WhaleyVernon M

LU PRAISE

       LU Praise is a twenty-five-member gospel choir and the official representative of the Liberty University Center for Music and Worship. Organized in 2006 under the direction of Integrity Music Artist Alisha Williamson-Garciathe group is one of America’s premiere performers of gospel music in the African American tradition. They sing high-energy contemporary gospelpraise and worshipand traditional hymn tune repertoire. The group is dedicated to the mission of proclaiming the gospel through music for the glory of God and testimony of Jesus Christ.
       Vernon M Whaley is professor of music and worship and dean of Liberty University’s school of music. Having distinguished himself as a teacher of worship studies for more than thirty-five yearsunder his leadershipthe school of music is the seventh-largest music program in the country with forty-four full-time and thirty-one part-time/adjunct faculty and over 1,250 students. Whaley participated in the formation of a new school of music in 2012led in the efforts for obtaining membership and accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music in 2015and played an important administrative role in the design and planning of the new state-of-the-art Center for Music and Worship Arts building.