Edward Varner
Dr. Edward Varner has been an educator, musician, actor, and arts education specialist and advocate for more than 31 years. He is particularly excited about liberal arts education and continues active participation in relevant organizations. He has presented creativity and the importance of play, SEL, music, arts, language experience, and literacy workshops at a wide variety of local, regional, National, and International conferences and strongly believes we can never stop recruiting teachers and administrators to our cause! Ed has published about the alignments between arts education and social & emotional learning competencies and continues to advocate for quality music and arts programming in our schools and community. Ed is author of the Social & Emotional Learning Column for General Music Today, a peer reviewed journal of the National Association for Music Education; “I hope by increasing my publication profile, I can reach more teachers and thereby positively impact the educational lives of children exponentially.”
Ed earned the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in School Leadership from Concordia University Chicago. He completed the Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from the University of British Columbia and holds a BA in Music from CSU, Los Angeles. He provided seven years of arts leadership as the supervisor of music and art education for the Great Falls Public Schools in Great Falls, MT and is currently the Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA.
“As an educator, I have always been a firm believer in the philosophies of integration and differentiation of curriculum to better meet the needs of students. I must know my students in order to adequately and effectively meet them where they are and help them progress to the next level. This philosophy of knowing your students necessitates the added element of care. Educators must care for their students, themselves, and have the fortitude to continue caring when it appears that others have surrendered.” – Dr. Edward Varner
