university of denver magazine fall 2012 issue

FALL 2012

M A G A Z I N E

THE Campaign comEs To Campus

2 University of Denver Magazine FaLL 2012

The University of Denver will

host the first Presidential Debate

of 2012 on Wednesday, oct. 3,

in magness Arena.

debate2012.du.edu

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

Join the DU community in celebrating this historic event. Make a gift to the DU Debate Fund. Your participation, not the size of your gift, is what matters most.

Donate at debate2012.du.edu/give

Join us as we get the Conversation starteD

Donate now

Learn more about the debate at

BE PArT oF DU HisTory

debate2012.du.eduJoin us as we get the Conversation starteD

BE PArT oF DU HisTory

ContentsFeatures

26 The Great Debate The University prepares for its moment in the global spotlight. By Leslie Petrovski

30 Banner Years The Newman Center celebrates a decade of artistic excellence. By Greg Glasgow

34 Here we go, DU! Here we go! New coaches, new players, a new conference—it’s a big year

for the Pioneers. By Pat Rooney

Departments

4 Editor’s Note

6 News The University’s new brand

12 Academics Campaign-themed video games

16 Arts Laleh Mehran’s Denver Art Museum exhibit

19 People Training women for political office

21 Q&A College Republicans chair

22 History Presidential visits to campus

24 Research Eye-tracking device

39 Alumni Connections

On the cover: The University will host the first presidential debate of 2012 on Oct. 3; read the story on page 26. This page: The Newman Center for the Performing Arts celebrates its 10th anniversary in


It’s no coincidence that the University is rolling

out its new branding platform and new logo (see story,

page 6) just before we host the first presidential debate

of 2012. If we’re showing our best face to the world,

we want to be sure we’re doing it in a way that really

lets people know what a great institution this is. The

new brand highlights the things the University does

best: giving students the chance to collaborate with

professors and with one another; providing the kinds

of experiences that make for lifelong memories; and

instilling students with a sense of purpose as they head out to change the world.

As we prepare for the debate on campus, we’re already seeing the brand

come to life in a myriad of ways. Collaboration? We have departments from

all across campus—from parking and maintenance to Alumni Relations and

Undergraduate Enrollment—working together to plan for the big day, and

a number of student committees are giving undergraduate and graduate

students a say in how it all goes down.

As for those important experiences, some students will be lucky enough

to score a ticket to the debate hall on Oct. 3. For the rest of us (and for

alumni, too), there’s DebateFest—a free, ticketed festival featuring live music,

local vendors and debate viewing on huge outdoor screens. Not to mention

the Debate Event Series, which is bringing big names like Time editor-at-large

David Von Drehle and New York Times Washington correspondent David

Sanger to campus in the days before and after the debate. (Read more about

the debate and related events starting on page 26.)

The crux of the new brand is that the University of Denver is a “catalyst

for purposeful lives.” At the moment, the presidential debate is uniting us all

with one purpose as we address the many challenges surrounding Oct. 3 and

prepare for the excitement the event will bring to campus and to Denver. But

I have a feeling the momentum we’re creating right now will carry us into

2014—the University’s sesquicentennial year—and well beyond.

Greg Glasgow

Managing Editor

w w w. d u . e d u / m a g a z i n e

Volume 13, Number 1

PublisherKevin A. Carroll

Managing EditorGreg Glasgow

Senior EditorTamara Chapman

Editorial AssistantsAmber D’Angelo Na (BA ’06, MPS ’12)

Kelsey Outman (’13)

Art DirectorCraig Korn, VeggieGraphics

PhotographerWayne Armstrong

ContributorsKristin Altman • Jordan Ames (BA ’02,

MPS ’10) • Chris Chavez • Valerie Finholm • Steve Fisher • Dan Hazard • Kathryn Mayer (BA ’07, MA ’10) • Leslie Petrovski (BA ’82,

MA ’91) • Pat Rooney • Shara Rutberg • Chase Squires (MPS ’10) • Kevin Williams

Editorial BoardKevin A. Carroll, vice chancellor/chief market-

ing officer • Thomas Douglis (BA ’86) • Kristine Cecil, associate vice chancellor/interim

executive director of alumni relations • Sarah Satterwhite, senior director of

advancement communications • Amber Scott (MA ’02) • Laura Stevens (BA ’69),

director of parent relations

The University of Denver Magazine (USPS 022-177) is published by the University of Denver, Division of Marketing and Communications, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. The University of Denver (Colorado Seminary) is an Equal Opportunity Institution. Periodicals postage paid at Denver, CO. Postmaster: Send address changes to University of Denver Magazine, University of Denver, University Advancement, 2190 E. Asbury Ave., Denver, CO 80208-4816.

