Title: Founder and Author
Company: Tools for Motherhood
Location: Topeka, Kansas, United States
Mary S. Duncan, PhD, founder and author at Tools for Motherhood, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in early childhood education and mentorship.
Across a career of more than 35 years, Dr. Duncan has built up a long list of impressive achievements: authoring multiple books, contributing to state educational councils under three different governors and delivering presentations at prestigious venues around the world, to name a few. Through it all, though, she still considers the most revolutionary moment in her life to be the birth of her son. Becoming a mother changed Dr. Duncan’s life forever. That experience formed the core direction of her professional life.
Dr. Duncan’s journey began in 1989 when she founded Tools for Motherhood. Through this organization, she has become a leader in the world of early childhood education. Dr. Duncan teaches mothers evidence-based strategies for encouraging strong development in their children, especially from birth to age 5. She offers these lessons through speeches, books, online courses, blog posts and more.
Dedicated to constant improvement, Dr. Duncan has recently expanded the Tools for Motherhood platform, with plans to launch an eight-week Tools for Motherhood Academy in 2026. Her offerings are based on the observation that a child’s mother is the primary catalyst for a child’s development, especially during their formative years. Dr. Duncan has continued to grow her influence through the “Dr. Mary – Tools for Motherhood” digital channels on TikTok and Instagram. She has also submitted multiple TEDx applications, seeking more venues through which she can help empower mothers.
Alongside her efforts with Tools for Motherhood, Dr. Duncan has made noteworthy contributions to the field through a progression of roles. In 2007, she became an advisory board member and mentor mom for Mothers of Pre Schoolers (MOPS) International, where she aided in the creation of MomSense Magazine. In 2010, shortly after completing her master’s program, she served as president of the Friends University alumni advisory board. Beginning in 2012, Dr. Duncan pursued several teaching opportunities, including as a student teacher supervisor and science methods instructor at Washburn University and as an adjunct professor for graduate education workshops at Friends University, a position she still holds today. She has further shared her insight as an agency training director, division training director, and training and development specialist for the state of Kansas, where she designed and facilitated programs in organization culture, mentoring frameworks and leadership development for more than 2,300 employees.
Among her many speaking engagements, Dr. Duncan was a featured presenter for the Belize Educators PreMath Virtual Workshop in 2025. For this event, she held a session titled “Building Math Minds: Pre-Math Activities for Educators and Parents of Children Ages 3-5,” where she provided research-based strategies to begin teaching math to young children. Two months later, Dr. Duncan was invited to present her research at the Oxford Round Table Symposium for International Scholars, where she had previously given talks in 2017 and 2024. Her presentation for July 2025 was titled “Bridging the Gap: The Critical Role of Parental Involvement in Early Education.”
Before venturing onto her vocational path, Dr. Duncan solidified her credentials through an extensive academic journey, beginning with two Associate of Arts degrees from Butler Community College, one in business administration in 1982 and one in early childhood in 1983. In 1985, she graduated with honors from Wichita State University, completing a Bachelor of Arts in education. Subsequently, Dr. Duncan obtained a Master of Arts in teaching and education from Friends University in 2009. She earned a PhD in education from Walden University, graduating with honors in 2016.
Alongside her professional roles and many speaking engagements, Dr. Duncan is known as a prolific writer. She has published four books: “Tools for Parenthood: Strategies To Support School Readiness Foundations for Young Children 0-5”; “Tools for Motherhood Resource Guide: 1000+ School Readiness Activities Moms Can Use With Their Young Child 0-5 Years of Age To Build Toward School Readiness”; “You Can Really Make a Difference!: Seven Strategies Moms Can Use To Support School Readiness for Their Young Child”; and “Tools for Motherhood Devotion and Prayer Journal: Living a Life of Priorities Saturated in Prayer.” For her PhD dissertation, Dr. Duncan researched how children living in poverty acquire knowledge in regions across different countries. Most recently, she contributed a chapter to “New Ways To Think and Learn With Metacognition,” published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2025.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Dr. Duncan has been happily married for more than 40 years and is a proud mother to one son. In her free time, she enjoys quilting. Having already made a major impact on early childhood education, Dr. Duncan plans to maintain that mission in the years ahead. She looks forward to expanding the reach of Tools for Motherhood, helping more mothers ensure that their children learn from a young age and are as prepared as possible for success.
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