 From 1955 until his retirement in the summer of 1992 he was both Professor of Organ and Chair of the Organ Division of the Keyboard Department at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.Craighead was also organist of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester, a position he held for 48 years.In June 1968, Craighead received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania.