Colby College
Department of Geology
Faculty and Staff
Academic Year 2012-2013



Dr. Robert A. Gastaldo

Whipple-Coddington Professor of Geology
Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
ON SABBATICAL LEAVE, 2012-2013
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. He stepped down after thirteen years as Chair at the end of June, 2012.
Dr. Gastaldo will be on sabbatical leave, principally in South Africa, during the 2012-2013 academic year.






Dr. Mary Kosloski
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology
Ph.D., Cornell University
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Kosloski will be teaching The Record of Life on Earth (GE251) with two lab sections in the fall semester, and Deciphering Earth History (GE146) and an advanced majors course in the spring term; she is replacing Prof. Gastaldo during his sabbatical leave as a member of the Department.



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 Glacial and Quaternary Geology (GE354) in the fall semester, Introduction to Volcanoes and Volcanology (GE151) in JanPlan, and Principles of Geomorphology (GE254) in the spring semester. He will also be coordinating the spring Geology Seminar program. The senior member of the Department, he joined the Colby faculty in 1982, and was Chair from 1990-1999.




Dr. Kaustubh Patwardhan
Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Patwardhan is joining us in the spring term to teach Mineralogy (GE225) and Geology of Natural Hazards (GE198). He comes to us from Bucknell University, where he has been on the faculty since January of 2009.



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 Geologic Environments of the Marine Realm (GE397). In JanPlan, he'll be offering Geology of Bermuda (GE279). In the spring, he'll be instructing the labs for Earth and the Environment and for Deciphering Earth History (GE142) again. 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 Mountain Belts (GE334) in the spring. Dr. Sullivan is now beginning his sixth year at Colby, his fifth as a continuing member of the Colby faculty.




Dr. W. Herbert Wilson, Chair

Leslie B. Arey Professor of the Biosciences
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
Staff Directory Web Page

Dr. Wilson's teaching assignments are entirely within the Department of Biology, though his particular expertise includes ecology and evolution. Formerly both Chair of the Department of Biology and of the Natural Sciences Division, he joined the Colby faculty in 1990.




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) 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.



EMERITUS FACULTY


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 and serving as Chair from 1982-1990. 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. 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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