Courtney is currently the Associate Professor of Ceramics at Western New Mexico University. Originally from the Finger Lakes region of New York State, she obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree in ceramics from The Pennsylvania State University and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Making and teaching in the mountains of southern New Mexico, she draws influence from the natural landscape and sky, human-shaped environments, and modernist design in her studio practice.