Recently, the Texas Association of Music Schools (TAMS) elected Dr. Ilka Araújo, chair and professor of Texas Wesleyan University Department of Music, as their 2024-26 President-elect.

After the first two years, Dr. Araújo will serve as President from 2026-28 and then Past-president from 2028-30. "It is a long-term commitment but I'm extremely humbled and honored to be asked to serve in this capacity. The nominating committee and executive board have expressed their belief and trust in my potential and that's extremely humbling," says Dr. Araújo.

The Texas Association of Music Schools (TAMS) was founded in 1938. “Article II-Object” of the Constitution and By-Laws adopted at its first convention on December 1, 1939 states:

“Its object shall be to act as a council in an advisory capacity on music matters as they affect higher education; to cooperate with the Texas Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Texas State Department of Education, and Texas State Board of Education and in general to increase the usefulness and advance the standards and ideals of schools and departments of music in Texas.”

Its mission is to “advocate the cause of music in higher education generally and to improve the quality and program of the music educational system in Texas through the promotion of cooperation between colleges and universities and through the exercise of educational leadership.”

Among its purpose are “to serve the Coordinating Board, Texas Colleges and Universities System, the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Fine Arts Commission and other appropriate organizations and agencies in an advisory capacity on music matters; to serve as a body through which cooperative action may be taken; to provide a forum for discussion of major issues relating to music in higher education in Texas and for the exchange of information on curriculum content in members institutions; to conduct research and communicate to its members information on current developments in higher education in Texas; to further the understanding of music’s importance as an essential element in the general education of all students; and to work toward public understanding of music education, solutions for its problems and realizations of its potential.”

- https://www.txams.org/

Dr. Araújo joined Texas Wesleyan as an adjunct faculty in 2009 and then became a full-time Assistant Professor in 2011. Since then, she has been much involved in improvements of the music program as well as a devoted teacher to her students. As a pianist and musicologist, she has performed, lectured, and taught piano in Brazil, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Taiwan, and the United States. She was appointed chair of the music department in the Summer of 2021.

“Becoming an administrator was never my plan. I just always wanted to be in the classroom and working with students. After becoming chair of the music department at Wesleyan, I realized that there is more to one’s career than simply doing a good job in what one is passionate about. Sometimes one needs to understand and accept that serving in certain capacities one never thought before is also part of the job. It is not just what one wants, but what one is supposed to do,” says Dr. Araújo, who currently serves on the TAMS Committee of Curriculum, Articulation & Transferability as well as Board Director of the FWMTA (Fort Worth Music Teachers Association).