September 2008
Transcription
September 2008
O C LORADAN September 2008 Ralphie V runs CU’s newest mascot joins a long line of heralded buffaloes. Page 4. Is Oprah good for America? A media studies professor scruti nizes the queen of daytime television. Page 8. Alumni Magazine of Colorado The University From Baghdad to Beijing CU alum and Iraqi veteran sets her sights on the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. Page 26. COLORADAN CONTENTS V runs 4 Ralphie CU’s newest mascot joins a long line of heralded buffaloes. Oprah good for 8 IsAmerica? A media studies professor scrutinizes the queen of daytime television. 14 News Baghdad 26 From to Beijing An alum sets her sights on the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. conservatism 32 Giving the chair The chancellor announces plans for an endowed chair in conservative thought and policy. centerfold 36 Campus Our centerfold brings one of Glenn J. Asakawa’s (Jour’86) best campus photographs to your home. 38 Sports view of diversity 44 AProfessor Christine Yoshinaga- Itano, along with students and staff, discusses race on campus. Korea 46 Remembering On the 55th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, historians and soldiers who fought in Korea discuss the war. 52 CU Around 58 CU People 64 Letters the heart of lightness 68 Into Alum and CU photojournalism instructor Kevin Moloney (Jour’87) writes about his adventures on the way to Timbuktu. bound 70 Timbuktu Photo by Kevin Moloney (Jour’87) captures the beauty and culture of the Niger River. Editor’s note You never would have guessed Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) had only one leg, if you were with me that day watching her swim at the Olympic Training Center. As I observed her effortless laps, I wondered if she was bitter about losing her leg while serving in Iraq. After all, she had been riding in a doorless Humvee in Baghdad when her vehicle hit a roadside bomb in 2004. She wasn’t. Instead of lamenting the loss of her leg, she set out to do things she had never done before — swim competitively, race triathlons, pursue a career in prosthetics and go to the Beijing Paralympics. Her tenacity forced me to wonder if I would do the same if I were Stockwell. Short of being her, I realized it’s an impossible question to answer. But while interviewing her (see Page 26) for this issue, Stockwell taught me life can be so much more than any of us settle for or imagine is possible. Fortunately, we as Buffs have shades of Stockwell’s spirit in us — the courage to face adversity and transform it into opportunity, the confidence to shoot for the stars and the heart to see dreams realized. She’ll be competing in the Beijing Paralympics two weeks after the Olympics. You will not miss her. Her integrity and enthusiasm are as big as the country she’ll be competing in. Here’s to Stockwell and to all of us following in her footsteps. Tori Peglar (MJour’00), Editor 2 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Under the shadow of the Flatirons, students walk across the Norlin Quad between classes. Casey A. Cass Volu me 1 3, N u m b er 1 S e pt e mb e r 200 8 Coloradan aims to connect, inform and engage readers in the life of the University of Colorado at Boulder through regular communication with alumni, faculty and staff members and friends of the University. It is published four times per year in March, June, September and December by the CU-Boulder Alumni Association. Permission to reprint articles and illustrations may be obtained from the editor. Ralphie V Editorial o f f i ces Koenig Alumni Center, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0459; phone 303-492-3712 or 800-492-7743; fax 303-492-6799; e-mail [email protected]. A ddr e ss c hang es To change your address or remove your name from our mailing list, write or call the Alumni Association at the address and numbers above; or e-mail [email protected]. Please include your alumni ID number, which is on your mailing label. O n t he w e b Visit www.cualum.org to find other alums, event and travel information and more news of CU. P u b l is h e r Ron Stump Editor Tori Peglar (MJour’00) In t e r im Ass istan t Edi tor Marc Killinger St u d e n t Ass istants Emery Cowan (Jour, Span’10), Erika Usui (Jour’09) Con t r ib u tors Glenn Asakawa (Jour’86), Gary Baines (Jour’83), Nicole Branan, Casey A. Cass, Peter Caughey, Paul Danish (Hist’65), Marty Coffin Evans (A&S’64), Bronson Hilliard (Hist’86), Jennifer Lay, Kathy McClurg, Ken McConnellogue (Jour’90), Doug McPherson, Tom Nugent, Silvia Pettem (A&S’69), David Plati (Jour’82), Jim Scott (EPOBio‘73), Haley Sinn-Penfold (ArtHist’05), Diana Somerville De s ig n e rs and Illustrators Art director Elizabeth C. Johnston and assistant art director Marissa Price of Lizzardbrand Inc. www.lizzardbrand.com Gearing up for her first public appearance on Folsom Field in April, the newly anointed Ralphie V sped onto the field during the spring football game, tripping one of her Handlers. Smaller than Ralphie IV she slipped from her harness, dropping all but one Handler who tried to slow her down. “V has a lot of spunk,” says Kevin Priola (Econ,Fin’96), (continued on page 6) Printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. Please recycle with magazines. Glenn J. Asakawa 4 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN V runs B y D av e Mar u c h e a u and C o l o r a d a n e d i t or i al s t a f f (continued from page 5) co-director of the Ralphie Program. “She’s young and has the wheels to prove it.” For the game’s record-breaking crowd of 17,800, Ralphie V, who hails from Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico, became the talk around the water-cooler for the next week. Her antics made it onto YouTube.com, as well as headlines in local newspapers, immediately distinguishing her from her more docile predecessor, Ralphie IV, who semi-retired after 10 years as CU’s mascot. In all her wild glory, Ralphie V is part of a long tradition of Boulder Camera early 1960s, wearing a path for Ralphie I. In 1966, at the height of Beatlemania and the start of the Vietnam War demonstrations, the father of CU freshman Bill Curtis Lowery (A&S ex’68) donated a six-monthold buffalo calf. While the origins of the name are shrouded in mystery, some say the name arose from the grunting noises the bison made while running. Ultimately, her name was changed from “Ralph” to “Ralphie” when someone pointed out that “Ralph” was actually a female. CU’s first Ralphie achieved national celebrity status, stomping aggressively Boulder Camera Ralphie I Ralphie II bison that have represented CU since the Depression and have come to epitomize the West, its high ideals of freedom and endless possibilities. across Folsom Field, which changed from grass to AstroTurf during her tenure. Fitting for the anti-establishment era, the student body elected her Homecoming Queen in 1971. During her coronation, she defiantly dumped her crown on Folsom Field. Ralphie quickly garnered the respect and awe of college fans and opponents from the Rockies to the bayous of the South. “What started in the 60s as a novelty has turned into a first-class program,” Priola says. Eaglets, Boulders, Buffaloes Although the official school colors of silver and gold were chosen in 1888, the university didn’t have an official mascot. Athletic teams were most commonly known as Silver and Gold, although they took on loose monikers such as Silver Helmets, Grizzlies, Big Horns and Arapahoes. At the turn-of-the-century, the Engineering department loaned its dog to the football team and in the 1920s a goat named Clancey appeared at a game to boost team spirit. It wasn’t until 1934 that buffaloes hit the CU scene. Hoping to establish an official mascot, the then student-run newspaper, the Silver & Gold, sponsored a national contest with $5 going to the winning entry. “Buffaloes” emerged over names like the Boulders and the Eaglets, and Boulder resident Andrew Dickson was proclaimed the official winner. Three weeks later, several students rented a bison calf and cowboy to parade down the sidelines for the season finale 7-0 win against University of Denver. A series of other bison stampeded in and out of Folsom Stadium through the 6 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Creating a buffalo legacy CU’s second Ralphie had big hooves to fill. Moon, as she was originally named, replaced Ralphie I just in time for the last home game of the 1978 season, a 20-16 loss to Iowa State. Nevertheless, she held her head high and drew fear into her opponents’ eyes at home and away, allegedly once chasing down the Missouri tiger. In 1986, Oklahoma State fans sneaked into their college veterinary clinic where Ralphie II was staying before the game and spray painted “OSU” on her in orange letters. Ralphie II died unexpectedly in 1987 at age 12 after a 31-17 CU win over Stanford. Some speculated she died of a broken heart, having suffered through seven out of eight losing seasons. Others postulated that the Stanford Cardinal drum major who dressed as the Grim Reaper and high-stepped toward her pen hastened her death. In her place stampeded Ralphie III who soon was nicknamed “Tequila” for her fiery disposition. Orphaned at birth on a Wyoming prairie after her mother died, a cowboy saved her and brought her back to his ranch. She was bottlefed and raised with a goat and horses until Johnny Parker (Hist’62) and Shaaron Parker (Bus’61) bought the two-year-old and donated her to CU. Handling Ralphie Welcome Ralphie V, dubbed Blackout, who stood out from her herd at birth as the darkest calf. “Ralphie V is larger in size and is much faster that Ralphie IV was at the same age, making her more like Ralphie III” says Gail Pederson, athletic department chief of staff. If the spring game is any indication of her character, it doesn’t fairly represent the amount of work that goes into training one of the nation’s top John Eichorn/University of Colorado Casey A. Cass Ralphie III Ralphie IV Ralphie III’s routes to away games were guarded for fear that opposing teams would try to deface or kidnap her. About 500 people throughout the nation offered to give Ralphie III room and board during her various road trips. Few have forgotten her memorable run around the field during the Orange Bowl in 1990, concluding the Buff ’s only championship season. In 1997, Ralphie IV was born on the Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, Mont., owned by media mogul Ted Turner. When she was 1 month old, Rowdy, as she was known, was rescued from the jaws of a coyote and bottle-fed by ranch hands. Turner agreed to donate the baby bison to CU after his ranch hands responded to an advertisement in Bison World magazine that mentioned CU’s need for a new mascot. Ralphie IV first captured the hearts of CU fans as a 400-pound calf at the 1998 Colorado State University game when CU won 42-14. Four years later, she made national headlines when Violet Stromberg, 96, bequeathed $40,730 for the care of Ralphie IV and future Ralphies. And just as any good Western ends, there came a sunset. Old age started to get the best of Ralphie IV and it was time for her to pass the torch and move into semi-retirement. mascots. Athletes in the Ralphie Handler program must be able to run 13 miles per hour alongside a 1,300-pound female animal. (Male bison can be onethird larger than females, weighing up to 1,800 pounds. As a result, female buffaloes are easier to handle). Ralphie’s Handlers spend at least 20 hours a week training, feeding and grooming her. They receive varsity letters but must attend 85 percent of all practices and games while maintaining an overall GPA of 2.0. So come this fall, as cold air descends from the mountains into Boulder, Ralphie V will officially take the reins front and center as CU’s new mascot. “She’s still pretty wild,” says Cole Schindler, a senior and first-year Ralphie Handler. “She’s just getting used to the routine, but I have a feeling she’ll be one of the great ones.” www.cualum.org See Ralphie V’s spring game run on YouTube.com by searching for Ralphie V. David Marucheau is a freelance writer in Boulder. The son of two CU alumni, he grew up with the typical fervor of a Buff fan attending games at Folsom Field, where he first saw Ralphie III as a youngster. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 7 Professor Janice Peck of journalism has received national media attention for her new book, The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era (Paradigm Publishers). Michelle Starika Asakawa (Jour, Mktg’87) served as copy editor of the book. Glenn J. Asakawa Is Oprah good for America? Scrutinizing the queen of daytime television B Y J E N N I E L AY Oprah Winfrey boasts more than 7 million viewers for her television talk show, a slew of spinoff programs, a magazine, a website, her own pending television network and a passion for books that some have credited with resuscitating the publishing industry. Her philanthropy, exemplified by her school for impoverished girls in South Africa, has the power to change the course of peoples’ lives. Her politics, illustrated by her coveted endorsement of presidential candidate Barack Obama, could shake up an election season. She is wealthy beyond belief, and her global fan base is immense and devoted. Clearly, Winfrey is more than a talk show host. She’s an icon and an empire, carefully protected by the impenetrable Great Wall of Harpo Productions Inc., her production company. But Winfrey’s brand of personal empowerment might never have reached its incredible heights had it not appeared during the Reagan and Clinton administrations’ push for privatization, according to Janice Peck, associate professor of media studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “This is a person who has an immense amount of public power and authority,” says Peck, who just wrote the book, The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era (Paradigm Publishers). “I’m trying to tell a story of American political life . . . not just Oprah Winfrey, but what has happened in the U.S. in the last quarter century,” Peck says. She figures some devoted Winfrey fans will buy her book thinking they are getting a biography. What she hopes is www.cualum.org that it will have broader appeal to readers with an interest in culture and politics. Personalizing social problems In the late 1980s the “televised talking cure” emerged where audiences began pouring out their problems to therapeutic experts on T.V. Winfrey was best at it, Peck says, and that made her a pioneer in the process of individualizing and psychologizing societal problems like racism, poverty, homelessness and welfare. It paralleled a rise in deregulation and marked a rapid departure from the political and social norms that came before. While people looked to the government for solutions to social and political problems as recently as the 1960s, Peck says during Winfrey’s era things shifted. Instead, personal initiative and private philanthropy came to trump all, as the public eyed the government increasingly suspiciously. That emphasis on self-determination and personal choice parallels America’s trend toward what is known as neoliberalism, resulting in deep cuts in social spending beginning with President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, according to Peck. “The triumph in this kind of thinking is that we now imagine all problems can be solved by the marketplace or individual,” Peck says. “Problem with water table pollution? Go buy bottled water. Failing schools? Open a charter school. We have no public, collective way to address problems anymore. Government is now just the ‘problem,’ and that thinking emerged in the last 25 years.” (continued on page 10) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 9 “Problem with water table pollution? Go buy bottled water. Failing schools? Open a charter school. We have no public, collective way to address problems anymore. Government is now just the ‘problem,’ and that thinking emerged in the last 25 years.” — Janice Peck (continued from page 9) To top it off, Winfrey perfected consumerism to a spiritual art form, says Kathryn Lofton, a scholar of popular religion and culture at Princeton University. She says consumerism came before Winfrey, but Oprah helped connect consumerism to personal redemption. Winfrey’s genius, Lofton says, is “not in coming up with new ideas. It’s in branding ideas.” Her endorsements encourage viewers to buy things and think about spirituality in the same way, Lofton says. “Oprah encouraged the first generation of post-1970s liberated women to purchase their way into spirituality,” Lofton says. “They went to college, got jobs, started families…then started watching Oprah . . . and she said you earned this (shopping trip) after all that bra burning.” Winfrey, Lofton says, presents ideas in a religious manner even though she does not represent a religion. Self-help strategies and her “favorite things” are offered up like a spiritual buffet, allowing parishioners to mix and match faiths in a way that is deeply reminiscent of consumer practice, she says. But Winfrey’s mix-and-match faiths are incoherent, she says. For instance, when Madonna appeared on the show to talk about Kabbalah, Winfrey professed her sudden self-realization as a Kabbalahist. When Eckhart Tolle, author of self-help manifesto A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Penguin Group USA), came on the show, she professed a similar selfrealization for his philosophy. This was a way to appeal to a public seeking personal choice above all things, says Kathleen Rooney, author of Reading with Oprah: The Book Club that Changed America (University of Arkansas Press), and former writing instructor at Emerson College and Northeastern University. 10 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Becoming a cultural icon Peck’s initial academic interest in Winfrey emerged from a dissertation she wrote about Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart in the early 1990s. The time she spent analyzing the televangelists coincided with an era when newly controversial daytime television talk shows were beginning to battle for younger viewers and scandals were riveting their audiences. Winfrey’s show went nationally syndicated in 1986, going head-to-head with Phil Donahue, but soon coming up against edgier talk shows featuring Geraldo Rivera and Jenny Jones. Winfrey overtook Donahue’s No. 1 rating almost immediately, ushering in an era of tabloid-style daytime talk shows. But as Peck’s own curiosity about the competition for talk show viewers grew, she watched Winfrey separate herself from the rest of the pack and evolve into something more than just a talk show host. By the mid 1990s, Winfrey was doing shows about health, spirituality, meditation, home decorating and her favorite products, infusing them with a dose of high-profile celebrity interviews. In 1996 Winfrey introduced her phenomenally successful book club that has since featured more than 60 titles, and in 2000 she unveiled O, The Oprah Magazine, her monthly magazine that sold more than 2 million copies less than a year after hitting the newsstands. Peck realized she could examine Oprah’s success story through the prism of contemporary social and political trends. “I thought, ‘I’m going to use her to look at these things I’m really interested in.’ You can use her empire to look at almost everything . . . she is just an incredibly rich subject to study,” says Peck, who wrote several academic journal articles about Winfrey before publishing her recent book. She watched endless episodes of Winfrey’s talk show, read the transcripts and combed through ardent personal posts on Oprah.com. Throughout this exercise, Peck witnessed Winfrey’s meteoric rise, the evolution of her persona and her flubs. She watched a new level of criticism take hold when Winfrey endorsed presidential candidate Obama last year, enraging Republican fans and Hillary Clinton supporters who encouraged her to stick to entertainment instead of politics. Regardless of this recent public criticism, Winfrey’s lasting legacy has been encouraging people to read, Rooney argues. “Oprah challenged the gatekeepers of culture and what they should look like,” Rooney says, admitting this is what got her interested in studying Oprah. Winfrey made “highbrow meet lowbrow,” Rooney says, by using television to promote literature and preaching that reading is good for everyone. (continued on page 12) www.cualum.org Glenn J. Asakawa COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 11 (continued from page 11) With Winfrey’s blessing, books like James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces (Anchor), Toni Morrison’s Sula (Vintage) and Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex (Picador) became instant bestsellers. Rooney was in the audience in 2003 on the day that Winfrey announced the end of her book club. She describes a crowd on the brink of tears, expressing deep hurt and pleading with Winfrey not to turn her back on literature. Ultimately, this was only a suspension of her book club. But when it returned, the focus on novels shifted to include a mix of classics and New Age philosophies, including Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Penguin Group USA), which has practically raised him to American guru status. For Rooney, Winfrey’s turn to New Age titles is disappointing. Winfrey’s stamp of approval was part of what spurred audiences to devour books like Elie Wiesel’s Night (Hill and Wang), John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (Penguin) and Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Fall on Your Knees (Touchstone). “Literature has more worth than New Age pop psychology,” she says. Audiences may be starting to agree. Although The Oprah Winfrey Show still holds the top spot television ratings, her average audience size has decreased during each of the past three years. The end of positive thinking “Could this be a slowdown in the self help movement?” asks Peck. “I’m nervous to start making forecasts, but I do think something is up. There are some very serious things going on right now in the U.S. — a mortgage crisis, rising food and oil prices, the war. We are at a moment politically where this idea of self help and positive thinking may be seeing its limits.” She uses Winfrey’s reality show The Big Give to illustrate her point. On the 12 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN weekly show, which aired for only one season last spring, a group of 10 contestants competed to see who could best help a pre-determined stranger or situation in need. The winner received a $1 million prize and had to give half of it away. But Winfrey decided not to continue the program after it slipped to 32nd in the ratings by the last episode. The problem, Peck says, is not Winfrey’s philanthropic activities. “I think it’s important to ask why so many people need help,” Peck says. “What is wrong with the structures that have left so many people in need?” The reality show produced admirable results, including playgrounds for impoverished schools and medical assistance for sick kids. “But the question is why do kids in a public school have no playground?” she asks. “Why is a family on the verge of losing its house because its kid is sick? In a different moment historically in the U.S., public schools would not be in this state. Rich districts have it all. This kind of charitable giving deflects important questions about why our public education is failing — because it has been gutted. Nearly 47 million Americans do not have health insurance.” And that’s where Winfrey’s self-help philosophy chafes Peck. “We cut taxes for corporations and the rich and think people can fix it with philanthropy and pulling themselves up by their boot straps,” Peck says. Instead, she’d prefer to witness a shoring up of the overarching social systems like health care and welfare that are failing those for whom Winfrey’s viewers have such empathy. “It’s not an even trade off,” Peck says. “Oprah is not answerable to us. We don’t get to decide how (her) philanthropy is getting used.” Jennie Lay is a freelance writer based in Steamboat Springs. Ride with the Buffs. Join us on Sept. 7 for the 2008 Buffalo Bicycle Classic. www.buffalobicycleclassic.com Buff pride follows you through life. Celebrate your CU experience with a Lifetime Membership in the CU-Boulder Alumni Association. Learn more by calling 800-492-7743 or visiting www.cualum.org/join. NEWS Chef teases tastebuds of students Blueberry pecan salad and chicken Florentine lasagna aren’t items you’d expect in dorm cafeterias, but you may have graduated before CU chef Bill Kardys was around. At Piazanos, Cheyenne Arapaho residence hall’s restaurant, lead chef Kardys prepares gourmet pasta dishes, sandwiches and salads for as many as 2,600 students a day. More than just a way to pay the bills, Kardys sees his job as an opportunity to introduce new foods and flavors to students used to a mundane diet of pizza, ramen noodles and cereal. “I’m challenging these kids’ palates, and they love it,” says Kardys, who won first place at the National Association of College and University Food Services’ regional challenge. His winning dish consisted of sea bass gremolata over saffron-seafood risotto with a side of honey-poached carrots and parsnips in champagne sauce. CU-Boulder chefs have won at the competition three of the past four years. Kardys traveled to Washington, D.C., in July to cook against other top college and university chefs at the organization’s national conference. While students won’t see a dish quite as gourmet as bass with risotto at Piazano’s, they should consider themselves lucky for their lunchtime options, says Juergen Friese, coordinator for facilities in the Housing and Dining Services department. “These are entrees that you would easily pay $10 to $12 for in a restaurant,” Friese says. “And here they are, part of the meal plan.” Glenn J. Asakawa CU chef Bill Kardys aims to impress students with his gourmet dishes. 14 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN By the numbers 23,078 Applications received for freshman admissions this year. 5,750 Estimated number of freshmen expected to enroll this fall — the largest class in CU history. Previous record-sized class in fall 2006. 4,281 Number of freshmen who came to CU in 1998. Number of applications submitted by ethnic minorities, a record number and an increase of 16 percent over 2007. Percent increase of total applications over last year. Echo Boomers Term used to describe national trend of children of baby boomers headed to college. Reaction prospective students get when they check out the media savvy, customized CU admissions website at www.colorado.edu/ prospective. 5,617 3,500 16 ! Algae at the pump? If filling up your car with gas seems less sustainable, help may be on the way in the form of algae, thanks to CU renewable energy research. To assist in the university’s exploration of alternative fuels, ConocoPhillips signed a $5 million, multiyear agreement with the CU-affiliated Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels in July. The center is a research unit of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory aimed at developing new ways to convert biomass into low-carbon transportation fuels. The Collaboratory is a joint venture of CU-Boulder, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It formed the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, known as C2B2, in March 2007 to conduct research. As for algae, “it’s a way for the oil companies to basically grow oil,” Alan Weimer, executive director of C2B2, told the Boulder Camera. www.cualum.org Glenn J. Asakawa Graduate student Sara Mesfin Hunegnaw performs bacteria culture experiments with the aim of improving biofuels production. ConocoPhillips purchased a $58.5 million, 432-acre site in Louisville, former home to StorageTek, earlier this year to create a research facility for exploring renewable energies and other technologies. Read more at www. coloradocollaboratory.org. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 15 BOULDER BEAT Save the conservatives! B Y PA U L DA N I S H Earlier this year CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson proposed creating a Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy at CU and raise a $9 million endowment for it. Here’s the inside story. Karl Rove wasn’t behind it. It was the Environmental Protection Agency. Here’s the tear-stained memo I found in the bushes behind City Hall: To: Occupant, Boulder, Colorado From: Roger Dogood, Enforcement Division, EPA Subject: Endangered Species in Boulder A recent environmental census has found a catastrophic collapse in the number of conservatives in Boulder. Immediate and robust remedial action is required to prevent the total disappearance of several species of the genus Conservatis from your community. The root cause of the crisis is habitat destruction. Item: There hasn’t been a new trailer park built in the Boulder Valley in 35 years. Several existing ones have even been uprooted for the construction of yuppie condos. This, coupled with the steady decline in the number of Boulder “Honky-Tonks” (a technical term), has resulted in the virtual disappearance of the Conservatis redneckis from the Boulder Valley. Item: The replacement of thousands of Boulder tract homes with so-called “starter palaces” (a technical term) has not had the intended effect of attracting Conservatis wallstreetis to Boulder. Instead, it has attracted exotic species, like the Liberalis trustfundis and Liberalis newageis, which have filled the niche. Worse, the elimination of tract homes has contributed to the collapse of Conservatis mainstreetis populations. Item: Boulder’s paucity of street crime has precluded the introduction of Conservatis neoconis. (As I’m sure you know, Conservatis neoconis is by definition any member of the genus Liberalis who’s been mugged. No muggers, no neocons.) The situation is so alarming that the EPA intends to invoke emergency provisions of the Endangered Species Act pertaining to mandatory habitat restoration. Or, to put it more plainly, you guys are gonna have FEMA trailers on the mall, country clubs on the greenbelt, pickup trucks on the bike paths and target practice in the prairie dog colonies if you don’t shape up. The EPA is currently trapping live conservatives for reintroduction into Boulder. (Traps have been set outside Fox News, The Heritage Foundation and Ann Coulter’s apartment.) We’re confident the University of Colorado will assist this program by endowing a chair in conservative thought and policy. Otherwise we’ll release them on a window ledge outside the sociology department. Glenn J. Asakawa 16 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Paul Danish (Hist’65) was a liberal in 1970, when he was mugged three blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court. He currently lives in Longmont with two pickup trucks. Kevin Stearns Assistant professor Rebecca Safran examines a New Jersey barn swallow as part of a study revealing how birds with darker feathers attract more females. Darker chests get the chicks Laws of attraction are mysterious, but CU researchers have discovered that a Sharpie pen does wonders for male barn swallows. When researchers used a Sharpie to color the rust-colored feathers of lighter male New Jersey barn swallows a deep red, those birds attracted more females, spurring increased testosterone levels and loss of weight. In the 30 birds that were darkened, testosterone was up 36 percent after one week. “It’s the ‘clothes make the man’ idea,” Rebecca Safran, an evolutionary biology professor and the study’s lead author, told the Associated Press. “It’s like you’re driving a Rolls Royce down the street and people notice. And your physiology accommodates this.” ® ® www.cualum.org Safran and her team concluded the male birds with darker feathers had heightened levels of testosterone because of amorous interactions with females and more run-ins with jealous males. Those same birds lost weight because they were more preoccupied with mating than eating and were more active than their “duller” neighbors, Safran says. “Barn swallows are socially monogamous and genetically promiscuous, same as humans,” she says. “There are some interesting parallels, but we do need to be careful about making them.” See a video on the new study of North American barn swallows led by assistant professor Rebecca Safran at www.colorado.edu/news/video/ barnswallows/news-barnswallows.swf COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 17 Mark Leffingwell, Boulder Camera Jay Price, a senior mechanical engineering student, developed the “Dynamic Stability Tray” to help people using walkers carry food and beverages without spilling. Improving lives tray by tray As a child, Jay Price, a senior mechanical engineering student, saw it happen repeatedly to his father, a multiple sclerosis patient, when he tried to carry food or drinks on his walker. If his walker hit the smallest bump, everything would fall off the unstable tray and crash to the ground. Searching for solutions, Price, then in middle school, began creating an invention that finally has come to fruition. The “Dynamic Stability Tray,” built by Price and his CU classmates, incorporates a stabilizing device that allows the tray to remain level even if its user goes up and 18 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN down ramps or tilts from side to side. It also sustains low-speed impacts. With an estimated 12 million Americans using mobility aids and swells of baby boomers heading into their senior years, it’s not surprising a major medical manufacturer has expressed interest in the tray. Along with the tray’s commercial possibilities, Price is excited about the potential of his invention to improve lives, although his dad passed away many years ago. “This disease (multiple sclerosis) has already taken so much away from me,” he says. “I try to do as much as I can to help put an end to its devastating effects.” You don’t have to be Angelina Jolie to have sex appeal. That’s because sex appeal is a learned behavior rather than an inherent trait, according to University of Colorado professor emeritus Stan Jones, an internationally recognized expert in body language. In his new book, Seven Days to Sex Appeal (Andrews McMeel Publishing), he and relationship and sensuality expert Eva Margolies provide a step-bystep guide written for women to help them communicate the confidence they need to get noticed in all types of settings. “These skills are not only beneficial for attracting romantic relationships but also can be beneficial for long-term relationships, same-sex relationships and even work relationships,” he says. The key is mastering effective gender signals like the proper way to sit, gaze and communicate vocally through body language that projects femininity instead of blatant physicality. istockphoto.com ra Seven days to lure a lover Jones and Margolies studied people in the workplace, singles bars and at parties, watching them interact. They also analyzed movies that featured actresses known for their sex appeal to see how they created those impressions. Upon doing so, they discovered behaviors essential to communicating sex appeal, they say. Listen to the podcast of Jones talking about his new book at www.colorado.edu/ news/podcasts. Foundation brings in the green The University of Colorado Foundation raised $57.4 million in donations last fiscal year for CU-Boulder, which ended June 30, making 2007-08 the best fundraising year in the school’s 132-year history. This was even more impressive because it came amid a downturn in the economy and rising energy costs. The increase in donations corresponded to reforms brought about under former CU President Hank Brown’s (Acct’61, Law’69) tenure, making the university more transparent and helping boost donors’ confidence, CU system spokesperson Ken McConnellogue (Jour’90) says. During the past year the foundation, led by President Wayne Hutchens (Mktg’67), has added about 30 employees and lowered costs by scaling down its use of consulting firms, according to spokeswoman Nicky DeFord (Jour’99). It costs the foundation 18 cents for each dollar it raises, compared to 30 cents per dollar two years ago. The rise in donations for CUBoulder represents an increase of 80 percent in two years. In 2006 the total was $32 million. Fundraising for the threecampus CU system also set a record for 2008 of $162.5 million. © Andrew Dernie, istockphoto.com www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 19 Joshua Lawton, Boulder Camera Val Peterson, wife of Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson, holds a photo of triplets Filisha, Qualisha and Whylisha. The Petersons fostered Filisha and Whylisha for three years. Creating a safety net for foster children Raising four children is hard work, but CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson and his wife, Val Peterson, made it look easy as they also opened their home to nine foster children during an 11-year period. Their experiences as foster parents led them to spearhead a new scholarship program at CU-Boulder designed for college-bound foster youths — a program desperately needed. Twenty-five to 50 percent of children who age out of the foster care system at age 18 will become homeless, according to national statistics. “Now that we don’t have any children at home, I look back and wonder how we did it,” Val Peterson says. “We had six kids at home and they were all in scouts and soccer or other sports. The best thing is I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.” The program, which includes mentoring, is modeled after the successful Guardian Scholarship program that was started at California State University, Fullerton in 1998. It has spread to 20 universities in California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts and Washington. The campus received a $25,000 donation to start the program in April, but fundraisers are working to raise more money. Two students who have been attending Mesa State College in Grand Junction will transfer to CU this fall to kickoff the program. To contribute contact Brian Winkelbauer at 303-492-4070 or brian.winkelbauer@ cufund.org. Aaaaand they’re off! The November CU regent races are set for the fall election. Republican James Geddes (EPOBio’73) of Sedalia and Democrat Afenai “AJ” Clemmons of Aurora are vying for the seat in the 6th Congressional District. In the 2nd District, centered around Boulder, Joe Neguse (Econ’05) is running unopposed, making him the district’s certain next regent. He won 84 percent of the vote in the district’s May 10 assembly to opponent Curt William’s (Jour, Engl’91, MEngl’95) 20 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN 16 percent. Neguse is a CU law student and former tri-executive. He will replace Cindy Carlisle (A&S’70, MEngl’77) who retired to run for Colorado State Senate. In the 7th District, including most of Denver and areas to the west and northeast of the city, Patrick Mulligan (PolSci’84, Law’87) of Golden avoided a Democratic primary challenge when D. Scott Martinez (IntlAf, Econ’00) withdrew. Mulligan will run against Republican Pat Hayes, former regent chair. A revolution in dorm life A noisy a revolution is taking place on campus. It’s not about politics or people but about place. Dorm life is being reinvented through the prism of residential colleges — a notion that learning should take place everywhere, not just in lecture halls. The concept, which will include professors living in the dorms, is part of the university’s strategic plan called Flagship 2030. The first dorm to receive a makeover is Arnett Hall, part of the Kittredge complex, which will reopen this fall as a residential college. The renovation cost is $13 million. Arnett’s renovations include smart classrooms, study nooks and energysaving sensors that shut off the heat when a window is opened. The dorm will host seminars, a speaker series and social activities. During the next six years the entire Kittredge complex will undergo renovations. istockphoto.com www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 21 Thinking outside the cracker box Faced with the challenge of how to market Doritos at an international competition, CU senior Phil VanBuren and Elliot Nordstrom (Jour’08) looked at the chip’s competitors. From there the duo developed a “There Is Only One” campaign, featuring Doritos as the only triangular-shaped snack amid a slew of square and round chips and crackers. Their creative genius garnered the top prize out of more than 350 student entries at the prestigious One Show College Competition. Three CU-Boulder student teams also were named merit finalists. No other traditional four-year university had more winning teams. Over the past nine years, CUBoulder boasts more winners than any other four-year university, according to associate professor of advertising David Slayden. 22 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Casey A. Cass Student Rob Mickle won $25,000 in the first round of Google’s Android Developer Challenge. Googling a cash prize In a weak national economy, the last thing Rob Mickle expected to do this summer was forgo an internship. But when the CU senior found out he had won $25,000 in the first round of Google’s Android Developer Challenge, he found it hard to stay focused during finals week. Rather than pursue an internship, he worked full time to refine his software application to move to the final round of the contest in July. His program allows users to collaboratively sketch and paint on mobile phones. His prototype was named one of 50 winners in the Google challenge, a $5 million contest that attracted nearly 1,800 entries worldwide, including many from computer science professionals, teams and companies. He could win between $100,000 and $275,000 if he comes out among the top 10 designers in the finals. Google is sponsoring the contest to support and recognize developers who build great applications for devices based on Android, an operating system being developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies. CU keys in on DNC Coinciding with the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28, CU hosted its own Conference on World Affairs-style, two-day event Aug. 22-23. From immigration to America’s mental health policy issues and climate change, the university hosted more than a dozen panels focused on CU research findings that have strong public policy implications. Participants had not been finalized before Coloradan press time, but visit www.colorado.edu/climatenergy for more information. www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 23 Henryk Sadura, istockphoto.com Taxes may fuel scholarships Facing Coloradans in November is a ballot initiative supported by Gov. Bill Ritter (Law’81) that would raise taxes on gas and oil extracted in Colorado to fund, in part, an ambitious new scholarship program for university students. Supporters say the measure would bring in about $200 million a year. “Education is absolutely fundamental to everything we do,” Ritter says. He says as many as two-thirds of Colorado families would be eligible for what would be called the Colorado Promise program. The measure would also fund the protection of wildlife habitat, the development of clean-energy projects and assist communities impacted by the state’s energy boom. The initiative is being vociferously opposed by the energy industry and its supporters, claiming it would hurt the state’s largest industry and the rural 24 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN communities that depend on it. Some in the higher education community voice concerns that none of the money will be allocated to desperately needed university operations costs. CU President Bruce Benson (Geol’64, HonDocSci’04) worries there will be a new demand for underfunded universities that can’t meet the students’ needs. “We need operating money badly,” he says. In related news, the regents in April approved tuition raises averaging 9.3 percent for the coming school year. CU leaders cited continuing low levels of state support as well as mandated salary increases. It equates to an extra $504 for undergraduate Arts and Sciences students at CU-Boulder. Other majors, such as engineering and business, are higher. The average increase for freshmen out-of-state undergraduates is 7.7 percent over last year’s rate. CU and our alumni change lives B Y B ruce benson I first came to the University of Colorado in 1961 to study oil and gas geology of the Rocky Mountains, which had captured my interest while I was working as an oil-field roughneck in Wyoming and Colorado. Like many who