Vanessa Cornett-Murtada is the Director of Keyboard Studies and Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy. She teaches piano and courses through the Graduate Programs in Music Education, including elementary and intermediate piano pedagogy, keyboard literature, and music theory pedagogy. She also directs the Certificate in Piano Pedagogy and the Summer Workshops in Piano Pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas.

An international clinician, Dr. Cornett has presented workshops and masterclasses around the United States and in the U.K., Italy, Serbia, Croatia, and Taiwan. She is an active clinician for national conferences of the Music Teachers National Association, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, and the College Music Society. She has also presented at the World Piano Conference, International Conference of the Arts in Society, and the Centre for the Study of International Governance.

She serves on the Historical Perspectives Committee of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, on the Membership Committee as Collegiate Liaison for the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, and on the Convention Committee as Collegiate Sessions Chair for MMTA. Her publications include reviews and articles in American Music Teacher, Clavier, Proceedings from Pedagogy Saturday (MTNA), and CD liner notes for ACA Digital Recordings. She received outstanding teaching awards from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Music Academy of North Carolina.

Dr. Cornett obtained the D.M.A. degree in piano performance and the Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She earned her B.M. degree in piano performance and M.M. degree in piano pedagogy from West Virginia University. She is a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in the treatment of performance anxiety for musicians. Her current research focuses on human consciousness and music performance.