Dottie Burroughs sees LSM’s legacy come full circle

LSM Academy Director Seth Hartwell with Dottie Burroughs

When Dottie Burroughs arrived for Lutheran Summer Music’s inaugural summer in 1982, the program was little more than an ambitious vision.

Since then, she has returned to LSM in multiple roles for 14 summers. She has seen the program grow from a promising idea into a community that now spans generations.

Burroughs has served as a counselor, assistant dean, dean of students, and now musicianship faculty, where she teaches students to deepen their understanding of music theory and appreciation while encouraging them to grow as thoughtful, well-rounded musicians. Students often affectionately refer to her as “Dean Dot.”

She’s watched more than 4,000 students pass through the program over the years. And in recent summers, she has seen something she anticipated from that first year become reality.

“I’m now teaching the second generation of students that I worked with when their parents were here,” she said. “I also am working with colleagues on the faculty and staff who were students when I was a counselor. That’s pretty cool because it’s showing the results of that circle of what we want to see happen.”

For Burroughs, those moments reveal something bigger than nostalgia. They show that LSM’s investment in young musicians doesn’t end after the summer is over. It continues as alumni return as educators, church musicians, parents, and leaders who shape the next generation.

Returning to St. Olaf College this year has reinforced that perspective. Burroughs was also on campus during LSM’s first season in 1982 and again in 1994.

“Working with Carlos Messerli was just a treat,” she recalled. “He had a great vision for what this program was going to become.”

Today, Burroughs teaches musicianship, introducing students to music theory and helping them understand the building blocks behind the music they perform.

“Usually I say I teach them how to play ‘Happy Birthday’ in all 12 keys,” she said. “That means they really know their scales. All the notes of the scale are in that song. But our job is to teach a bit of theory, a bit of music appreciation, and put that all together.”

While some elements have evolved over the years, Burroughs believes the heart of LSM has remained consistent.

“The three words that I would use to describe LSM are music, community, and faith,” she said. “It’s all in the promos, but it’s really happening here on day one all the way through.”

That continuing legacy is a major reason that she continues to return. Burroughs also credits LSM with continuing to shape her own work as an educator and church musician. At the end of each summer, she has returned home with new repertoire, fresh teaching ideas, and practical techniques she can apply in rehearsals and worship. Just as importantly, she values the opportunity to observe fellow faculty, experience a variety of worship practices, and continue learning alongside colleagues and students alike.

“LSM is my happy place,” Burroughs said. “It is a way that I have been able to learn much more of my own craft as a middle school band director for the last 50 years, but it also gives me opportunities to worship and to learn about different worship practices, to learn from a fabulous faculty. I can go from class to class and just sit in and observe, and I have made lots of really fine friends.”

When asked what advice she would give today’s students, Burroughs boils it down to one simple idea.

“Make the most of it,” she said.

The phrase carries personal meaning. It was the encouragement her husband gave her when he could no longer attend LSM due to dementia, urging her to embrace every opportunity the summer offered. Burroughs now urges everyone involved to invest themselves fully in every rehearsal, class, worship service, and fellowship opportunity.

For someone who first walked onto campus in 1982, perhaps the greatest reward isn’t looking back. It’s looking around and seeing former students leading rehearsals, teaching classes, serving as chaplains, and sending their own children to LSM.

“It’s working,” Burroughs said.

That may be the clearest measure yet of the vision she first witnessed more than four decades ago.

Burroughs has served LSM for 14 summers since the program’s inaugural year in 1982. Last summer, in 2025, she received the Dr. Carlos Messerli Service Award, Lutheran Summer Music’s highest recognition for distinguished service.