Chiong-Yiao Chen is a native of Taiwan; she received her undergraduate education from the National Taiwan Normal University with a major in Art with focus studies in Design and Secondary Education. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art from SUNY Albany in 1985 with a concentration in Graphic Art. 

Trained as a lithographer, Chiong-Yiao also experiments and teaches a variety of media ranging from relief, silkscreen, and intaglio to drawing and watercolor. Her experience prior to teaching in higher education included being an assistant to master printer Robert Blackburn in New York where she worked on lithography projects by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Maqbool Fida Husain.

Chiong-Yiao has participated in over eighty exhibitions regionally and nationally, and has conducted numerous workshops and presentations for conferences, museums, and not-for-profit venues throughout the southeastern United States. Her relief prints are included in galleries, museums, and University print archives. Currently serving as Director of University Galleries at the University of North Alabama, Chiong-Yiao’s expanded educational interests include study abroad, gallery practice, applied design, and inter-disciplinary collaboration.