ith w e g a t backs key
s u o D e l l e Mich
A budget crisis isn’t necessarily all bad. That’s according to Michelle Douskey, College of Chemistry lecturer, who often serves as the coordinator of Chem 1A graduate student instructors (GSIs), and who occasionally teaches the course herself. “A budget crisis means we have to shake up the status quo,” she adds, “so let’s take this as an opportunity to make positive changes. For example, let’s replace some older material with green chemistry concepts that tie in sustainability and better use of resources. We don’t have to let constraints get in the way of quality teaching and learning.” Douskey’s dedication and adaptability are typical of the college faculty and staff members who keep Chem 1A running. For Douskey, adaptability was part of her upbringing. Born in 1971 next door to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, SD, she moved often as a child in an Air Force family. Her high school years were spent in Papillion, NE, a suburb of Omaha. Douskey remained in Omaha for college, earning a chemistry B.S. cum laude from Creighton University in 1993. She attended grad school at the Minneapolis-St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, where she was awarded her chemistry Ph.D. in 1999. She wrote her doctoral thesis on solid state NMR with Eric Munson (who did his postdoc here at Berkeley with chemistry professor Alex Pines). She stayed at U of M for her postdoc on thin film technology with chemical engineer Alon McCormick and industry partner Rohm and Haas.
A bit of serendipity brought Douskey to the College of Chemistry. She was teaching in the Twin Cities using the Chem Connections curriculum developed by Berkeley chemistry professor Angelica Stacy. “I got a chance to meet Angy in 2001 at a workshop,” says Douskey, “and I later found out there was an opening for a lecturer in chemistry at Berkeley.” Meanwhile, Douskey’s husband-to-be, Scott Olson, had finished his U of M chemical engineering B.S. and was looking for a graduate program in public policy. Both found what they were looking for at Berkeley, and the couple arrived for the fall 2001 semester. Douskey’s husband currently works as a renewable-energy consultant. As the Chem 1A coordinator, Douskey trains graduate student instructors and in general makes sure the course is running smoothly—no small task in the fall, when Chem 1A has 45 GSIs, three different faculty lectures and a total of about 1,400 students. Although every semester she is confronted with a huge number of new faces, Douskey still takes the time for small, but important gestures. This May, Jessica Smith, a GSI and grad student in the Alivisatos group, was one of only ten GSIs on campus to win the Teaching Effectiveness Award. Douskey was there at the ceremony to congratulate her. On her office desk Douskey offers a variety of granola bars and other snacks to help fuel hungry students who may have skipped a meal. Says Douskey, “About two-thirds of our Chem 1A students are molecular and cell biology majors, and the other one-third engineering
Spring/Summer 2011 Catalyst
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