Anita Louise Steele holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University with a major in music therapy (piano principal). She obtained her Master of Music Education majoring in music therapy from the University of Kansas. She is Board Certified and a member of the American Music Therapy Association. Professor Steele was the creator and Director of Music Therapy as well as a practicing clinician at The Cleveland Music School Settlement from 1966 until 2003. In that position she managed a large department of music therapists and developed service contracts with schools, hospitals, treatment centers and nursing homes. She designed the community-based model for delivery of music therapy services and a community based training model for music therapy interns.  In addition, Professor Steele was instrumental in the development of a music therapy degree program in the greater Cleveland area and was its first instructor.

Professor Steele has over thirty-five publications and numerous national presentations on subjects including music therapy service and education, private practice, and the development of data based evaluation systems in music therapy. She also presents frequently on subjects including community based music therapy, the training and preparation of music therapy college students for effective leadership in the field, and the effect of music on physiologic, emotional, and behavioral responses of medically compromised individuals. She has authored and co-authored research articles in the areas of autism and pain management and in community based music therapy.  Current research interests include the similarities and differences in personality characteristics of music education and music therapy college majors and professionals in the each field, the impact of music on recall tasks by individuals with Williams Syndrome, and the impact of music/music therapy in medical settings.

Professor Steele was appointed Associate Professor and Director of the Music Therapy Department at Ohio University in 2003. Ms. Steele has served since 1972  as a music therapy consultant to the Kulas Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. She is Chair of the Music Therapy Scholarship Committee of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs and the National Federation of Music Clubs. She is a member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Music Therapy and the Continuing Education Committee of the Certification Board for Music Therapy.  She also serves on the  Gerontology Board in College of Health and Human Services and is the Historian for the Association for Ohio Music Therapists.

Professor Steele was presented with the Professional Practice Award of the National Association of Music Therapy in 1988,  the Honorary Lifetime Membership of the Great Lakes Regional Association in 1999, and the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions by American Association for Music Therapy.   In 2007, The Cleveland Music School Settlement honored Professor Steele with the Music Therapy Trendsetter Award on the 40th anniversary of the Settlement’s Music Therapy Department (the first community-based music therapy service in the country) created by Professor Steele in 1966. The Association of Ohio Music Therapists presented Professor Steele with the 2008 Past-President's Award in recognition of contributions made to the profession of music therapy in the state of Ohio.