At a standing-room-only ceremony on May 10, Dean Daniel J. Howard announced the winners of the college awards for 2012-2013. The highest honor, the Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, was presented to Sonja K. Foss of the Communication Department.  Foss will receive $5,000 per year for her 3 year term, and will deliver a celebratory lecture for CLAS in fall. Complete list of winners and photos from the ceremony.

Faculty, if you have not done so already, please review this link to the 2013-2014 faculty committees.  Feel free to address any questions to Interim Associate Dean David Tracer at david.tracer@ucdenver.edu. 

CU Online has created one hour trainings perfect for faculty new to learning managements systems or who just want to know the basics. This training will provide users with a sandbox course to practice in, and will explain how to post class Announcements, upload a Syllabus and other files, and use the grade book to track student scores. Trainings will be May 30th, from 12:30 – 1:30pm or 2 – 3pm, in LSC 360, to register click here. For those interested in more in-depth training of advanced Canvas features we offer a 4-hour Canvas Boot Camp, or you can schedule a 1 on 1 appointment with CU Online here.  

Jeff Franklin, Marjorie Levine-Clark, Christine Stroup-Benham, Cecilio Alvarez, Tod Duncan and Paul Stretesky from the CLAS Learning Enhancement Task Force will all be traveling to Portland State University in July to participate in the AAC&U Summer Institutes on Integrative Learning and the Departments. Participants Will Work to Redesign and Develop Assessment Plans for General Education Programs, Develop and Expand High-Impact Educational Practices, and Advance Integrative and Engaged Learning In and Across the Disciplines. For more information click here. 

The Department of English has finished reviewing applications for the 2013-2014 Michael S. Gorniak Memorial Scholarship and is pleased to announce three scholarship recipients:

Noah McDermott is a senior Creative Writing major who fosters a lifelong passion for writing fiction.

Aaron Schaefer is pursuing a degree in Creative Writing because he believes, like Michael Gorniak, that writing can change one’s community for the better.

Carley Tacker is the co-founder of a non-profit called Tethered by Letters that helps young and developing writers find and cultivate their voice in the writing world.

Noah, Aaron, and Carley each exemplify the spirit of Michael Gorniak through their resolve, vision, and enthusiasm. In receiving scholarships, each of these students stand as positive models of the student writer, both dedicated to their craft and their community. The Department of English congratulates them, as well as all of the applicants for this scholarship, for honoring and preserving the memory of Michael S. Gorniak.

Timberley Roane and Aimee Bernard, faculty within the Department of Integrative Biology, were on the Steering Committee for the 20th Annual American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE - www.asmcue.org) that took place May 16-19, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. They helped recruit several talented scientists/educators from the Denver area to speak at the conference and Aimee Bernard participated in a group presentation titled, 'Doing the Classroom Flip: Are You Ready to Turn Your Classroom on its Head?' The ASMCUE is an intensive four-day "working conference" that brings together 300+ educators from colleges, universities and international institutions to learn and share the latest information in the biological sciences and education research. The ASMCUE participants are all focused on the same goal: to improve teaching and learning in the biological sciences.

In what has become an annual tradition, the students and faculty from the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences formed a relay team to run the Colfax Marathon May 19th.  This year the team was composed of students Page Carpenter, Susana Diller, Sarah Taylor, Issac Rivera and faculty member Rafael Moreno.

Twenty-three students were recognized at the University Honors and Leadership Program graduation ceremony on May 10. Students gathered with family and friends in the Terrace Room as UHL celebrated the graduation of its second class. Each student received a medal for their participation in the university-wide undergraduate honors program, and several students won special awards. More information can be found here. 

SUPER SCHOLARS: Aurora med school hopefuls get a shot at a sure seat thanks to CU Denver Aurora Sentinel, May 9

Vanessa Camack, Yasmine Dakhama , Sanju Garimella and Vikasini Mahalingam, all from Aurora,  are among the 10 freshman starting this fall in the third cohort of the BA/BS-MD program. Carmack exemplifies the spirit of the program with her quote, “I want to give back to the community,” Camack said. “I’m hoping to help figure out ways to better the quality of medicine that’s given in Colorado.”

Historic farm in Wheat Ridge doubles as research site for CU Denver students
Denver Post Your Hub, May 9

Ag Notebook: New certificate program integrating classroom, field-based learning
Greeley Tribune, May 11

The Geography and Environmental Science’s new certificate program in Sustainable Urban Agriculture is drawing students to CU Denver’s new research station at the 13-acre Five Fridges Farm. The students gain valuable hands-on experience and become more employable in the future. 

Joan T. Bihun, senior instructor in psychology, won the Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award given by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Division Two of the American Psychological Association).  The award, a plaque, and a check for $1500 will be presented to her during the 2013 APA convention in Honolulu, HI, on Saturday, August 3, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort. The teaching award winners will also be announced in the fall issue of Teaching of Psychology.  

Environmental, social impacts of Waldo canyon fire studied
Colorado Springs Gazette, May 3

Professor Anne Chin, won a National Science Foundation grant to study the impact of the Waldo Canyon fire last fall. Along with assistant professor Gregory Simon, both of the Geography and Environmental Science Department, this spring their interdisciplinary class (GEOG 4700: Synthesis for Interdisciplinary Science) visited the site. 

Stephen John Hartnett, professor and chair of communication, recently published The Folly of Fighting for Providence; or, the End of Empire and Exceptionalism in Cultural Studies ó Critical Methodologies. Also, on May 14, Hartnett was the featured guest on The Real News.com, an independent, web-based TV show, discussing the history and contemporary state of the death penalty. The show is listed as From Capital Punishment to Guns, Old Fears Weigh like a Nightmare on Today's Debate. 

Study: Benefits of being with a cougar more myth than reality
9 News, May 6

Cougars, Sugar Daddies: More Myth Than Reality? (STUDY)
Huffington Post, May 7

Study shows so-called cougars, sugar daddies more myth than reality
PhysOrg, May 7

This month, in the Review of Economics and Statistics, economics professor Hani Mansour, with Terra McKinnish, associate professor of economics in Boulder, released a study showing that those who marry significantly younger or older spouses tend to be less educated, less intelligent and less attractive than those who marry someone about their own age.