come to Boulder, I was drawn by the promise of top-notch academics and a sophisticated city, and amazed by the sheer beauty of the campus once I arrived. CU has been a common thread throughout my life, whether as a student, an alumnus, a participant in various university activities and initiatives, a donor, an advocate or as co-chair, along with my wife Marcy Benson, of the university’s billion-dollar fundraising campaign. Now, it is an honor and a privilege to serve as the 22nd president of our alma mater. In nearly six months on the job, I have developed an even deeper appreciation for this great university. It is a place that not only provides students with a world-class education, but also one that tackles the significant challenges facing our state, nation and world. CU is at the leading edge of biomedicine by improving drug therapies, developing better diagnostic tools and improving the quality of life for millions. We are leading the way in aerospace engineering by contributing to NASA missions, improving satellite technology and exploring the far reaches of the universe. Here on Earth, CU is leading the way in developing renewable and sustainable energy sources, as well as researching in geosciences fields ranging from polar ice to Western water. But perhaps the most significant thing about CU is that it is a place that changes the lives of those who pass through its halls, as well as those whom we serve. Since becoming CU’s president, I have been touring Colorado to convey the value of CU and of higher education in general and to build support for the university. Along the way, we have met and visited with many alumni whose lives the university changed. It’s a pleasure to hear how their education opened doors for them and their families, to learn how they are contributing to their communities and to see firsthand what they add to our society. Our alumni are the best demonstration of the value of our university. Whether you are a doctor, teacher, artist, businessperson, scientist or engineer, CU alumni make a difference. You exemplify the best of what our university is about and what it has to offer. I am proud to count myself among you. Bruce D. Benson (Geol’64, HonDocSci’04) is president of the University of Colorado system. Contact him at 303-860-5600 or at Glenn J. Asakawa [email protected]. www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 25 Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) lost her leg in Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded under the Humvee in which she was riding. Above she swims at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. From Baghdad to Beijing BY TORI PEGLAR Who knows how long the roadside bomb had been sitting under the overpass on the outskirts of Baghdad that hot day in April 2004? Sixty seconds? Ten minutes? It doesn’t really matter, except for the fact it lay there undisturbed, waiting for Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) and her convoy. Several miles up the road, Stockwell’s Humvee swerved around chaotic Baghdad traffic and crowds of Iraqis fanning out onto the streets. She looked out excitedly at the teeming city. After spending three weeks in Iraq, she was headed to the Green Zone where she finally would get to see former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s storied palaces. As the chaos of the city gave way to quiet clusters of small Tom Kimmell Photography (continued on page 28) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 27 (continued from page 27) concrete houses, Stockwell’s leg dangled carelessly outside the doorless Humvee. Life was good. But the instant her vehicle drove through the overpass, the bomb exploded. Stockwell struggled to get her seatbelt off as the four other soldiers in the car jumped outside the vehicle to secure the perimeter. Something was wrong with her leg, she called out. She felt a burning sensation but didn’t look down. If she had, she would have seen her left leg was gone. In a split second, Stockwell’s life changed. And perhaps you assume it was altered for the worse, as she faced life without her leg. You could probably come up with a long list of things the young, talented soldier would never be able to do. But the eternally optimistic Stockwell turned a tragic accident into an opportunity to compete as a world-class athlete. This spring she became the first Iraqi veteran to qualify for the Beijing Paralympics, which take place two weeks after the Summer Olympics, Sept. 6-17. She’ll be competing for the elite U.S. Paralympic swim team, despite the fact she never competed as a swimmer before her accident. “I regret none of it,” Stockwell says frankly when talking about going to Iraq. “Honestly, I’d do it again mainly because I am really happy with where my life is now. Just driving into (the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs) is emotional. I feel very lucky.” Wearing the uniform The road to Iraq began when Stockwell arrived on the CU-Boulder campus as a freshman from Eden Prairie, Minn. During her sophomore year, she joined ROTC not for financial reasons but because she had always dreamed of wearing the U.S. Army uniform. Dick Stockwell (Econ’02 ), who is now her husband, also was in ROTC and they began dating. When the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred two years later, she knew getting deployed was a strong possibility. “When I graduated, our ROTC instructor said, ‘I guarantee that every single one of you will be over in Iraq or Afghanistan within the next couple of years,’” Stockwell recalls. “He was right. It’s a volunteer army, so you sign up knowing that’s a possibility so you go along with it.” Diving into the pool at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) practices in the morning and afternoon to prepare for Beijing. 28 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN By March 2004, she and her husband found themselves deployed on opposite ends of Baghdad. He was the first person she saw when she woke up from her first lifesaving surgery in Baghdad. He was the one who told her she had lost her leg. A couple of months after her accident, he helped her discover the Paralympics. Recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Stockwell had been lying low in her room, not really wanting to get out. Dick Stockwell, who accompanied her back to the States and was reassigned to the Washington,D.C., area, convinced her to see a presentation on the Paralympics —something she had never heard of before. Following World War II, an English neurosurgeon organized the first International Wheelchair Games to coincide with the 1948 Olympic Games. But it wasn’t until the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome that the first Paralympic Games for elite athletes with disabilities took place. Held just a few weeks after the Olympic Games, the Paralympics attracted 400 athletes from 23 countries. Today the Paralympic Games feature over 4,000 elite athletes (continued on page 30) Melissa Stockwell Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) and husband Dick Stockwell (Econ’02) smile for the camera at the Baghdad International Airport. Tom Kimmell Photography www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 29 Tom Kimmell Photography A gymnast while growing up, Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) takes a break between swim practices at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. (continued from page 29) with a physical disability from over 136 countries. The Iraqi veteran’s mind raced as she listened to the Paralympic presentation. Swimming was the first exercise she did as she recovered, and the pool was the one place where she felt like herself. The smell of chlorine was like an old friend visiting from her days as a competitive diver — a sport she did while growing up in addition to gymnastics. She remembered training six days a week, five hours a day as a child and teenager in Atlanta with the hope she would make the U.S. gymnastics team for the 1996 Atlanta Games. Her hero was Mary Lou Retton who, in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, became the first American woman ever to win a gold medal in gymnastics. Stockwell never qualified for the Olympics. But maybe, she thought as her 30 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN heart pounded, the Paralympics were a second chance to compete on the world’s greatest sports stage. “I thought this is it,” she says. “This is my chance to do this.” Having a shot But it’s one thing to dream of going to the Paralympics. The cards were stacked against her — she had never swum competitively, and most of the competitors were swimming in their teens and had raced for years. Stockwell was in her mid-20s, not an ideal time to pick up a technical sport. In the early days of her training, she got disqualified constantly at meets, slowly learning by trial and error the rules of the sport. “Swimming is such a technical in-thefield sport,” says Jimi Flowers, the U.S. Paralympic resident swim team coach. “It takes so many years to pick it up, so Melissa is really unusual. When she came (to the Olympic Training Center), people asked, ‘Does she have a shot to make the team?’ After working with her for the first week, there was no doubt in my mind she had a shot.” In typical Stockwell fashion, the confident young woman turned every challenge into an opportunity. She approached her first coach, Jim Anderson, in Minnesota where the couple moved after a year of her rehabilitation in the Washington, D.C., area. “I said, “Hi, I’m Melissa. Can you get me to the Paralympics?” she recalls, laughing at how determined she must have sounded. He told her yes. Her swimming improved rapidly, as she spent between three to four hours in the pool every day. She discovered a new hero, Sarah Reinertsen, the first above-the-knee female amputee to compete in the Ironman Kona triathlon, arguably one of the world’s most grueling races — a 2.4mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. Before long, Stockwell joined Reinertsen in the 55 degree San Francisco Bay water to swim 1.5 miles in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. In January 2008 she moved to Colorado Springs to train for the Paralympics full time. It was not easy temporarily moving away from her husband, who is in medical school at Loyola in Chicago, and putting her career in prosthetics — a field she never knew existed before her accident — on hold. She completed a two-year degree program in prosthetics in May 2007 to help amputees from kids to the elderly get fitted and adjusted to prosthetic limbs. “If a new amputee comes in, you take a cast of his or her limb,” she says. “You literally get people back on their feet.” Making the team But going to the Summer Olympic Games was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. She made the U.S. Paralympic team in early April, landing interviews with ABC, USA Today and The Denver Post, among others, as the first Iraq War veteran to qualify. Two months later, the 28-year-old kicks back in an oversized brown chair at the Olympic Training Center after an exceedingly rigorous swim practice and talks about wanting to medal in Beijing. Her prosthetic leg is decorated with Olympic rings and emblazoned with the word “Beijing” near the thigh area. The lower part of her leg is wrapped in an image of the American flag. She’ll have three shots to medal, as she’ll be competing in the 400 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly. “Anything is possible. I lost my leg and it was tragic and I was here and I had to get to there to make it,” she says, using her hands as she talks. “If you want something badly enough, and you put in the work, it really can happen.” To follow Stockwell during the Paralympics, check out www.usparalympics.org. To find out more about the CU-Boulder Alumni Association’s Veterans Club and its events, please visit www.cualum.org/ clubs/veterans. Tori Peglar (MJour’00) is the editor of the Coloradan magazine. Buffs competing in Beijing The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing run from Aug. 8-24. The track and field events will be contested Aug. 15-24. The Paralympic Games will take place in Beijing Sept. 6-17. For CU-related resources and stories about the Olympics, go to www.colorado.edu/news and click on “Special Reports.” The following are CU Buffs who will compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. CU senior-to-be Jenny Barringer qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Kara Grgas-Wheeler Goucher (Psych’01) will run both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Casey Malone, CU assistant coach for throwers, will compete in the discus. Billy Nelson (Ethnic’08) qualified for the men’s 3,000 steeplechase. www.cualum.org Aija Putnina (A&S ex’08), former women’s basketball team member, will compete on Latvia’s national team. Dathan Ritzenhein (Hist’06) will run the marathon. Melissa Hoffman Stockwell (Comm’02) will compete in the Paralympic Games, racing in the 400 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Jorge Torres (Econ’03) qualified for the 10,000 meters. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 31 Giving conservatism the chair BY DOUG MCPHERSON 32 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Glenn J. Asakawa ou would have thought Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson’s office was giving away free gas tokens. The phone was ringing like a church bell on Sunday morning. All the buzz began soon after word got out this spring that CU had started a campaign to raise $9 million to establish an endowed Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy. And word spread in a big way — from National Public Radio to the Boulder www.cualum.org Camera and Page One of the Wall Street Journal. “The media coverage ran the spectrum, but I think most of it was positive,” Peterson says. “Some liberals are certainly against it, but some are for it. And some conservatives are for it and some are opposed.” Even though he’s is an avid cheerleader for the idea, it wasn’t his. Turns out, a few faculty members and potential donors began discussing the idea about (continued on page 34) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 33 “Like Margaret Mead among the Samoans, they’re planning to study conservatives. That’s hilarious.” — Columnist George Will told the Wall Street Journal 34 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN (continued from page 33) 10 years ago, according to Bronson Hilliard (Hist’86), the CU-Boulder spokesperson, although he would not share any names. The idea was one of several items left unresolved on former chancellor Richard Byyny’s agenda. When Peterson took over, he resuscitated the idea and ran it by Todd Gleason, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Phil DiStefano, provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, and both reportedly were receptive. As for why a conservative chair now, Hilliard says there’s a feeling that the time is right and that it fits with Peterson’s efforts to add intellectual diversity to the school. Hilliard says he’s unaware of any other public or private university making such an appointment. The potential donors for the chair, people Peterson describes as individuals very interested in CU and helping to support the school, have held two events, one at the Denver Country Club and another at a private residence, with about 15 people attending each. Morton C. Blackwell, president of The Leadership Institute, an organization in Arlington, Va., that promotes conservative thought, says he isn’t a fan of the endowed chair. “Some exposition of conservative ideas is better than none, but the problem is deep and wide,” says Blackwell, whose mother graduated from CU in the 1930s and says he’s always had an interest in the school. “We should not see a token position as an acceptable solution.” Education professor Margaret LeCompte questions why the university is raising $9 million to fund a professorship for people “who will make more than almost anyone but a football coach . . . when the school has leaking roofs and asbestos contaminates in many of the major classroom buildings.” “We could do a lot more with $9 million to improve the quality of instruction than to hire one conservative ideologue,” LeCompte says. “The conservative chair is just a waste of effort.” But Spencer Page, a sophomore, Condoleeza Rice George Will William Kristo Philip Zelikow finds such a chair refreshing. “After my outspoken, left-wing writing and rhetoric professor told me with disdain, ‘May God help you’ when I told her I was looking at a future career as a lobbyist, I would love a change and welcome [someone] who will help guide my right-wing views and not look down upon me for what I believe. I look forward to learning from both sides of the aisle.” Names initially tossed around as potential candidates included Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, conservative columnist George Will and neoconservative pundit William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard. Will, however, was among the many who criticized the proposal. “Like Margaret Mead among the Samoans, they’re planning to study conservatives. That’s hilarious,” he told the Wall Street Journal. But Will later called the chancellor and told him he liked the idea. Nevertheless, Peterson’s okay with the criticism. “I have a thick skin. I’m mostly concerned about the misunderstanding of what we’re trying to do.” That misunderstanding, the chancellor says, is coming from some who believe the new chair is an attempt to hire a conservative scholar to teach the conservative line. But he says the goal is to find a scholar of conservative thought who has expertise in the role and historic significance of conservatism. This expert in conservative thought would start with the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Alexander Hamilton and extend to the present. “It’s tough to deny the impact the [Ronald] Reagan conservative movement had on this country,” says the chancellor. And if the school raises the money, who might land in the chair? It may not even be a conservative. “It’s not imperative that the person actually be conservative,” Peterson says. “When we hire someone to teach French, they may not be from France.” Doug McPherson is a freelance writer for the Coloradan magazine. www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 35 Varsity Lake captures the reflection of the sandstone bridge that crosses it in the light of late summer. The bridge is the third in succession to span the lake and was completed on June 8, 1935. Alumni were granted the privilege of being the first to walk across. Glenn J. Asakawa SPORTS C o m p i l e d b y G ar y B a i n e s ( J o u r ’ 8 3 ) Track athletes cap stellar year Five current or former CU track and field athletes and a coach qualified to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (see Page 31 for a complete list of athletes headed to Beijing). The CU contingent also numbered six for the 2004 Summer Games, including 2008 Olympians Casey Malone and Dathan Ritzenhein (Hist’06). “This is the best overall year we’ve had at CU since I’ve been here,” CU coach Mark Wetmore told the Boulder Camera. “. . . Obviously we’re all sky high.” CU hosted the Big 12 outdoor track and field meet in May, and the Buff men captured the conference title at Potts CU Athletics CU senior Jenny Barringer set the 3000-meter steeplechase American record in 9:22.73 in Belgium on July 20. Field. Claiming individual Big 12 championships for CU were James Begley (discus), Billy Nelson (3,000 steeplechase), Brent Vaughn (5,000) and Kenyon Neuman (10,000). “Honestly, it was happenstance or kismet or something that all these guys came together on this track,” said Wetmore, voted the Big 12 men’s track and field coach of the year. “There wasn’t a master plan. I’ve used up my luck for the rest of my life because not only did the team do everything it possibly could, everything here turned out so well and so many people contributed.” Vaughn went on to capture his third NCAA title in the regional 5,000, while Jenny Barringer and Nelson won regional 3,000 steeplechase titles. Barringer claimed the NCAA Championship 3,000 steeplechase victory, recording a meet record in the process (9:29.2). With the win, Barringer became the first Buff ever to win the same event twice at the NCAA outdoor meet, having also finished first in 2006. Nelson took second in the NCAA 3,000 steeplechase, and Stephen Pifer and Vaughn went 2-3 in the 5,000. The men finished 10th in the NCAA team standings. “We had a very good season,” Wetmore said. “… I usually feel like we didn’t reach our full potential. But this year I feel like we came pretty close to that.” Vaughn and Wetmore were named the Mountain Region men’s track athlete of the year and men’s track coach of the year, respectively. Golfers tee up in summer heat The men’s golf team was definitely in the swing of things during early summer. Brothers Pat Grady and Jim Grady qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship played in Aurora this year. Both earned spots in the final 64 of the national tournament, with Pat Grady advancing to the final 16 before being eliminated in match play. Senior Derek Tolan, the only Buff to qualify for the NCAA finals in June, won his first Colorado Golf Association individual title — the State Public Links championship — after nine runner-up finishes in CGA events. In July Tolan played former high school and current CU teammate sophomore Luke Symons in the 36-hole title match of the CGA’s oldest event, the 38 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN State Match Play. Symons, who shares a south Boulder house with Tolan and some other teammates, rallied to capture the victory, 2 and 1. The win was the biggest of Symons’ career, coming a few weeks after his low-amateur finish in the San Juan Open. Winning a similar event was Justin Bardgett, a junior finance major, who claimed the Missouri State Amateur title in June. Meanwhile, CU women’s golfer Julie Kim was named to the 2007-08 National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team. To qualify, athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and have competed in at least 50 percent of the college’s regularly scheduled tournament rounds during the school year. Seeking lofty heights In the Big 12 preseason media poll, football coach Dan Hawkins’ Buffs were picked to finish fourth out of six teams in the Big 12 North, behind Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Incoming Buff Darrell Scott, by most accounts the No. 1 high school running back prospect in the nation, was picked Big 12 Newcomer of the Year by media outlets that cover the conference. CU senior defensive tackle George Hypolite was named to the preseason All-Big 12 team by the media. Taking a break, Hawkins and his family — including son and CU quarterback Cody Hawkins — went to the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru on a trip in July. The Cody Hawkins Coach Dan Hawkins Hawkinses did an unforgettable climb while there. “You have to be kind of agile; it’s about a 5,000 or 6,000-foot drop down to the river and it clears up the gene pool in a hurry,” the coach reported. “I looked to see how Cody was doing and (Dan’s wife) Misti said, ‘You have other children here.’” Responded Dan, jokingly: “I told her that it’s one thing to lose a child and it’s another thing to lose your starting quarterback.” CU Athletics photos Football back in black With the football team’s improved record and 2007 bowl-game appearance, the athletic department had a surplus of about $2 million at the end of last fiscal year. “That excess revenue beyond our projections was huge for www.cualum.org us,” athletic director Mike Bohn says. “Obviously, that’s tied to football ticket sales and that’s why it’s so important to have that support there that generates the support for all the programs.” Bohn is in the process of trying to raise money for a $10 million basketball practice facility. He hopes to break ground on that facility in spring 2009. In the meanwhile, this summer new sod was laid at Folsom Field at a cost of $80,000. