Lilianne Uebersax Doukhan

1945 -

Lilianne Doukhan, Professor of Music History and Literature at Andrews University, retired in 2016 as chair of the music department, a position she had held since 2013. Born in Switzerland, the daughter of Elder Otto and Elsbeth Nork Uebersax, she began piano study at age four in Vienna. For the next fifteen years she pursued musical studies at conservatories in Zurich and Geneva, Switzerland, and in Strasbourg, France, while living the nomadic life of a pastor's and church administrator's daughter.

In 1970 Doukhan received her diploma and a first prize in piano performance at the National Strasbourg Music Conservatory. During that time Doukhan also earned a master's degree in humanities at Strasbourg University, taught in Switzerland and France, and married theology student Jacques Benjamin Doukhan. They subsequently lived on four continents, in Algeria, Israel, Mauritius, and the United States, where she taught, held music workshops, and directed church music.

She earned a master's degree in music history from Andrews University in 1978 and then later returned in 1984 when her husband accepted a position in the Old Testament Department of the Seminary at AU.

Doukhan graduated from Michigan State University with a Ph.D. in musicology in 1996. Her dissertation was titled The Music of the Middle Ages in Selected French Music Histories at the Turn of the 20^th Century (1895-1915): A Comparative and Critical Study. She has taught at AU since 1991, holding the Oliver S. Beltz Chair for Worship and Church Music in the SDA Theological Seminary from 1991 to 2002.

Along with her extensive background in keyboard, church music, music history, theory, and hymnology, she brings a rich multicultural life experience to her work at AU. She has written a number of articles about music and culture and published a book, In Tune with God.

The Doukhans, who have a daughter, Abigail, resided in St. Joseph, Michigan, while they taught at AU.

ds/2016

Sources: Information provided by Lilianne Doukhan, July 2012; Biographies at the Andrews University Music Department and Department of International Language Studies websites (2012); Review and Herald and other SDA European Publications (Otto Uebersax); personal knowledge.