NATCHITOCHES - Dr. Jeff Mathews, associate director of bands at Northwestern State University, has been selected as chief, Air National Guard Bands. The appointment to the part-time position takes effect next year.

     Mathews will serve as functional manager of the Air National Guard band program and principal advisor to public affairs personnel on matters pertaining to the bands. He will determine the readiness of bands, recommend actions for improving bands, develop policy guidance for the band program, coordinate band policy issues and establish qualifications and procedures for hiring and training new band officers and enlisted members and conduct band officer auditions to fill vacancies.

     As chief of Air National Guard Bands, Mathews will manage 11 bands with 400 personnel.

     A 1990 graduate of Northwestern, Mathews taught high school band for seven years in the public schools of Louisiana and Texas. Mathews earned a master’s degree from the University of North Texas, where he served as a teaching fellow. He holds a doctorate in conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi.

     Mathews has served as commander and conductor of the Texas Air National Guard Band for 14 years. The band has given concerts and performed at patriotic events around the world. In 1999, he led this band on a tour of the Czech Republic and in 2007 he deployed with the band to Iraq and Afghanistan.

     He is married to Dr. Kristine Coreil and they have two daughters, Devon, nine, and Lauren, seven.