Instructional Coaches
Margaret Daugherty, PhD
Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
mdaugherty@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6439
B.S. Juniata College (1983)
Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine (1994)
Sofia Fenner, PhD
Associate Professor, Arabic, Islamic, & Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science
sfenner@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6587
Sofia Fenner joined the faculty at Colorado College in 2020. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago (2016), where she focused on both comparative politics and political theory. Her research is concerned with the interactions of regimes, states, and societies, especially in authoritarian systems. Her current book project, Life after Co-optation, explores how two North African political parties (the Wafd in Egypt and the Istiqlal in Morocco) were damaged by authoritarian co-optation but nevertheless managed to survive. Drawing on the histories of these two parties, she finds that co-optation has much more to do with discourse and much less to do with material transactions than dominant theories claim. Sofia's teaches courses on Middle East and global politics that emphasize local voices, the politics of storytelling, and the importance of context and history.
Maybellene Gamboa, PhD
1-Year Visiting Assistant Professor, Organismal Biology & Ecology
mgamboa@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6401
I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Organismal Biology and Ecology and teach courses in ecology, introductory organismal biology, and animal behavior and physiology. I approach my research and teaching with an understanding of my positionality and acknowledgment of the privilege it is to co-construct knowledge with students. Students are active participants in my field and lab courses as demonstrated in their design of rubrics, assessments, and discussions. In doing so, students are helping to direct their own learning and practicing higher-level critical thinking skills that are applicable in and out of the classroom. I challenge my students to be comfortable in the uncomfortable while simultaneously encouraging and supporting them in the process. I believe that all students are capable of meeting high expectations if provided with a student-centered, inclusive, and asset-based environment that values all perspectives. Ultimately, I strive to help students to develop and refine their skills (e.g., analytical, communication, creativity) in all my classes, thereby empowering them to confidently direct their future at 品色堂 and beyond.
Dhanesh Krishnarao, PhD
Assistant Professor, Physics
dkrishnarao@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6218
I’m an Assistant Professor in Physics and have so far taught introductory and intermediate level courses. In my course design, I emphasize skill based learning goals rather than content specific outcomes for a course. This has so far manifested in large (32+ student gen-ed style class) and small (6 student physics major/minor track) classrooms where I challenge students to engage deeply with content as a tool to build skills. Much of my classroom dynamic depends on a mutually agreed upon community contract and flexible deadlines to maintain a positive growth mindset throughout a block. I’ve also been working with others in my department to include ungrading practices more regularly in the physics classroom through self/peer graded assignments, group assessments and other alternative assessments, and self evaluations from students throughout the block.
Jonathan Lee, PhD
Professor, Philosophy
jlee@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6860
Jonathan Lee began his career working in ancient Greek philosophy but finds himself now focused largely in contemporary French philosophy. His current research interests lie at the intersection of recent French philosophy, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics, and he writes regularly on experimental music, photography, cinema, and sound art. Professor Lee's teaching interests range from sound art to Africana philosophy, from speculative realism to the radical psychoanalytic tradition. Professor Lee has served as the National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor (1999-2002) and as the Judson M. Bemis Professor in the Humanities (2012-2015).
Heidi R. Lewis, PhD
David and Lucile Packard Professor, Feminist & Gender Studies
hlewis@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6081
Heidi R. Lewis is David Lucile Packard Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies, President of the National Women's Studies Association (2023-25), and Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Bibliography in Women's & Gender Studies. Her academic work is primarily focused on Feminist Discourse (emphasis on Black Feminisms), Hip Hop Discourse (emphasis on Rap), and Critical Media Studies.
Her most recent project, “” is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. In it, she contends with the claim that Mumble Rap is not real Hip Hop (or the most authentic or pure Hip Hop), because mumble rappers are ignorant about Hip Hop history, disrespectful toward Hip Hop elders, too similar, unskilled, prone to rapping about nonsense, and too soft or feminine. Some critics have even declared Hip Hop dead (again). Contrarily and perhaps controversially, Lewis argues Mumble Rap is real Hip Hop. Relying primarily on discourse analysis, Lewis examines Mumble Rap’s congruence with oft forgotten or subjugated Hip Hop cornerstones like illegibility, melody, the DJ, and the subgenre, as well as the ways most mumble rappers practice citational and collaborative politics that are congruent with real Hip Hop. She also takes a critical approach to examining the Mumble Rap sound, arguing it is much more complicated than it’s often characterized, especially concerning flow and production. To explain the subjugation of Mumble Rap, Lewis situates the subgenre as southern and examines the ways it challenges dominant notions about real Hip Hop masculinity vis-à-vis attention to the mental and emotional, drug use and addiction, and the fallacies of gender and sexuality norms. Last, but not least, she argues Hip Hop will never die.
