Academics

A Saint Ignatius Education

Science Department

A message from Science Department Chair Matt Dowling...

Kurt Vonnegut, American Writer and Humorist

“Science is magic that works.”

Meet the Science Department

List of 18 members.

Matthew Dowling

Science Teacher/Department Chair
Sara Anderson

Science Teacher
Ted Anderson

Science Teacher

(312) 421-5900
James Gaffey

Science Teacher

(312) 421-5900
Anne Hipple

Director of Student Activities, Science Teacher
Rychelle Hooper 87

Science Teacher & Diversity Coordinator

(312) 421-5900
Katie Hull

Science Teacher/MRC Proctor
Raymond Lewis 13

Science Teacher
Nicole Lum

Science Teacher, Head Girls Water Polo Coach
Christopher Marks

Science Teacher

Bio
Imagine spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a boat on the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.

Saint Ignatius College Prep teacher, Christopher Marks, did just that.

“Storms there are quite violent, and it’s isolating because you’re 150 miles off shore, and away from people,” says Marks.

His work involved collecting data to understand what species commercial fishing boats were catching. It’s experience he took to graduate school for marine biology, and that’s where he had an epiphany.

“I got to teach classes. It was a scary moment realizing I wanted to teach it, instead of do it,” says Marks, “I took my knowledge and turned it into a teaching career.”

His path brought Marks here, to Saint Ignatius College Prep where he shares his love of marine biology, born in ocean snorkeling adventures, with his students.

He describes those students as “very intelligent.”

“I sometimes get questions I don’t know the answer to so we learn it together. If it’s an interesting question, we go and explore,” says Marks.

He hopes to give his students a deep appreciation of the biological world. One way he does that is through an aquatic sciences class he developed with Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.

"There’s some really cool stuff out there,” says Marks, who makes it his mission to spread that good word in the classroom.
Elizabeth Moroney

Science Teacher
Amanda Nickless

Science Teacher
Julianne Peak

Science Teacher
Danielle Pierce 95

Science Teacher
Cheri Smith

Science Teacher
Joel Southern

Science Teacher, Head Baseball Coach
Todd Strobel

Mathematics & Science Teacher, Head Boys Volleyball Coach
Amanda Wagner

Science Teacher

Saint Ignatius College Prep

Saint Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit Catholic school in the heart of Chicago, is a diverse community dedicated to educating young men and women for lives of faith, love, service and leadership.

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