While a member of the 572 AF Band, she served as the Music Librarian, Unit Deployment Manager and the Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge (NCOIC) of Logistics and the Jazz Ensemble until she retired at the rank of Master Sergeant in October 2008.

Bivens has traveled and performed as a member of various musical organizations in Romania, the former Soviet Union, France, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and all over the continental United States.