NewsLab

When you walk through the corridor in the Science Building of CSS, you will always see a quiet person sitting in a big office. Her name is Dawn L. Peterson, who is a visiting chemistry instructor in the college.

As long as you step into her office and talk with her, you will find how easy and warm she is, and it makes you feel that you have met the right teacher.

Peterson was an adjunct at CSS for seven years, and now in her eighth year she has become an instructor of chemistry lab 1020. “I love to teach,” Peterson said. “I like watching people’s eyes when they realize something.” 

“I like watching people’s eyes when they realize something.”

--Dawn L. Peterson

In 1992, Peterson graduated from University of Minnesota, in Morris, Minn., with the double bachelors of biology and chemistry. She was very interested in biology and chemistry so she went on and got her master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. 

“I like chemistry and biology and did both for a major,” she said. "The Supercritical Fluid Chromatography" is the title of her graduate thesis. For this study, she took the instrument set up created by previous graduate students and used methane to test the instrument with information characterized. Her interest in science piqued her interest in teaching, which she has worked on and enjoyed for nearly ten years.

The first time she worked at UMD, Peterson was one of two American teaching assistants and the rest were foreign teaching assistants whom students had a hard time understanding because of the language, so students would ask her to help them out. 

“It was a very busy but happy time." Peterson said. "I like students coming in and asking questions to get the help they need."

She first came to CSS in 2002 as an adjunct instructor. “At UMD, it feels like you're a number. There are so many students and we did not have muc one-on-on contact,” Peterson said. “I was very busy. At CSS, it feels like a person. Professors can give a lot of information and students got more personal help here.” 

“The first impression of her is that she was well trained and enthusiastic. She is a very organized person and she enjoys helping students and teachers.”

--Lawrence McGahey, dean of the School of Sciences.

Others see that same personal touch in Peterson.

“The first impression of her is that she was well trained and enthusiastic,” said Lawrence McGahey, dean of the school of sciences. “She is a very organized person and she enjoys helping students and teachers.”

Daniel Koutsky, one of her current students said, “She is warm and kind. Whenever I have question, she is there and willing to help us.”

Besides being a caring teacher, Peterson is someone who enjoys life a lot. “I like watching sports, every kind of sports except boxing,” Peterson said, “I never understand boxing. And I like to do crafts, hang out with my nieces and nephews. Also, I like watching TV about cooking.”