Ms. Cory Wilkerson has been a classroom theatre teacher, teaching artist, performer, director, arts administrator, and arts consultant specializing in curriculum and assessment and professional development for theatre educators for over thirty years. She was project manager for the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, helping to facilitate the writing of the National Arts Standards in 2014. She was also part of the team of theatre teachers working with the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) to author the Theatre Opportunity to Learn Standards and the Theatre Educator Evaluation Workbook, before being hired by EdTA to provide professional learning offerings for theatre educators. In her role as Chief Learning Officer, Ms. Wilkerson created and curated EdTA’s online learning platform and designed and coordinated monthly learning webinars and annual curriculum development projects nurturing theatre educators with rich immersive experiences. Holding dual degrees in education and theatre, Ms. Wilkerson began her career as a teaching artist, managing and operating a small children’s theatre company called WOW! Theatre, which specialized in devised theatre and theatre for young children, offering interactive dramas serving area schools and working with area guidance counselors to produce dramas that teach social and emotional skills. Wilkerson then transitioned to the classroom, where she taught elementary and middle school students and ran an after-school performance program for ten years. Outside of the classroom, Ms. Wilkerson managed and created the Hershey Area Playhouse Education Department, coordinating their educational offerings, writing curriculum, and training theatre instructors. Ms. Wilkerson is the proud recipient of the Pennsylvania Legislative Certificate of Achievement for her work in educational theatre, as well as recipient of EdTA’s 2020 Founder’s Award.