He served as the Director of Teacher Licensure at Case from 2004-2007. From 1997-2001 Bauer was on the music education faculty of the Ball State University School of Music, where he was also the Co-Director of the Music Technology Resource Laboratory. Previous to his appointment at BSU, Bauer was the Director of Music Education at Radford University in Radford, VA. A native of northeastern Ohio, he taught instrumental (band and orchestra) and general music for eight years in the Ohio public schools.