Faculty Spotlight

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Faculty Spotlight: Sandy Woodson

Sandy Woodson is a student favorite here at Mines, yet the path she took to become a professor in the LAIS department was far from linear. Anyone who has taken Nature and Human Values has most likely enjoyed a guest lecture from Woodson at some point, but she also teaches upper level classes like Ethics and Environmental Ethics. She has taught at Mines for nearly 14 years, and her dedication to the exceptional students at the Colorado School of Mines is genuine and encouraging.

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Faculty Spotlight: Jenn Mazzotta

The Oredigger caught up with Mazzotta to learn a little more about one of Mines’ newest employees. From the time she was young to the middle of her high school career Jen Mazzotta lived in connecticut. Then, she moved to Aurora, Colorado and graduated from Gateway High School. While she was in High School, one of her teachers suggested that she look at western state college where she majored in organizational communication and business and English. It was there that she realized she could pretty much major in student activities for the rest of her life. She found student activities amazing and so from there she went to Washington state university and was paid to get her masters degree. She worked in Residential Life for two years and then in Student Activities for two years. After that she moved on to Stockton, California and loved it. It was great being only 90 minutes away from San Francisco and 2 hours from Yosemite National Park. She worked at the University of the Pacific and there she met her husband Chris and they now have a two and a half year old named Cooper.

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Faculty spotlight: Lauren Cooper

Lauren Cooper, Mechanics of Materials course coordinator and professor at Mines, has quite the medley of industry experience—she has worked as a surveyor, energy auditor, teacher of grades between 3-12, and even worked for a hospital in Nicaragua. Currently, she works to positively advance the way engineering classes are taught at Mines.

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Faculty Spotlight: Jered Dean

Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Professor Jered Dean has gone through every level of the Mines experience – student life, graduate studies, and even teaching. He balances a growing family and a dynamic career. Dean’s current life is not what he ever imagined it would be. “Take your master plan with a grain of salt,” he said.

Faculty Spotlight: Fouad Oujani, Arabic Class

Fouad Oujani is a man of many languages. Fluent in four unique tongues and in another three dialects, this Arabic professor truly has a passion for different cultures.

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Faculty Spotlight: Francisco Padilla

Here at Mines, nearly everyone is an engineer. Professors are engineers, athletes are engineers, and even that cat that sits outside the CTLM is most likely an engineer. So it should come as no surprise that Spanish I professor Francisco Padilla, who was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, even has some roots in the engineering field.

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Faculty Spotlight: Ron Cohen

At the end of class, students are told there will be a substitute for the next class, and are warned to be prepared for anything. As a result, many students imagine a skinny, crazy man with an Einstein hairdo and an atypical teaching style.

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Faculty Spotlight: Joe Crocker, Civil Engineering

A former construction worker and member of a 1980s bluegrass band whose hobbies include science fiction reading and Aikido, does not fit the cookie-cutter mold of a professor in civil engineering. But that is exactly the path that CSM senior lecturer Joe Crocker took as his passion for teaching and engineering could not be deterred.

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Faculty Spotlight: Craig Champlin

A professor with extensive knowledge and understanding in his or her chosen field is often held in high regard by peers. But without the ability to effectively and clearly communicate the subject material, even the most intelligent of professors can be of little use to his or her students. In this regard, Craig Champlin has a bit of an advantage. Champlin, in his second semester of teaching at Mines, has learned from prior industry experience how to effectively communicate new information to people with varying levels of experience.

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Faculty Spotlight: Gwyneth Holston

It is not uncommon, at times, to overlook huge campus contributors such as teacher’s assistants and adjunct faculty who devote much of their time to Mines. Whether they are the in the chemistry labs, or in the classrooms, they all share a passion for the field which they are involved. One such memeber is Gwyneth Holston, an Adjunct Faculty member in the Math Department.