Dr. Myra Rhoden serves on the faculty at the University of West Georgia where she conducts the UWG Symphonic Band and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Music Education. As the founder of Athena Music and Leadership, Rhoden has created programs and opportunities to empower young women through music while equipping them with lifelong leadership skills that can be used in any profession. Drawing on over 30 years of experience as a high school band director, Rhoden frequently serves as a guest conductor for state, regional, and university honor bands and is honored to have presented sessions at The Midwest Clinic, the Bands of America Summer Symposium, national, state and regional conferences, and for school systems and professional development clinics throughout North America. Her concert bands have performed at national and international venues while her marching bands have won numerous Grand Championships and earned finalist positions at Bands of America Regional and Super Regional competitions.

A native of Tuskegee, Alabama, Rhoden has received national recognition for her contributions to music education including having the honor of being elected to the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, and the John Philip Sousa Foundation Legion of Honor. She has been awarded the Tau Beta Sigma Outstanding Service to Music Award, the Women Band Directors International Golden Rose Award, the 2018 Band Director of the Year from the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), multiple National Band Association (NBA) Citations of Excellence, and has been named STAR Teacher and Teacher of the Year. She had the distinct pleasure of being a guest conductor for the United States Air Force Band and the United States Army Field Band of Washington, D. C. She has served as National Chair of the NBA Programs of Excellence and is a Conn Selmer Educational Clinician. 

In addition to conducting and teaching, Rhoden is the author of Through My Music: Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders (GIA Publications), as well as a contributor to The North American Wind Symphony: Inspiring a Renaissance in North American Music, Wind Band and Instrumental Music Education by Mark Camphouse.

Dr. Rhoden received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi where she studied with Dr. Thomas Fraschillo. She received her Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Alabama.