Editor’s NoteJe

ffrey

Hae

ssle

r

Printed on 10% PCW recycled paper

Editor’s NoteM A G A Z I N E

University of Denver Magazine Feedback 5

When Dorothy mcNeese walked across the stage at the University of Denver commencement ceremony on June 8, it was a moment decades in the making. mcNeese, 78, already had a bachelor’s degree and a graduate certificate, but she had always wanted a master’s degree. With her new master’s in environmental policy and management, mcNeese is believed to be the oldest graduate of DU’s University college.

Way

ne A

rmst

rong

UpdateCampus


UpdateCampus

Over the summer of 2012, the University of Denver began unveiling a new branding platform and visual identity that will help define and differentiate the institution for local, national and international audiences.

“After a year of market research and development, we have learned that many people know of the University of Denver, but they don’t know enough about us. We are going to change that fact,” says Kevin Carroll, vice chancellor of the Division of Marketing and Communications and the University’s chief marketing officer.

“The branding platform grew out of months of research,” he explains. “We developed the new branding platform and identity by asking thousands of people from across the U.S. and in our community what our university means to them.”

The research helped to clarify the University’s identity within a crowded and competitive education marketplace. The Division of Marketing and Communications worked with a host of stakeholders—among them current

students, their parents, alumni, faculty, staff and Denver-area employers—to explore the institution’s strengths and distinctive attributes.

Incorporating insights gleaned from this research, the new brand platform brings to life DU’s vision: to be a great private university dedicated to the public good. “The brand expresses how we put our vision and values into action,” Carroll says, “and it is the lens through which we set and carry out attainment of our goals.”

The new platform is brief and easy to remember: The University of Denver is a catalyst for purposeful lives, ignited by a personalized

educational journey and inspired by Denver’s Rocky Mountain spirit of exploration and openness.

This approach to education is supported by an emphasis on collaboration, vast opportunities for experiential learning, a culture dedicated to creating positive impact, and the diverse perspectives, from local to global, that color day-to-day life on campus. These attributes, Carroll explains, align closely with the University’s mission and vision. They also capture a decade’s worth of focus on program and curriculum development.

From this platform, Carroll adds, new, fresh and contemporary communication will be created.

The research also helped shape a new logo that includes the date of the University’s founding, 1864, and features signature campus buildings and a mountain backdrop.

Already, the new logo has been incorporated into the University’s website, its major publications and an array of way-finding signs installed in midsummer. In addition, the brand

platform informs marketing materials across the institution’s many divisions.

Carroll expects the brand platform will not only help the institution communicate with various audiences, it also will play a critical role in strategic planning.

“You can be confident in knowing that our brand positioning is truly a reflection of what we know and believe about the University of Denver,” he says. “Everyone in the University community is an ambassador for our brand, and we must unite to reflect this essence in all that we do, every day.”

Rocky Mountain spirituniversity unveils new logo and branding platformBy Tamara Chapman

experientiaL Learning

Du has long emphasized the value of hands-on learning.

undergraduate and graduate students

get the chance to supplement

classroom knowledge with hands-on

experiences—at the mount evans Field

station, the Colorado Capitol and the Denver art museum, to name

just a few. some students even journey

outside the region with internships that

introduce them to the day-to-day realities

that characterize their future professions.

University of Denver Magazine upDate 7

Business

Knoebel hospitality students mentor refugeesMany immigrants who come to the United States have a tough time finding

employment because of language barriers and a lack of job skills. Cheri Young, associ-ate professor in the University of Denver’s Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Man-agement, has incorporated service learning into the classroom by asking her students to mentor new immigrants on ways to bolster their job skills.

Students who took Young’s Managing Human Capital in Hospitality course last spring were asked to train and counsel 10 refugees looking for jobs in the hospitality industry. Young has established a relationship with Denver’s African Community Cen-ter (ACC), which helps refugees who have fled to America after suffering persecution in their home countries. The Knoebel students worked directly with refugees through ACC’s Commercial Food Safety and Service Training Program, a 90-hour course that provides hands-on education about food service sanitation, customer service and American work culture.

“The opportunity for our hospitality management students to work with people from very diverse backgrounds is immense,” Young says. “This innovative program allows our students to get real-world experience by acting as employment mentors to the ACC refugees. The hospitality industry often is a gateway to employment for those with limited English language skills or education. I want my students to learn that caring for your employees is the right thing to do and ultimately can increase the profitability of a business.”

The students are mentoring new arrivals from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Liberia, Congo and Bhutan/Nepal on job-hunting skills, interviewing techniques and the various skills needed to work in the food-service and hotel industries. The Knoebel students are learning management skills such as developing training programs and employee manuals and conducting job interviews. Two additional students from Knoebel also participated by researching best practices potential employers can use when hiring immigrants.

