Mary Ellen Waggoner ’83

Mary Ellen Waggoner enjoyed a 20-year career at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Paper Mill Playhouse, where she was a member of the administrative and development teams. Concurrently, she managed a professional career as a classical musician, performing with many orchestras and at theaters in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area. She was principal oboist of the Paper Mill Playhouse Orchestra for five years, and a freelance musician performing with musicians from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

Waggoner earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Montclair State and was an oboe student of Joseph Robinson, principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic. She took graduate courses at Seton Hall University and was a private instrumental music teacher for college-bound New Jersey students. Many of her former students successfully pursued degree programs at colleges and universities, including The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University.

Committed to the arts and to arts education, Waggoner is a member of the advisory boards of both the College of the Arts and the John J. Cali School of Music, and also serves on fundraising committees for the Paper Mill Playhouse, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance. She was chosen for Leadership New Jersey’s 1999 Fellowship Program, which honors 50 men and women who combine a successful career with leadership in serving their communities.

Bio as of May 2014