Cory Meals is Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education at Kennesaw State University where his duties include teaching courses in Instrumental Methods, Music Education Colloquium, Wind Band Literature, supervision of student teachers, conducting the University Band, and assisting with all aspects of the Kennesaw State University Athletic Bands, including the newly formed Kennesaw State University Marching Owls and KSU Basketball Pep Band.

Mr. Meals earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music (Chicago, IL) and a Master of Music in Instrumental Wind Conducting from the University of Houston (Houston, TX). He is currently a doctoral candidate in Music Education at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). Prior to graduate work, Meals served as Director of Bands at Waller High School (TX), Associate Director of Bands at Klein Forest High School (TX), and Assistant Director of Bands at Indian Springs Middle School (TX). Ensembles under his direction have received consistent “Superior” ratings, numerous University Interscholastic League (UIL) “Sweepstakes” awards.

Parallel to his secondary and university responsibilities, he also served as a performer (1997-2001) and instructor (2002-2006) of the world champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, where he participated in five world championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006) and contributed to the instructional DVD "From Concert Hall to Football Field." In addition, he has served on the music instructional staff of the Santa Clara Vanguard (2011), the Boston Crusaders (2016), the Blue Stars (2012), and the Seattle Cascades (2013).

Mr. Meals has presented music education research in state, national, and international venues. Recent presentations include the International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC), the International Conference on the Multimodal Experience of Music (ICMEM), the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Conference, the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) In-Service Conference, and the Louisiana Music Educators Association (LMEA) Professional Development Conference. His research interests include ensemble conducting expressivity and performer perception, individual and ensemble instrumental pedagogy, music and human learning, sociocultural interaction within music ensembles, and preservice teacher preparation. He is published in Frontiers in Psychology.

He maintains an active schedule as an adjudicator, clinician and designer throughout the United States and Canada and is an active member of the National Association for Music Education, College Band Directors National Association, Georgia Music Educators Association, College Music Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tau Beta Sigma, and Kappa Kappa Psi.