Wayne Arm

strong

Pioneers Top 10sources for news and information about the

2012 election

1 Factcheck.orgThis is a great site for looking up claims that

are disseminated through news, campaign messages and email messages.

2 votesmart.orgThis website gives quick access to key voting

in five categories: backgrounds, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and performance evaluations.

3 C-span.org/Campaign2012C-SPAn is offering extensive coverage of the

campaign.

4 pBs.org/special/election-2012PBS is hosting a special page and Twitter feed

on the election: #pbsElection.

5 thomas.loc.govLook up pending or passed federal legislation.

6 gallup.comGallup shares polling

on elections and related topics.

7 people-press.org (pew research Center)

This nonpartisan public opinion research organization studies political trends, public opinion and public policy.

8 publicagenda.orgThis nonpartisan nonprofit site provides data

on what the public thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to religion.

9 Latinotimes.com/politicsLatinoTimes has a page dedicated to politics

and the election.

10 thegrio.com/politicsThe Grio is an African-American news site,

now owned by nBC news.

Compiled by Lynn Schofield-Clark, associate professor in the media, film and journalism studies department

NEWS

Mike M

cDonald/Shutterstock.com


UpdateCampus

BrieFsNEws

The University’s Office of Technology Transfer has partnered with

the Innovation Center of the Rockies (ICR) to help commercial-

ize inventions and intellectual property developed by University

researchers. The ICR was chosen after a national search in part

because of its roster of volunteer mentors and advisers who will

help find pathways to market for DU technology. The nonprofit

organization will provide a program manager who will work

closely with DU researchers and the Technology Transfer Office

to translate highly technical material into understandable language,

identify potential commercial utility and work with the mentoring team.

A team of graduate students from the Daniels College of Business took first place in the 2012 Aspen Institute’s Business & Society International MBA Case Competition, held April 13 in New York. The Daniels College team initially competed against more than 1,000 students representing 25 of the world’s leading business schools. The final round of competition pitted

Daniels against four other top business school programs. The case, written by the Yale School of Management, challenged students to integrate corporate profitability and positive social and environmental impact in a real business scenario.

in april, the Lamont school of music launched “expanding horizons,” a new world-music concert and lecture series. new York-based jazz group trio tarana, along with Lamont student ensembles, performed on april 13, and Corinna Campbell, a doctoral candidate at harvard university’s music department, spoke may 1 on surinamese maroon music and dance.

Molly Tomkins, Jing Wan and Lian Duan, from the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, took first place at the fourth annual Global Spa & Wellness Summit student challenge in Aspen, Colo., June 3–6. The students’ winning concept was a spa marketed to teen girls. The students were awarded $1,000, a trophy and a certificate of achievement. The Walt Disney Co. has invited the team to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., to present the concept to executives and to comment on Disney’s new spa for kids.

Car

lo D

aines

e


Law

Legal institute’s Kourlis wins prestigious John Marshall Award

Rebecca Love Kourlis,

director of the Institute for the

Advancement of the American

Legal System at the University

of Denver, is the recipient of

the 2012 John Marshall Award,

presented by the American

Bar Association Justice Center.

The award recognizes those

dedicated to improving the

administration of justice.

Recipients are chosen based

on their work to promote

justice-system reform and

public awareness.

Psychology Professor Wyndol Furman

has received two awards for his research

on close relationships in childhood,

adolescence and early adulthood:

the 2012 Distinguished Scientific

Contribution Award, presented by

the International Society of Behavioral

Development, and the 2012 John P. Hill

Memorial Award from the Society for

Research on Adolescence.

to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic rays, Du hosted a three-day conference, “Centenary symposium 2012: Discovery of

Cosmic rays,” in June. more than 50 scientists came to campus to discuss developments in the field over the past century.

“new media influence on Campaign politics,” a may 11 panel discussion held as part of the presidential Debate event series, brought together media and political experts to discuss the effects of Facebook, twitter, blogs and other new media on presidential and other campaigns. panelists were David weigel, a political reporter for Slate magazine and msnBC; political consultant Brent Blackaby; Jay newton-small, a congressional correspondent for Time magazine; and Dorian warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia university. the panel was moderated by seth masket and peter hanson, both assistant professors in Du’s political science department.

The Division of Athletics and Recreation achieved an unprecedented 100 percent participation rate among student-athletes and staff in annual giving during the 2011–12 calendar year. A total of 326 student-athletes donated to the Pioneers Reinvesting in Denver Excellence (PRIDE) Fund, while 128 full-time athletics employees contributed to the Pioneers for Pioneers program.


