Cody Lee

Background

About Cody Lee

I am a multi-talented project manager, program coordinator, researcher, and grant recipient who has dedicated 20 years to higher education through academic studies in music and culture, research, and administrative leadership. Since studying abroad for a year in Ghana 20 years ago, I have long been passionate about African music and how it manifests in the diaspora in the Americas. I earned my PhD in Ethnomusicology at the University of Florida in Summer 2025. My dissertation is entitled "Drumming in the Breaks of Blocos Afro: Ancestrality and Black Resistance in Salvador, Brazil." I conducted ethnographic fieldwork on Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award (2022-2023) in Salvador, Brazil, and engaged in intensive Portuguese training on a Boren Fellowship (2024-2025) to finalize my dissertation while advancing my studies in Portuguese. Beyond academic research, I have worked in higher education administration for six years at the University of Kansas, where I led various programs in the Provost Office, Dean's Office for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Office of International Program. I am recognized as a creatively resourceful problem solver and excellent team worker who can juggle various projects while always achieving proposed milestones and outcomes. In these administrative roles, I specialized in project management and program coordination for international programs. I am the recipient of numerous Foreign Language Area Studies scholarships to study French (2005-2008) and Brazilian Portuguese (2019-2020). I earned MA and BA degrees in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington. I'm a creative and skillful communicator who collaborates efficiently and respectfully with colleagues to effectively and successfully to reach common goals. Specific professional skills include program management, digital communications strategy, and audiovisual production in the field of higher education. I have also taught English and French as foreign languages for two years in elementary and middles schools in Atlanta and Paris. Research Interests: Blocos Afro and Bahian Popular Music in Salvador, Brazil | Samba-Afro and Samba-Reggae | Black Resistance and African Diaspora Studies in Brazil| Afropessimism and Afrofuturism | Audiovisual Fieldwork Methods | Applied Public Ethnomusicology