The School of Music will celebrate the life of former Penn State music professor Mark Ballora at a ceremony later this month. The celebration of life will feature music and speeches in Ballora’s honor and be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 29 in the Recital Hall of Music Building.

Ballora passed away unexpectedly in June. He was a music technology professor for nearly two decades, originally joining the Penn State faculty in 2000. He was also an affiliate faculty member in the Penn State School of Theatre and was recently appointed the director of the Arts & Design Research Incubator.

In addition to his role in music education, Ballora was at the forefront of research in sonification, which is the study of information yielded from non-speech sound. His research dealt with a number of topics including cardiac rhythms, computer network access data, and cosmic microwave background radiation.

He is the author of the distinguished book Digital Audio and Acoustics for the Creative Arts, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. Along with Penn State School of Theatre professor Curtis Craig, Ballora created a music composition and technology minor, allowing students to pursue both music and theatre as a joint field.

Ballora is survived by his wife, Agatha Wang, who teaches flute and directs the Nittany Valley Symphony Youth Flute Choir, his son, Ian, his brother, Greg, and their parents.

Family members ask that gifts in Ballora’s memory be made to the Penn State School of Music. Checks can also be made out and sent to Penn State, 1 Old Main, University Park, PA, 16802, and online donations can be made here. The Penn State School of Music, along with Ballora’s family, will direct all gifts in his memory.