Colorado College congratulates the following four assistant professors for tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor. Five faculty members also received emeriti status following approval of their retirement at the end of the 2022-’23 academic year. The faculty promotions were presented by Dean of Faculty Emily Chan and approved by the Board of Directors at their meeting on February 18 and will take effect July 1.
Each faculty member has met Colorado College’s high expectations in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service. These faculty members come from four different departments: Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, and English.
Eli Fahrenkrug, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Students and colleagues characterize Fahrenkrug as a generous teacher, colleague, and college citizen. He often teaches the introductory general chemistry series, where his students thrive in his creative and inclusive classroom – he is known to challenge students with “a lot of materials” without lecturing because of his talent in engaging students in inquiry-based learning. His creativity in teaching led him to offer a unique course called “Snow Science” where he made STEM learning accessible to all students. Fahrenkrug is also a remarkable scholar with four external grants funded, six peer reviewed publications, two patents, and he mentored 36 undergraduate students. His research is impactful and broad, encompassing the development of sensors for measuring chemical contaminants in drinking water, the development of a new method for selective crystallization of drugs, and pedagogical research on inclusive chemistry education. He co-founded community-engaged research nonprofit (The Fountain Valley Water Project) where he and his students gathered data on the contamination of local surface and ground water sources with polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Flavia Sancier-Barbosa, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Sancier-Barbosa joined Colorado College in 2018 and has since been sought after as a mentor and role model by students. She blends traditional lectures with active learning in her courses on statistics and has developed an extensive collection of original teaching materials. She engages students in tackling important real-world topics such as racism and inequality in her courses by having students examine datasets to uncover hidden biases (such as policing practices). For example, for a course exercise, she secured access to data from Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services and students wrote reports about multi-county citizen engagement based on demographic characteristics. Sancier-Barbosa also receives much feedback for her effectiveness in teaching students how to use the software R, equipping them for success post-graduation. Sancier-Barbosa is a prolific scholar, publishing five research articles in the past two years on a broad range of topics from mathematical models of stock price fluctuations, dimensions of marriages and interpersonal relationships, to legislative redistricting for election maps. She engages her students deeply in her scholarship—she is seen daily over the summer mentoring research students.
Natalie Gosnell, Assistant Professor of Physics
Gosnell is praised for her extraordinary ability as a teacher who combines creativity, challenge, and inclusion in all aspects of her teaching. She is effective across the curriculum, ranging from introductory first-year seminars to upper-level physics courses by using a mix of activities, student-driven inquiry, worksheets, discussions, reflections, and active demos. For example, in her introductory physics class, one student analyzed dance movement using physics principles, while another presented on the physics behind how a defibrillator works. In addition to her highly effective pedagogy, she is also gifted in creating welcoming and inclusive learning communities where she becomes an authentic mentor to her students. Gosnell is a nationally recognized astrophysicist; she received five highly competitive grants, published eleven peer reviewed papers, authored multiple presentations and papers with student co-authors, and is on the governing committee for the Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Review Panel. Gosnell also created a scientific immersive performance art piece, The Gift, that will be installed at the Fine Arts Center from March 3 to June 18, 2023.
Sylvan Goldberg, Assistant Professor of English
After joining Colorado College in 2017, Goldberg invested his teaching efforts in both the English Department and the Environmental Studies Program. He reinvigorated the gateway sequence of the English major and widened the scope of the department’s course offerings to include issues of racial justice, social responsibility, and environmental crisis. His classroom climate deftly balances accountability, guidance, encouragement, independence, and community. Goldberg teaches a broad collection of courses ranging from Introduction to Literature and Environment, Introduction to Poetry, Early American Literature, Race and Nature in 19th century America, to US Civil War Literature. Goldberg’s scholarship encompasses three overlapping subfields of literary studies: US literature of the long 19th-century, Western American literature, and environmental humanities. His analysis to American literature and environmentalism explores how power systems, economic systems, and narrative forms interact, as exemplified in his essay “Anthropocene Frontiers: The Place of the Environment in West Studies.” Reviewers lauded him as a “scholar who is becoming a leading voice in nineteenth-century Americanist environmental humanities.”
CC congratulates the following faculty members who have applied for and were approved for retirement from Colorado College at the end of the 2022-23 academic year and given emeriti status:
Dan Brink (1987), Lecturer Emeritus of Music
Joan Ericson (1996), Professor Emerita of Japanese and Asian Studies
Michael Grace (1967), Professor Emeritus of Music
Lisa Hughes (2006), Adjunct Associate Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature
Robert Jacobs (1993), Professor Emeritus of Psychology