Lily Chen-Hafteck, PhD, is currently Associate Professor of Music Education and Assistant Chair of Music Department at Kean University, NJ, USA.

Originally from Hong Kong, she holds the doctorate in music education from the University of Reading in the U.K. and has held teaching and research positions at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, University of Surrey Roehampton in the U.K. and Hong Kong Baptist University in Hong Kong. Before teaching at universities, she has taught music to students of different ages: from preschool to high school.

Dr. Chen-Hafteck’s research interests include multicultural music education, cultural issues in early childhood musical development, and the relationship between tonal languages and children's singing. She has published many articles in journals such as International Journal of Music Education, Music Education Research, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, Early Child Development and Care and Early Childhood Connections. Moreover, she serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Music Education, Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education and Music Education Research International.

Besides presenting research papers and workshops at various national conferences in the USA, Dr. Chen-Hafteck has also presented at international conferences in Japan, USA, Italy, Holland, South Africa, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. She is the chair of ISME (International Society for Music Education) Young Professionals Focus Group, a former member of its Board of Directors and former chair of its Early Childhood Commission.