Dr. Emma Pettyjohn – Professor and Chair of the Music Department
Dr. Pettyjohn teaches applied piano, organ, piano pedagogy and literature, music theory, and aural skills. She also assists with accompanying as needed. She received the Bachelor of Arts in music from Shorter College and the Master of Music in piano performance from the University of Georgia, studying with Mrs. Mary Ann Knight and Dr. Richard Zimdars, respectively. Her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance also came from UGA, where she studied with Dr. Egbert Ennulat.
Dr. Pettyjohn previously taught at Piedmont College and joined the Music Department at Emmanuel in January 2003. She has served as the organist at Alps Road Presbyterian Church in Athens since 2006. She is a member of the Music Teachers National Association, Athens Chapter, and is available as an adjudicator for piano or organ competitions. She is also a member of the Northeast Georgia American Guild of Organists chapter.
Dr. Pettyjohn and her husband Marvin have two sons, Calvin and Conner, and reside in Winterville. They also have a tortoise and a hare!
Dr. Deborah Herring – Professor of Music
Dr. Deborah Herring serves as Professor of Music, Voice Area Coordinator, Arts Academy Director, and directs both Chorale and the musical theatre group, ACTS. In addition to directing, she teaches applied voice, choral literature, conducting, vocal pedagogy and other related courses. She earned her Doctor of Arts degree from Ball State University, Master of Music from Pittsburg State University, and Bachelor of Music Ministry from Ozark Christian College with a major in vocal performance and a secondary emphasis in Music History and Musicology. Her experience includes over 34 years of voice teaching both through her private studio and as adjunct voice instructor at Ozark Christian College, Missouri Southern State University, and John A. Logan Community College. Her music ministry experience includes leading worship, voice and choral workshops and over 25 years as a music minister, most recently shaving served at Royston Baptist Church (2007-2019). As a lyric-coloratura soprano, she performs as a soloist for college, community and outside events. Past solo performances include opera (PSU, BSU, Kansas Symphony Orchestra, and The American Institute of Musical Studies, Gratz, Austria), classical (Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, faculty solo recitals, and guest soloist for regional productions of Handel’s Messiah, Fauré Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria and others), Jazz (professional jazz soloist with The Lamplight Trio), musical theatre (Footlight Musicals, Springfield Little Theatre), and over 40 years as a soloist for church, conference and special events. Her conducting and directing experience includes working with choral groups, church choirs, cantatas, musicals, worship teams, opera workshops and summer music camps. She is an active choral clinician, adjudicator and current member of NATS and NAfME. Her honors include Phi Kappa Phi, Graduate Dean’s Scholar, Georgia Governor’s Teaching Fellow, EC Firebaugh Faculty Award, Who’s Who in American Education and American Women. Her research presentations include applications of her doctoral dissertation “A comparison of Multiple Intelligence Profiles in College Singers and Non-Singers with Implications for Teachers of Singing” (Stark, 2004).
She lives on Lake Hartwell, GA with her husband, John and has two beautiful adult daughters, Hannah and Sierra. She is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys running, biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, scuba diving, hiking, gardening, writing, photography, and traveling. Her favorite scripture is Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you: in His love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Her purpose and ministry in life is to mentor and train others to serve God through the musical arts.
Dr. Leslie Boucher – Professor of Music
Elizabeth Chitwood – Assistant Professor of Music
Trés Ward – Adjunct Instructor of Music
Trés serves as Director of Ministry Teams, Assistant to the President, and as an adjunct faculty member at Emmanuel College (GA) where he leads special projects and plans events for the Office of the President, teaches courses in Worship Ministry and Music Education, and directs the worship ministry teams including the Emmanuel Singers, The Voices of Emmanuel, Conquest, and Chapel Worship.
He is an advocate for worship renewal. He develops students and works alongside local churches to make disciples through the arts of music and biblical preaching.A fourth-generation preacher and credentialed minister within the Cornerstone Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Trés communicates to a wide audience and is a frequent camp speaker, choir director, worship leader, and Fine Arts adjudicator. He serves as a Worship consultant to IPHC Discipleship Ministries and is the IPHC Next Generation Representative to the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA). He has preached revivals and youth camps, served on staff in three IPHC churches, led domestic and overseas mission teams, and has ministered in Spanish in five Central/South American countries including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Prior to his work at Emmanuel College, Trés taught four years of high school music in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he led a 115-voice choral program to annual Superior ratings at the North Carolina High School Choral Music Performance Adjudication. His choirs have sung in every state on the East Coast from Maryland to Florida as well as including New York City, Nashville, Orlando, and Washington, D. C.
Trés holds the Master of Divinity degree from Liberty University (2020), the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Appalachian State University (2013) and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Christian Worship at Liberty University. He is married to his favorite girl and singer, Rachael, and they reside in Lavonia, Georgia.
Josh Bryan – Adjunct Instructor of Music
Josh Bryan (M.M.Ed.) is a Adjunct Music Instructor for Emmanuel College, the Chorus Director at Hart County High School, and the Assistant Conductor for the Athens Symphony. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Emmanuel College in 2013 and his Master of Music Education from The University of Georgia in 2017.
His music experience includes arranging music for various ensembles, teaching private lessons, teaching music and theater at fine arts camps, accompanying on guitar, trumpet, or percussion for chorus or musical productions, rehearsing an a cappella vocal ensemble, and assisting with the high school band.
When not on stage or in rehearsal, Josh enjoys reading, arranging, and even doing some slight of hand magic.
Josh Bryan – Adjunct Professor of Music
Josh Bryan (M.M.Ed.) is a Adjunct Music Instructor for Emmanuel College, the Chorus Director at Hart County High School, and the Assistant Conductor for the Athens Symphony. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Emmanuel College in 2013 and his Master of Music Education from The University of Georgia in 2017.
His music experience includes arranging music for various ensembles, teaching private lessons, teaching music and theater at fine arts camps, accompanying on guitar, trumpet, or percussion for chorus or musical productions, rehearsing an a cappella vocal ensemble, and assisting with the high school band.
When not on stage or in rehearsal, Josh enjoys reading, arranging, and even doing some slight of hand magic.
