Fawn-Amber Montoya completed her PhD in History at the University of Arizona in 2007.

Prior to coming to JMU, Dr. Montoya was Professor of History at Colorado State University-Pueblo. She taught courses in race, ethnicity, and gender with a special focus on Mexican-American history.  From 2007 to 2017, Dr. Montoya coordinated the Chicano Studies program and from 2017 to 2018 she directed the Honors program. During her time at CSU-Pueblo, Dr. Montoya received university-wide awards for service, advising, and mentoring. 

Dr. Montoya has consulted on the development of a number of museum exhibits for History Colorado: The Colorado Historical Society. These exhibits focused on the history of southern Colorado with a specific emphasis on the 20th century  Exhibits included Borderlands of Southern Colorado, Salt Creek Memory, El Movimiento in Colorado and Pueblo, and The Children of Ludlow.

Dr. Montoya is the co-author of Practicing Oral History to Connect University to Community  and editor of Making An American Workforce: The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company’s Construction of a Workforce during the Rockefeller Years.