Beverly Keel

Notable work and positions

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) — Dean, Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment (2020– )
MTSU Department of Recording Industry — Faculty member (1995– ); Department Chair (2013–2020)
Universal Music Group Nashville — Former Senior Vice President of Artist and Media Relations
Former columnist — The Tennessean, Nashville Scene, Nashville Banner

Biography

Beverly Keel is dean of the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment at Middle Tennessee State University, a position she began in January 2020 as the college's first female dean. She earned her bachelor's degree from MTSU in 1988 and her master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Keel returned to MTSU as an adjunct instructor in the early 1990s, joined the recording industry faculty full-time in 1995, and became chair of the Department of Recording Industry in 2013. During her academic career she took a leave of absence to serve as senior vice president of artist and media relations for Universal Music Group Nashville, where she worked on media campaigns for artists including Lionel Richie, Vince Gill, and Shania Twain. As a journalist, Keel was a columnist for The Tennessean, Nashville Scene, and Nashville Banner, receiving journalism awards from the Associated Press and the Association of American Newsweeklies and the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism. In 2014, she co-founded the advocacy organization Change the Conversation with Tracy Gershon and Leslie Fram to address gender inequity in the country music industry. Keel is a past president of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US and has served on the boards of the Recording Academy, the Country Music Association, and TPAC. She was inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame for female executives in 2019 and the Nashville Business Journal's Women in Music City Awards Hall of Fame.