Dr. Thomas J. Rossbach
Elizabeth City State University
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
(252) 335-3376
(252) 335-3465 (Fax)
tjrossbach@mail.ecsu.edu

Dr. Thomas J. Rossbach was born and raised in Scarsdale, New York. As a child, his father took him to the American Museum of Natural History where he first became interested in geology.

He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor’s degree in geology in 1983. After taking a year off from school, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for a Master’s degree in Geology, focusing on the molluscan fauna of the River Bend Formation (Early Oligocene) which had only recently been exposed by quarry work. After completion of the MS degree in 1987, he stayed on at UNC-CH and received a Doctorate in Geology in 1992, studying the effects of the Late Devonian Frasnian-Famennian extinction event in the central Appalachian basin.

In 1993-1994 Dr. Rossbach taught geology and UNC-Wilmington, after which he was a geologist for two environmental consulting companies in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. He taught Geology at Western Carolina University in 1997-1998 and at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in 1998-1999. Since 1999 he has been teaching Geology (and more recently Physical Science) at Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina.