Dr. Matthew Shaftel is currently Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University, where he has focused on helping Ohio to share and develop its distinctive role in the Arts and community transformation in the region, state, and well beyond. He has previously served as Dean of the Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University and the administrator of the Princeton campus, which included the Grammy award winning Westminster Choir College. Shaftel also served as Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at Florida State University, where he led the development of a signature general-education program, Liberal Studies for the 21^st Century. He received three degrees from Yale University.

Highly active as a teacher, scholar, and musician, he has won three university-wide teaching awards and was a quarterfinalist for two national awards. Dr. Shaftel has published numerous articles and books, including a textbook published by Oxford University Press. His award-winning volume on Cole Porter, coedited with Susan Weiss and Don Randel, was released in 2016 by the University of Illinois Press, and a volume on opera is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. He acted as Editor for two journals: MTO-A Journal of the Society for Music Theory and College Music Symposium and is currently the Publications Chair for the Society for Music Theory. He is immediate past president of Music Theory Southeast and the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras. Dr. Shaftel also has a great deal of practical experience as a performer. He has given recitals and master classes throughout North America and parts of Europe and spent six years as the founding director of the Asolo Song Festival and Institute for Song Interpretation, which took place in northern Italy. He has been active as a church musician for more than two decades and has served on numerous community and not-for-profit boards.