Rate My Professor Karyn Billmayer

Karyn Billmayer serves as Assistant Professor of Agriculture in the College of Technical Sciences at Montana State University Northern, contributing to programs in agricultural technology within the field of Agricultural and Veterinary Science. She earned associate degrees in Agricultural Business and Rangeland Management from Sheridan College in Wyoming. Billmayer began her bachelor's studies at the University of Wyoming before transferring to Montana State University, where she completed a B.S. in Agricultural Education in 2020. Prior to her academic career, she relocated to Montana's Hi-Line region in January 2018, serving as a long-term substitute teacher and paraprofessional in the special education program at Meadowlark Elementary School. In July 2020, she was hired as the 7-12 vocational agriculture (Vo-Ag) teacher and FFA Advisor at Chinook High School, where she led FFA activities including chapter events, district contests, and state degree recognitions for students. She also engaged in practical agriculture through summer farming and ranching at Wing Road Farms in Hogeland and student teaching in Harlem.

Transitioning to higher education, Billmayer worked as an adjunct instructor at Montana State University Northern before assuming her full-time faculty position in 2022. She teaches courses including Soil & Management, where students conduct water quality sampling at sites like Beaver Creek Park, and livestock feed and nutrition, featuring hands-on explorations of ruminant digestive systems. Billmayer supports the Agricultural Technology AAS and Agricultural Operations Technology BS programs. As faculty advisor for the PAS Club, affiliated with the National Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization, she guides students in leadership development, career preparation, agriculture promotion, campus events, fundraising for national conferences, cattle ownership under a registered PAS brand, community service, and competitions. She also advises the Collegiate Stockgrowers club, which develops future leaders within the Montana Stockgrowers Association through legislative engagement, agriculture advocacy, and networking. Billmayer serves on the OTLE Advisory Board for 2024-2025. On December 14, 2022, she co-presented a Brown Bag Lecture titled "How Precise is Precision Agriculture? Evaluating Real Time Kinematics (RTK) and Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS)," assessing auto-guidance systems for accuracy, cost, and practical applications based on her master's-level coursework.