UpdateCampus

FOR

OUR

STU

DEN

TS

Together, we’re making it happen: the new Academic Commons at Penrose Library. This is the library reinvented, connected, intuitive, beyond functional. Here, students will work together

g i v i n g . d u . e d u 8 0 0 . 4 4 8 . 3 2 3 8

our COMMON GOAL

on projects, tap into a vast array of data and knowledge, and find help on everything from writing and math to research. The effort to fund the Academic Commons had been a resounding success.

Make Your Gift Today!

The Academic Commons at Penrose LibraryIt’s not too late to be part of this essential and powerful destination for learning and discovery at DU.

oBituarY

Former library school dean dies at 93

Margaret Enid Knox Goggin, former dean of DU’s Graduate School of Librarianship, died June 10 in Gainesville, Fla. She was 93.

Goggin had degrees from Maryville College, Peabody College and the University of Illinois. After working in libraries in Tennessee, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and the University of Illinois, she became an assistant professor of library science at the University of Florida in 1949. In 1968, she was hired by the University of Denver as full professor and dean of the library school—a post she held until 1979.

In 1980 she was the inspiration behind and co-founder of what is today the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. She remained on the DU faculty as a professor until 1984, attaining emeritus status in that year. In retirement, she served as interim director of collection management at Emory University from 1986–88. She also worked as co-owner of Book Seminars Inc. from 1986–95 and as owner of Margaret K. Goggin Books beginning in 1994.

internationaL

University part of new initiative to bring more international students to Colorado

A new statewide initiative to encourage international students to attend Colorado colleges and universities was announced in July at a press conference at the University of Denver.

StudyColorado, a partnership among the state, the business com-munity and institutions of higher education—including DU—will work to attract international students through unified outreach efforts.

In academic year 2010–11, more than 7,000 international students from more than 100 countries studied in Colorado. More than 1,300 of those students studied at DU.

“Their presence here enriches all of us in many different ways. It raises the bar of the intellectual climate for the entire university,” Uni-versity of Denver Chancellor Robert Coombe said at the press confer-ence. “It’s a truly wonderful thing for us at DU, but for the city and for Colorado as well.”

International students bring more than $235 million to the Colorado economy each year, said Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia.

“Our students benefit from the presence of international students,” Garcia added. “It’s a win for all of Colorado, not just the institution.”


From the desk of Bin ramke, english professor

1 ramke illustrated his poem “Phrases” in part with an old photograph of him and his brother on the steps of the Louisiana state capitol in Baton rouge.

2 A longtime origami enthusiast, ramke often starts a new class by teaching students how to fold an origami crane.

3 ramke saved these typeballs from an iBm selectric typewriter as a reminder that “writing is a physical activity.” He wrote his first book on a manual typewriter.

4 many items on ramke’s desk reflect his interest in miniatures, including this former piggy bank that depicts King Kong climbing a pint-

sized Empire state Building. “it was my son’s toy, and when it broke, it stopped being a toy and became art,” ramke says.

5 ramke likes this antique bottle of bug spray because of the marketing language it uses—“sure death to flies.” “you would not use this language in contemporary advertising unless you were using it with some degree of irony,” he says.

6 A gift from a friend with whom he watched the coen brothers’ dark comedy classic, this Fargo snow globe depicts the 1996 movie’s gory “wood chipper” scene.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Wayne Arm

strong

UpdateCampus

To teach first-year students about the machinations of campaign politics this fall, computer science Professor Scott Leutenegger intends to speak to the freshmen in a language he knows they will understand.

He’s having them create their own video games.“You have this medium that kids want to

engage with—they’re all gamers, and the idea of playing a game is just completely normal to them,” Leutenegger says. “So you have this opportunity to inject some sort of political commentary or to shape opinions through the game play. It’s not just killing zombies; it could be a game where you’re a campaign manager and you have to coach your candidate on whether to use negative attack techniques or patriotic chest-thumping.”

Leutenegger’s first-year seminar, Election Games, was inspired by the presidential debate the University will host in October. Using a simple programming language called Scratch, students will team up to design games that take a cue from presidential politics. Once the games are finished, students will take turns playing the games designed by their classmates.

“They are going to create board games and Scratch games that are basically making campaign pitches for one candidate or the other,” Leutenegger

says. “I’m planning on making them switch halfway through. I want them to actually look at issues on both sides, but more importantly, I want them to see the techniques that politicians use to inform—or misinform—the public.”

Another aim is to teach students about the socially conscious gaming movement pioneered by designers like Rafael Fajardo, an associate professor in DU’s emergent digital practices program. Games such as Fajardo’s “Juan and the Beanstalk,” about Colombian farmers, or “Oiligarchy,” a big oil-themed game by Italian team Molleindustria, deliver a message about society. And designing such a game, Leutenegger says, is even more educational than playing it.

