Koretsky named associate dean of Lee Honors College

KALAMAZOO--Dr. Carla M. Koretsky, professor of geosciences, has been appointed associate dean of Western Michigan University's Lee Honors College, effective May 7.

Koretsky's appointment was approved by the WMU Board of Trustees during its Feb. 29 meeting.

The Lee Honors College is among the oldest honors programs in the nation and has a student profile rivaling that of the most elite private colleges in the United States. It enhances WMU's dynamic academic climate by providing small seminar classes, added opportunities to conduct research alongside established faculty members, and the chance to explore new horizons through independent study.

Koretsky came to WMU in 2000 and has been a faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program as well as the geosciences department since 2005. She received the University's Emerging Scholar Award in 2007, was associate chair of the geosciences department in 2006, and was advisor in 2003-04 for the interdisciplinary geochemistry major that she established at WMU.

An active researcher, Koretsky focuses on aqueous geochemistry and biogeochemistry, seeking to integrate field, laboratory and modeling studies of mineral-water-biological interactions near the earth's surface.

She has been awarded or participated in more than $1.3 million in external grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and American Chemical Society. Her research has appeared in some 130 journal articles and abstracts, and she has presented her research findings at conferences and invited lectures around the world.

While at WMU, Koretsky has advised, supervised and trained scores of undergraduate and graduate students, including Lee Honors College students, as well as served on 20 graduate student committees. She is faculty advisor for the WMU Dressage Club and a past faculty advisor for Students for a Sustainable Earth.

Koretsky also has been a reviewer for national and international journals and funding agencies. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Geochemical Transactions and is a member of the editorial board for Chemical Geology.

Prior to coming to WMU, Koretsky was a postdoctoral and a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology and taught at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She earned a bachelor's degree in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, and master's and doctoral degrees in that field from Johns Hopkins University.