Michael Kornelsen

Michael J. Kornelsen has served as Associate Dean of the Arts in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2013. As Associate Dean of the Arts, he worked with his institution's senior leadership to propose a new College of the Arts at the University with an anticipated opening in 2015 or 2016. He has also worked with a variety of arts constituents, including arts and civic leaders, to promote the arts at MSU Denver. Prior to his appointment as Associate Dean, he served as Chair of the Department of Music for five years.

Dr. Kornelsen joined the faculty of MSU Denver as the Director of Choral Activities in 1998, and has conducted choral ensembles for 29 years at the college, senior high, junior high, and elementary levels. He regularly conducts major works at MSU Denver and has studied conducting for the past ten years with Dr. Dennis Keene of New York's Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra. Michael holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Northern Colorado. Dr. Kornelsen has presented workshops at CMEA, Colorado ACDA, and internationally. He regularly serves as a clinician for choirs in the state and the country. In 2008, the Metropolitan State University Chorale was selected to sing at the Southwest Regional Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Kansas City. Dr. Kornelsen was inducted into the Colorado Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 2004, and is also the recipient of a Down Beat Magazine award for Outstanding Performance by a College Jazz Choir. In 2004, he received the MSU Denver's Presidential Performance Stipend for Outstanding Performance in Teaching, and MENC's Outstanding Collegiate Chapter Growth Award. He is the Past President of both Colorado American Choral Directors Association and Colorado Music Educators Association.