Aaron T. Wacker is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO. In addition, he continues to teach graduate music education courses at Capital University’s Summer Master of Music Education program in Columbus, OH. Dr. Wacker has previously held positions at The University of Tulsa in Tulsa, OK, and Missouri Valley College in Marshal, MO. Before his higher education career, Dr. Wacker taught secondary music ensembles and general elementary music in Colorado and Missouri.

An active music education researcher, Dr. Wacker has presented at state, national, and international conferences, including the Missouri Music Education Association annual conference (2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023), the Oklahoma Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (2019 & 2020), the International Society for Music Education conference (2018 & 2022), Visions of Research in Music Education international conference (2019), the Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference (2016, 2018, 2021, & 2022), the QMUE 4 Symposium for LGBTQ studies in Music Education (2021), and the Society for Music Teacher Education (2021). He has been published in the International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Band Research, Visions of Research in Music Education, Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education, Contributions to Music Education, Band and Orchestra Magazine, The Colorado Music Educator, and Teaching in a Minute NAfME (National Association for Music Education) Blog. Dr. Wacker currently serves on the editorial board for the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education. His research interests include credit hour allocation, student wellness, action research, LGBTQ teachers, instrumental teaching strategies, and preservice teacher preparation.

Dr. Wacker received his Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Missouri, Master of Music Education (with an emphasis in wind conducting) at the University of Northern Colorado, and Bachelor of K-12 Music Education at the University of Northern Colorado.