Dr. J. Mitzi Kolar, Professor of Music Emerita, School of Music and Dance, San Diego State University, served as Director of Graduate Studies in Music and Coordinator of Piano. During her tenure at San Diego State, Kolar taught piano performance, class piano, piano pedagogy, and graduate research. Overseeing and advising graduate theses, lecture recitals, and solo performances, Professor Kolar chaired numerous graduate committees in piano, guitar, voice, jazz, musicology, and ethnomusicology. In the 1980s, Dr. Kolar designed and implemented a successful Master of Arts degree in piano pedagogy for the SDSU School of Music that enrolled numerous regional, national, and international graduates, many of whom continue to teach in San Diego and across the U.S. where they serve in community colleges, universities, and leadership positions. Serving as Assistant Chair, Kolar guided the SDSU School of Music through the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Western Association of Colleges and Universities (WACS) accreditation reviews as well as campus reviews. Kolar received numerous grants in her SDSU tenure including from the Roland Corporation US, and the National Science Foundation, SDSU Ed Center of Computational Science and Engineering, to design the use of computers in the evaluation of college class piano. She received the SDSU Monty Award in 1997, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the University, the San Diego Community, and California, nationally and internationally.

Her major publications include Music in Education, Yamaha Corporation, a keyboard-based, 3000-page K-8 curriculum using specially engineered keyboards with a Mac controller to allow for peer interaction and digital student feedback and evaluation. According to data gathered by Yamaha, the curriculum reached over six million children in the United States, Canada, and around the globe. Celebrate Piano, Stipes Publishing LLC, originally published by Frederick Harris Music, Toronto, Canada, served as the entry level into the Royal Conservatory of Music examinations and continues to be used by teachers in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. With creativity and improvisation as important interests during her career, Dr. Kolar, with co-author Bill Ramal, developed one of the initial five-book improvisation series for beginning piano students for Charles Hansen Music, which was later acquired by Warner Brothers Publications. Working with Ross Lee Finney, Dr. Kolar recorded Finney's Youth's Companion, C.F. Peters, New York, with an accompanying audio master class.

Professor Kolar performed or presented workshops and master classes throughout the U.S. and internationally, including the University of Helsinki, Finland, where she was a guest professor, and numerous universities and conservatories throughout China. Besides several presentations at MTNA conferences, Music Educators National Conference, the College Music Society, and the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy where she served as the Chair of the Liaison between Piano Pedagogy and Music Publishers and later as Chair of the Technology Committee, Professor Kolar (NCTM) was a member on the MTNA Conference Planning Committee for the national conferences in Los Angeles and Nashville, the MTNA Task Force on Technology, and a clinician for the MTNA Group Piano Seminars. Dr. Kolar served as the CAPMT (MTNA Affiliate) President 2023-2025, President-Elect 2021-2023, District 1 Director 2016-2021, the CAPMT State newsletter editor, and the State Chair of MTNA Competitions. Professor Kolar continues as CAPMT Immediate-Past President and on the Editorial Committee of CAPMT Connect. She is also the Immediate Past-President and Chair of the Aspen Music Award of The Musical Merit Foundation of Greater San Diego, the largest music scholarship endowment in San Diego, and serves on the board of directors of the Goodlin Foundation. In MTAC, Kolar has served as President, 1st Vice President, and Director of the San Diego Branch.

Throughout her career and currently, Dr. Kolar maintains an independent piano studio. In retirement, she continues to serve music and music organizations but loves to split her time between homes in California and Montana, to travel, and to enjoy her family and friends.