Dr. Richard Sayers has spent his career bringing students together in concert, both musically and intellectually.
Sayers arrived at Neumann in 2001 and, in addition to his music classes, immediately began recruiting students for a Jazz Band. The group got off to a slow start. Flyers around campus generated interest from just two students: one who had not played trombone since middle school and another who wanted to learn to play the bass.
Undeterred, Sayers says he “relied on the generosity of friends” to pull together a four-song performance later that year in Sacred Heart Chapel. By 2009, the Jazz Band had grown to 24, always including alumni and friends who wanted the ensemble to succeed.
“Music speaks to us in a way that other forms of communication don’t,” says Sayers, explaining his fascination with the art. “In terms of instrumental music, the experience of playing in concert with other people and having that kind of coordination and shared aural experience allows people to connect in ways that, otherwise, they might not.”
Being part of a performance, he explains, offers “the satisfaction of contributing to something larger than yourself and being part of a collaborative project that happens in the moment.”
The professor enjoys listening to classical music, mentioning Brahms, Debussy, Bach, and Copland as favorites. Like most of us, the music of his youth has a place in his heart, too. For Sayers, that means progressive rock bands like Genesis and Steely Dan from the 1970s.
“I teach a pop music class every year. It gives me a chance to learn what the students like and gain insight into the student experience.”
On the academic front, when Professor Tom Marshall left Neumann in 2006, he asked Sayers to assume leadership of the Honors Program. Twenty years later, he still enjoys that role and his involvement in organizing the LEAD Conference, a TED Talk-style event that Fred Mitzdarfer and Troy Miller launched as students in 2012.
“The Honors Program is also based on a collaborative spirit, like music, but in a slightly different form,” Sayers notes.
“When you bring together students who are willing to challenge themselves and who want to be in class with other students who have made the same choice, then interesting things can happen.”
— Dr. Richard Sayers
Sayers, 67, composed the Neumann University Alma Mater, received a Lindback Foundation Award for distinguished teaching, and accepted Neumann’s Honorary Alumni Award in March of 2026.
He holds a BA from LaSalle University, an MM from West Chester University, and a PhD from The Catholic University of America.
He lives in Drexel Hill and speaks about his family with his signature modesty: “My wife Dorothy and I have four sons, ages 24–31. Dorothy is a psychologist, and I credit her with the way our children turned out.”