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 39 CU Heritage Center During World War II, the CU Marching Band consisted only of women as illustrated in this photo taken in 1942. One hundred years of music B y G ar y B a i n e s It’s been 100 years of striking up the band at CU, and it’s time to celebrate. Ten decades of memories run deep. The Hudson car caravan to Nebraska. Serenading train travelers as they arrived at the Water Street depot in Boulder. Having a penalty flag thrown on the band during a football game against Texas A&M. The women’s marching band taking up the slack when most of the men were overseas during World War II. The 1987 battle of the bands with Stanford in downtown Boulder. These are some of the more memorable moments in CU marching band history, which will be front and center come Homecoming weekend Oct. 3-5. The band, which has performed on a regular basis since a formation meeting in October 1908, will hold a Centennial Celebration in conjunction with the Buffs’ home game against Texas on Oct. 4. An alumni marching band performs each CU Homecoming weekend, normally drawing 80-100 former members of the Golden Buffalo Marching Band. “We’re really pushing hard for the anniversary,” says CU marching band historian (and tuba-playing member in 1985-88) Walt Blankenship (Hist’89, MA’02), the man who provided the spark of inspiration for the celebration. “We hope to get at least 250 alums.” Blankenship will present a historic slide show before the game. Matt Roeder (PhDMus’07), director of the marching band since 2002, says 40 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN they will perform music during halftime from the last 100 years, tying it to memorable events in CU football history: the 1990 national championship, the 1994 miracle catch at Michigan, the 6236 win over Nebraska in 2001 and last year’s upset of Oklahoma, among others. Some historic footage will be shown on Buffvision. Four former band directors are expected to take part and the alumni band will perform at select times during the game. Grant Garlinghouse (Mus’57, MA’65), the oldest former band member to return for last year’s Homecoming, plans to be on hand for the centennial celebration. He’s 80 and played trombone when he was an undergraduate and graduate student. “I can get the old horn out,” Garlinghouse says. “I’m going to really enjoy it.” One of his indelible memories is a band trip during his undergraduate years to Lincoln, Neb. A Boulder Hudson automobile dealership donated 50 new cars for the trip. “We had cars lined up around Folsom,” Garlinghouse recalls. “It was kind of a (publicity) stunt. One car burned up (on the trip); somebody didn’t look at the oil light.” And those are just a few of the high notes. Learn more about the reunion at http:// bands.colorado.edu/marching/alumni.html. Gary Baines (Jour’83) covers sports for the Coloradan. Bzdelik visits Iraq, Kuwait CU’s Jeff Bzdelik was one of several coaches and basketball executives who took an off-season United Service Organizations trip to Iraq and Kuwait in June as part of “Operation Hoop Talk: Talking Hoops with the Troops.” His group toured military posts and hosted free basketball clinics. “Regardless of one’s view of the war, it is our duty as citizens to support our soldiers and their families who have answered our nation’s call,” Bzdelik says. “… I was amazed but not surprised by our soldiers’ spirit, and that has no limits.” Soldiers appreciated the visit, he says. “I met a kid named Andy Roe who received the Purple Heart, and he was shot in the hand,” Bzdelik says. “His job was to protect a general. He saved the general’s life. He grew up outside of Stillwater and was a big Oklahoma State fan. But he said to me that “since you came all the way out here I am a Buff fan now.” Bzdelik, meanwhile, was considered by the NBA’s Chicago Bulls for their head coaching vacancy, but he reaffirmed his commitment to CU. Senior Richard Roby, who finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in CU history, wasn’t drafted by an NBA team but signed a contract to play for the New Jersey Thom Kendall for Schwartzman Sports Jeff Bzdelik spoke with U.S. troops in the Middle East. Nets’ summer-league squad. Teammate Marcus Hall (Soc’08) played for the New York Knicks in their summer league. Sophomore forward Jeremy Williams left the CU program in the offseason, marking the seventh player to exit since Bzdelik was hired in April 2007. Meanwhile, a couple of power forwards departed the women’s program in the off-season. Aija Putnina, a starter for most of last season, exited to play pro ball in Europe. She earned a spot on the Latvian team for the Olympics. And later, senior Caley Dow opted to leave the Buffs, though she plans to stay at CU to complete her undergraduate work. Director of basketball operations Ann Strother also left to pursue professional playing opportunities in Europe and the WNBA. Going green for football season During the 2007 football season, CU increased recycling nearly 2.5 times over 2006, and that effort will expand considerably this year with “Ralphie’s Green Stampede” initiative. CU will move toward zero waste at Folsom Stadium during the football season and will obtain carbon offsets to compensate for its use of stadium lights, the scoreboard and other energy at Folsom, as well as for flights taken by team members. Concessionaries will serve food on biodegradable material, composting will increase and riding bikes to the stadium will be encouraged. CU will even use more biodegradables in its uniforms and other gear. Athletic director Mike Bohn anticipates hitting over 90 percent of the zero-waste goal this year. Athletic Hall of Fame inductees announced The CU Athletic Hall of Fame will induct its largest class on Oct. 17 as nine new members are enshrined. The new honorees are discus thrower Claude Head football coach Dal Ward poses in this undated photo in the Alumni Association photo collection. 42 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Walton (Mus ex’37), CU’s first AllAmerican in any sport (1936); Frank Clarke ( A&S ex’57) and Billy Lewis (PE’60), the first blacks on CU’s football and basketball teams, respectively, both in the 1950s (Lewis also competed in track); former football head coach Dal Ward (1948-58), for whom the athletic center is named; and sprinter Don Campbell (CivEngr’51, Mgmt’57), who excelled after sustaining machine-gun fire to his upper leg and hip during World War II. Also, 1970s football teammates Dave Logan (A&S ex’76) and John Stearns (A&S ex’73), both two-sport athletes (Logan also played basketball at CU, while Stearns was a baseball standout); linebacker Alfred Williams (Soc ex’91), who helped lead CU to the 1990 football national title; and runner Kara Grgas-Wheeler Goucher (Psych’01), who stood out during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Athletic Hall of Fame was started in 1998 and has previously inducted 28 individuals and the 1959 ski team. Show Your CU Spirit! A re you ready for the big game? Show your CU spirit with these great products from the CU Book Store. We are the only store where all proceeds benefit the University of Colorado at Boulder. Nike #7 Replica Football Jersey S-XXL $65.00 Chrome Alumni License Plate Frame $36.95 Colorado Cycling Jersey by Domino S-XL $79.99 See our complete selection of CU merchandise at www.cubookstore.com A view of diversity B Y C H R I S T I N E Y O S H I N A G A - I TA N O We are Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Asian Indian Americans, Chinese Americans, Southeast Asian Americans and South Pacific Islanders who never experience the luxury of just being “Americans.” As Asian Americans we remain “strangers” in our own land while AngloAmericans are quickly accepted as American even when born in another country, as long as they do not speak with an accent from their native land. In February we as a group were targeted by an offensive editorial published in the Campus Press newspaper as alleged satire (see the News section of the June 2008 Coloradan ). Four decades after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created, prohibited slurs continue to flourish, e.g., racial epithets and comments about “chinky” eyes and flat noses, along with repeated stereotypes regarding abilities that lead to questions like “Why are you not good at math?” or “Why do you Asians all stick together?” No one questions why a group of whites in the same class or residence hall eat or party together. There is a belief in our society, on our campus and in our city that racism is an issue of the past and does not impact our lives today. While there is no doubt that behavior that breaks the laws of our nation must not be tolerated, it is rare the injustices, indignities and painful encounters of people of color and other communities on our campus actually violate a law. Because actions or words do not break the law does not mean life is just. Slavery at one time did not violate the law. Imprisoning U.S. citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II because they looked like the enemy did not violate the law. In Boulder and on campus, many see themselves as champions of diversity and cannot imagine they could act in a racist manner. Racism is thought to be an “ugly” characteristic, something unacceptable for “good people.” Thus, it is a topic that seems 44 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Faces of CU impossible to discuss without people getting defensive. There is a segment of students, staff and faculty of color who continue to be beleaguered, who grit their teeth and walk into their departmental buildings wondering what indignity will have to be endured each day. The fall 2001 university climate survey reported that only 37 percent of Asian Americans claimed CU-Boulder was a “good” or “great” place for students of “your ethnic identity group” as compared to 75 percent of white students. A survey conducted by the Office of Diversity and Equity and the Office of Faculty Affairs in 2001-2002 reported fewer than 20 percent of the faculty of color intended to remain at CU-Boulder as compared to 40 percent of the majority faculty. Over the past 20 years, glacially slow progress has been made in increasing the number of students and faculty of color on the campus. Although it should not be the responsibility of victims to solve the problems, many in the majority are unable to see the problems. Thus, issues do not get raised, unless described by members of diverse communities. But we, the faculty, staff and students of color, cannot solve the problem alone. Furthermore, the first priority of our students is to engage in the scholarly environment of our research institution. They are not responsible for “fixing” the environment. Neither should the staff or faculty of color shoulder this responsibility, nor do they have the power to transform the climate. It is possible to transform our campus into a welcoming community for all students, including those from diverse communities, but it will take the hard work of the whole community. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano is professor of speech, language and hearing sciences. Her family has lived in the United States since 1898. Her research has led to universal newborn hearing tests in all 50 states and U.S. territories, as well as in many other countries. From 2003 to 2007, she served as vice provost and associate vice chancellor for diversity and equity. www.cualum.org OTHER THOUGHTS ON CAMPUS CLIMATE Coloradan student writer Emery Cowan spoke with different people at CU to find out their ideas for improving the university’s climate for minorities. Here’s what several students and staffers had to say. Sallye McKee, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and community engagement “We are trying to get more people from different cultures in terms of multicultural involvement. We want a new social contract to encourage civic discourse.” Valdemir Jimenez, senior anthropology major “We should give minorities more incentive to come here.” Derek Patton, senior molecular, cellular and developmental biology major “We need more organizations that focus on cross-cultural and global interaction because that is what college is all about — getting out of your comfort zone.” Eva Fuentes, UMC employee “I think programs that teach English to workers are a good idea to improve the climate for minorities.” COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 45 Remembering Korea BY JANET SINGLETON 46 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN In the Haktong-ni area of Korea on Aug. 28, 1950, a griefstricken American infantryman, whose buddy has been killed in action, is comforted by another soldier. In the background a corpsman methodically fills out casualty tags. Image by © Corbis uring a hyper-patriotic era, the American government perceives a security threat. The Pentagon launches a war in a developing nation already strained by the weight of poverty and unrest. But ill-prepared allied forces find themselves fighting torrents of unforeseen enemies. The struggle becomes a bloody shooting gallery of shifting objectives and shocking casualties. And the ensuing war drains the popularity of a president. Sound like today’s headlines? It happened over five decades ago when the www.cualum.org politically endangered president was Harry Truman. The Korean War — the 16-country United Nations campaign to keep North Korea from overtaking the territory south of its border — has been called “the forgotten war.” This year marks the 55th anniversary of the armistice of that Asian conflict that raged from 1950 to 1953. Though it was given less attention than the wars that sandwiched it, World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War’s legacy is its terrible human cost paid in order to (continued on page 48) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 47 “As we drove through the streets of the war-torn suburbs of Seoul, little children followed the truck. They were cold, dirty, miserable and hungry. We threw them our C-rations and wept.” — Bud Davis (PE’51, EdD ’63) (continued from page 47) contain communism during the Cold War, say former soldiers and University of Colorado historians. Cost of containing communism Soon after completing his undergraduate degree at CU, Bud Davis (PE’51, EdD ’63) arrived in Korea with other American soldiers backing up the fighters of the South as Russia threw the weight of its money, technology and influence behind the North. He vividly recalled his first day in the beleaguered nation. After landing at an air base in Korea on a freezing November day, he and the other newly arrived Marines boarded the rear of an open truck to be transported to the First Division Headquarters some 50 miles away. “As we drove through the streets of the war-torn suburbs of Seoul, little children followed the truck,” he remembers. “They were cold, dirty, miserable and hungry. We threw them our C-rations and wept.” Davis, a Marine 2nd lieutenant, had just arrived in harm’s way. A training commander, he recalls the haunting prediction that trainees had a 50 percent chance of being killed in battle. During one of the most intense battles in September 1950, 83,000 American soldiers and 57,000 South Korean and British troops fought during the lionized amphibious assault on Inchon, a major seaport on the west coast of South Korea. Though that battle was won, the war was long from being over. On New Year’s Eve, the Chinese joined North Korean fighters in an offensive that resulted in the 48 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN capture of Seoul and merited the label of the worst American defeat in history, according to then Secretary of State Dean Acheson. The city fell after a week of fighting, and Acheson compared it to the Civil War’s first Battle of Bull Run. After that, the struggle became an entrenched ping-pong game that included blows and victories for each side, including the momentous artillery action of Operation Ripper that won back Seoul for the allies in March 1951. “The Korean War showed that the U.S. was willing to fight to keep communism from spreading,” says CU history professor Thomas Zeiler, an expert in American diplomatic history. “We had come to terms with the need to contain the Soviets.” As American troops fought dangerously close to the Chinese border, the giant to the north threatened to enter the fighting in full force alongside North Koreans. And the Chinese proved to be the pivotal element in the war — they sent waves of seemingly endless troops better dressed than the Americans for the treacherous cold and trained to offset America’s technological superiority by their willingness to die in masses, according to The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (Hyperion), the 2007 bestseller by the late celebrated journalist David Halberstam. An estimated 1 million Chinese and 600,000 North and South Koreans perished by the conflict’s end. Underestimating the enemy Bad intelligence permeated the strategies used during the Korean War, © Duncan P Walker, istock photo.com An unknown artist carefully painted a North Korean flag on a rock. many argue. At the outset of the Korean War, CIA analysts deduced intrusion by China was unlikely. Even after the military picked up numerous Chinese-speaking prisoners, American commanders claimed that the communist republic likely would not enter the Korean War and if it did, it could be easily defeated. Former Marine and Colorado native Bob Brockish, a parent of two CU alumni, experienced the contradictions between theory and reality firsthand. He was involved in the battle of Horseshoe Ridge April 22 - 25, 1951, as the Chinese kicked off their spring offensive. “When the enemy broke through the lines, they threatened the left flank of the division, and we were dispatched to plug the hole until our people could rearwww.cualum.org range the resistance,” Brockish says. “Our battalion, the 1st, was sent to establish an outpost. Throughout the night of April 23 Charlie Company was under continual fire.” Sunrise revealed the Chinese had surrounded the battalion. The uninvited guests proved deadly and possibly ended tens of thousands of U.S. lives, according to Halberstam’s 700-page tome of data and interviews. “Major Gen. Hap Gay, George Patton’s Chief of Staff in World War II . . . believed that in Korea they had been doing things wrong from the start,” Halberstam wrote. “He had been shocked by the terrible state of the Army when the war began and bothered as well (continued on page 50) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 49 “By June 1951 our platoon had experienced so many losses by deaths, wounded or rotation that I was advanced to squad leader of the 3rd Squad of the 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company. I was only 19 years old.” — Bob Brockish (continued from page 49) by Gen. (Douglas) MacArthur’s initial failure to respect the ability of the enemy.” Brockish believes McArthur let his ego take over, noting the general’s failure to heed intelligence from the battlefield was criminally negligent. While he feels Halberstam’s book overemphasizes the racial bias that infiltrated military strategy, CU history professor William Wei, an expert on modern China, says the issue of race cannot be overlooked. What blinded U.S. leaders in Korea is a cut-off-your-nose-to-spiteyour-face racial arrogance, he says. “Unfortunately we bring a racist perspective to these conflicts in Asia . . . toward the people we work with and the people we fight against,” Wei says. “They assumed the Chinese could not shoot well because (in certain battles) they tended to wound rather than kill (a strategy meant to keep U.S. troops tied up tending the injured).” The weight of war What is indisputable, however, is a great blood-letting occurred on both sides. A 1907 vintage map shows Korea and China and significant trade routes. Two years earlier, Japan had made Korea a protectorate and occupied the country. However, following the defeat of Japan in 1945, two new, separate governments were established, dividing the country at the 38th parallel: a democratic South Korea and communist North Korea. 