Michelle Hakanson received her Ph.D. in Music History from the University of Oregon in 2006 and joins the faculty as adjunct instructor for 2008-09. She has previously taught undergraduate and graduate musicology courses and music history review during summer sessions at the University of Oregon since 2000. She was instructor of piano and music history survey at Oregon State University in 2007. While a student at the University of Oregon she was a GTF for undergraduate music history and jazz history. She has been a part-time instructor of piano proficiency and piano performance at Central Oregon Community College. At Marylhurst College she taught theory fundamentals and piano performance.

She has presented papers for the American Musicological Society National Meeting in Quebec City and at the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Musicological Society at the University of British Columbia. She has a published review in Music Theory Online.