Dr. Mara Pierce serves the students and surrounding communities of Montana State University Billings in Billings, Montana as the Associate Professor of Art Education. Since taking up her current position in 2015, she has disseminated her own and collaborative research findings at conferences all across the US, as well as at conferences in Korea, Canada, and the Czech Republic. Within the last two years, she collaborated with Jennifer Combe (University of Montana) to revise the Montana state laws on art teacher preparation, co-chaired the USSEA Regional Conference with Dr. Ryan Shin (University of Arizona) and Dr. Deborah Sickler-Voigt (Middle Tennessee University), and co-curated an Indigenous art exhibition at Montana’s largest art museum with her partner. She was recently invited to present a collaborative piece in Canakkale, Turkey with Dr. Lori Santos (Wichita State University). Throughout her years of teaching, she has worked with learners of all ages (from seven to seventy) in various environments including classroom, museum, after school, and summer programs.