Colby College
Department of Geology
Faculty and Staff
Academic Year 2011-2012



Dr. Robert A. Gastaldo, Chair
Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology
Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Staff Directory Web Page


Dr. Gastaldo joined the Colby faculty as the inaugural Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology and Department Chair in 1999. Dr. Gastaldo came to Colby with an international reputation in paleobotany, sedimentology and taphonomy, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
In the fall semester of 2011, he will be teaching The Record of Life on Earth (GE251) and a new writing-intensive course, Extinctions: Earth's Lessons (GE115). In the spring, he will be teaching Deciphering Earth History (GE146) and Sedimentation and Stratigraphy (GE356).




Dr. Robert E. Nelson
Professor of Geology
Ph.D., University of Washington (Seattle)
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Nelson will be teaching Deciphering Earth History (GE146) and Quaternary Paleoecology (GE372) in the fall semester, and Principles of Geomorphology (GE254) and Geology of Islands (GE129) in the spring semester. This last course will be part of a three-part Integrated Studies Program (ISP) entitled "Islands in the Sun," including courses in Biology and English. The senior member of the Department, he joined the Colby faculty in 1982.



Dr. Valerie Reynolds
ON LEAVE, SPRING TERM

Clare Booth Luce Assistant Professor of Geology
Ph.D., University of Tennessee
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Reynolds will be teaching The Earth and Environment (GE141) and Topics in Geochemistry (GE361) in the fall semester, and will be on sabbatical leave in the spring term. The most recent addition to our faculty, she joined us in 2008 and is now starting her fourth year as a member of the Department.




Dr. Bruce F. Rueger
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology
Ph.D., University of Colorado
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Rueger will be teaching the laboratories for Earth and the Environment (GE141) and Deciphering Earth History (GE146) in the fall term, as well as the labs for Earth and the Environment and for Deciphering Earth History (GE142) in the spring term. In 2010-2011, he taught a JanPlan on the Geology of Bermuda, including 10 days on the islands. He has been with the Department since 1984, and has been Visiting Assistant Professor since 2003, prior to which he was Senior Teaching Associate.




Dr. Walter A. ("Bill") Sullivan

Assistant Professor of Geology
Ph.D., University of Wyoming
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Sullivan will be teaching Structural Geology in the fall term, and both Earth and the Environment (GE141) and Mineralogy (GE225) in the spring. A visiting member of our Department in 2007-2008, he is now beginning his fourth year as a continuing member of the Colby faculty. He was on sabbatical leave in 2010-2011.




Ms. Alice M. Ridky
Administrative Secretary Extraordinaire
Staff Directory Web Page

Alice Ridky keeps the Department of Geology (as well as the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Program in Science, Technology and Society) on a steady keel, maintaining and ordering supplies and equipment, coordinating student workers, typing exams and specialized documents, keeping track of Departmental budgets and records, answering student questions, guarding the Departmental supply of M&Ms, and handling unexpected emergencies with aplomb and expertise. She joined the Department in 1983.



Dr. Donald B. Allen
Professor of Geology, Emeritus
Ph. D., University of Illinois


Dr. Allen formally retired at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year, having joined the Colby faculty in the fall of 1967. An economic geologist, mineralogist and petrologist, he has been the principle architect in the Department of analytical links with the Department of Chemistry. He remains a regular presence in the department and continues to assist students working on independent research projects.








Dr. Donaldson Koons
Ph.D., Columbia University
Dana Professor of Geology, Emeritus
Honorary doctorates: D.Sc. 1974, D.H.E. 1977

Dr. Koons was Department Chair of Geology from 1947 until his retirement in 1982, with a tour of duty as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation from 1973-75. A Fellow of the Geological Society of America, he remains active in the geological community and lives in Sidney, Maine. (Photo taken at the spring, 2003, meeting of the Geological Society of Maine, at the University of Maine, Orono.)


Dr. Harold R. Pestana
Professor of Geology, Emeritus
Ph.D., University of Iowa

Dr. Pestana joined the Colby faculty in 1959 and retired in 1996, establishing the Bermuda program which is continued by Bruce Rueger - the first foreign-study program in the sciences at Colby. He remains active in his retirement, and lives in Waterville. (Photo taken on one of the first Bermuda programs.)




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