Professor Emeritus Gale J. Odom holds both the BM and DMA degrees from the University of North Texas and an MM from Indiana University, all in Vocal Performance. A regional artist who sang frequently throughout Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, she performed over 30 opera roles, including Marie in Daughter of the Regiment, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Micäela in Carmen, and Hanna in The Merry Widow. Her numerous oratorio and concert appearances include Mahler's 4th Symphony, Mozart’s Great Mass in C and Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder. Musical theater roles included Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Cinderella in Into the Woods, and she was the Church Singer in the motion picture Steel Magnolias. In 2016, she was named Best Actress in the Shreveport Little Theater Bravo Awards for her performance in “Souvenir,” a play about Florence Foster Jenkins.

A former regional governor of National Association of Teachers of Singing, she is on the Board of the NATS Foundation and has served as Chair of Region 9 of the National Association of Schools of Music. Dr. Odom was Dean of the Hurley School of Music at Centenary College from 1998 until 2018.