About CSU

Colorado State University is an R1 institution located in Fort Collins, Colorado with an enrollment of approximately 23,500 undergraduate students. CSU is committed to fulfilling its mission as a land-grant institution. In 2007 CSU announced its Student Success Initiative (SSI) and exceeded the benchmarks by: 1) hitting historic highs for retaining first-year and transfer students, and improving four-, five- and six-year graduation rates; and 2) reducing graduation gaps for first generation, low-income and minority students. Subsequently raising the bar in 2011, CSU’s current SSI goals include a six-year graduation rate of 80% with no difference in graduation rates between traditionally under-represented students and the traditional population for the Fall 2020 cohort.

Contact Us

Tonya Buchan is an Instructional Designer with The Institute for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University where she consults with faculty on curriculum and course development for face-to-face and blended courses. She is the Program Manager for the Accelerating Adoption of Adaptive Courseware grant awarded by the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities and collaborates with faculty to incorporate adaptive platforms and evidence-based educational practices. Tonya’s interests include faculty development, online course design, educational technology, adaptive platforms and active learning. You can contact Tonya at Tonya.Buchan@ColoState.Edu.

Stacey Clark is the Learning Assistant Program Coordinator at The Institute for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University and her passions include helping educators be their best educator and always increasing the number of courses that utilize Learning Assistants and active learning. She does this by providing pedagogical training for students and supporting faculty who work with LAs or are interested in doing so. You can contact Stacey at Stacey.Clark@ColoState.Edu.

Chris Geanious is an Instructional Designer and Departmental Action Team (DAT) facilitator/researcher with The Institute for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University. You can contact Chris at Chris.Geanious@ColoState.Edu.

Karen Gebhardt, PhD, is the Director of the Economics Online Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and the course coordinator for Principles of Microeconomics at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on using learning analytics to improve student learning outcomes in economics education with an emphasis on improving grades and completion rates. She is an early adopter of technology in the classroom and advocates strongly for it because she sees the difference it makes in student engagement and learning. Karen was awarded the CSU Alumni Association Best Teacher Award for 2015. You can contact Karen at Karen.Gebhardt@Colorado.Edu.

Gwen Gorzelsky is Executive Director of The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) and Professor of English at Colorado State University (CSU). To foster effective learning and teaching at CSU, TILT provides students with academic and co-curricular support and supports faculty through professional development, course and curriculum redesigns, Departmental Action Teams, and assistance with learning-related research. Dr. Gorzelsky is the PI on an Accelerating Adoption of Adaptive Courseware grant awarded by the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities. She studies writing development and instruction and has published in College Composition and Communication, College English, and other venues. You can contact Gwen directly at Gwen.Gorzelsky@ColoState.Edu.

Brian Jones has won several teaching awards at Colorado State University during his nearly 30 years teaching in the Department of Physics, including 20 years teaching the General Physics course, during which time he has taught over 10,000 students. He is co-author on one of the leading texts for this course and frequently presents at national meetings on techniques of effective instruction for this audience. In 2011, Brian was awarded the Robert A. Millikan Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers for this work and for his work as Director of the Little Shop of Physics, a hands-on science outreach program. You can contact Brian at Brian.Jones@ColoState.Edu.

Stan Kruse joined Colorado State as an Instructional Designer in September 2014. In addition to course design for face-to-face course, he has worked on a variety of projects including Ximera, Unizin, and the APLU adaptive courseware grant. He also serving on the Classroom Review Board. Stan has worked in Higher Education for 19 years in instructional design, information systems, learning management system administration, and project management while also teaching a variety of courses in Mathematics, Statistics, and Education. You can contact Stan at Stan Kruse@ColoState.Edu.

Jennifer Todd is an Instructional Designer with The Institute for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University where she is leading an effort to assist faculty and administration in defining effective teaching and using this definition as a framework for setting teaching goals and improving and evaluating teaching excellence. She collaborates with faculty to help them integrate students into every aspect of the learning process – from curricular alignment to assessment – with a focus on engagement, critical thinking, and metacognition. She has twenty years teaching and curriculum design experience from kindergarten to adult learners. You can contact Jennifer at Jennifer.Todd@ColoState.Edu.