“When you have to actually make the game, and you have to decide on the message that you want to get across, it’s the same as writing a paper. They have to do the same background research,” he says. “When you write a paper, about the only thing an instructor can do to stop you from going all over the place is say, ‘You are limited to four pages.’ Well, when you have to write the code for this game, you have to do the art for this game, that’s much more of a constraint than limiting the number of pages. It forces the designer to hone that argument down to the bare minimum.”

Game theoryFirst-year seminar lets students design campaign-themed video games By Greg Glasgow

What is a first- year seminar?

First-year seminars are designed

to provide incoming freshmen

with an in-depth academic

experience that hints at the kinds

of classes they will take during

their senior year. in the intensive

classes, students develop the

kinds of academic skills that

will prepare them for successful

college work, including writ-

ing, critical reading and think-

ing, discussion, argument and

debate. The seminars also help

freshmen feel like part of the DU

community: A student’s first-year

seminar instructor serves as his

or her academic adviser and

faculty mentor throughout the

freshman year.

UpdateCampus


Courtesy of Tony Singer

Everett Anton “Tony” Singer (BA ’70) doesn’t consider his job work. Retired co-owner of the print business Four Seasons Litho Inc., Singer founded the website VintageAutoPosters.com.

“My company combines the three things I love: aesthetics, printing and cars,” he says. “I channeled my creative juices into my printing business and then into vintage automotive posters. It was my time as a painting student at DU that opened my eyes to being able to express my aesthetic vision in many different entrepreneurial paths.”

In June, Singer made a gift to the University of Denver’s School of Art and Art History to provide opportunities for art students to have similar revelatory experiences. The Everett Anton Singer Endowed Professorship in Painting is the first endowed faculty position for the art school.

“We are all deeply touched by Tony’s generosity and trust,” says Anne McCall, dean of the Divisions of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “This professorship will enable us to strengthen our painting program by creating a fertile academic environment in which we can attract top-notch faculty who will help students foster their passion for art.”

Singer’s gift will be used to increase the number of full-time faculty in painting. The endowment will fund faculty salaries and research related to painting.

“It was clear to me that DU has fantastic physical spaces for students in the art program to explore their art,” Singer says. “It seemed to me that what the School of Art and Art History needed was more support of its people. I wanted to fund the faculty within the program and enable the school to attract well-known, motivating teachers to guide art students.”

Donor spotlighttony singer endows new painting professorshipBy Kristin Altman

partnership

DU helps Colorado Public Radio meet fundraising goalThe University of Denver helped colorado Public radio (cPr) kick off its latest

fundraising drive in style, aiding the station in raising more than $80,000 over the first six hours of the nine-day effort.

The pledge drive began June 6 with a University challenge grant: $10,000 if cPr received 1,000 pledges in six hours. The station exceeded that goal by 79 pledges and raised $83,347 within the challenge grant time period.

“colorado Public radio is about curiosity and expanding awareness and expanding horizons, and by partnering with that and supporting that, DU is showing itself to be an organization in the community that really supports thoughtful conversations and under-standing the world around us,” says cPr membership director Jim East.

The relationship between the University and cPr goes back to 1970, when KcFr (“colorado Free radio”) started as an on-campus station licensed to the University. The station started carrying programming from National Public radio in 1973, and in 1984 it separated from DU, moved to a building near campus and became a community-licensed public radio station. in 1991, KcFr merged with Grand Junction public radio station KPrN to form colorado Public radio.


UpdateCampus

Undergraduate Date: June 9

number of graduates: 952

speaker: Roger Birnbaum, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and co-founder of Spyglass Entertainment

message: “no one can tell you what to do with your life. no one knows better than you. If you don’t know yet, that’s OK, that’s wonderful, that’s

being young. But don’t wait for others to tell you. Don’t wait for the answer to appear in a city or a boyfriend or

girlfriend because it won’t—or worse, you’ll be given the wrong answer. Many office

buildings are filled with people fulfilling other people’s

expectations.”

CommenCement2012Graduate Date: June 8

number of graduates: 812

speaker: William Dean Singleton, chair and founder of the Medianews Group chain

message: “You’re all guaranteed at least one job: cleaning up my generation’s mess. We screwed it up big time, and I apologize on behalf of my generation.”

Wayne Arm

strong

Ce Shi


CommenCement Balancing campus activities, schoolwork and fun can be a challenging task, but one DU student tackles all three and makes it look easy.

Junior Sam Estenson, the Undergraduate Student Government president, is involved in a multitude of activities at the University. Originally from the small town of Northfield, Minn., Estenson saw attending DU as an adventure.

