Chapter Annual Conference
The Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology holds an annual meeting every Spring at an institution in the Northeast area or online. Please see information about current and past conferences below.
2026 Spring | Brandeis University | May 1-2, 2026
Student Paper Prizes
Student presenters are reminded that NECSEM awards two student paper prizes:
The Lise Waxer Prize is an award for the outstanding undergraduate student paper presented at the annual chapter meeting. Lise Waxer was a Canadian-born ethnomusicologist. She conducted extensive research on salsa music and its Cuban roots and completed doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Waxer edited Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local Meaning in Latin Popular Music, a collection of essays on salsa in global perspective. This award honors her memory as a distinguished teacher, scholar, musician, and colleague.
The James T. Koetting Prize is the Northeast Chapter's award for the outstanding graduate student paper presented at the annual chapter meeting. Jim Koetting (1939-1984) was a respected ethnomusicologist whose main area of research was African music. He was an Associate Professor at Brown University. This award honors his memory as a distinguished teacher, scholar, musician, and colleague.