50 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN “By June 1951 our platoon had experienced so many losses by deaths, wounded or rotation that I was advanced to squad leader of the 3rd Squad of the 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company,” Brockish recalls. “I was only 19 years old.” Back in the United States, the American public did not get involved in the war as it did in World War II or as it would during the Vietnam War. The Cold War years, replete with the red-hunting McCarthy era, placed a freezing hand on dissent. “People feared being branded communists,” professor Robert Schulzinger of history says. But the public had quieter ways of expressing their displeasure. President Harry Truman’s popularity rating dropped to a shocking 23 percent. It was the lowest presidential rating ever measured, according to Schulzinger. Truman’s ratings destroyed his plans to seek a second term. And five months after Eisenhower became the nation’s 34th president in 1953, negotiations yielded a truce. The agreement — widely proclaimed a “stalemate” — prevented a North Korean advance on its southern neighbor and any American efforts to overthrow the commu- nist regime of the north. It returned the dividing line between the two sides to the famous 38th parallel, where it was before the outbreak of war. Few celebrations greeted the returning troops. Former soldiers quietly eased back into civilian life, haunted by those soldiers who did not return and never had the chance to have families or grow old. Others, like Brockish, have returned to the country to see how South Korea has evolved over time. “I have been back to Korea twice,” he says. “I am proud. Seeing the modern Korea made me realize what we did was good.” Had it not been for people like Brockish and Davis, Wei says South Korea might have become a socioeconomic and political “basket case” like the North. “For the (South) Koreans, the war was worth the sacrifice, but for the Americans, less so,” he says, as an estimated 36, 940 Americans died in the Korean War. Janet Singleton is a novelist and freelance journalist. Her father, John Singleton, served as a Marine sergeant in the Korean War. © 2008 by Chad McDermott, istockphoto.com www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 51 CU AROUND It’s a golden Homecoming! Students celebrate during the Homecoming parade with Chip. Ken Abbott Come join the fun during CU Homecoming weekend Oct. 3-4. This year’s theme is “Go for the Gold” in honor of CU’s Olympians and Paralympians who will have just competed in the 2008 Beijing games, as well as those who competed in previous games. The big event Friday afternoon is the Homecoming parade, followed by a concert on campus and a school spirit event on the Pearl Street Mall. The Homecoming football game is Saturday, Oct. 4, against the Texas Longhorns, preceded by the alumni pregame party on Benson Field 2 ½ hours before the game. See the “Happenings” calendar on Page 53 for details or check the alumni website, www.cualum.org/ homecoming or the student site, www. cuhomecoming.com. Chat with alums online The Alumni Association’s www.cualum.org website has a comment feature that allows readers to respond to online stories posted under “CU Voices,” “CU Memories” or Photo of the Day. We want to hear from you! If you’ve got an observation or just want to express your thoughts about a story or other item, look for the public comment field or contact us at [email protected]. Pedal for scholarships The Boulder Buffalo Bicycle Classic, which takes place Sept. 7, is the largest single source of scholarship funds for CU’s College of Arts and Sciences. You can help make this year’s goal of $300,000! Get all the info at www.buffalobicycleclassic.com. 52 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN © Alexey Dudoladov, istockphoto.com m HAPPENINGS www.cualum.org Aug. 31, Denver, CU vs. CSU at Invesco Field at Mile High, pregame 2:30 p.m., kickoff 5:30 p.m.* Sept. 2-3, Boulder, Senior Auditors registration, Koenig Alumni Center, 303-492-8484, www.cualum.org/services/ senior-auditors Sept. 6, Boulder, CU vs. Eastern Washington, pregame 11 a.m., kickoff 1:30 p.m.* Sept. 6, Boulder, Directors Club pregame party, Koenig Directors Club Garden, 303-492-3005, barb.banta@colorado. edu, www.cualum.org/clubs/directors Sept. 7, Boulder, Buffalo Bicycle Classic, benefits Arts & Sciences scholarships, www.buffalobicycleclassic.com Sept. 9, Boulder, CU Active Military and Veterans Alumni Luncheon, Laudisio Restaurant, 303-492-8484, www.cualum. org/clubs/veterans Sept. 18, Boulder, CU vs. West Virginia, pregame 4 p.m. (Thursday night game), kickoff 6:30 p.m.* Sept. 26-27, Jacksonville, Fla., CU vs. Florida State festivities, 303492-2879, [email protected] or www.cualum.org/fsu Oct. 3, Boulder, Homecoming parade, 303-492-8484, 800492-7743, www.cualum.org/homecoming or www.cuhomecoming.com for a complete listing of weekend events and reunions Oct. 3, Boulder, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Alumni Homecoming party, Koenig Alumni Center, 303-492-2280, [email protected] Oct. 3, Broomfield, Hispanic Alumni Association dinner gala, details to be announced, 303-492-8484, 800-492-7743, www. cualum.org/clubs/haa/ Oct. 3, Boulder, Living Legends Ceremony, Club Level of Folsom Stadium, 303-492-5065, [email protected] Oct. 4, Boulder, Hispanic Alumni Association pregame, details to be announced, 303-492-8484, 800-492-7743, www.cualum. org/clubs/haa/ Oct. 4, Boulder, CU vs. Texas pregame* Oct. 17, Broomfield, CU Athletic Hall of Fame Induction, Omni Interlocken Hotel, 303-492-5065, [email protected] Oct. 17, Boulder, Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting, 303-492-4930, [email protected], www.cualum. org/services/board Oct. 18, Boulder, Family Weekend, CU vs. Kansas State pregame* Nov. 8, Boulder, CU vs. Iowa State pregame* Nov. 15, Boulder, CU vs. Oklahoma State pregame* Dec. 5, Denver, CU Night at Zoolights, Denver Zoo, 303-4922879, [email protected] *Pregames begin 2 ½ hours before kickoff and are at Benson Field. For more information see www.cualum.org/football. For tickets and game times, contact the CU Athletics ticket office at 800-87-BUFFS, 303-49-BUFFS or www.cubuffs.com. www.cualum.org COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 53 Help recruit new students Help us round up and recruit the next Herd! Our Fall Preview programs are a joint effort among the Office of Admissions, University Communications, Office of Parent Relations, CU Foundation and CU-Boulder Alumni Association to generate enthusiasm about CU among prospective students, their parents and alumni in key out-of-state markets from Boston to California. Select alumni have the opportunity to speak about what made CU special for them and answer questions at the conclusion of each event. If you’re interested in participating in one of the cities listed below, contact Becky Cabral at the Alumni Association at 303-492-2879 or at becky.cabral@ colorado.edu. Dates subject to change. Fall Preview schedule 2008 1975 yearbook Relive your CU days by sharing your memories with prospective students at Fall Previews. Sept. 18 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 14 Oct. 15 Oct. 16 Oct. 22 Oct. 23 Oct. 29 Oct. 30 Nov. 5 Nov. 6 Scottsdale, Ariz. Boston, Thousand Oaks, Calif. New York City area, San Francisco area San Diego Orange County, Calif. Los Angeles Minneapolis Chicago Washington, D.C., Houston Dallas, Atlanta Philadelphia Newark, N.J. Buffs face Seminoles For details and to purchase tickets to both events and the game, go to www.cualum.org/fsu. There is plenty to see and do in downtown Jacksonville. Check out our website for more info or call Becky at 303-492-2879. Denver Zoolights are brilliant Join alumni, friends, family and CU Santa for this year’s CU Night at Zoolights Dec. 5. Dozens of acres of glittering trees, animated light sculptures and live animals are featured at this fun holiday event. Reserve your tickets now! For more information contact Becky at 303-492-2879, becky. [email protected] or go to www.cualum.org/events. 54 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN © Patrick Laverdant, istockphoto.com Our big away game against Florida State is only one month away! Don’t miss out as we face the Seminoles in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 27. Gather with alumni and fans at our opening reception the night before the game and at our pregame party on game day at the Jacksonville Municipal Stadium where the Jaguars play. The Friday night opening reception on Sept. 26 will be held at the Hyatt Regency overlooking the beautiful St. Johns River. CU Heritage Center CU welcomes Nixon The 1956 presidential election pitted the Republican ticket of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon against Democrats Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver. University of Colorado students welcomed candidates and supporters from both parties to the Boulder campus. Democrats held their state convention at Balch Fieldhouse where, according to the Colorado Alumnus, contesting presidential hopefuls Stevenson and Kefauver “shook hands across a tiny burro loaned to the convention by a good-natured, local Republican.” Vice President Nixon spoke in Macky Auditorium on Oct. 11, greeted by a wildly enthusiastic group of Young Republicans who staged a rally to show their support. Colorado followed the rest of the country and voted almost 60 percent in favor of the popular incumbents, Eisenhower and Nixon. www.cualum.org CU Young Republicans welcome Vice President Richard Nixon to Macky Auditorium in October 1956. To learn more about CU’s history, visit the Heritage Center on the third floor of Old Main or go to www. cualum.org/heritage. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 55 © Peter Garbet, istockphoto.com CU wherever you may roam Roaming Buffaloes Calendar Sept. 25 - Oct. 3 Croatia & Venetian Treasures Sept. 30-Oct. 11 Campus Abroad in France — Normandy & Brittany Oct. 16-30 Paradores & Pousadas, Spain & Portugal Nov. 30-Dec. 9 Holiday Markets along the Danube Jan. 18-26 Tahiti & French Polynesia Feb. 3-16 Treasures of South Africa Feb. 8-14 Campus Abroad in the Mayan Riviera Feb. 14-23 Campus Abroad in Israel Apr. 17-25 Campus Abroad in Holland & Belgium Apr. 19 – May 5 Egypt & the Eternal Nile Discover the magical city of Venice while on the Croatia & Venetian Treasures trip. For trip details contact Ryan Lecky at 303-4920635 or 800-492-7743, e-mail [email protected] or visit www. cualum.org/travel. Read the travel newsletter at www. cualum.org/travelhome/. Don’t lose your CU connection! May 2008 graduates are officially loaded into the CU Alumni Association’s My CU Network. Whether you’re looking for a job or an old friend, the Network is where connections start after graduation. n Stay in the loop n Share your news 56 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Promote your business Join a group n Get a job n Find a friend There is no cost to register — visit www.cualum.org/mycu/ for more information and to register. Check it out! n n SOME MEMORIES LAST A LIFETIME m PASS ON THE MEMORIES. INCLUDE THE CU FOUNDATION IN YOUR WILL OR TRUST TODAY. Including a bequest to CU in your will or trust is an easy way to make a difference. It doesn’t affect your current cash flow or assets. It’s easy to change if your circumstances change. And, it may save you estate taxes later. Best of all, you have the satisfaction that goes with leaving a legacy that will outlast you. CU TODAY – CU IN THE FUTURE. For more information, call Ami Sadler, Vice President, Gift Planning at 303.541.1336 or e-mail: [email protected] or visit us online at: www.cufund.planyourlegacy.org © Planned Giving Company CU PEOPLE 60s AND EARLIER After five decades of research and work on a book about the life of Gautama, a spiritual teacher from ancient India and founder of Buddhism, Louise Ireland Frey (Bio, PreMed’34) has published Blossom of Buddha (Blue Dolphin). While working on the book she raised four sons and worked on improving her health through self-hypnosis. She lives in Durango but fondly recalls climbing the Flatirons, Green Mountain and Bear Peak. Professor emeritus of history at Florida State University, Richard Bartlett* (Hist’42, PhD’53) published First Christmas at Muddy Creek (Booksurge). The book follows a Jesuit priest in his work to host a Christmas Eve mass in a rough-and-tumble Montana boomtown wrought with sin and human degradation. Richard lives in Tallahassee, Fla., where he is recovering from a hip injury. A distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry emeritus at Florida State University, Werner Herz (A&S ex’43) remembered his long relationship with professor emeritus Stanley J. Cristol of chemistry after hearing of the professor’s death in January 2008. Werner was Cristol’s first doctoral student, served with him on several national committees and spoke at the symposium that preceded his retirement. He lives in Tallahassee, Fla. The Boulder Chamber of Commerce recognized six local business leaders, including Virginia Wheeler Patterson* (Jour’46), at its annual awards dinner. Virginia received the chamber’s prestigious Franny Reich Award for her unending commitment to making the community a better place. She lives in Boulder. For his contributions to the science and tion received by America’s youth, according to former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer (Law’52). Roy is the former superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District and serves as chair of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Strong American Schools. Noting U.S. children are falling behind academically, he is working to bring education to the forefront of debate during the Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. technology of radiation safety, the Health Physics Society honored Joe Soldat* (ChemEngr’48) with the 2007 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award. Over his career he has worked with the environmental measurements group of General Electric Co. and operated the AEC’s Hanford Atomic Products Operation. He lives in Richland, Wash. After retirement from his profession, Werner Barasch (PhDChem’52) spent 30 years teaching lessons learned from the Holocaust. He spoke in personal appearances and wrote a book, Survivor: Autobiographical Fragments 1938-1946 (Cork Hill Press), about his knowledge of the Western European countries involved in the Holocaust as well as strategies to overcome adversity in prisons and concentration camps. He lives in Los Gatos, Calif. The economic future of the United States depends on the quality of educa- 58 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN presidential election. He lives in Denver. Don’t Miss the Boat, Cruising Through Leisure Years (LifeTime Chronicle Press) by Janet Go* (Geog’53) and Perry McGinnis won first place in the travel category at the 14th annual Colorado Independent Publishers Association award dinner. The book recounts the couple’s 109-day cruise around the world aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2. She lives in Grand Junction, Colo. The 2008 Delta Sigma Pi Career Achievement Award was given to Alan Elkin (Mktg’56) in June. He is the president and co-founder of Advance Business Systems, Maryland’s largest independent document management company. The Baltimore resident and his wife have two children, three grandchildren and a golden retriever. At the 27th annual University of Colorado Law School Alumni Award Banquet, Neil C. King (Law’56), Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (Law’81) and Steven T. Pelican* (Law’71) received distinguished alumni awards for their post-college successes. Steven is Fourth Judicial District Judge and lives in Colorado Springs. Neil lives in Boulder and is one of the region’s most recognized legal figures in the areas of land use and real estate development. With 44 years of experience playing in PGA and Champions tours and 17 professional victories under his belt, Dale Douglass* (A&S’59) is no stranger to success on the green. He has the opportunity to set a record for the number of appearances on the PGA Champion’s Tour if he can bump his current 592 stops up to 604. No matter how many times he tees off though, the Castle Rock, Colo., resident says it is always a privilege to play the game he loves. In May Nancy Dixon Davidson* (Pol Sci’60) and longtime friend Ed Kahn* (IntlAf ’58) organized a mini reunion of their CU friends and fellow Colorado Daily staffers. The group of about 30 met in Denver to dine and catch up. Along with friends, Nancy writes she met her husband, Roger H. Davidson* (Spch’58) while both were staffers for the Colorado Daily. They live in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Ed lives with his wife in Denver. Formerly a conductor, composer and professor of music at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Md., Jon Bauman (Mus’61) is now focusing much of his time on commu- * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. nity service. His committments includes the concert series Music at Penn Alps, the Cumberland Music and Arts Club and the Rotary Club of Frostburg. In recognition of his service, Rotary International named Jon a Paul Harris Fellow, the highest award for service recognized by the organization. Many CU graduates and longtime Boulderites may recognize the characters, events and places depicted in Dan Culberson’s (Engl’63) newest fiction book Plastic Man: A Novel of the Sixties (Xlibris Corporation). Following the hitchhiking journey of a college dropout, the novel describes college life at CU in the ’60s. Dan is a film reviewer and lives in Boulder. An employee with the U.S. Foreign Service for 30 years, Don Cofman (Jour, PolSci ’64) retired in 1995 to Ankara, Turkey, where he worked as a journalist, business consultant and association executive. After 13 years abroad, Don and his wife moved to the Washington, D.C., area to spend time with their children and grandchildren. In a column in the January edition of the Boulder County Bar Newsletter, Sonny Flowers* (Engl’67, Law’71) expressed his discontent with public reaction to a Boulder district court judge’s October ruling on an adversepossession case. Sonny, president of the Boulder County Bar Association, supported the judge’s ruling, considering the evidence. He lives in Boulder. From Africa to Asia to Europe, Carlton Stoiber* (A&S’64, Law’69) spans the globe in his work for the International Atomic Energy Agency. His most recent lecture destinations have included Abuja, www.cualum.org Nigeria and Tbilisi, Georgia. He also teaches at the International School of Nuclear Law at the Université de Montpellier in France and the World Nuclear University in Canada. He lives in Washington, D.C. During the summer and fall, Suzanne Spitz Carmichael (IntlAf ’66, Law’71) has been working at the newly opened Deer Isle Creative Workshops. She teaches silk fusion and publicity for artists at the workshops in Deer Isle, Maine. for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club scholarship program. With her new book, Positively Pearl Street (Book Lode), Silvia Veith Pettem* (A&S’69) chronicles the history of the street-turned-walkingmall that has become an icon of Boulder. The book features photographs, business ads and quirky anecdotes to document the history of Pearl Street, which has been around for more than a century. Silvia lives in Ward, Colo. After the New York Giants’ win against New England in Super Bowl XLII, Dick Anderson* (Mktg’68) and the 1972 Miami Dolphins team breathed a sigh of relief. The loss meant they continue to hold the record for being the only team in the NFL to complete a perfect season. He planned to celebrate their still-standing record with old teammates sometime after the Super Bowl game. He lives in Coral Gables, Fla. Serving as a CU regent After meeting at CU and marrying in 1968, Rhonda Fadum (A&S ex’68) and Ole Fadum* (ElecEngr’68) celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on Jan. 27. The couple owned Fadum Enterprises, a consulting business in information technology and process control in the paper industry. They are close to retiring. They live in Boulder where they enjoy skiing, theater and travel. As president and director of operations at Global Response, Paula Palmer (A&S’70) works to help communities worldwide that are struggling to defend themselves and their natural resources against multinational corporations. The organization’s main tactic is letter writing and recently was successful in preventing the construction of an open-pit copper mine in an Ecuadorian jungle sanctuary. She resides in Boulder but lived in Costa Rica for 20 years, transcribing oral histories of indigenous tribes. Although he has long since retired from ski racing, Billy Kidd (Econ’69) has stuck by the slopes. He won the silver medal in the 1964 Winter Olympics for the slalom. He has spent nearly 40 years as director of skiing at Steamboat mountain resort and hosts a golf tournament to raise money 70s since 2002, Cindy Carlisle (A&S’70, MEngl’77) announced her intent to run for the District 18 seat in the Colorado State Senate. The district encompasses Boulder and parts of unincorporated Boulder County. She lives in Boulder. Former Buffalo wide receiver Larry Brunson (A&S’71) was inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association 19th Hall of Fame in 2007. He We want your news! Write Marc Killinger, Koenig Alumni Center, Boulder CO 80309 [email protected] or fax 303-492-6799. was a star on the 1971 team when the Buffs ranked third in the country. He lives in Centennial, Colo. Now able to combine her expertise in law and journalism, Sheila Hollis (Jour’71) serves as chair of the board of editors for the ABA Journal, the American Bar Association’s monthly magazine. She is chair of the Duane Morris law office and taught energy law for 20 years at George Washington Law School. She lives in Washington, D.C. Rancho Mirage, Calif., residents Dick Engebretson* (MBA’72) and Jean Engebretson* (MEdu’76) donated funding for one of the conference rooms in the business school’s new Koelbel Building. The room is named after professor emeritus John Lymberopoulos who had been a faculty member in the business school since 1964. As more of Iowa’s tallgrass prairie is transformed into farmland, Cornelia Mutel (MBio’73) takes a look back at the history of the state’s landscape in The Emerald Horizon (University of Iowa Press). She writes about how human development has affected the native plant and animal communities and examines ways people can restore the habitat and reconnect with the land. Cornelia is a historian and archivist at the University of Iowa College of Engineering and lives in Salon, Iowa. With 30 years of public relations experience, Jeffrey COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 59 Julin (Comm, Thtr’74) was named the chair and chief executive officer of the Public Relations Society of America. The Denver resident is president of MGA Communications, one of the region’s top communications firms, and is a member of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Public Affairs Council. A real estate agent and travel writer turned painter, Laurie Anderson MacMillan (PolSci’74) received the Individual Artists Award in abstract painting from the Arts Fund of Santa Barbara County. The award, which honors Laurie’s entire body of work, includes a $2,500 cash prize and a solo show. She lives in Santa Barbara, Calif. A noted author, lecturer, public speaker and former national liaison to the Internal Revenue Service, Richard Colombik* (Acct’75) heads the law firm of Richard M. Colombik & Associates. The firm, which represents businesses as well as individuals, trusts and estates, has been involved in community service for over 30 years. He lives in Itasca, Ill. After playing on the CU golf team, Blake Stirling (Mktg’75) stuck around in the industry, becoming a senior architect of golf courses. He worked his way up to designing courses on his own with Global Golf Co. and has designed 18 courses in Spain with five more under construction. He lives in Denver. If ever a Broncos team could bring Denver together it was the 1977 team dubbed the “Orange Crush,” writes Terry Frei* (Hist, Jour’76) in ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age (Taylor Trade Publishing). The book takes a look back at the players and their experiences leading up to the Super Bowl. He has been a sportswriter for The Denver Post since 1976 and lives in Denver. With his foundation’s annual grants of $11.5 million, Tim Gill (ApMath’76) ranks third on the Rocky Mountain News’ Philanthropic Five list in Colorado. He started Quark, a leading page and layout software program, with a $2,000 loan from his parents. The Gill Foundation gives money to programs and nonprofit organizations that serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender anniversary on Sept. 18, 2007. She worked for 20 years as a news and sports publicist, co-founded publishing company Inside Communications and served as editor and writer for VeloNews and Inside Triathlon magazines. Living in Boulder, she owns and handcrafts Qworks jewelry. Quick Fix: Sudden Fiction (White Pine Press), a bilingual collection by Argentine writer Ana Maria Shua, was translated by Rhonda Dahl Buchanan (MSpan’78, PhD’82). Rhonda is a professor of Spanish and director of Latin American and Latino Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. Americans and people with HIV/AIDS. He lives in Denver. Formerly president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., Robert Lieber (Psych’77) was named the city’s deputy mayor for economic development in December. He has worked on many successful rezoning projects and plans to continue similar work in Harlem and Staten Island. He lives in Scarsdale, N.Y. After working for money manager Fred Alger and mutual fund company Janus Capitol, Tom Marsico (EPOBio’77) has found success in his own company, Marsico Capital Management. The company celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2007 and its assets have hit a $100 billion milestone. He lives in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. After meeting during an interview, Susan Eastman Walton (Jour’77) and her husband celebrated their 40th wedding 60 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Studies at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. She is a recipient of a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts translation fellowship. She lives in Louisville. An attorney and director of the law firm Bell, Davis & Pitt, Elizabeth Repetti (Bus’78) was selected by the North Carolina Bar Association to lead the association’s statewide Credit Abuse Resistance Education Seminars. The seminars are presented in North Carolina colleges and universities to help college freshmen avoid bankruptcy by providing real life, understandable credit information. Elizabeth lives in Winston Salem, N.C. Used Crocs have a chance to make a comeback thanks to the SolesUnited initiative launched by the plastic shoe manufacturer. Through the program, the Niwot-based company collects worn out Crocs and recycles the plastic into new shoes, donating them to countries like Chile, El Salvador, Malawi and Pakistan. Crocs CEO Ron Snyder (Acct’78) says the program is a great opportunity to give back. He lives in Longmont. Digging in the dirt turned into a sixmonth roof restoration endeavor for Dylan Williams (Phys’78) and his wife after Dylan found parts of their 131-year-old Victorian house’s original slate roof buried in the garden. He did most of the roofing himself on their Boulder home, ordering new slate shingles from the same area as the originals and attaching them one by one to the home’s tower. While some aspects of the college admissions process have remained the same over the years, Priscilla DannCourtney (Engl’79, MPsych’86, PhD’91) writes that in many ways, today’s college-bound students are wiser than their parents. In a column in The Denver Post, she explains how students today are interested in how colleges will fit their needs rather than the other way around, which she hopes will make for a smoother ride. She is the mother of a recent high school graduate and lives in Boulder. Recognizing journalism that explores issues of social and economic justice, the 2008 Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Award for magazine reporting was given to Ray Ring (Jour’79). The award recognized his article “Death in the Energy Fields” published in the April 2007 issue of High Country News. The Bozeman, Mont., resident was a finalist for the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and received an Honorable Mention Heywood Broun Award for the article. * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. PROFILE John Suthers Courtesy John Suthers Attorney general advocates for Colorado Colorado Attorney General John Suthers (Law’77) has a passion for prosecution and public service. So much so that he’s written a book, No Higher Calling, No Greater Responsibility: A Prosecutor Makes His Case (Fulcrum). The book focuses on the prosecutor’s role in the justice system and addresses many of the major issues surrounding crime and punishment. John credits an internship in Colorado Springs during his law school years for influencing his career path. He was assigned to do legal research on two high-profile homicides being prosecuted by the district attorney’s office, including one against serial killer Ted Bundy. “I’d never been confronted with evil of that nature,” he says. “I felt the satisfaction of vindicating the interests of the victim and the public when the murderers were brought to justice. I knew then I wanted to be a prosecutor.” After graduating from law school, John spent four years as a deputy and chief deputy district attorney in Colorado Springs. After a 10-year stint in private practice, he was elected district attorney and spent two terms in that office. Gubernatorial and presidential appointments propelled him to executive director of the department of corrections, U.S. attorney for Colorado and finally state attorney general. He was elected to a four-year term as attorney general in 2006 by a large margin. www.cualum.org “Probably the most important work we do day in and day out is to protect the interests of Colorado under the interstate river compacts to which it’s a party,” John says. As attorney general overseeing 244 lawyers and 400 employees in six divisions, dealing with water resources is just one of his many responsibilities. Nine interstate agreements govern how much water Colorado gets to keep and how much it must deliver to surrounding states. Two recent cases exemplify the challenges faced by the attorney general’s office. A Kansas v. Colorado case over the Arkansas River is just coming to a close after 25 years. Farther to the west, Colorado just reached agreement with the other upper and lower Colorado River basin states over management of Lake Powell and Lake Mead during drought years. “I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to spend a significant portion of my career in the public sector,” John reminisces. He advises law students to take a broad-based course of study, get public and private law office internships and then decide what they like. “There’s more money in private practice, but you may feel better about your client in the public arena,” he concedes. “You have to balance what you enjoy and what helps you meet your various obligations in life.” —Marty Coffin Evans COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 61 CU PEOPLE 80s After playing the title role in a bilingual production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Vladivostock, Russia, Philip Sneed (Thtr’80) held two lectures describing his experience. He is the Colorado Shakespeare Festival producing artistic director and was elected president of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America in February. He lives in Boulder. The famous back-page column in Sports Illustrated will no longer be written by Rick Reilly (Jour’81), a 22-year SI veteran writer and columnist and 11-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He joined ESPN in early 2008 and will take on a variety of duties with the cable network, including writing for ESPN The Magazine and hosting interviews. He lives in Denver. Head of the laboratory of molecular biophysics at Rockefeller University, Jack Fishman Professor Seth Darst (ChemEngr’82) was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the academy, which was established in 1863, is considered one of the highest honors accorded to a U.S. scientist or engineer. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters. After reading about CU’s Joseph Frascona Teaching Excellence Award, Donna Brown Miller (Bus’82) writes she is the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors. The articles covered the Albany district attorney’s investigation into illegal pharmacies. He also co-authored The Card (Harper Paperbacks), the story of history’s most famous and desired baseball card, the Honus Wagner card. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. Formerly a trustee of the Village of Northport, N.Y., Henry Tobin (Hist’82) was Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. delighted to see the business law professor honored. She says professor Frascona challenged her and permanently changed her way of thinking. “Getting a ‘B’ from professor Frascona was like getting an A+++ from anyone else,” writes the Littleton resident. A series co-written by New York Daily News sports reporter Michael O’Keeffe (Jour’82) was named one of the 10 best investigative series in appointed deputy mayor and commissioner of finance in April. When elected trustee he became the second openly gay elected official on Long Island. He serves as a director of the chamber of commerce in Northport. For his service to the state’s Hispanic community, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association recognized Daniel Vigil (Law’82) with its lifetime achievement award in February. He is assistant dean at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law and lives in Broomfield. After a 20-year stint living away from the Flatirons, Peter Nielsen* (Jour’83, Econ’86) and his wife Catherine Margolis Nielsen* (Hum’77) have moved back to Boulder from the United Kingdom. Business partners at RMB Capital Management in Chicago, Dick Burridge* (Econ’84) and Frederick Paulman* (Acct’94) were selected as two of the city’s top financial advisers by Chicago Magazine. RMB offers in-depth financial planning and investment management services to high-net-worth clients, including many partners at law firms. Both men live in Hinsdale, Ill. With 183 tackles, Ray Cone (PE’84) has held the college record for the most number of tackles in a single season since 1982. He works in sales for Trinity Tile Co. and lives in Orlando, Fla., with his wife Patricia Schafer Cone (EPOBio’84) and their five children. 1988 yearbook 58 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. In a January ceremony, Capt. William Kearns III (PolSci’84) officially took command of Destroyer Squadron 31. The change of command ceremony took place on board Naval Station Pearl Harbor. He lives in Honolulu. traffic control liability and is a partner at Clifford Law Offices. He works on several aviation cases, including property damage claims in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, and lives in Western Springs, Ill. Stevens Point, Wis., resident Geary Larrick (PhDMus’84) premiered two original compositions in March. He performed Marimba Sonata II and played Poem VIII for bongo drums. Taking a break from Broadway has had its benefits for Terry Berliner (Eng’87), a musical theater director who returned to CU to direct a new musical, Beneath the Surface. She says the “university provides a really safe haven (to create new musicals)” which has allowed for more creativity than an onBroadway production. In her career, the Brooklyn, N.Y., resident has been an assistant director on Broadway. A guest lecturer to the CU President’s Leadership Class and an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the law school, Patrick Mulligan* (PolSci’84, Law’87) is running for the CU Board of Regents in November. The Golden resident will run in the 7th Congressional District. After forming a monthly couples support group with his wife over 12 years ago, Greg Thiel (MEdu’84) has co-authored and published his first book, Preventative Maintenance for Your Marriage: The Owner’s Manual for a Couple’s Group (Ketch Publishing). He is a professional relationship coach and lives in Centennial, Colo. His website is www.RelationshipCoach.us. After 10 years working with the Boulder Camera, Clint Talbott (Jour’85) left the paper in March to join CU as publications coordinator of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was the editorial page editor for the Camera and head of its editorial board. He lives in Nederland, Colo., with his wife, Melinda Marquis (PhDChem’95). The American Association of Justice welcomed Timothy Tomasik* (Jour’86) as a guest speaker at their annual conference in Philadelphia. He spoke about air www.cualum.org The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities elected Michael Doyle (PhDChem’87) as president. He serves as group leader of protein biochemistry at Bristol-Myers Squibb research and development in Princeton, N.J. Think Like a CEO (Flow Publishing) by Mark Kuta (MBA’87) was awarded the 2008 Gold Medal in the Axiom Business Book Awards as the top sales book in 2007. He attended the awards in New York City with his wife and two daughters. The family lives in Denver. In recognition of her exceptional customer service, Realtor Jeanette Meyer (MBA’87) received Gold status by Quality Service Certified. Gold status is the only award in the industry based on independently validated, measurable service results. She works for The Group and lives in Fort Collins. Nearing the end of a military career that has included a combined 23 years in the Marine Corps, Air National Guard and Air Force, Michael Eaton (ApMath’88) received his master’s degree in homeland security and transportation security studies in May. He is stationed at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., where he flies Gulfstream executive jets for international diplomatic missions. He lives with his wife Cindi Hodskins Eaton (Fin’90) and their two children. An avid actor and contributor to the direction and set construction of numerous plays during his time at CU, Philip Middleton Williams (PhDThtre’88) has produced his own play, Can’t Live Without You, which had a run of six performances as a part of the Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s Winterfest 2008 in New York. The Coral Gables, Fla., resident is an administrator for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. April was the one-year mark for Catherine Kolkmeier (EPOBio, Hist’89) in her new job as director of the La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium and the Health Science Center in La Crosse, Wis. She coordinates collaborative projects among two area medical centers and three higher education institutions. She also operates the scientific writing and editing business, Plain English Professional Writing Services, which she began in 2003. 90s Firefighter and filmmaker Eric Abramson (Jour’90) is director of Years in Your Ears: A Story of Leftover Salmon. The film was produced by fellow We want your news! Write Marc Killinger, Koenig Alumni Center, Boulder CO 80309 [email protected] or fax 303-492-6799. Buff Michael Henry (Engl’,Thtr’96), and a majority of the electricity used in the completion of the project was generated through solar and wind power. Both alums live in Nederland, Colo. A new species of cave springtail was discovered by David Steinmann (Phys’90) and his wife in Fulford Cave, Colo. The species is named Typhlogastrura steinmanni in their honor, as they have found over 50 new species in Colorado’s caves. David works as a wetland biologist at his company, Professional Wetlands Consulting, and lives with his wife and their son in Gold Hill, Colo. Author Jennifer Hails Hedda (Hist’91) wrote His Kingdom Come: Orthodox Pastorship and Social Activism in Revolutionary Russia (Northern Illinois University Press), a book about the Russian Orthodox Church’s response to changes in the modern world and how it affected society. She lives in McLean, Va. A former assistant attorney general in the employment and civil rights litigation section for Alaska’s law department, Richard Postma Jr.* (Fin’91) was appointed by the governor to be a district court judge in Anchorage. He lives in Chigiak outside Anchorage with his wife and three children. Former Buff and Bronco linebacker Alfred Williams (Soc ex’91) is still saying “thanks” to his CU coaches as a sports-talk radio host on Denver’s COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 59 KKFN 950 AM. He told The Denver Post that former head coach Bill McCartney, as well as assistant coaches Mike Hankwitz and Bob Simmons, helped shape his life. He lives in Aurora. Proud parents Sherry Fushimi* (Kines’92) and Douglas Wolanske* (Econ, PolSci’93) had their second child, Carston Bridger in August 2007. Sherry is a physician’s assistant at Panorama Orthopedics in Golden, and Doug is an attorney at Ruddy & Wolanske in Denver. The family lives in Morrison, Colo. Jonathan Treisman* (Comm’92) was hired as director of business development at Universal Pictures Strategic Partnerships Group in Los Angeles where he oversees long-term corporate alliances for the film studio. He lives in Santa Monica. The last year was full of world travel, writes Kevin Goodfellow (MMechEngr’95), as he visited Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland. In his spare time away from his IT consulting practice, Kevin founded SportsDataHub.com, a sports fan statistics website set to go live this summer. The Denver resident writes he’s on the lookout for CU alums to join the SportsDataHub team. A Coloradan summer intern during his undergrad years, Patrick Crawford (Engl’96, MJour’07) is editorial and online vice president of Storm Mountain Publishing in Boulder. He writes that his internship with the Coloradan was his first journalism position, and he still loves working in the magazine industry. He lives in Longmont. Former Colorado guard Matt Daniel (A&S’96) was named head women’s basketball coach at Central Arkansas in January. Prior, he was an assistant at Missouri and at CU under former head coach Ceal Barry. ment Federation TMDL Conference Proceedings, his study described the ability of plants to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from streams to improve water quality. He lives in Denver. Longtime offensive tackle Matt Lepsis (Hist’97) retired from the Broncos after 11 NFL seasons. He lives in Castle Rock, Colo. Wider than the Sky: Essays and Meditations on the Healing Power of Emily Dickinson (The Kent State University Press) is co-edited by Cindy MacKenzie (PhDEngl’97). The Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. Marine biologist Shiway Wang (Chem Engr’96) married David Safine in Anchorage, Alaska, in July 2007. Both are employed at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. A water resources engineer with CDM in Denver, Timothy Cox (CivEngr’97) received a $5,000 award from the company for the best paper published in a non-peer-reviewed journal. Printed in Water Environ- 1992 yearbook essays in the book range from scholarly analyses to personal essays and meditations, each offering thoughts on the emotional, spiritual and physical healing power gained from reading Dickinson. Cindy teaches English at University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, and lives in Regina. Baby Buff Oscar Harvey Johnson Wimmer was born to Jonathan Wimmer (Engl’97) in November. Jonathan writes both the baby and the mommy are healthy, and son James Wimmer has assumed the role of big brother with great interest and intensity. Jonathan gives a big shout out to his Sig Ep brothers. The family lives in Knoxville, Tenn. Last spring Aimee Woolley* (Kines’97) was certified as a medical services professional by the National Association Medical Staff Services. She is membership coordinator at the El Paso County Medical Society and coordina- 60 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN tor of the society’s centralized credentials verification service. She lives in Colorado Springs. Freelance photographer and writer Jad Davenport (MJour’98) is winner of the Lowell Thomas Silver Award in the environmental tourism category of the Society of American Travel Writers’ Journalism Competition. He won for a package submitted by ISLANDS magazine called “Ultimate Icebreaker” about South Georgia Island in the Antarctic. He lives in Denver with his wife and daughter. Check out his work at www. jaddavenport.com. Cardiac nurse at Aurora Children’s Hospital Kari Hopper (Psych’98, Nurs’05) married Brad Snyders in August 