Andrea Compton-
I grew up in Leadwood, Missouri—just about an hour and a half south of St. Louis. After graduating from high school, I attended Mineral Area College for two years and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee to finish my bachelor degree.
I received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Music Business Concentration from Belmont University and began working in the industry just prior to graduation. While in the music industry, I was able to work with several, very talented artists. You can find links to their Web sites under Links. My jobs related to booking and management and involved folk, bluegrass, country, gospel, college rock, and singer-songwriters.
My interest in working in the music industry began in my early teens. On a trip to Nashville in 1983, I discovered the Music Business program at Belmont. At the time, I was torn between majoring in business or music. This degree satisfied both my head (which was telling me to be practical and major in business) and my heart (which wasn’t ready to give up music). I was lucky enough to work with some really great people, meet heroes, and see many amazing shows.
In 2000, I re-entered college as a graduate student at Middle Tennessee State University where I received a Master of Business Education degree. I began to pursue teaching while still representing one band and serving on the International Bluegrass Music Association Board of Directors. After representing agents and managers on the IBMA Board for seven years, I was also honored to be commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel.
My first teaching position was as an adjunct in the Office Administration program at Nashville State Community College and the Business & Commerce and Office Management Technology programs at Volunteer State Community College. In January 2003, I moved to a full-time faculty position at Nashville State Community College. In August 2005, I accepted a position in the Department of Business Communication and Entrepreneurship in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.
In the summer of 2006, I moved back “home,” though I refer to myself as a hybrid—spending 20 years in Missouri and nearly the next 20 in Tennessee. I was very happy to join the faculty at St. Charles Community in August 2006 and look forward to spending many years here. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor in the Business Administrative Systems program.