Fellow Profiles

Biography

Stephan Graham is a high school physics and chemistry teacher from Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver, Colorado. In 1998, Stephan Graham left his job as an engineer for Corning, Inc. and joined the Inner City Teaching Corps for a two-year, volunteer assignment teaching a self-contained eighth grade classroom. Now, ten years later, Stephan is an award-winning high school science teacher at a school in Denver that he helped start. As Arrupe Jesuit's first science teacher, Mr. Graham developed the school's innovative curriculum in physics and chemistry that helps to bring science alive in the context of other subject areas, especially the language arts.

In 2004, with money from a prestigious Toyota Tapestry Grant and expertise from his time at Corning, Mr. Graham developed a course in chemistry and ceramics that combines all of the features of a typical introductory chemistry course with different aspects of ceramic processing. Ceramics are a popular medium in Mexico and other Latin countries, regions with which much of Arrupe Jesuit's largely Hispanic student body identifies. The success of this course and of Arrupe Jesuit's science curriculum as a whole led the Crysto-Rey Network of Jesuit schools to hire Mr. Graham for a summer position training new teachers.

Stephan Graham is an active participant in professional organizations, including the National Science Teachers Association and Colorado Chemistry Association. Moreover, Mr. Graham spent a year abroad teaching at the American School of Madrid. Among his many awards are the "News 9 Mad About Science Teacher Award" and the "Excellence in Teaching Award" from the Inner City Teaching Corps. Mr. Graham holds a Master's in ceramic science and engineering from Penn State University and a Master's in education from Loyola University in Chicago.