2007. They spent their honeymoon in Kaui, Hawaii, and live in Parker, Colo. Proud parents Doug Slaybaugh* (Acct’98) and his wife welcomed future Buff Guy Douglas on December 12. The family lives in Denver. Civil engineer Melissa Tolve (CivEngr’98, MS’00) and Matthew Morin married in November and celebrated with a honeymoon to the Ambergris Caye in Belize. Melissa works for the Loveland Water Department. The couple lives in Longmont. A student at the George Mason University School of Law, Ashley Brott (Fren, Span’99) received the Virginia State Bar’s 2008 Oliver White Hill Student Pro Bono Award. The award recognizes a law student’s commitment to uncompensated or minimally compensated pro bono work and other public service, and is bestowed by the Virginia State Bar’s Committee on Access to Legal Services. She lives in Arlington, Va. * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. PROFILE Eric Stough Casey A. Cass Bringing South Park to life Students sit silently in the dark room in the ATLAS building on the Boulder campus, their faces barely illuminated by the action on the projection screen. They watch a scene from South Park featuring Kenny McCormick flying in a spaceship with a “biker babe” in the driver’s seat. Eric Stough (A&S’95), the man behind the show’s animation magic, sits in the back of the classroom, explaining the images and joking with students. Although Eric is a bit of a celebrity in the animation world, with two Emmys and a Peabody award under his belt, the animation director of Comedy Central’s South Park show doesn’t take his position too seriously. He wears jeans to his guest lecture at CU, works on his house in his free time and makes sure students know he doesn’t even like Los Angeles that much. South Park is known for pushing satirical and moral limits as it follows the lives of four elementary schoolboys in their fictional hometown of South Park, Colo. It parodies everything from Britney Spears’ style to the capture of Saddam Hussein. But Eric says when he first imagined himself in the field of animation, he could only picture working at Disney. “Disney is the best in the industry,” he says. “From The Jungle Book to The Little Mermaid, I wanted to be able to do that.” Although he hasn’t had a chance to work at the magic castle company yet, his life so far has been a bit like a dream www.cualum.org come true. After growing up in what he terms a cookie-cutter childhood in Evergreen, Colo., Eric attended CU to study animation. He quickly bonded with future South Park creators Matt Stone (Art, Math’93) and Trey Parker ( A&S ex’93 ) in his film classes, as the three shared similar tastes in storytelling. After college, Eric interned for Matt and Trey and then stayed on as the show evolved from a video Christmas card in 1996. He says he loves his job because of South Park’s constant experimentation with new topics and animation styles. “I love that every week is something different — it’s like still being in school,” Eric says. Because Matt and Trey aim to parody world events days after they happen, the South Park crew creates a single episode in about five days versus normal production schedules of six months. As a result, Eric works 12 hours a day, six days a week for 10 consecutive weeks during a run of shows. He then gets four months off to travel and work on other projects like visiting CU to lecture. Eric says CU’s animation classes have changed “1,000 percent” with the addition of new studios and technology. Yet, he notes the essence of filmmaking hasn’t changed. “Good storytelling is important no matter what computers or technology you have,” he says. -Emery Cowan COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 61 CU PEOPLE 00s Law firm Dykema announced that Monica J. Frascona (Fin’00) joined the firm’s litigation department as an associate in its Los Angeles office. She is a general litigator whose practice focuses on automotive and liability litigation. She lives in Pasadena, Calif. Proud parents John Harter (Hist’00) and Heather Roemke (Psych’00) welcomed their first child, Maxwell Thomas Harter, in February. The two have been married for five years and live in Louisville, Ky., where John is an orthopedic sales representative for Johnson and Johnson and Heather is a social worker. CBS Interactive project manager Erika Bodigheimer Winterholler (Soc’00) married Ryan Winterholler in September. Two of her bridesmaids were CU friends Carey Lavaux (Psych’00) and Sara Morris (Jour’00). After the wedding, the couple celebrated in St. Kitts. They live in Pleasanton, Calif. In February, Marnie Mosiman White (Mus’00) and Ted White (CivEngr’01) welcomed their first child, Eleanor Marion White. Marnie teaches general music at Aspen Elementary School and Ted is an engineer for CTL/Thomp- Buff couple Erik Johnson* (Fin’01) and Lauren Newton (SpLangHearSci, Edu’05) are engaged to be married in June 2009. They live in Telluride. Last September, Heather Fuller (Soc’02) and Jonathan Culwell (Comm, Engl’04) married at Chautauqua Park and spent their honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Heather works for Network Document Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. son in Glenwood Springs. The family, two dogs and a cat live near Carbondale, Colo. The first American woman to earn a world championship medal in the 10,000-meter race, Kara Goucher (Psych’01) won at the 2009 Millrose Games in New York in February. She lives in Portland, Ore. Services and Jonathan is at Charles Schwab in Denver. Winner of the 2000 NCAA slalom title Andy LeRoy (Fin’03) finished his second season as head coach at the University of Denver this year. Prior, he spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach for CU ski coach Richard Rokos. He lives in Denver. Buff couple Andrew Morrison (Law’03) and Kristen Rahbar (Psych’03) married in June in Littleton, Colo. Fellow Buffs in attendance were Cyrus Rajabi (Mgmt’00, Law’03) of Englewood, Meredith McVeigh (Psych’02) of Littleton, Abe Laydon (Law’03) of Denver, Lauren Glicken O’Leary (Engl’03) and Robert O’Leary (IntlAf ’03) of New York City, Samuel Sorkin (Law’03) of Gunnison, Kent Bozarth (Law’04) of Denver, Kristin Edgar (Law’04) of Louisville, Kelsey Ahem Thompson (CivEngr’03 ) of Austin, Texas, and Dustin Kitson (Law’04) of Denver. Andrew is in-house counsel for Shell Oil Co.and Kristen is finishing her doctorate in clinical psychology at Texas A&M. Former CU AllAmerican Jorge Torres (Econ’03) won the 2008 USA 8K championship in March in New York. He picked up $10,000 for the win, defeating the second-place run- 2005 Flagstone yearbook 58 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. We want your news! 2005 Flagstone yearbook Write Marc Killinger, Koenig Alumni Center, Boulder CO 80309 [email protected] or fax 303-492-6799. Peek (PhDSoc’05) edited the issue as its new field report editor. As a CU grad student, she served as research assistant at the Natural Hazards Research Center, where she is now a faculty affiliate. The Fort Collins resident also is an assistant professor of sociology at Colorado State University. ner by .07 seconds. He made the U.S. Olympic team on July 4 by finishing third in the 10,000 meters. Addison, Texas, resident Audrey Lam Yazbeck (Fin’03, MAcct’03) was promoted to controller at Centex Homes in Dallas. A product manager for Yahoo! Adam Zarlengo (MechEngr’03) married Alyssa Shimasaki in Malibu, Calif., in September. After a honeymoon in Aruba, they returned to their home in Los Angeles. CU couple Kelly Crowder (Hist’04) and Christopher Kudola (Hist, PolSci’04) married in December in Denver. Kelly is an engineering recruiter for Kelly Services and Christopher is completing his master’s in international studies at the University of Denver. Marketing specialist Jenn Dormann (Mktg’04) is coordinator for The Gourmet Spoon, a division of the Witherspoon Group. The culinary business specializes in hands-on culinary workshops, culinary www.cualum.org team building and culinary parties. She lives in Parker, Colo. Schoolmates from Fairview High School, Chelsea Glasscock (Phil, Psych’04) and Jonathan Pierotti (Econ’05) married in August 2007. Silverthorne resident Jillian Mustard Benbow* (Psych’05) is program coordinator at Bristlecone Health Services, a nonprofit home health and hospice center, in Frisco, Colo. She married Dillion Benbow last November in Kauai, Hawaii. She is training for marathons on her time off. Great River Energy Bicycle Festival. The Havertown, Pa., resident was selected to the team based on her standings in the Tour de Ephrata. Last July Michael Leibovitz (Geol’05) and Erika Olson (Psych ex’09) married in Boulder and spent their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii. Registered nurse at Boulder Community Hospital Callie Burson (Psych’05) and commercial real estate lender at U.S. Bank James Payne (Mgmt’05, MBA’06) married in September. They spent their honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii. Second-year, CU law student Joe Neguse (PolSci, Econ’05) is a candidate for the CU Board of Regents in the 2nd Congressional District to succeed Cindy Carlisle (A&S’70, MEngl’77). He told the Colorado Daily he would like to secure adequate funding for CU and other higher education institutions. As an undergrad, Joe co-founded and directed the “Fund our Future” campaign, geared toward increasing state funding for higher education. A German teacher at Ridley High School in Pennsylvania, Kristine Church (MGer’05) raced on the Nature Valley Pro Ride team in the Nature Valley Grand Prix in June. The race, held in Minnesota, was part of the The CYE Journal, an online publication of the CU architecture school’s Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research and Design, devoted an entire issue to the topic of children and disasters. Lori Former CU standout Mason Crosby (Comm’06) led the NFL in scoring as a kicker for the Green Bay Packers. Making 31 of 39 field-goal attempts, he became the seventh rookie in league history to lead the NFL in scoring with 141 points. Director of the documentary La Quiñceaera, Boulder resident Adam Taub (Anth’06) won the award for outstanding documentary at the 12th Annual Angelus Student Film Festival in Hollywood last October. The film follows Ana Maria, a Mexican girl preparing to celebrate her 15th birthday. Designer Lars Zimmerman (EnvDes’07) works for concept3D Inc., a Boulderbased 3-D modeling company. Founded in 2006, concept3D formed after @Last and its SketchUp software were purchased by Google. He lives in Boulder. CU researcher Lynsi Aldridge (Astro, RelSt’07) married Tim Coressel Jr. in Denver. They spent their honeymoon in Riviera Maya, Mexico, last July. Lynsi works at the Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics and lives in the Boulder area. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 59 “Words Personified” by Eric Bumguardner (Art’07) was an art show on display through mid-April at the Norlin Library HotSpot gallery. His three pieces made up a conceptual triptych that collectively examined the notion of words and language as records of societies, communicative tools and instruments of expression. The Centennial, Colo., resident donated his bust of Noah Webster sculpted from dictionaries to the library’s permanent collection. World traveler Brianna Corbat (Jour’07) traveled to Uganda last fall for volunteer work and spent much of the spring traveling in South America. She writes she loves writing and taking photos on her travels. See her blog at www. briandbociadventures. blogspot.com. Boulder’s Wendy Kirchner (Psych’07) and Asa Merriam married in Lyons and honeymooned in Cozumel, Mexico, last July. Kelly McQueeney* (Clas’07) writes she is taking a year off before heading to law school in fall 2009. The Longmont resident is working in property management after having received her real estate license. A CU-Boulder Herd volunteer during her undergrad years, Arica Nigrini* (Mgmt’07) is a brokers associate for the Boulder Area Realtor Association. She earned her license in February. New York journalist Ben Popken (Engl’07) is editor of the online consumer report site consumerist.com. He published an article in May’s Reader’s Digest titled “Consumer Relief: How To Get What You Pay For.” He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. Cyclist Luisa Sullivan (MIntPhys’07) is the owner of Davanti Cycling, an integrated coaching lab that offers performance tests, bike fittings, training, One of 13 Churchill Scholars in the United States for 2008, Ben Safdi (Phys, Math’08) will receive a $25,000 academic scholarship for a year of study at Cambridge University in England. He will study for a certificate of Advanced Study in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. In April, he received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides $121,000 for up to three years of funding for master’s and doctoral degrees. Ben plans to undertake his NSF fellowship at Princeton University Read the complete CU People online at www.cualum.org/ publications/coloradan/. nutrition plans and cycling tour camps in Italy. She lives in Boulder. after he returns from Cambridge in fall 2009. He hails from Cincinnati. After spending the last couple of years working at Rich’s Tennis School in Erie, Colo., Chad Tsuda (Soc’07) is taking a position as a coach at Fairview High School, his alma mater, where he won state titles in No. 1 singles as a junior and senior. He will be coaching the boys’ team starting in the fall. He lives in Boulder. After graduation, Lisa Garske Clemons* (Comm’00) worked for a literary agency in Hollywood and as a director’s assistant for feature film On the Line. She has shifted gears, partnering with her brother to start Pelligrini Solutions, a promotional products and event management company. The Highlands Ranch, Colo., resident writes the company is doing well, with five employees and an office in Denver. After two years in Seattle, Nathan Evenson (EnvSt, Geol ’00) and his fiancée moved back to Colorado to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. Nathan works as an assistant ESQ scientist at TetraTech and lives in Arvada. 2005 Flagstone yearbook 60 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN New Canaan, Conn., resident Katharine Hovey (Jour’00) is the director of watch, jewelry and fashion advertising at Doubledown Media. Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, was an unlikely place for Capt. William Acosta-Trejo (Hist ’01) to meet a fellow CU alum. Deployed to Kuwait as a defense attorney, he was surprised to meet U.S. Navy officer Katie Jones (EnvSt, EPOB’00) while at a local hospital. He knew both of Katie’s brothers at CU. The two have named themselves the unofficial CU alumni club at the camp. A former editor at the Longmont Times-Call and part-time copy editor at the Rocky Mountain News, Rory Fairlight Baer-Gutierrez (Jour’02) was promoted to editor at YourHub.com in March. The Denver resident helped launch the website and print editions of Denverbased YourHub in spring 2005. She married photojournalist Barry Gutierrez last October. After three wonderful years in New York City, Megan Young (Mktg, Span’02) moved to Cincinnati to pursue a marketing career with Proctor and Gamble. She is assistant brand manager at the company and traveled to Egypt, Germany and Mexico last year. Pairing up with Michaela Capps (IntlAf ’05), Leslie Byers (Mgmt ’05) opened and now co-owns Mountain Waters Recreations. The specialty sporting goods store is located on Flathead Lake in Polson, Mont. Providence, R.I., residents McCall Elyse Mullen (ApMath, Astro’07) and Daniel Lee Burau (Jour’04) were married on June 21 in Lyons, Colo. McCall is enrolled in the geophysics doctorate program at Brown University and Danny works as a freelance production agent/art director in advertising. * Indicates Alumni Association members; “ex” indicates a nondegree alum and the year of expected graduation. PROFILE Jon Ferris Courtesy Jon Ferris Creating quality jobs in developing countries He noticed it on a dusty street in Ghana when a young man ran up to him asking for a job and promising to work his hardest. He observed it while teaching English to Burmese refugees in northern Thailand. Even during his younger years, living in Switzerland, Mexico and Sweden, Jon Ferris (Mgmt’02) saw it: the unrecognized and untapped potential of young adults living in these countries. “I’ve met so many intelligent young people throughout life,” Jon says. “It didn’t seem fair that they can’t get jobs. They are sharp 25-year-old university graduates who would do well in the U.S. but have few prospects in the Philippines or Bangladesh.” A graduate of the entrepreneurship program in the Leeds School of Business, he knew he didn’t want to spend his future selling computers or marketing plastics. Instead, after spending three years working with refugees in Thailand and Ghana, he created a company to provide job opportunities for hardworking, educated young people like those with whom he had worked. Jon’s company, myglobalstaff.com, is an outsourcing firm providing a variety of information technology, customer service and administrative support services to small and medium-sized businesses. With the internationalization of the world economy, he firmly believes outsourcing is the way, providing competwww.cualum.org itive advantage for companies and promising job opportunities for talented workers in developing countries. He also sees outsourcing as a way for young graduates to remain in their home communities while still participating in the global economy. “You go up to a group of young people and ask them what they want, and they want to work for an American company — they want a good job,” Jon says. “Now they can start to support their families in a new way.” His company’s goal of providing great work with a social reward isn’t surprising considering the influences in his life. While he was growing up, Jon’s mother worked with refugees around the world and his wife works for the International Rescue Committee in Bangkok, finding homes for Burmese refugees. As the director of myglobalstaff. com, he travels from his home in Bangkok around Southeast Asia, overseeing the company’s operations and scouting out new places for expansion. With each location, he considers the impact his company would have on the local people and economy and works to spread into areas where work is most needed. “I love being able to say, ‘Wow, we just created new jobs for people in the Philippines,’” Jon says. “It’s amazing what a truly humbling feeling that is.” —Emery Cowan COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 61 Faculty, staff & students Assistant professor Hang “Hubert” Yin of chemistry and biochemistry received the Kimmel Scholar Award from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research in Baltimore. The $200,000 award began in July and will support his cancer-related research for two years. Founding president of Engineers Without Borders USA and co-founder of Engineers Without Borders International, Bernard Amadei was honored as the Drexel University College of Engineering’s 2008 Engineer of the Year. He is a CU professor of civil engineering. CU-Boulder named Julie Wong vice chancellor for student affairs, effective July 22. Prior, she served as associate vice president and dean of students at the University of Texas at El Paso, a post she held since 2004. Widely regarded as a world leader in laser spectroscopy and frequency measurement technology, LongSheng Ma received an honorary degree from CU-Boulder in May. He has been a frequent visitor to JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and has worked with Jun Ye (PhDPhys’97), a fellow at JILA and NIST and an adjoint physics professor. Professor in the civil, environmental and architectural engineering department, Joseph Ryan, was selected as a 2008 Pacesetter Award recipient in the science/ medicine/ health category. He has helped protect the James Creek water supply from vehicleerosion. His analysis of acid-mine drainage for the Lefthand Watershed helped residents living above Boulder clean their water supply, and the data he collected helped raise millions to revitalize water sources. Winner of three gold medals and one silver in swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Nancy HogsheadMakar is CU’s Title IX advisor. Prior, she taught courses on federal gender-equity law at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville. The Hazel Barnes Prize, the highest faculty recognition for teaching and research given by CU-Boulder, was awarded to John Falconer. The professor and chair of the chemical and biological engineering department received an engraved university medal, as well as a $20,000 cash award. He was recognized for his ground-breaking work in heterogeneous catalysis and zeolite membranes for gas phase separations and for his teaching excellence. Four faculty members in the mechanical engineering department garnered Young Faculty Awards from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to support innovative research in microsystems technology. Assistant professors Scott Bunch, Harold Park, Wei Tan and Ronggui Yang were among 39 “rising stars” selected at 27 universities across the country. Each received a grant of about $150,000 to develop and validate their research ideas during the coming year. In June Frank Bruno became vice chancellor for administration. Prior, he served as Boulder city manager, a post he held since 2003. He succeeds Paul Tabolt 62 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN (MBA’96), who retired from the position in March after 17 years of service to the university and 11 years in the post of vice chancellor for administration. A new study by CU researchers indicates older, multiyear sea ice in the Arctic is giving way to younger, thinner ice, making it more susceptible to record summer sea-ice lows like the one that occurred in 2007. Lead study author for the research is Professor James Maslanik of CU’s Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. His team used satellite data going back to 1982 to reconstruct past Arctic sea ice conditions, concluding there’s been a nearly complete loss of the oldest and thickest ice and 58 percent of the remaining perennial ice is only 2-to-3 years old. James Hynes Linda Cordell Two CU faculty members were invited to join American Academy of Arts