Rush is a renowned composer, educator and scholar and a Distinguish Professor of Music at the University of Michigan. He has taught in the departments of music composition, theory, dance, technology, music education and jazz. He receieved the Teaching Innovation Prize for the coordination of the “Creative Process Course,” taught to over 600 students, and has brought over 150 students to India to study music, dance and yoga.
A prolific composer, he has seven operas and six symphonies, and performed and recorded worldwide. His most recent work is a video opera comprised of hiphop beats, string quartet, and sung transcriptions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr, in a fictional dialogue about their trips to Mecca and India, respectively.
Rush has won the Smithsonian award for Innovation in Technology, and is a member of the Faculty Senate Subcomittee for Anti-Racism. He is the author of a new book on anti-racist and gender-inclusive music fundamentals, the first of its kind.