Fort Lewis College Professor of Chemistry Dr. Ron Estler’s impact at Fort Lewis and, more importantly, on his students is profound. His close relationships with his graduates provide evidence of his impact on them. He continues to stay in contact with many of them long after they’ve left FLC. His ability to change the lives of those he teaches was recognized with one of the highest...

One of the best tests of a great teacher is to ask what they find most rewarding about their jobs. The answers may vary, but they will invariably shift the focus from the teacher to the student. The best educators revel in the successes of their students, as is the case with Assistant Professor of History Dr. Jennifer Stollman.

Ask Dr. Erik Juergensmeyer what he finds most rewarding about teaching at Fort Lewis College and he sums his answer up in one word: “everything.” Dig into just what makes teaching so rewarding for him and he explains how he has seen what he teaches change the way his students look at the world and how they communicate with others. A big part of his teaching philosophy involves...

In Dr. Justin McBrayer’s mind, professors should not profess. They should question. By that he means professors should be active participants in learning by guiding discussion and debate around a topic. Students and professors should learn together.

Perhaps the best compliment that a person working in information technology can receive is that no one knows that they’re there. So many of us take for granted the ability to make a phone call or log onto the internet because it seems so automatic. The reality is that it takes people like Mr. Roy Horvath to keep the whole system humming along without skipping a beat.

United States Senator Mark Udall will offer the Commencement Address at the Fort Lewis College Spring Commencement on Saturday, April 28, 2012, in Whalen Gym. To accommodate the large number of graduates and their family and friends, there will be two Commencement ceremonies, one at 8:30 a.m. and the second at 11:30 a.m. Sen. Udall will speak at both ceremonies.

From analyzing the geometry and statistical patterns of the country music group Lady Antebellum to understanding the synthesis and characterization of P,P’-1,4-diphospha-cyclohexane derivatives and their metal coordination reactions, the Fort Lewis College 2012 Undergraduate Research Symposium is full of fascinating research projects, all led by FLC students.

The best way to learn is through real-world situations. So if you're studying exercise science, then "real world" means real people.

Takayuki Ito's world changed during Spring Break last year. While he and his brother traveled in Puerto Rico, he first saw the footage of his hometown of Minamisoma, in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture, after it had been devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which killed an estimated 20,000 people in Japan.

Chickasaw writer and environmental activist Linda Hogan will shine a literary light on the Native perspective on the world when she brings her latest work of long-form performance poetry to the campus on April 11 for the Southwest Writer's Institute's 4th Annual Maxwell Silver Memorial Reading. The event is free and open to public, with book signing to follow.

The Tri-the-Rim Triathlon is one of Fort Lewis College's longest-running -- and swimming and biking -- traditions, annually saluting and testing FLC's formidable athletic spirit. For a quarter century, it has also been bringing together the on- and off-campus athletic communities to share their passion for challenging themselves -- and for having fun doing it.

"We feel it is entirely necessary to actually experience things rather than just read about them in a text book," says Simon Walls, Business professor and Faculty Lead on the "Cruise Line Industry Innovative Month."

In its April 2012 issue, Outside Magazine once again recognized Fort Lewis College’s hometown of Durango as a great place for adventurous people. This time, Durango was named Runner-Up Best New Adventure Hub, second only to Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. The article mentions several of Durango’s favorite multi-season activities: road and mountain biking, trout fishing,...

"No Impact Week," part of International No Impact Week, March 19 through March 25, explores low-waste lifestyles by giving students, faculty, and staff ways of actually experiencing and experimenting with changing their habits. The goal of the campus-wide events is to engage more people in low-impact actions and lifestyles.

In December, President Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. Dr. William Mendoza, a member of the Oglala Sioux and a graduate of Fort Lewis College, was chosen as the director of this new initiative.

When it comes to career preparation, nothing beats real-world experience. A new internship program coordinated by the FLC Career Services office and the Durango Chamber of Commerce is creating opportunities for students to get that hands-on professional experience, earning workplace wisdom and insights, while deepening their skills and knowledge.