and Sciences in the spring. Former CU Museum director and anthropology emeritus Professor Linda Cordell and chemistry and biochemistry Professor James Hynes were among 212 inductees into the academy in 2008. Cordell’s research focused primarily on the archaeology of Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest. Hynes is well-known in his field for contributions to the theory of chemical reaction rates and mechanisms. Assistant professor Nils Halverson of the astrophysical and planetary sciences and physics departments and assistant professor Kyle McElroy of the physics department were among 118 scientists and scholars to receive Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships. The two-year awards for $50,000 each are designed to stimulate research by early career scientists who show outstanding promise. Lead chef for CU’s Piazanos café in Cheyenne-Arapahoe dorm, Billy Kardys won the National Association of College and University Food Services’ regional challenge in early April, representing CU at the organization’s national conference in Washington, D.C., in July. Parents of bipolar teenagers, whose youngsters’ extreme mood swings and severe irritability often cause significant trauma and conflict for families, may find some helpful tips in a newly released book by clinical psychology professor David Miklowitz. His book is titled The Bipolar Teen: What You Can Do to Help Your Child and Your Family (The Guilford Press). At the 43rd annual Engineering Award Banquet in April, five recipients received the 2008 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. They included former vice president of Storage Technology Corp. Gary Anderson (MechEngr’69), CUBoulder Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth (PhDChemEngr’94), past chair of the Engineering Advisory Council Peter Mannetti, Denver structural engineer Sami Miro (CivEngr’70) and the late John McMasters (Aero’61, MS’62), a former Boeing engineer. R.I.P Correction Due to a reporting error, we extend our sincere apologies to CU alum Jennifer Lynn Maybee (MSpcHearSci’06) whose name appeared in the R.I.P. section of the June issue. She writes she is alive and well. Robert Mills (Bus’31) Edward J. Gemmill (ElEngr’33) Gertrude Bee Molini (Econ’33) Helen Warner Crane (A&S’34) Margaret Lawrence Preston (A&S’36) John D. Morton (Mktg’38) Elizabeth Heffernan Meyer (HomeEcon’39) Donald W. Sidwell (A&S ex’39) K. Ellen Williams Valentine (A&S ex’39) Helen Johnson Wigram (Acct ex’39) Robert H. Austin (Mgmt’40) Frances Kalcevic Cutright (A&S ex’40) Robert L. Howsam Sr. (A&S ex’40) Jane Moorhead Immel (Edu, Hist’40) Eddie W. Schodt (MA&S’40, PhD’51) Arlene Solomon Shattil (Jour ex’40) Jean Holm Delehoy (Jour’41) H. Vincent Ellwood Jr. (Mech Engr’42) George F. Baroch (ElecEngr’43) Robinson B. Gourley Sr. (Mech Engr’43) Dorothy Schmidlin Orians (MA&S’43) Leslie Friedman Davis (A&S ex’44) P. Raymond Johnson (Bus’44, MMgmt’57) Eugenia Johns Oldweiler (Jour’44) Peggy Walker Barker (A&S’45) James W. Aspinwall (Bus ex’46) Philip H. Barnes (MechEngr’46) Jack W. Cunningham (ChemEngr’46) Virgina A. Lee (MA&S’46, PhD’52) Barbara Louise McClintock (A&S’46) David M. Rohr (ElEngr’46) William A. Willoughby (A&S’46, MD’49) Loyal W. King (MechEngr’47, MS’57) Shirley Flanagan McKeon (A&S’47) Albert B. Ackermann (Aero’48) Joseph W. Bachman (Acct’48) George R. Brown (ElEngr’48) Stephen S. T. Kao (MMechEngr’48) Richard L. Lines (Chem’48) John T. Morrow (Mktg’48) Mary Jacobson South (DistSt’48) Marylou Regier Stirling (A&S’48) Leland S. Alvord (Mus’49, MA’50) Charles M. Foster (Zool’49) Eleanor Oxley Gause (Art’49) Dale B. Hylton (DistSt’49) James H. Konkel (ChemEngr’49) John J. Magee (MGeol’49) Robert M. McGrew (CivEngr’49) Ramey B. Metz (ElecEngr’49) Albert W. Smith (MGeog’49) Walter A. Steele (Law’49) Camille Matteson Young (A&S’49) Robert Guy Barrows (A&S’50) Thomas Dale Bartley (A&S’50, MD’53) www.cualum.org Hans C. Borm (Aero’50) Andrew H. Cochran (Psych’50, MPerServ’52) Floyd A. Gates (ElEngr’50) Theodora Vale Koble (MZoo’50) Wayne A. McAninch (ArchEngr’50) John W. Plunkett (MEdu’50, EdD’51) Jayne Godbe Winegardner (Law’50) Muriel Rae Cibull (A&S’51, MD’54) William G. Dryden (CivEngr’51) Elizabeth B. Harlan (A&S’51) Emery D. Jarrett (A&S’51) Robert P. Muschler (A&S’51) Shirley Maxine Reed (Mus’51) Gary G. Willoughby (A&S’51, MA’58) Leonard S. Allott (A&S’52, MD’56) Keefe L. Baker (Art’52) Bobby M. Downing (Mus’52, MMus’57) George L. Ellis (A&S’52) Helen Banzhaf Mitcheltree (MMus’52) Richard M. Simmons (Soc’52) Joe H. Bergheim (Bus, MechEngr’53) George E. Lindsley (A&S’53) John D. Livingston (A&S’53) Charles D. Montfort (Law’53) Melvin F. Orth (A&S’53) Patricia Anderson Wells (Home Econ’53) Gerald K. Dungan II (A&S ex’54) Charles P. Hughes (Acct’54) Harlan B. Hamilton (Engl’55) Robert P. Arganbright (PhDA&S’56) Robert W. Olsen (CivEngr’56, MS’62) Irving J. Witkind (PhDGeol’56) William J. Kabbert (MechEngr’57) Dwight Malcolm Akers (MS’58) Etta Mae Conrad Coburn (MEdu’58) Raymond A. Hatch (Fin’58) Clemens W. Helms (A&S’58, MA’60) Lois F. Radford (Mus’58) Richard V. Reed (ElEngr’58) Jo An Ciavaglia Toth (BusEdu’58) Sally Ann Klein Bishop (A&S’59) Elizabeth Borgmann Carey (Edu’59) Robert A. Carvell (Law’60) Robert Emmett Floyd (MPerSer’60) Kelly L. Harris (MA’60) Paul E. Hubble (Aero’60) William A. Lidster (MCivEngr’60) Nancy S. Newall (Acct’60) Peter Rosoff (A&S’60) Robert Wang (ApMath’60) John Carter Bromley (A&S’61, MA’63) Mary A. Gilchrist (MEdu’61, EdD’68) John H. McMasters (Aero’61, MS’62) David Roger Howard (CivEngr’62, MS’62) William F. Sealy (MechEngr’62) Robert Lionel Fisher (Psych’63) Gerald Wayne Nelson (Mktg’63) Lawrence R. Reno (Law’63) Maurice Dean Harrah (A&S’64) Donald Lester Lucas (Edu’64) Steven Reynold Trott (A&S’64) James Donald Webb (MMgmt’64) Paul H. White (A&S’65) Evelyn Johnson Cobb (Edu’66, MA’77) William M. Perry (MElEngr’66) H. Don Unland Jr. (MChemEngr’66) Robert Stephen Warren (A&S’66) John Charles Bowman (MBasicSci’67) William P. Bredesen Jr. (Mgmt’67) James Harold Chenoweth (Aero’67) Carl Bernard Lindsey (ElEngr’67) Phil Eugene Miller (EngrPhys’67) Rex E. Mayhew (MMgmt’67) J. Stephen Schroeder (Aero’68) Florence Noramae Hitt (MEdu’69) Donald Clark Hichens (MBA’70) Joan Gamel Murnan (Mktg’70, MEdu’85) Bruce Allen Anderson (MAnth’71) Randall Paul Bruns (Engr’71) Douglas Weller Price (MBA’71) Shirley Sagehorn Travis (MEdu’71) Claire C.S. Gomez (Rec’72) Wesley Lee Halbrook (Engl’72) Leona Hoover Laut (Edu’72) Leslie Ann Fishbein (Art’74) Richard Carl Kimble (MS’74) Thomas David Lustig (Law’74) Angela M. Lujan-Ogle (LatAmer’74, Law’82) Roxanne Roser Riche (Engl’74) James Edward Fuchs (Psych’75) Mary Jane Morrow Ward (EdD’75) Darlene Kay Husted (Soc’77) Eleanor Werbe Krauss (Bio’77, MA’80) Ruth K. Russell (MEdu’77) Arthur F. Greslin (MCDBio’78) Avis L. Zielinski (Psych’79) Martha Jeanne Phillips Bootzin (Mus’80) Katherine Taylor Moran (MEdu’80) Hallie Kay Koppel Wheeler (Edu’81) Lyn Kurachi Williams (MPE’82) Ellen Tiffany Weir (AfAmerSt ex’82) Steven A. Shannon (PolSci’88) Tammy Marie Stiller (PhDEPO Bio’89) Gary Michael Wenzinger (Psych’91) Tyler Abraham Palmer (MAero’94) Glen Edward Martinez (MEngr ex’03) April E. Roberts (MGeol’04) Alec Farquhar Littler (MCDBio’07) Wallace Briggs Westfeldt (A&S ex’09) Faculty, staff & friends Norman D. Ball, Engineering, Mathematics Marilyn Cooper Barrick (Psych’61, MA’65, PhD’66), Counseling Services Paul L. Barrick, Chemical Engineering Eleanor Roberts Bartlett, Friend Bus Campbell, Athletics Mary Jean Gleason (Jour’70,MJour’78), University Communications James Hill, Facilities Management Mame “Mabel” Irwin, Financial Aid Peter A. List (A&S’61), College of Arts and Sciences and Admissions Juana Mae Lefferdink, Friend Bob Maust, Alcohol Education Elizabeth Janet Owen, Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology Nodelia “Noddy” Marie Plumley, Housing Aaron Sayvetz, College of Arts and Sciences Katherine Louise Waggoner, CU Extension Adult Education George P. Wray, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology To report a death, call 303-5411290 or 888-287-2829, e-mail [email protected] or write Record Processing, CU Foundation, P.O. Box 1140, Boulder, CO 80306. Please include date of death and other relevant information. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 63 LETTERS Remembering Claude Walton (Mus ex’37) Please accept my thanks to you and Zak Brown for your story in your June issue about beloved schoolmate Claude Walton (Mus ex’37). It was a privilege to be with Claude. Many afternoons, training in the stadium under Frank Potts, I could look over to the northwest quadrant, exalted by the living grace of Claude at discus practice. It was a treat then to encounter him on campus, always with a friendly greeting and a shining example of grace under pressure. Depression years were a trial for all of us, yet they continue to bring many happy memories. Association with Claude remains one of the happiest. Let us wait no longer for Claude’s induction into the CU Hall of Fame. Again, thank you! Robert “Bob” C. Davidge (ElecEngr’35) Baton Rouge, La. I want to commend you on the inspirational story of Claude Walton (Mus ex’37). What an amazing gentleman. I can think of no one more deserving of an honorary degree. He was and is a true trailblazer and through your story I hope he encourages greater diversity within our CU family. Lastly, according to your “The Scoop” section I should see notes about alumni on either decade of my intended graduation date. Alas I left CU in 1986 64 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN three credits short of my degree, but I seem to get information only on graduates of 1960 and 1970! Maybe there is a way to get this corrected? I should note that even with the changes I always look forward to the arrival of my Coloradan! Thanks and good job, Brian Thomas Beagle (Hist ex’86) Denver Editor’s note: For all of you alums who attended CU but did not get your degree, customizing your Coloradan with the class notes from the decade you attended is not possible. The computer sorting system only looks for degrees earned. When no degree appears, it defaults to placing you in the 60s and before/70s category. Unfortunately, there is no technological solution to this issue at this time. Please go online to www. cualum.org/publications/coloradan to read all class notes. Cabral an asset to CU The good article in June 2008 Coloradan (page 52) about the “Cabrals living the dream” had me remembering when Brian Cabral (Rec’79) first came to CU. He had been recruited from St. Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, where my brotherin-law had coached and mentored him, as well as a few others who attended CU. I met Brian at Stapleton Airport and drove him to Boulder to the athlete dorms. We had the privilege to attend Brian and Becky Cabral’s (PolSci ex’80) wedding and reception. His book, Second String Champion (Group Pub), is a testament to his faith and abilities to overcome the trials he’s faced. Now he is recognized at CU for his achievements and his positive influence on the team. We are still avid Buff fans and wear CU sweatshirts and socks during every game. Give our love to Brian and Becky. Jim Amend (MedTech ’54) and Mary Ann Amend Aurora, Colo. Growing green graduates I enjoyed your June article on Ellis Jones (PhDSoc’02) and his Better World Shopping Guide (New Society Publishers). The work of another graduate of our program, John Paul Lederach (PhDSoc’88), may be of interest to you as well. He lives in Rollinsville, Colo., but spends much of his time with difficult conflicts around the world. His latest book, The Moral Imagination (Oxford University Press), is highly respected among international peace builders. Paul Wehr, Professor Emeritus, Sociology Boulder Remembering old times I enjoy reading the Coloradan. In March, during CU’s spring break I visited Boulder, the campus and the geography building for the first time since graduating with my Ph.D. in geography in 1980. I retired in December 2007 from the University of Houston-Downtown after 37 years of community college and university teaching. The region, the city of Boulder and www.cualum.org the CU campus have really changed over the years. It was wonderful to see the Flatirons again. I also walked around Newton Court. I couldn’t believe how much it has grown. I moved into the apartments when they first opened on January 1975. I also took a drive to Estes Park, and as I drove through the mountains I remembered the beautiful drives we took into the mountains on the weekends to take a break from my studies. I remember how my son enjoyed the snow and chipmunks. My son was just 2 years old then. He is 35 years old now, the age I was at that time. I have fond memories of my days at the University of Colorado. It was nice to go back and visit after all these years. Roberto Garza (PhDGeog’80) San Antonio, Texas Thoughts on Coloradan redesign Thanks for taking the time to explain the recent decision to customize the CU People news items in the Coloradan. While I applaud the Alumni Association’s efforts to be responsive to the requests of some of the readers who were not interested in reading about people who graduated in other decades, I question we would all agree. It’s often interesting to read what alumni from CU are doing, regardless of whether we knew them. While I don’t anticipate a full-scale return to including all decades in the magazine, I would like to make a couple of recommendations to help facilitate customization and enable those who graduated CU in multiple decades, graduated near a decade cutoff or have a two-alumni household with different decade categories to receive the alumni news that is relevant to them: 1. Is the magazine customizable enough that alums could go to the website and select the specific decades (or all, or none) that they want to receive in their print version? 2. If not, then perhaps the magazine could include an individual’s graduating decade plus the decade before and after. This would better include information pertinent to those who graduate near a decade cutoff. Thanks for listening. Jonathan Brahmer (PolSci’93, MBA’02) Denver I am glad to know I’m not the only one who is late in getting to his/her reading stack! I just read the June issue, and it’s the first one I’ve read with your new format. I love it! I enjoy having something I can easily hold in one hand, and I really like that your stories are contiguous — not (continued on page 66) COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 65 (continued from page 65) jumping from Page 3 to Page 18 and back again. Thanks! Sally (Specht) White (MCDBio’75) Leander, Texas Where’s the culture? I seem to notice a distinct improvement in the quality of the writing in the first issue of the magazine under your editorship. But I was surprised to find not a single word on the summer Colorado Shakespeare Festival. A missed opportunity. In general, I find the magazine gives short shrift to “cultural” events on campus, in deference to an assembly line of articles on astrogeophysics or NASA or mechanical engineering. I’d like to see more pieces on students and interesting things they may be doing on campus in the arts, and fewer on the activities of professors and administrators. Yes, it’s money I’m a CU alum (and my mother and sister are CU alums) and thought I should comment on the recent changes to the alumni magazine. I did my graduate work at Johns Hopkins and also get the Hopkins Arts and Sciences as well as the Medicine alumni magazines, and boy is there a huge contrast. The Hopkins magazine is fullsized, printed on nice paper, with terrific design, interesting art and good articles. The Coloradan has, well, interesting articles. I do enjoy the reporting and I think you guys do a good job, but I’ve been very disappointed in other aspects of the magazine. For example, the recent move to a hypercondensed format has created something that looks and feels like a pamphlet rather than a magazine. The printing job isn’t impressive, as my most recent issue arrived with over half of the pages uncut (not even perforated, so I had to cut the pages apart with scissors to avoid destroying them). There is no point in getting good photography and writing nice articles and sticking it all in a badly printed piece that people aren’t drawn to read (and that requires sharp implements). I will note, though, that the paper used is of obviously low quality and that even the previous format using the same paper wasn’t much better, though at least all the pages were usually separated. Is it money? Hopkins has ads in their magazine. Maybe that’s the difference. Their ads are very tasteful, though, and unobtrusive. I’d much rather get a magazine with a few advertisements that actually looks and feels like a legitimate publication and something to keep in the bookcase than something that looks seriously underappreciated. Sarah Wheelan (Math, MCDBio’95) Baltimore Hugh Heckman (PolSci’69) Forest Hills, New York Buffalum Notes a good model I just responded to the survey on the new Coloradan. I suggested using an electronic version of the Coloradan similar to the PDF version of Investors Business Daily. Then I backed out of the survey and took another look at the Buffalum Notes. What’s wrong with that format? It would be ideal for the Coloradan and those alums wishing to receive their Coloradan electronically, as I would. If 100,000 alums chose the electronic version you would save a whole lot more money than Pentagram’s hard copy. Ed Wrasmann (Chem’62) Rolla, Mo. 66 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN Your turn Coloradan celebrates the power of thoughts and ideas. We invite you to write letters to the editor on subjects related to the university. The editors may edit for brevity, clarity and sensitivity to the community. Please let us know your thoughts about CU happenings, suggestions for stories and your news. To keep in touch, write Coloradan, CUBoulder Alumni Association, Boulder CO 80309-0459; phone 303-492-3712 or 800492-7743; fax 303-492-6799; or e-mail tori. [email protected]. ‟My new home is right next to the private fitness club and a short bike ride to CU. I should know. On game days, my bike practically steers itself to the stadium. I think if I’d lived here as a student, I might have made a few more of my 8 am classes! ” - Craig, Peloton Resident, CU Alum, and Buffs Fan for Life -Y .EW "OULDER M y N e w 6, 0 0 0 SQ F T H o m e G y m . Homes Ready for Move-in! Come See Our 6,000 SQ FT Private Fitness Club Today! Sales Center Open Daily s Off of 38th Street & Arapahoe Avenue s ,IFE 4HE0ELOTONCOM s $ISCOVER4HE0ELOTONCOM Luxury Condominiums starting from the low $300s. M y N ew Bo ul de r. Obtain the Property Report required by Federal law and read it before signing anything. Kevin Moloney Robyn Paiba of London rests against the gunwale of a 40 foot pinasse (boat) while traveling from Mopti to Timbuktu on the Niger River, on Jan. 6, 2008. Into the heart of lightness BY KEVIN MOLONEY N ear Niaunkén, Mali — Joseph Conrad must not have spent crystaline days and nights on the Niger River. Long bright hours pass over an irregular parade of shoreline towns and villages of eagerly waving people. Crisp nights fall under a perfect dome of stars. As we settled in to dinner I looked over the rail of the boat. The water was glassy calm and reflected all the constellations perfectly. Uninterrupted sky wrapped around our rustic little pinasse (boat) in every direction as if we had been tossed into the heavens. If Conrad’s darkness in the heart of humankind exists, it is not here with me now. 68 SEPTEMBER 2008 COLORADAN En route to mythical Timbuktu I climbed aboard this 40-foot canoe with a small outboard motor, thatched roof and wicker outhouse hovering over the stern. On the trash-strewn and muddy shore at Mopti, I and six others had negotiated prices for the three-day ride. My companions include an English cinema art director, a British press agent working in Spain, a California organic fruit farmer and his local guide, a young Belgian home-care worker and a German punk record producer. We line rickety wooden benches padded more in spirit than in fact, bask in the sun atop the roof, read and trade stories from our lives. All the passengers aboard have stressful careers. As the semiarid tropical landscape of the Sahel rolls by, we let go of any need to do anything. Deadlines evaporate. Finance becomes barter. Cities fade to distant memory. Being trapped on a small boat for three days is the most calming experience I’ve had in years. To the rear, pilot Abdul guides the boat down the wide river as his wife, Aisha, barters with passing fishermen for their catch. From it she cooks each day’s meals of fish, rice, pasta and onions. Young boatman Atraman bails from the bilge, cleans fish and stands at the bow to guide Abdul through an occasional narrow channel. We sleep along the sandy shore on mats, under tents and behind bug nets. By the time the weather takes on a less comfortable tone in cold wind and rain, all aboard have shed any ability to complain. We huddle, smile and drink syrupy tea among the benches, giggling as we pick sand burs out of every piece of fabric among us. As night falls on the third day, Noel the farmer spies an orange glow on the horizon. “That’s got to be it! Timbuktu! We’re in Timbuktu!” Kevin Moloney (Jour ’87) is a Denver-based photojournalist. His work regularly appears in the New York Times and other national and international publications. He is an adjunct photojournalism instructor at CU-Boulder and has desperately wanted to go to Timbuktu since he was 8 years old. COLORADAN SEPTEMBER 2008 69 Timbuktu bound Boatman Atraman Maika watches for obstacles as his brother Abdul Timbeli guides their 40 foot pinasse (boat) through a narrow side channel of the Niger River near Niafunké, Mali, on Jan. 5, 2008. The boat and crew took passengers, including Kevin Moloney (Jour’87), on the three day downriver trip from Mopti to Timbuktu. Read Moloney’s essay on pages 68 69. Campus centerfold See pages 36-37 for our centerfold featuring Varsity Lake by Glenn J. Asakawa (Jour’86). University of Colorado at Boulder Alumni Association Koenig Alumni Center UCB 459 Boulder CO 80309-0459 www.cualum.org Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage PA I D Denver, CO Permit 243
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