Cynthia with writer Cortney Holles

Women Awakening with Cynthia James

Cortney Person Holles (pronounced like Pierson and Hollis) grew up with teachers for parents and played school as often as Barbies. Somehow, despite her love for all things school-related, she thought she should become a medical doctor as a teenager, but some came to her senses in college. Instead of 8 years of chemistry, she wanted more years in college classrooms, especially those where she could sit in a circle and talk about books. She earned her Masters in English in 2003 and then started a family with her husband just after she got hired at Colorado School of Mines as an adjunct.
She soon dropped the other adjunct gigs at colleges around town and devoted her teaching to Mines, getting hired full time as a professor in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in 2010. Cortney was appointed to lead the freshman writing class, Nature and Human Values, shortly thereafter. This position included the hiring and professional development of 15-20 instructors who teach this required course and developing the pedagogy and content and assessment for all students. Her life took a turn when her husband sustained a brain injury and spinal nerve damage just as she was starting the path to earn her doctorate in education. Her elementary school kids and her care responsibilities and home life became her main focus for a number of years as her husband struggled and ultimately died in early 2017.
Then there was another major shift in focus—being an only parent to kids entering middle school with trauma to heal from became Cortney's primary job. She stepped back from service to her department and called in lots of favors from family and friends. She got everyone to consistent appointments with quality counselors. She did her bst to keep up with her teaching load and responsibilities. Then, finally, after a 2 year hiatus, Cortney returned to her research for the doctoral degree despite the unforeseen and the unknown and was able to complete her dissertation in 2021, earning her EdD from University of Northern Colorado. Now, Cortney is in the phase of life where her nest is clearing out, she has new love in her life, and she is getting to work with amazing colleagues on the Teaching with Heart grant, extending her interest in student and faculty well-being research into communities of practice.
She has finally allowed herself to call herself a writer (not just a reader who's pretty good at writing) and she is diving into writing poetry and memoir about her life and relationships to continue to process the juxtaposition of all the magic and pain, confusion and beauty in the world.