His varied teaching background includes seven years of string teaching in the public schools of Raleigh, North Carolina. Before coming to ECU, Hurley was a faculty member and chair of music education at the University of Northern Colorado. Dr. Hurley is a past president of the Colorado and North Carolina units of the American String Teachers Association. He has published in the Dialogue in Instrumental Music Education, the Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning, and the American String Teacher, and he has performed in the Greensboro, Austin, Madison, and the Greeley symphonies. He continues to work with pre-college string students through the ECU String Project and as the conductor of the Eastern Junior Youth Orchestra.