Jason Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Music Education in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University.  At ASU, he teaches courses that explore sociocultural issues in the arts education, socially engaged practice in design and the arts, and arts in urban contexts.  Thompson is particularly interested in research on how culture influences and mediates music instruction and how music teachers develop the competencies needed for working in diverse teaching environments such as gospel choirs and juvenile detention centers, to name a few.  Recent articles on this work have been published in Music Education Research and Music Educators Journal. Thompson earned music education degrees from Northwestern University (PhD) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (MM, BM).