Denise A. Battles

Dr. Denise A. Battles joined the University of Northern Colorado in July 2005 as Dean of the newly established College of Natural and Health Sciences. A native of Oswego County in upstate New York, Dr. Battles received her baccalaureate degree in geology from Colgate University (1984) and her Ph.D. in geology from U.C.L.A. (1990). Upon completion of her doctoral degree, she joined the faculty of Georgia Southern University, where for fifteen years she taught and conducted research in her specialty areas of “hard rock” geology and geochemistry. She additionally engaged in scholarly projects in the area of science education. She received tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor in 1996, and attained the rank of Professor in 2003. Along with her faculty responsibilities at Georgia Southern, Dr. Battles also held a series of administrative appointments in the College of Science and Technology, including Acting Assistant to the Dean (1994-1995), Acting Assistant Dean (1995-1996), Assistant Dean (1996-1999) and Associate Dean (1999-2005). In 2000, she was chosen to be a Fellow of the American Council on Education, and she completed her fellowship at Auburn University (2000-2001), where she worked in the President’s Office under the mentorship of former Auburn President William V. Muse. Upon her return to Georgia Southern at the conclusion of the fellowship year, Dr. Battles was appointed by the university’s Provost to head an institutional Task Force on Faculty Roles and Rewards, an effort that built on her long-time interest in issues of faculty workload and evaluation. In addition to her decanal position, Dr. Battles is Professor of Geology at the University of Northern Colorado.