Laurel Hartley

Laurel's headshot
Ph.D. • Professor • Biology Research Faculty
Department of Integrative Biology
laurel.hartley@ucdenver.edu
EMAIL IS PREFERRED MEANS OF CONTACT

Mailing Address:
Department of Integrative Biology
Campus Box 171
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Physical Location:
1150 12th Street
SI 4124
Denver, CO 80204

Office Hours:  Please contact Instructor for office hours.

Expertise Areas
The majority of my research is in STEM Education. I also conduct research in ecology. My science education research interests are concerned with 1) improving how students understand biological concepts and apply scientific principles, especially those related to ecology and 2) improving educational environments to better support inclusion and learning for all students. I have worked at both undergraduate and K-12 levels. I am currently doing work related to effects of the Learning Assistant model on undergraduate STEM learning and satisfaction. I am also doing work related to Graduate Teaching Assistant training. My research employs both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods. Increasingly I use qualitative methods and incorporate theory from social psychology. I enjoy working on large-scale, multi-faceted collaborative projects that seek to answer transformative and often complex, messy questions. 

My ecological research bridges community and ecosystem ecology to explore how plant communities, wildlife, and soils respond to multiple change drivers (e.g., urbanization, introduced infectious disease, climate change). My field research sites have been in and around Denver. CU Denver is an urban serving institution and urban ecology research is accessible and interesting to our students. I have done projects related to effects of introduced bubonic plague on the role of prairie dogs in ecosystems. I have been working on urban wildlife monitoring in Denver as well. This project has been incorporated into a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) for Introductory Biology Laboratory. My field research involves mostly observational studies across space and time gradients. My research has implications for the management of open-space and wildlife populations in Colorado and in cities across North America. I often co-advise graduate projects with researchers from my department (e.g., Mike Wunder) and from the Denver Botanic Gardens (e.g., Chrissy Alba, Becky Huft) . I believe this strengthens our ability to mentor research .

Ph.D., Ecology, Colorado State University
M.S., Biology, Colorado State University
B.S., Biology, Southwestern University

My training, experience, and interests are in the fields of science education and ecology. I hold a Ph.D. in Ecology from Colorado State University. My dissertation focused on the indirect effects of bubonic plague in prairie dogs on plant communities and ecosystem function in Colorado. I received additional experience and training in science education through a post-doctoral position at Michigan State University and a position in exhibit development at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I was hired at UC Denver in 2008 primarily as a biology education researcher, and the majority of my current work is in that field. However, I also conduct research in ecology because it informs my teaching and my science education research, much of which focuses on student understanding of content related to ecology. I am pleased to be part of a growing national cadre of "science faculty with education specialties" and plan to continue to pursue both lines of research throughout my career.

Le, P. T., Hug, S. T., & Hartley, L. M. (2026). Community College Transfer Students’ Pathways Through Boundary Experiences Using a Storied Science Identity Lens. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 25(1), ar4.

Fidino, M., Gallo, T., Lehrer, E. W., Murray, M. H., Kay, C. A., Sander, H. A., ... & Magle, S. B. (2021). Landscape‐scale differences among cities alter common species’ responses to urbanization. Ecological Applications, 31(2), e02253.

Thompson, A. N., Talbot, R. M., Doughty, L., Huvard, H., Le, P., Hartley, L., & Boyer, J. (2020). Development and Application of the Action Taxonomy for Learning Assistants (ATLAs). International Journal of STEM education, 7(1), 1.

Alred, A. R., Doherty, J. H., Hartley, L. M., Harris, C. B., & Dauer, J. M. (2019). Exploring Student Ideas About Biological Variation. International Journal of Science Education, 41(12), 1682-1700.

Le, P. T., Doughty, L., Thompson, A. N., & Hartley, L. M. (2019). Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students’ Science Identity Production. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 18(4), ar50.

Hartley, L. M., Wilke, B. J., Schramm, J. W., D'Avanzo, C., & Anderson, C. W. (2011). College Students' Understanding of the Carbon Cycle: Contrasting Principle-Based and Informal Reasoning. BioScience, 61(1), 65-75.

 

Talbot, R.M., L. Hartley, K. Marzetta, and B. Wee. Transforming Undergraduate Science Education with Learning Assistants: Student Satisfaction in Large Enrollment Courses. Journal of College Science Teaching. In Press Beals, S.C., L.M. Hartley, J.S. Prevey, and T.R. Seastedt.

2014. The effects of black-tailed prairie dogs on plant communities within a complex urban landscape: an ecological surprise? Ecology. 95:1349-1359. Hartley, L.M., J. Momsen, A. Maskiewicz, and C. D'Avanzo.

2012. Energy and Matter: Differences in discourse can be confusing for introductory biology students. BioScience. 62:488-496. Hartley, L.M., B.J. Wilke, J.W. Schramm, C.A. Anderson, and C. D'Avanzo.

2011. College Students' Understanding of the Carbon Cycle: Contrasting Principle-Based and Informal Reasoning. BioScience. 61:65-75. Savage, L.T., R. Reich, L.M. Hartley, P. Stapp, and M.F. Antolin.

2011. Climate, soils, and connectivity predict plague epizootics in black-tailed prairie dogs Cynomys ludovicianus. Ecological Applications. 21:2933-2943.

BIOL 6002: Biology Skill Sets: Pedagogy
BIOL 2061: General Biology II
BIOL 4053/5053: Disease Ecology
BIOL 3413: Ecology Laboratory
BIOL 4052/5052: Advanced Ecology