Having taught environmental geology for over 25 years, Dr. Carla Montgomery is pleased to present the seventh edition of her text. She received her undergraduate degree with double major in mathematics and geology from Wellesley College, her master’s degree in geology from Dartmouth College, and her Ph.D. in geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following a postdoc at M.I.T., she joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University. Her research interests have included geochronology, high-temperature geochemistry, and Precambrian geology. She is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and she has received NIU's Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award.
For many years, Dr. Montgomery served as associate dean of the Graduate School at NIU while continuing to teach and work as a member of the geology faculty. During that period, she was elected president of the Illinois Association of Graduate Schools and chair of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools, and was involved in programs at the state and national levels to enhance the participation of students from underrepresented groups in science, mathematics, and engineering. She subsequently returned full-time to her home department, only to be recruited for a part-time role as acting associate dean of liberal arts and sciences when a need unexpectedly arose. Though she formally retired in spring 2007, Dr. Montgomery continues to teach, work with students, and serve part-time in the dean's office.
It was at Dartmouth that she met her husband Warren, who has been immensely supportive of her many and varied activities (and who, though not a geoscientist himself, wields a mean ten-pound sledgehammer when field work calls for sampling). Together they enjoy a variety of outdoor activities – golf (walking whenever possible!), hiking, photography, skiing – and in her spare (?) time, Dr. Montgomery relaxes with needlework, plants, cooking, and singing with the DeKalb Festival Chorus.
2014