Full-Time Faculty

Teaches: 
Physical Geology w/Lab (GEY 1111, 4 credits)
Historical Geology w/Lab (GEY 1112, 4 credits)
Rock and Mineral ID (GEY 1018, 1 credit)
Environmental Geology w/Lab (GEY 1135, 4 credits)
Introduction to Global Positioning Systems (GEY 1042, 1 credit)
General Oceanography w/Lab (GEY 1155, 4 credits)
Field Geology in Hawaii and elsewhere (GEY 2228, 4 credits)

Eleanor (Ellie) Camann
Eleanor.Camann@rrcc.edu
Office 2572

Professor of Geology
Ph.D. Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005
B.S. Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1999
B.S. Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 1990

After earning an international affairs degree from Georgetown and working as a park ranger at Cape Cod National Seashore as well as in fields as diverse as radio and the travel industry, I decided that my lifelong love of geology was really what I wanted to pursue. I returned to school and then earned my doctorate in order to become a professor. I am a coastal geologist, and my dissertation research was a study of barrier island dynamics in the southern Outer Banks. I loved the field work, and developed skills in RTK-GPS, GIS, and boating as well as science. I also taught part-time at Carteret Community College and at Duke University’s Marine Lab while in graduate school.

For three years after earning my PhD I was a member of the Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University, where I conducted research on the Georgia coast and taught upper-level classes in Sedimentary Geology and Coastal Geology as well as some of the same courses I teach here. Then I decided to move to a position with a greater emphasis on teaching and to a location where I have family.  Red Rocks was the obvious choice. I’ve been here since 2008. I like the small class sizes and wonderful students, and have great colleagues in the Science Department. Although I miss the coast, the geology of Colorado is pretty spectacular and it has been great learning and teaching about it.

I grew up near Rochester, New York, but have enjoyed living in different parts of the country. When not at work, my favorite activities are traveling, hiking, photography, and watching way too many movies.

Part-Time Faculty

Teaches:
Plate Tectonics (GEY 1012, 1 credit)
Dinosaurs of Colorado (GEY 1032, 2 credits)
Rock and Mineral ID (GEY 1018, 1 credit)

Nicole Peavey
Nicole.Peavey@rrcc.edu

In addition to teaching weekend classes at Red Rocks, I serve as the Colorado Department of Transportation staff paleontologist, working with state and federal agencies and museums to identify and protect the fossils found near Colorado's roadways and on other state-owned lands. I have a B.A. in Geology from Whitman College, an M.S. in Geosciences/Vertebrate Paleontology from Fort Hays State University, and a PhD in Geosciences from Texas Tech University. My formal expertise is in Silurian spathognathodontid conodonts, but I keep tabs on many different topics within paleontology both professionally and for personal interest. Teaching Weekend College classes at Red Rocks is a great opportunity to share the subjects I love with both geoscience majors and students who are just dabbling in the sciences!

Libby Prueher

Libby.Prueher@rrcc.edu

Ph.D. Marine Geology and Geochemistry, University of Michigan, 1999

M.S. Geology, University of Oregon, 1985

B.S. Geology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1980

I love all aspects of geology but rocks, minerals, and volcanoes are my favorite. In addition to the classes I teach at Red Rocks, I also teach Introductory Physics online at CU Denver. I also work as the Outreach Coordinator at Dinosaur Ridge. I have worked as a Cartographer for the Defense Department and in the Marine Geology and Radiometric Departments at the US Geological Survey. I studied Cinder Cones at Crater Lake National Park for my Master’s work in Volcanology at the University of Oregon. My Ph.D. work involved a study of ash layers in deep-sea sediments of the North Pacific Ocean, examining the relationship between volcanic eruptions and climate change. 

My interests include the impact of volcanism on climate; environmental issues; and informal science education. I have studied volcanoes in the Cascades, Iceland, Peru, and Easter Island, and studied ash eruptions from volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, and Colorado. I enjoy leading field trips to areas of geological interest in the Denver area. I took the Bio 228: Field Biology class offered through Red Rocks and went to Tanzania. While there, I also examined volcanic rocks and features in Tanzania. I am a big animal person and was thrilled to go to Africa. 

The picture of me is in the Ngorongoro Crater (a collapsed volcanic caldera) in Tanzania.

Teaches:

Geology of U.S. National Parks (GEY 1108, 3 credits)

MS in Geology, University of Colorado, Boulder

BS in Geology, The Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio

I grew up with a love of rocks, even though rocks are not exposed much in central Ohio where I am from. My family roots are farmers, and farm driveways use local rocks, so I spent hours as a small child sitting on my grandparents’ driveway looking through the beautifully polished gravel they used from a nearby glacial deposit. This driveway was full of white quartz and pink granite and so many other types of rocks that the glaciers had brought down from Canada to central Ohio. My uncle used crushed limestone for his driveway, so there I would look for fossils.

I earned my BS in geology at The Ohio State University; with a senior thesis on alteration features in the Pierre Shale from Breckenridge, Colorado. I started graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin, finishing my course work with a focus on sedimentary rocks. Unfortunately, there was an unexpected problem with getting the samples of the Jurassic Norphlet Formation that I was working on. I did not have time to start a totally new thesis topic and complete it within UT’s required timeframe; so when my partner got a job in Denver as a landman, I moved here with him.

I worked as an exploration geologist for Amoco Production, then as either an exploration geologist or petrographer for several smaller companies. I had been doing exploration in the midcontinent strata, so when I started my graduate studies at CU Boulder, I chose to do a petrographic analysis of the Pennsylvanian Morrow Sandstone for my thesis. In addition to my thesis and industry work on this formation, I was a co-editor on the RMAG publication about the Morrow.

My exploration experience is primarily with midcontinent strata, but as a petrographer I worked on a wide variety of other areas: off shore California, various parts of Alaska, and several different basins in the Rockies.