Costen, Melva Wilson, 1933- (Personal Name)

nuc87-67717: Her A comparative description ... 1978 (hdg. on GASU rept.: Costen, Melva Wilson, 1933- ; usage: Melva Wilson Costen)

Her African American Christian worship, c1993: CIP t.p. (Melva Wilson Costen) data sheet (b. 5/29/33)

African American National Biography, accessed December 7, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Costen, Melva Wilson; Melva Ruby Wilson ; presbyterian clergy, choral director, educator, composer / arranger, music historian; born 29 May 1933 in Due West, South Carolina, United States; graduated from C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina with a BA in Education; received her MAT in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1964 and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Georgia State University in 1978; served as a music teacher for the Atlanta public school system; in 1973 Atlanta's Slater School named her Teacher of the Year; became known for her curricular revisions at ITC; sought to fill a void in the scholarship about African American church music; was active in numerous committees of the Presbyterian Church; was appointed to the Presbyterian Church (USA) Mission Initiative Steering Committee; served as regional director of the National Association of Negro Musicians; was an artistic director for the Atlanta Olympics; received two honorary doctor of humane letters degrees, one from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and one from Erskine College)