Award for John Corley

STAFFORD—Houston Community College Southwest drama professor and Fine Arts Department Chair John Corley has been named Outstanding Faculty Member, Western Region, by the national Association of Community College Trustees. He was one of only three selected for the honor among community college instructors across the nation.

A member of the HCC faculty since 1984, Corley teaches drama, speech and English for non-native speakers at the college’s Stafford Campus.

Viewed as one of the outstanding drama teachers in the state, he has previously been honored as the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s Educator of the Year. Under his direction, HCC Southwest student plays have garnered the highest ranking (Superior) nine out of the last 12 years at the Texas Community College Speech and Theatre Association’s annual Play Festival.

“As long as I can remember I have wanted to put on plays,” Corley admitted.
He directed his first community play involving adults when he was 15 and directed children’s plays at Houston’s Alley Theatre from the time he was 19 until he joined HCC. For the past 15 years, in an alliance with the Fort Bend County Library, Corley has worked without compensation to put on a Shakespeare Festival called “Shakespeare by the Book”. The festival takes place in the summer in an open amphitheatre near the library. It’s aim is to involve both students and the community and to make the plays free and accessible to all the people. Over three thousand people each year get to experience Shakespeare in an informal setting.

Corley earned his bachelors degree in Humanities and his Master of Arts degree in Theater from the University of Houston.