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one acquires while obtaining a degree. As a new graduate
of Mesa State, I had no idea how my education would compare
to students who obtained their degrees from other undergraduate
institutions. Graduate school provided an arena for quick
and thorough comparisons on a number of different levels.
Students - good students- from a variety of different colleges
are recruited into graduate programs and they all take similar
classes their first few semesters. I noticed 2 things: first,
most of my peers came from small, liberal arts colleges, some
private, some public like Mesa State; second, my graduate
school preparation, compliments of Mesa State, was equivalent
or exceeded the preparation students received at other, often
more expensive schools. I performed as well as students from
small, private colleges, who had accumulated large student
loans, and I had better writing experience than students from
large universities. I'm not discounting the worth of either
of those general types of institutions, what they offer exceeds
beyond the classroom, but in terms of the education I received
at Mesa State, it was certainly competitive. A graduate of
Mesa State should have a lot of confidence and pride in a
Mesa State degree.
Much of my graduate education was funded with
a teaching assistanceship, which means I taught - both undergraduates
and entering graduate students. I worked hard at teaching
and I would like to think that I was pretty good (student
and professorial evaluations support this claim), but I certainly
wasn't as good as the professors. Teaching is a skill and
an art that takes practice to become good. Many of the lower
division courses and all the labs at larger universities are
taught by graduate students who, dedicated as they are, have
to budget their time among teaching and their graduate classes
and research. Even professors have conflicts between their
teaching responsibilities and maintaining a competitive research
program. By default, teaching often becomes a secondary priority.
Those priorities are reversed at Mesa State where teaching
and undergraduate students take center stage. "Student's
First" was the motto when I attended and my impression
is that is still true today. Even so, I've recently enjoyed
books by Mesa State professors Drs. Reddin and Schulte (History
Department) and Dr. Moorman (Business Department); and have
attended scientific meetings with Dr. Werman (Biology Department),
emphasizing that Mesa State professors remain professionally
active despite their teaching loads.
 When
I attended Mesa State, students were able to take classes
within their chosen discipline almost immediately and were
also encouraged to take a broad range of general education
classes. I started as a computer science major, but decided
early that I wasn't very passionate about programming, so
I switched to Biology and History and still finished in 4
years. (I find it a little ironic that I do quite a bit of
programming in my work these days). Because of large class
sizes, students at large universities are often unable to
get into their first major-classes until their junior year.
Mesa allows more time for exploration and elimination without
extending a student's stay.
I was a member of the women's varsity basketball team. My teammates
are wonderful, vibrant, intelligent women, many of whom I'm
still in contact with today. I'll value their friendships and
our memories throughout my lifetime. Finally, the environment
that Mesa State is surrounded by is hard to beat - anywhere!
I'm a native Coloradoan, and ecologist, who has lived on the
East Coast for the last 8 years and I relish coming back to
the Grand Valley. I'm like a kid in a candy factory - I love
the sun, the mountains, the desert, fresh fruit (and wine -
that's new), good microbrews, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, mountain
biking…the list goes on. I try to pack as much activity
and leisure into my time as possible. I enjoy traveling, and
have been lucky to visit a lot of places, but these days when
I have vacation time to burn I come home - it's a good place,
Mesa State.
Chronology Graduating from Mesa:
1993-1995. Coordinator of Academic Advising Center. Mesa
State College.
1995- 1997: Master of Biomathematics, North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC.
Masters title: "Modeling effects of a hypothetical
gray wolf reintroduction on
mule deer population in Colorado".
2002 Ph.D. in Zoology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh,
NC.
Dissertation title: "Estimating detection probabilities
for terrestrial
salamanders in Great Smoky Mountains National Park."
Additional Research Opportunities:
Organization for Tropical Studies - Costa Rica
Manu Nature Tours Research Grant - Madre a Dios, Peru
Studied the use of camera trapping for estimating population
size of
nocturnal vertebrates, especially cats.
Teaching Assistant. Principles of Wildlife Science, Zoology
Department, NCSU
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, NCSU Department of
Zoology, 1999
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, North Carolina State
University, 2001
Present Postdoctorate Research. Patuxent Research Center,
Laurel, Maryland.
Project: Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.
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