Christine de Denus joined the Foxcroft community as the Director of the Mars STEAM Building in January 2026. Prior to coming to Foxcroft, Dr. de Denus worked at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) from 1999-2025. During her time at HWS, Dr. de Denus was a faculty member in the Chemistry Department (serving as department chair three times) and also served as the Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Provost for six years. She was also the director of the First Generation Initiative (FGI) program at HWS for a decade.
Dr. de Denus is an organometallic chemist who taught introductory, organic, inorganic, advanced laboratory, structural analysis, forensic chemistry as well as first-year seminar courses on a regular basis. She also maintained an active undergraduate research program, mentoring over 70 students.
Outside of the classroom Dr. de Denus was involved in curriculum design, development, and review; academic facilities and equipment planning; faculty hiring and development; development and review of academic programs; implementation of new digital pedagogies and initiatives across the curriculum; course scheduling, enrollment, and classroom management/design; oversight and fiscal management of various grants, endowments, and budgets. She was also involved in efforts surrounding Title IX and Bystander trainings, Division III athletics, and LGBTQ education and policy changes. She also served on the Advisory Council for Cornell AgriTech for six years.
Dr. de Denus was recognized by her colleagues on three different occasions as the recipient of the faculty prizes for Teaching, Community Service, and Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion.
Dr. de Denus earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba, Canada. She also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at The Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of 31 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 3 patents, and numerous conference presentations.
