Dr. Mitchell completed a Ph.D. in music theory at the University of Texas-Austin, where she held a Kent Kennan Endowed Graduate Fellowship and was awarded the Herbert Colvin Award for the best student paper at the 2005 Texas Society for Music Theory conference. She also holds degrees in music with all-level teacher certification (BM) and music theory (MM) from Texas Tech University. Prior to joining the UTRGV faculty, Mitchell held positions in music theory at the University at Albany – SUNY, the University of North Texas, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.