Fellow Profiles

Biography

Karen Stiner is a mathematics teacher from High Desert Middle School in Bend, Oregon. Karen Stiner has taught middle grades mathematics in Oregon's Bend-La Pine school district for seven years, and she currently serves as the mathematics team leader at High Desert Middle School. She has a reputation among her school district colleagues as a master teacher, and her professional leadership has received a great deal of local press. The Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction appointed Karen to the Oregon Educator Network in 2006, an assembly of respected teachers that advises the state on educational policy issues. She has also participated in both statewide curriculum development and standards-setting.

Ms. Stiner is particularly committed to helping girls and young women become more involved in mathematics. "Our girls and young women have the capacity to compete with the best and the brightest young minds across the world in mathematics, technology, sciences and engineering," she said. "As a nation we must do far more to challenge them to pursue careers which provide personal fulfillment while simultaneously contributing to our national well-being." As an example of her efforts, she has established a relationship with the School of Engineering at Oregon State University and invites their women engineering majors to her classroom as inspiration for her students.

In 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Bend-La Pine Board of Education have also recognized her abilities and presented her with teaching awards in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Karen Stiner has a Master's degree in education from Eastern Oregon University and a Bachelor's degree in Business, Mathematics and Spanish from San Diego State University.