“Colorado has this image of excitement and opportunity—that’s why we’re the Pioneers,” he says. “For me, choosing DU was choosing a riskier option. Now that I’m here, I realize what a perfect fit it is.”

Estenson is pursuing a dual degree in intercultural communications (a self-designed major) and foreign languages (Spanish, German and Japanese), with minors in leadership and business. He has been on the Programming Board for the past two years; he works as a foreign language tutor at the Center for World Languages and Cultures, where he also is a board member; and he leads campus tours as part of Team 1864.

Estenson’s passion for learning about other cultures stemmed from his gap year before coming to DU, when he traveled to Japan through the Rotary Youth Exchange. The experience, he says, “opened a completely new window to the world.”

Funded by a Partners in Scholarship research grant, Estenson traveled to Spain and Latin America this summer to research the intersection of youth culture, language and geography. He has

conducted similar research in Germany and Denmark.

Estenson also is involved in planning for the presidential debate Oct. 3, serving as student coordinator for the DebateFest that will be held on campus the same day. “We’ve been collaborating with all the different stakeholders and making sure that the student voice is heard and that students are excited about it because it’s going to be such a defining moment for DU,” he says.

Carl Johnson, director of campus activities and Estenson’s student government adviser, believes Estenson will have a huge influence during his time as president.

“I have great faith in Sam,” Johnson says. “He has great leadership qualities and has the ability to do great things.”

One to watchsam estenson, intercultural communications and foreign languages By Kelsey Outman

the university offers

courses in 10 foreign

languages: arabic,

Chinese, French,

german, hebrew,

italian, Japanese, Latin,

russian and spanish.

the Center for world

Languages and Cultures

offers specialized

instruction in less

commonly taught

languages, including

Bosnian, hindi and

tibetan.

Wayne Arm

strong


UpdateCampus

Standing inside the giant cube that’s at the heart of Laleh Mehran’s temporary, site-specific installation at the Denver Art Museum, you may feel like a ruler looking down on his subjects, or like a character in AMC’s zombie show “The Walking Dead,” about to be devoured.

With its motion-sensitive video screens that send a horde of computer-generated, head-like spheres swarming toward each new visitor, the piece—titled Men of God, Men of Nature—puts a visitor at the center of some kind of big event, but the specifics are open to interpretation.

“Basically they’re masses, however you decide you see that,” says Mehran, an associate professor of emergent digital practices at the School of Art and Art History. “Whether you’re there to bestow words of wisdom onto the masses and they really want to hear it, or you see yourself as a rock star and the concert’s begun and fans are coming toward you, or it’s a parasitic relationship and

you’re the host and the parasites are coming to feast—there are a lot of interpretations.”

Mehran started working on the piece two years ago at the invitation of museum director Christoph Heinrich. It addresses her trademark issues of science, politics and religion, but it also is inspired by the unconventional architecture of the DAM’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building.

“I teasingly call this a collaboration between myself and the architect Daniel Libeskind, because I would never have made a cube in a white-wall gallery,” says Mehran, who built the structure in collaboration with her husband, Chris Coleman, also an assistant professor in the emergent digital practices program. “But in this space, where nothing is perpendicular, a cube just works. It feels so alive to me.”

The daughter of Iranian scientists who left Iran during the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s, Mehran has worked at DU since 2007. Men of God, Men of Nature pays tribute to her Middle Eastern heritage as well: The installation’s cube is inspired by the Kaaba, a sacred Islamic structure that draws millions of Muslims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage; and the outside of the structure is decorated with etchings inspired by the topography of the region.

To set the appropriate mood, Mehran and a sound designer put together a soundscape that melds sacred songs, ambient noise from a bazaar and an American shopping mall, the sounds of helicopters, bees and more into a sonic “soup” that is equally soothing and hypnotic. Inside the cube, a deeper rumbling aids further reflection.

“On the most ideal level, my piece is a place of contemplation,” Mehran says. “Most of the surfaces are reflective, but at the same time all the reflective pieces are in parts, so you’re constantly getting interrupted—your perfect understanding of yourself or your surroundings is constantly cut or imposed by something else. So ideally it’s a place where you would be reflective about these very deep ideologies that make you who you are and influence the ways in which you make wise decisions about how you understand your position in relation to others and navigate the world.”

>>Men of God, Men of Nature is at the DAM through Feb. 17; visit www.denverartmuseum.org

Mass mediamehran takes on science, politics and religion in new museum exhibitBy Greg Glasgow

Phot

os c

ourte

sy o

f Lale

h M

ehra

n


UpdateCampus

I remember well Mr. Lamberton, my Little League baseball coach. He knew just how much to push us, and he knew when to back off if we were trying too hard. Parents of a college student require the same diplomacy in terms of the timing and tone of the message we hope will be heard and heeded.

