Courtney Blankenship, B.S. in Marketing (Miami of Ohio), M.A. in Arts Administration (Indiana University), joined the faculty of Western Illinois University in 2008 as the Director of the Music Business Program in the School of Music. She is a member of Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), The College Music Society (CMS), and Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE). She has held previous positions in public relations/marketing at the Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Indiana University School of Music’s Publicity Office and Musical Arts Center Box Office, as a grant administrator for Sponsored Projects at Western Illinois University, and co-editor of a 501(c)3 parenting publication she co-founded in 2006. Currently, she volunteers her times as president of Macomb Band Boosters for Macomb Senior High School in Macomb, Illinois. She is a classically trained pianist and ballet dancer.