Steve Getty
Director, Quantitative Reasoning & The Colket Center
Colket Center
Steve Getty graduated with a B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of Notre Dame. After earning a M.S. and Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Brown University, his research in Earth systems has included the evolution of mountain belts (Appalachians, Alps, North American Cordillera), methods for radiometric age dating (U-Th-Pb, Sm-Nd geochronology), and applying isotopic tracers to Earth systems (e.g., coral, human bones, aerosols, and pollutants in lichens). He has held research positions at Harvard, UC Berkeley, and the University of New Mexico.
Following a 3-year position as Visiting Professor of Geology at Colorado College, he worked for 12 years in curriculum development and educational research in Colorado Springs. With his interest in science and math education, Steve was a lead writer on many curriculum projects, as well as a PI/Co-PI on a number of educational research projects. Grants and contracts for these projects were awarded from entities such as NASA, NSF, and the U.S. Department of Education. Steve's teaching has included undergraduate courses, thesis research with students, and many workshops and longer institutes with science teachers in Colorado and around the nation. Currently, he is the Director of Quantitative Reasoning Center (QRC) at Colorado College, where he provides academic support across the campus in quantitative areas such as mathematics, economics, and the sciences. Current courses include teaching courses in Mathematics, R-coding, and Data Visualization. His hobbies are bird-watching, and mountain biking.
Publications
Select Peer-Reviewed Publications in Educational Psychology and Science Education
Freeman, T., and Getty, S., 2023. An Exploratory Study of Mindsets, Sense of Belonging, and Help-Seeking in the Writing Center. Writing Center Journal 41:3, 4–19. doi:10.7771/2832-9414.1935.
Getty, S., Barron, K.E., & Hulleman, C. S. (2021). Five Steps to improving student motivation in your college courses. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 32(4), 165-197.
Getty, S.R., Barron, K.E. & Hulleman, C.S. (2021). What is the role of motivation in social and emotional learning? In N. Yoder and A. Skoog-Hoffman (Eds.) Motivating the SEL Field Forward Through Equity: Advances in Motivation and Achievement (Vol. 21, pp. 23-41). Emerald Publishing.
Getty, S.R., Gosnell, N. Whitten, B. and Taylor, J.A. (2020). Supporting Inclusive Teaching in Introductory College Physics. The Physics Teacher, 58:312-315.
Taylor, C. and Getty, S.R. (2016). Applying Quantitative Reasoning to Understand Climate Change. In Climate Change Across the Curriculum. Ed. Fretz, E.J., Lexington Books, 83-96.
Taylor, J., Getty, S.R., Kowalski, S., Wilson, C., Carlson, J., & Van Scotter, P. (2015). An Efficacy Trial of Research-based Curriculum Materials with Curriculum-based Professional Development. American Education Research Journal, 52(5), 984-1017.
Kosovich, J.J., Hulleman, C.S., Barron, K.E., & Getty, S.R. (2015). A practical measure of student motivation: Validity evidence for the Expectancy-Value-Cost Scale in middle school. Journal of Early Adolescence, 35(5-6), 790-816.
Taylor, J.A., Kowalski, S.K., Wilson, C.D., Getty, S.R., & Carlson, (2013) Conducting Causal Effects Studies in Science Education: Considering Methodological Trade-offs in the Context of Policies Affecting Research in Schools. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 50, 1127-1141.
Beardsley, P.M., Getty, S.R. & Numedahl, P. (2009). Explaining Biogeographic Data: Evidence for Evolution. The American Biology Teacher, 71, ABT on-line article.
Getty, S., & Berman, M. (Winter 2005). International Competitiveness: Where Do We Stand? The Natural Selection, 28-31.
Select Peer-Reviewed Publications in Earth Sciences
Getty, S.R., Getty, K.T. & Beardsley, P.M. (2021). Educators Guide to HHMI film Out of the Ashes – Rise of the Mammals. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Bower, N. W., McCants, S.A., Custodio, J.M., Ketterer, M.E., Getty, S. R., & Hoffman, J. M. (2007). Human lead exposure in a late 19th century mental asylum population. Science of the Total Environment. 372, 463-473.
Bower, N. W., Getty, S. R., Smith, C. P., Simpson, Z. R., & Hoffman, J. M. (2005). Lead isotope analysis of intra-skeletal variation in a 19th century mental asylum cemetery: Diageneisis versus migration. International Journal of Osteoarcheology, 15, 360-370.
Tschau, T., Getty, S. R., Gries, C., Asmerom, Y., Zambrano, A., & Nash, T. H., III. (2003). Historical and Current Atmospheric Deposition to the Epilithic Lichen Xanthoparmelia in Maricopa County, Arizona. Environmental Pollution, 125, 21-30.
Getty, S. R., Asmerom, Y., Quinn, T., & Budd, N. (2001). Accelerated Pleistocene Coral Extinctions in the Caribbean Basin from Uranium-Lead Dating. Geology, 29, 639-642.
Getty, S. R., Gutzler, D., Asmerom, Y., Shearer, C. K., & Free, S. J. (1998). Chemical signals of epiphytic lichens in southwestern North America; Natural versus man-made sources for airborne particulates. Atmospheric Environment, 33, 5095-5104.
Wernicke, B. P., & Getty, S. R. (1997). Sm-Nd isotopes of zircon and garnet from a quartz diorite gneiss, North Cascades Orogen; Implications for tectonic evolution of the deep crust. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, 1149-1166.
DePaolo, D.J., & Getty, S.R. (1996). Models of Isotopic Exchange in Reactive Fluid-Rock Systems: Implications for Geochronology in Metamorphic Rocks, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 60 , 3933-3947.
Getty, S. R., & DePaolo, D. J. (1995). Quaternary Geochronology Using the U-Th-Pb Method. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 95, 3265-3270.
Getty, S. R., & Selverstone, J. (1994). Stable isotopic and trace element evidence for restricted fluid migration in 2 GPa eclogites. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 12, 747-760.
Getty, S. R., Selverstone, J., Wernicke, B., Jacobsen, S., Aliberti, E., & Lux, D. R. (1993). Sm-Nd dating of multiple garnet growth events in an arc - continent collision zone, northwestern U.S. Cordillera. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 115, 45-57.
Getty, S. R., & Gromet, L. P. (1992). Geochronological constraints on ductile deformation, crustal extension, and doming about a basement-cover boundary, New England Appalachians. American Journal of Science, 292, 359-397.
Selverstone, J., Franz, G., Thomas, S., & Getty, S.R. (1992). Fluid variability in 2 GPa eclogites as an indicator of fluid behavior during subduction. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 112, 341-357.
Grandia, F., Asmerom, Y., Getty, S. R., Cardellach, E. and Canals, A. (2000). U-Pb dating of MVT ore-stage calcite: Implications for fluid flow in a Mesozoic extensional basin from the Iberian Peninsula. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 69-70, 377-380.
Getty, S.R. & Gromet, L.P. (1992). Evidence for extension at the Willimantic dome, Connecticut; Implications for the Late Paleozoic tectonic evolution of the New England Appalachians, American Journal of Science, 292, 398-420.
Getty, S.R. & Gromet, L.P., (1988). Alleghanian polyphase deformation of the Hope Valley shear zone, southeastern New England. Tectonics, 7, 1325-1338.