Using the honest phrase “don’t make the same mistakes I did” laid the groundwork for encouraging my college student to begin the internship preparation and search sooner rather than later.

Last January, my student shuffled off to the Career Center and received some excellent assistance polishing her resumé and cover letter. She built a list of internship sites and family connections, then sent more than a dozen resumés for a 2012 summer internship. The result was four interviews (both Skype and face-to-face) and two job offers.

What can we do as parental coaches when discussing internships? • Pick the right time, tone and place to discuss internships. • Share experiences regarding your personal job searches and work

challenges.

• Mention to family, friends and business associates that your student is seeking an internship in a given field.

• Practice interviewing with your student as much as possible, well before the interview. There is no substitute for the confidence gained by rehearsing.

• Encourage your student to keep sending resumés and interviewing to secure multiple job offers.

• Explain that most internships have many more applicants than openings; rejection is a painful part of any job search.

• With any internship /job offer, ask for details in writing, such as hours, pay, duties, etc.

• Send written thank-you notes for any job offers declined.

Internships, regardless of the field or duties, provide invaluable experience preparing a student for the transition to a full-time position.

Dan Hazard, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is the parent of senior communications major Brittany Hazard.

Parent to ParentCoaching your student on internships By Dan Hazard

Office of Gift Planning 303.871.2739 or 800.448.3238 E-mail: [email protected]

To explore more tax-wise giving options go to:

IRA assets are not taxable if given to charity. An IRA, 401(k), or similar tax-favored retirement plan is an excellent tool for accumulating wealth. Passing it on to your family seems like a good idea, but that can actually work against you by creating adverse tax consequences. Distributions to a non-spouse are subject to federal income taxation even if the federal estate tax does not apply to your estate. The recipient of your IRA distribution will pay tax at their ordinary income rate, resulting in a much smaller inheritance.

Be smart about your gifts to the University!

Tax advisors often suggest you give non-taxable assets to family.If you are planning on leaving a gift to your favorite charity, an IRA distribution to a tax-exempt entity like DU has a greater impact since it is received tax-free. Tax-wise planning such as this benefits your family and enables you to leave a legacy and touch lives through your philanthropy. Doing so is as simple as filling out a Change of Beneficiary form available from your plan provider.


After years of working in the nonprofit sector and immersing herself in issues aligned with her passions, Karen Middleton (MA ’07) decided she didn’t just want to promote change—she wanted to make it.

A former assistant dean at what is now the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, Middleton wanted to write policy and enact laws. She wanted clout.

To that end, Middleton served for six years as an elected official—first on the Colorado State Board of Education and later, from 2008–10, in the Colorado Legislature, where she represented House District 42 and where she was elected majority caucus chair.

“I really liked being able to have an impact,” she says.

That said, Middleton knew she could get more done if she had like-minded allies—in other words, more women in office—with whom she could collaborate.

Today, with that in mind, she serves as president of California-based Emerge America, a national program that trains Democratic women to run for office. With outposts in 10 states, Emerge is hoping to expand its presence across the map. Three new offices are in the works, including one in Colorado.

Two years into the job, Middleton, 46, is delighted by how it draws on her many life experiences—as an elected official, as an administrator and as a citizen concerned about everything from education to women’s issues. (In addition to her stint at the University, she worked with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, eCollege, the White House Project and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.)

Middleton’s goal at Emerge is to help alter some troubling statistics: The United States ranks 90th in the world in the number of women in elected office; women make up just 17 percent of the U.S. Congress; and only six states are led by female governors.

“The numbers are pretty grim,” she says. “We’re actually seeing a drop in the state legislatures. There’s not very much of a bench in most states.”

The Emerge strategy begins by bringing

women together for seven months of rigorous preparation. “We train a cohort of women, so we have women who can support each other as a team,” Middleton explains. Training addresses everything from public speaking, fundraising and campaign strategies to issues that, historically, have kept women from pursuing office.

“Most of the women we encounter got into politics because they had an issue they were interested in,” Middleton explains. But too many women think that single-issue expertise and knowledge gaps undermine their suitability for office. The Emerge plan helps women develop strategies to evaluate material and make decisions.

Since its 2002 founding, Emerge has trained 1,000 women. Forty percent of participants are women of color. In fact, Middleton says, the organization just helped elect the first Latina in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Of the women who have participated in Emerge programming, 150 are running for office.

“For me,” Middleton says, “it’s all about the election results and making sure that they have a team that wants to help them.”

Eventually, she may run for office again. “I wouldn’t rule anything out,” she says. In fact, she’d relish the opportunity to legislate and shape policy alongside other women—but first, she’s focused on helping them get elected.