War: a timely, complex, and often difficult topic to tackle. Which is exactly why The Heart & the Fist, by Eric Greitens, is this year's choice for the Fort Lewis Common Reading Experience: because it asks hard questions and doesn't offer easy answers, and so inspires reflection, analysis, and discussion.

Its Navajo name means "Days of beauty" -- a description perfectly suited to Hozhoni Days, a month of pageantry, speakers, powwowing, and celebration of cultures that is Fort Lewis College's longest-running student-led tradition.

In March, Women's History Month puts the national spotlight on the past and present status of women in society. Joining in the celebration, the FLC campus will host a slate of events exploring women's education and empowerment, the theme for this year's Women's History Month.

Being funny is a workout, says actress and director Rima Miller. That's why while she's instructing Theatre students in physical comedy, she's also having her students exercise to prepare for their roles, holding a regular two-hour night class to learn new exercises.

Some of Fort Lewis College students' most rewarding experiences and achievements don't make it onto their resumes or applications for graduate school or jobs --  studying abroad, completing an internship or volunteer experience, making the dean’s list, or winning a departmental award or scholarship -- even though these may be the most meaningful, educational, and...

There's no better setting for outdoor education enthusiasts to gather than on a campus surrounded by inspiring mountain vistas. That's what the members of the Association for Experiential Education will get when the 2012 Rocky Mountain Region AEE conference convenes on the Fort Lewis College campus Friday, March 23, through Sunday, March 25. The AEE's Rocky...

Fort Lewis College will host the first every Native American & Indigenous Leadership Conference on Thursday, February 16 in the Student Union Ballroom. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The Fort Lewis College Native American Center welcomes Alyce Spotted Bear to campus as part of the Center’s Elder-in-Residence program. Dr. Spotted Bear will be on campus throughout the week of February 13 meeting with classes and individual students.

In 2002, when Adam Swanson was 10 years old, he first heard ragtime music. “We bought my grandparents an internet system, and I heard ragtime as the background music,” laughs Swanson. “I liked it so much I started asking my mom to play it, because she played a little piano. Before long I started learning on my own.” In February -- ten years later -- Swanson will play...

Students at Fort Lewis College are now doing cutting-edge chemistry research, thanks to a three-year grant that puts undergraduate researchers at the forefront of materials science exploration.

The 2012 edition of "Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges" will feature 18 Fort Lewis College students whose academics, character, and leadership have made them stand out above their peers.

Earning a degree from the Fort Lewis College Biology program is a challenge, but the opportunities it opens up for a student is worth the hard work. Just ask FLC alumna Sara Bombaci.

Today the whole world is a classroom, thanks to web-based information and internet-woven connections. Also, though, thanks to the very real in-person sharing and collaboration that happens when people turn those online connections into exchanges and visits.

Some things just go together naturally, like peanut butter and jelly, Michael Bay and movies where stuff blows up, and the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge and Fort Lewis College. The Challenge, which will be held in August 2012, is a stage race across Colorado that will bring some of the best cyclists in the world to Durango as Fort Lewis’ hometown was chosen as the kickoff point of the...

The Cooperative Education program at Fort Lewis College bridges the classroom and the workplace for students seeking to deepen their learning and prepare for the professional world. And for those students, Cooperative Education also helps them cross that bridge -- from college to career.

The annual Fort Lewis College tradition of celebrating Dr. King’s legacy will be held on Monday, January 16, 2012. The community is invited to join in the day’s free activities.

Each year, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine features 12 rising researchers, thinkers and leaders in its Emerging Scholars edition. In the January 2012 edition, Dr. Majel Boxer, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), will be recognized as one of Diverse’s outstanding scholars under the age of 40,...

With a national championship in mountain biking already under its team belt for the 2011-2012 season, the #1 ranked Fort Lewis College Cycling team is in Madison, Wisconsin, this weekend to tackle mud, slopes, obstacles -- and other collegiate rivals -- in pursuit of another national title at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.

In December, President Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. The director of this new effort will be William Mendoza, a member of the Oglala Sioux and a graduate of Fort Lewis College.