COPING WITH CORONA VIRUS
The pandemic caused lots of changes in a short period of time, but fortunately our department was better prepared than others. We had already started devel - oping online courses with a plan to launch in summer 2020. Plus we are work- ing on developing an online graduate certificate program. Between these two initiatives many of our PE faculty already had training on the software, skills, and theories regarding teaching online. When the decision to switch to remote learning for the rest of the semester our faculty swiftly switched gears. Faculty freely shared tips and ideas on how to make the courses effective in an online environment.
Some of the ways we adapted include
• Teaching Assistants held office hours via Zoom.
• Seminar students presented their projects via Zoom to their class, professor
and industry reps.
• TAs filmed themselves performing the lab experiments for Rock Props, then led
the students through them via Zoom. The students still had to do lab reports :)
• Virtual Graduation Receptions for both the UG and Grad students. The
department is sending graduation gifts to our students since we couldn’t hold
a party for them.
Our students continued their courses from wherever they were. Some of our international students stayed in Colorado while many went home. We had stu - dents continuing classes from Oman, Saudi Arabia, China and more!
Rock Properties Teaching Assistants Megan Henke ‘20 (top right) and Nicole Bourdon ‘20 (bottom right) helped students through virtual lab experiments and remote office hours.
W E LCO M E N E W D E P T. M A N AG E R
Hello PE Department alumni and friends! My name is Nellie Link and I am the new Department Manager in the PE Department. I am so thankful to be joining the department and have learned a great deal so far. I started on March 23, shortly after our transition to remote work, so I’ve been onboarding from home since my first day. I moved with my husband to Colorado in March from Iowa, following a job for my husband and to be closer to my family who all live in the Rocky Mountain region.
In Iowa, I worked at the University of Iowa for the last 12 years. I have a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration, and have spent my career working in administration of student life functions, most recently leading a 17-person team in student engagement and service learning areas. I have experience in strategic planning, leadership development, event planning, organizational structure and leadership, and supervision and mentorship of staff. I’m excited about how my experience and skillset will contribute to this new role, and I look forward to partnering with Dr. Miskimins in leading the department from an operational standpoint. I have a lot to learn, and have already learned a great deal in my first few months, but I am eager to take on new knowledge and couple that with my past experience to help move the department forward.
High on my list of personal values as it relates to my own work are open and
honest communication as well as collaborative relationships. I hope to continue
momentum of collaboration with many folks (including all of you!), and find op - portunity for communication at as many points as possible. Please feel comfortable reaching out to me with any questions, concerns, or ideas as you have them. I am more than happy to chat with you, learn from you, and work together to help the department move forward and serve our students to the best of our ability. Please reach out at link@mines.edu at any time. Thanks to many of you for the warm welcome! I hope to meet you in person and begin to build relationships with you in the coming months.
PETROLEUM .MINES. EDU
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https://petroleum.mines.edu/ mailto:link@mines.edu