Lewis is also working on a documentary about her experiences coming of age in northeast Ohio during the crack cocaine epidemic with Lindumuzi Jabu Ndlovu (Feminist & Gender Studies minor '19). Previously, she published , co-edited with Dana Asbury and Jazlyn Andrews (Feminist & Gender Studies '17), for Ingeborg Bachmann Prize-winner Sharon Dodua Otoo's Witnessed Series. She has also published in the second volume of , , , the , the , and and contributed to , , , , Bitch, and . She has given talks at Vanderbilt, the Gender and the Brain Conference, the University of Georgia, the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, Portland State, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Kampagne für Opfer Rassistischer Polizeigewalt, and many other organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Berlin.
Last, but certainly not least, Lewis is a proud native of Alliance, OH. She currently resides in Colorado Springs with her husband of more than two decades, Tony; their children and ; their dog Philly; and their cat D’Brickashaw “Brick” Ferguson.Eryn Murphy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Human Biology & Kinesiology
emurphy@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6360
As an Assistant Professor in Human Biology and Kinesiology, I have spent my career attempting to center humans not only in my scholarship but also in the classroom. I believe that “student” is only one facet of the identities we support in our positions, just as athlete, sibling, employee, and friend are, to name a few. While it may seem obvious to center the human in the content of a human physiology or biomechanics course, I am constantly looking for new strategies to ensure that the learning environment is also student-centered. Most recently, I have worked to develop a conference-style grading structure for Human Physiology, and a project-based biomechanics course that allows students to complete independently designed, IRB-approved, research over a single block. I am motivated to break down my ego, challenge traditional forms of grading, develop more supportive and flexible course policies, and remind each student that they are, and I see them as, humans first and foremost. Even in these content-heavy STEM courses, I prioritize space for reflection, criticism, conversation, and most of all, courageous mistakes. I strive to develop spaces where students feel comfortable getting uncomfortable and are willing to take risks as they explore new material. I look forward to supporting conversations about how we can better support the humans within our classrooms without feeling like we are sacrificing the material that we all love so much.
Leland Tabares, PhD
Assistant Professor, Race, Ethnicity, & Migration Studies
ltabares@coloradocollege.edu
Leland Tabares (he/him) is an Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies at Colorado College. His book project, Professionalizing Asian America: Race and Labor in the Twenty-First Century, examines how Asian Americans’ increasing representation in a diverse range of contemporary industry professions—from the university and the modern restaurant industry to the Silicon Valley tech industry and digital media platforms like YouTube and TikTok—enculturates new meanings of race, generationality, and solidarity. His work is published in Profession, Journal of Asian American Studies, Arizona Quarterly, Verge: Studies in Global Asias, ASAP/J, Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, Hyphen, and The Recipes Project. His book chapter on automation, generative AI, and the future of work in techno-Orientalist science fiction is published in Techno-Orientalism 2.0: New Intersections and Interventions (Rutgers UP).
Professor Tabares has also made contributions to his field through his editorial and service work. He was the Managing Editor for Verge: Studies in Global Asias (University of Minnesota Press), an award-winning journal in Asian and Asian American Studies. Verge won the 2020 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers and the 2016 award for Best New Journal from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. He served on the Executive Board for the Association for Asian American Studies, co-leading the mentorship and membership committees and coordinating professional development workshops for junior faculty. Currently, he serves on the Delegate Assembly for Professional Issues on Race and Ethnicity in the Profession for the Modern Language Association and is Co-Chair for the Circle for Asian American Literary Studies.
Prior to Colorado College, Professor Tabares taught at Washington University in St. Louis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pennsylvania State University, and Loyola University New Orleans. His pedagogy has been awarded funding through the Mellon Foundation and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. Professor Tabares was named the 2024 Lloyd E. Worner Teacher of the Year at Colorado College.
Mike Taber, PhD
Professor, Education
mrtaber@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6026
I am an educator and a scientist. I approach teaching and learning using a social constructivist+behaviorist ideology, where the student’s knowledge and background center the learning experience. As an educator, I construct my courses and each day centered on an essential question, driven in part by "what needs to be learned?", "why is the concept/content important?", and "where are the students in the process?". As a scientist, I ask what data needs to be learned (and not just numbers!) and what processes are necessary to understand the data story. My results are courses that evolve with the students, each block different from the last. I constantly push my own boundaries of knowledge with my students, which provides, often a humbling experience. My challenge, naturally, is to maintain goals and expectations and empower the students to take ownership in meeting these goals and expectations. I am passionate about what our students bring to our classes.
Rebecca Tucker, PhD
Professor, Art
rtucker@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6646
As an art historian and professor in the Art department, I teach broadly in the history of art and museum studies. I believe in the transformative potential of student engagement with the process of learning, and the power of active approaches to developing motivation, fostering inquiry, and enhancing critical perspectives. In my classes, students engage with the arts as both formative and reflective of culture, as a means to understand history, and as a vehicle to answer the questions that matter to our society. My teaching encompasses problem-based learning, inquiry-driven approaches, peer-to-peer strategies, and a discursive approach to lecturing and discussion. I consider myself a learner alongside my students, as trying new ideas, approaches, and systems helps me continually hone and refine my teaching.