Mines professor receives Outstanding Faculty Award

GOLDEN, Colo., Dec. 20, 2007 – Colorado School of Mines professor Tracy Camp has been awarded the prestigious Mines Board of Trustees Outstanding Faculty Award.

The award, which is not intended to be given each year, is designed to recognize the special contributions of a faculty member who has been at Mines for a minimum of three years and made a significant positive impact on student learning with special emphasis on teaching outside the classroom. It consists of a plaque, a check for $2,000 and support for her research goals totaling $1,000.

Camp, professor of mathematical and computer sciences, was chosen for her creative achievements contributing to students' classroom learning, significant achievements outside of the classroom such as mentoring, actively fostering a learning community and the development and implementation of practices which align with the state-of-the art in higher education.

Camp's nomination for the award included impressive testimony from many of her students and colleagues regarding her outstanding teaching and her willingness to serve as a valued mentor to students and junior faculty. She received the award at the School's Midyear Degree Convocation on Dec. 14.

She is the founding director of the Toilers research group, which uses faculty mentors to help students learn through communication. Camp and her Toilers students have produced 12 software packages that have been requested from and shared with more than 1,075 researchers in 61 countries and regions.

Camp is internationally known for her efforts for women in computer science and her work has been reported in newspaper and magazine articles including the N.Y. Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today and Scientific American.

The past recipients of the award include David Matlock, professor of metallurgical engineering, in 2006, Robert Baldwin, emeritus professor of chemical engineering in 2001; Nigel Middleton, vice president of academic affairs in 2000 and Samuel Romberger, a professor in the geology and geological engineering department in 1998.