Jody Nagel joined the Ball State University School of Music faculty in the Autumn of 1992. He won an ASCAP Young Composers Award in 1988 for a chamber orchestral work, and placed fourth in the 1991 International New Composition Competition for original works in the tape-and-instrument medium. Performances of his compositions have been given in various American cities and in England, and at conferences of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS).

Nagel has presented several papers at the University of Texas at Austin music theory forum, and also delivered a paper to the Texas Society of Music Theory in 1987 where it won first prize for most creative paper. He has contributed to an article on Milton Babbitt's Reflections for piano and tape; the article and acknowledgement appear in the 1988 Perspectives of New Music journal.

In 1992, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of Texas at Austin, where he had been the recipient of a doctoral fellowship. He also holds a Master of Arts in music theory and composition from the University of Pittsburgh (1985) and a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Marietta College (1982).

His principal composition teachers have included Eugene Kurtz, Morton Subotnick, Stephen Montague, Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham and Russell Pinkston. His teachers of music theory have included John Peel, Pat McCreless, Elliott Antokoletz and Roger Graybill.

Co-editor of the small Austin-based music publishing company, Jomar Press, Nagel is dedicated to helping circulate new works by younger composers. He plans to have his operatic portrayal of contemporary New York City, Fifth-Third Street, ready for performance at Ball State University within the next year.

He was granted a 12-month Fulbright Fellowship to visit Australia and held a post-graduate position at the University of Sydney. His professional affiliations include membership in the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS); Society of Composers, Inc.; Society of Music Theory, and Texas Society for Music Theory. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.