Saluting the Constant Mentor: Chris Connors Amanda Hughes ’06 reflects on how the William E. Pritchard III ’80 Professor of Earth and Environmental Geoscience always puts his students at the forefront, from coffee shop mornings to sunrise adventures at the Grand Canyon.

Chris has told me that he was the luckiest guy in the world to have this job, but I am certain that we, his students, were the lucky ones.

Chris is the embodiment of what it means to be a Washington and Lee faculty member. He once said that one of the things that made teaching at W&L so rewarding was that there was never any question about priorities as a faculty member — he and W&L were aligned that students should be the priority. It was always clear to me that this was Chris’ guiding principle.

He always taught his Structural Geology course in the Winter Term because all the leaves were off the trees, making for better geological viewing and learning. Ever thinking of his students, though, I can remember more than once, on especially cold days, that he would take the whole group to Lexington Coffee Shop and get us a warm drink before undertaking our field work — an optimized learning experience for the students and characteristic of Chris’ generosity and attention to detail. On one such field trip, we traveled to two different outcrops where the rocks were seemingly telling us different stories, but through his clever guidance, we realized that these contrasting features reflect how the rocks would deform in different areas of a larger-scale fold. The sudden ability to visualize this relationship in space, and how it evolved in time, struck me like a bolt of lightning, and, from that moment on, I was hooked on structural geology. I went into college knowing that I liked science but unsure what kind; after that course, I had a new goal — to be as much like Chris as possible.

I have continued to work in that field to this day, and Chris has given me extensive advice when choosing a graduate school, publishing research results, getting my first job in industry and now in my academic position. We continue to collaborate on research, and I regard him among my most treasured mentors and friends.

Through all that time, I have never stopped learning from Chris — his deliberative approach to science and life, clarity in his priorities and creative approach to scientific work continue to be the examples that I seek to live up to in my own career as a geology professor.

I met up recently with Chris at the annual Geological Society of America meeting — my 20th, which I have been attending ever since my days as an undergraduate. We chatted for hours about science and life, and I was reminded, once again, how lucky we all have been to have such a stellar person in our lives.

Amanda Hughes ’06 serves as associate professor of practice in the College of Science at the University of Arizona, after working for several years at Chevron.

Chris Connors, William E. Pritchard III ’80 Professor of Earth and Environmental Geoscience, has taught at Washington and Lee University for 27 years.

This article first appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of W&L: The Washington and Lee Magazine. Contact us at magazine@wlu.edu.