Anita Kumar, PhD
Educational Technology Coach & Music Faculty
Originally from the Chicago area, Anita holds a BA in Music (Miami University in Oxford, Ohio), an MA in Music Education (Arizona State University), and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Washington. At Miami University, she also earned an initial teaching credential and worked as an information technology specialist for both the College of the Arts and College of Arts and Sciences.
In Arizona, she taught grades K-8 general music, choir, band, orchestra, and physical education, and also led the instrumental music faculty across the district in the Glendale Elementary School District. She has been teaching music for 17 years, and has worked with musicians of all levels (Kindergarten through college and adults) in Washington, Georgia, and Arizona. She taught undergraduate and graduate music education majors at Georgia State University and UW before for a decade, prior to returning to the K-12 classroom at Northwest.
She continues teaching preservice and inservice teachers through the University Accelerated Certification for Teachers program at UW Continuum College.
Anita joined NWS in 2025 as an interim music faculty, working at various times with nearly every part of the program. She is currently Director of the Jazz band and also serves as educational technology coach for her fellow faculty.
Apart from NWS, Anita also teaches beginning violin at Mill Creek Elementary (Everett SD), and works part-time as a bookkeeper and IT/cybersecurity support specialist for NuCrypt, LLC, a small quantum cryptography research and manufacturing firm founded by her father and based in Park Ridge, Illinois. She performs as a percussionist, steel pannist, and flutist with various ensembles in North Seattle and Edmonds.