Colorado Rocky Mountain School has started the school year with several new faculty members, including a new department head. As full-time CRMS faculty not only teach college-preparatory classes but also participate in sports, work crews and back-country trips, their collective experience is broad and deep.

Ben McKinley, new head of the math department at CRMS, was most recently land coordinator at the Canyonlands Field Institute. He has also taught math at Catlin Gabel School, Cheyenne Mountain High School, Midland School and Fountain Valley School. Through the National Outdoor Leadership School, he took part in a Denali expedition and a semester-in-Alaska course. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s in education, administration and policy analysis from Stanford University.

Other new faculty include Richard Pyrczak, Shayna Zweben, Ashley Cox, Dana Loebman, Aaron Eisenberg, Jennifer Gee and Caroline Damon.

Before joining the CRMS language faculty, Pyrczak taught languages at Milken Community High School, ACA Education Center and Browning School. He holds a bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish from Ohio State University, a master’s in French from the Universite de Toulouse II and a Ph.D. in French from New York University. He is also a graduate of Pacific Crest Outward Bound’s High Sierra Mountaineering Course.

Zweben is a member of the CRMS English faculty. Previously, she taught English at Boulder’s September School. She has been an English and humanities professor at Front Range Community College, a writer/producer for National Geographic Television, a field instructor at the Calwood Environmental Institute and a program director and principal dancer with the Kim Robards Dance Co. She holds a B.A. in English and film from the University of California at Los Angeles and a master’s in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Cox, the CRMS counselor, has worked as a therapist, case worker and mediator for the Garfield County Department of Social Services. She has also been a therapist at the Northern Colorado Psychological Center and Mount Bachelor Academy, as well as an instructor and counselor for Pacific Crest Outward Bound. She holds a master’s in social work from Colorado State University.

Prior to coming to CRMS to teach math, Loebman taught math and was a wilderness leader at The High Mountain Institute. She has also done Web research for Freshwater Software, and was the director of first-year orientation trips at the Dartmouth Outing Club. She holds a B.A. in computer science from Dartmouth College.

Before joining the CRMS language faculty, Eisenberg was a Spanish and math tutor at South Eugene High School, a Spanish teacher at Patterson Family School and a bicycle guide for Timberline Bike Tours. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Oregon.

Gee, who teaches art at CRMS, was a teaching assistant in visual arts and the Outing Club president at Brown University.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural studies and visual art at Brown.

Damon is the head coach of the CRMS Alpine ski team, as well as a tutor.

She has taught at the Keystone Science School and the Gore Range Natural Science School, and holds a B.A. in biology from Bates College. She comes to CRMS most recently from a coaching position with the Aspen Valley Ski Club.