William R. Speer is currently the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Education, a Professor of Mathematics Education, the Director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education, and the Director of International Student Teaching at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is also an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Computer Education at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. Dr. Speer has been a Fulbright Scholar to the Bahamas and a Visiting Professor at Northern Arizona University's Science and Mathematics Learning Center. His B.S. and M.S. Ed. degrees were achieved at Northern Illinois University while his Ph.D. was earned at Kent State University.

Dr. Speer is a Past President of several professional organizations including the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Ohio Mathematics Education Leadership Council, the Nevada Mathematics Council (two terms), the Nevada Association of Teacher Educators (two terms), the national Research Council on Mathematics Learning, and the international School Science and Mathematics Association. He served on the Mathematics and Statistics Advisory Committee for the CollegeBoard and has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Washington D.C. based Triangle Coalition of Business, Government, and Education and is an Alumni Fellow of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents. He was a member of the NCTM Commission that released the landmark publication entitled Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics and is a major author on the new teaching standards that NCTM released in 2007. He has also served NCTM as the Western Region Representative to the Affiliated Services Committee, is presently a Board member of the Mathematics Education Trust, and has been nominated for election to the NCTM Board of Directors.

Dr. Speer is the primary author of the highly-rated Wiley text, TODAY'S MATHEMATICS: Concepts, Classroom Methods and Instructional Activities, twelfth edition, focusing on content/teaching methods for the elementary and middle grades. Dr. Speer is the General Editor for the NCTM annual yearbooks covering 2011-13 and has authored numerous articles in various professional journals. He has served as editor of the IDEAS section for the Arithmetic Teacher journal and editor of the INVESTIGATIONS section of Teaching Children Mathematics journal. He has also served on the Editorial Board for the research journal FOCUS on the Learning and Teaching of Mathematics Dr. Speer has lectured extensively throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Malawi, Korea, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. Perhaps most importantly, he has classroom experience at each level and enjoys sharing and learning about how research informs teachers and how the classroom lends itself to generative studies of teaching/learning.