Faculty & Staff

Absolutely everything has a history. That simple fact is one of the main reasons I choose to study, and teach, this subject. Being a historian allows me to connect my love of languages, music, economics, archaeology, technology, and more by focusing on big questions about how we got to our present from our past. Holding a Roman coin, studying a medieval manuscript, looking at pamphlets and political cartoons from the...

I’m a poet, writer, mountain woman, and lover of film and pop culture. I published my first book, a memoir called Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living (Scribner), about the 10 years I lived alone in a woodstove-heated cabin on top of a mountain with my husky, Elvis, in 2018. Poet Simon Ortiz says “Always the Story,” and that’s how I approach my film and pop culture classes—we look...

After working for fifteen years as a lobbyist at the state capitol in Hartford, Connecticut, Martin C. Babicz returned to graduate school to earn his Ph.D. in history. His dissertation examined politics in colonial Connecticut during the Seven Years’ War (French & Indian War) and Stamp Act crisis. Although Dr. Babicz teaches courses on all aspects and periods of U.S. history in Stories and Societies RAP, in other RAPs, and...

Mike Barnett balances an active career as a composer, drummer, recording artist, record producer, author and educator. He currently teaches songwriting, various courses in Rock and American Popular music, and music composition at CU. His eclectic creative output and non-traditional background distinguish him among his peers. A passion for rock music led Barnett to discover his penchant for the drums. He began self-instruction at an early age and was well...

I feel grateful to teach at CU because I love the mountains and the healthy/ entrepreneurial spirit of Boulder. I am passionate about anthropological field work. Travel is one of my passions. Some of my best recent trips have been to Tanzania—camping in the outback with sounds of lions and hyenas at night; Sicily—eating lots of pasta, olives and cheese in the countryside; Bhutan—meditating in Buddhist temples and trekking in...

Dr. Donna Louie received her BS degree in Chemistry in from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and subsequently a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She then conducted postdoctoral research at CU Boulder in the Department of Biochemistry. Her graduate and postdoctoral research resulted in numerous publications and a US patent. After spending some time at home raising her two...

Mike Zerella is a philosophy instructor at CU Boulder. Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1993 and a master’s in biology in 1995. He then taught high school science classes for several years before going back to grad school to earn his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2011. Unsurprisingly, he specializes in philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, but also focuses on ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of mind,...