>>emergeamerica.org

Emerging talentalumna leads nonprofit that trains women for political office By Tamara Chapman

since it was launched in 2002, emerge has trained almost 1,000 Democratic women to run for office.

• 43 percent of Emerge alumnae have run for office or been appointed to local boards or commissions.

• Of those who have run for office, 60 percent have won.

Courtesy of Karen M

iddleton

Mike M

cDonald/Shutterstock.com


UpdateCampus

athLetiCs

Pioneers join effort in support of gay athletesIn June, the University of Denver Pioneers became the first

NCAA Division I athletes to join the You Can Play Project, releasing videos in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes.

DU’s videos were among the first made by colleges after the project launched in March. You Can Play kicked off with a series of hockey-based videos featuring NHL All-Stars saying that shooting, scoring and other skills are important, while sexual orientation is not. DU’s videos—featuring the hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and gymnastics teams—were filmed on campus in early spring.

Co-founded by sports marketing executive and DU adjunct professor Brian Kitts (BA ’83, MA ’86), You Can Play is a Denver-based nonprofit organization promoting respect for all athletes based on talent, skill and determination—not sexual orientation or gender identity. The project also has input from Glenn Witman, a Denver-based real estate developer and founder of the GForce Sports elite gay hockey program, and Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers.

>>www.YouCanPlayProject.org

honors

Five students win Fulbright scholarshipsFive University of Denver students won Fulbright

Scholarships to study or teach abroad in the 2012–13 academic year. It is the largest number of DU students to win Fulbright scholarships in more than 10 years. The DU winners include:

Stephanie Lowe, an undergraduate German major, was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany.

Michael Peronto, an undergraduate with a major in international studies, received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Russia.

Geoffrey MacDonald, a PhD candidate in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, received a Fulbright Research Grant to study in India.

Tom Lam, a master’s candidate in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Macau, China.

Shaye Worthman, a master’s candidate in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, received a Fulbright Full Graduate Degree Grant to study political economy of development at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Puebla, Mexico.

“Completing my PhD in Mexico with this Fulbright grant will give me the academic and theoretical support to better understand the complexities of economic and social development in Latin America,” Worthman says. “Moreover, I will gain the international field experience I need to fulfill my career aspirations of researching and evaluating rural development projects in Latin America while contributing to the larger literature on public policy and rural development strategies.”

The Fulbright program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is the largest U.S. international exchange program. The prestigious and highly competitive scholarship was established in 1946 to build relationships between the U.S. and other countries.

From left: MacDonald, Lam,Worthman, Lowe and Peronto.

University of Denver Magazine FaLL 2012 21

In April, senior history, geography and political science major Vince Szilagyi was elected state

chair of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans.

Q What is College Republicans?A Basically, College Republicans is the youth organization for the Republican Party as a whole. We’re unaffiliated with the party officially—we’re a nonprofit group and we have our own headquarters, the College Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C. Each state has its own federation, and within each state, each individual college has its own chapter.

Q What do you do in your role as state chairman for the Colorado Federation?A I represent the state on the national level, and I’m in charge of coordinating statewide activities. As far as activities, it’s an election year, so it’s going to be very different. We’re essentially going to be subsumed by larger party organizations and be the youth or labor wing of the party—doing volunteering, voter registration drives and the like. We serve mostly as a support network for conservative students on college campuses.

Q Has politics always interested you?A Not so much on a personal level, like I’m looking to run for office or anything like that, but it’s always been something that’s been fascinating

to me because really everything else relates to politics in one way or another. It’s just a natural extension of how humans interact with one another, so it’s always been something I found fascinating.

Q Why did you gravitate toward the Republican Party?A I’ve always been pretty conservative. My parents are not very politically involved, and more than giving me any particular ideology, they always told me that I should be able to reason and to argue why I believe what I believe, not just accept what other people say. As a student of history, I’ve seen what happens in the excesses of conservatism and the excesses of liberalism, and I personally believe that conservatism is a better way forward.

Q There’s a stereotype that all college campuses are liberal. Do you feel you’re working against the mainstream here at DU?A Ironically, College Republicans have far more success on liberal campuses than they do on conservative campuses. When you’re surrounded by more conservative ideals, you’re less likely to stand up and defend yourself. If you are used to being one of two conservative kids in the class and you’re trying to offer a conservative viewpoint, you tend to get more passionate and you tend to get more practiced.

Q&Avince szilagyi on College republicansInterview by Greg Glasgow

Way

ne A

rmst

rong


UpdateCampus

While Oct. 3 marks the first time that the University of Denver—or, indeed, Colorado—has hosted a presidential debate, it is hardly the University’s first encounter with the nation’s highest elected office. Over the years, the University has been visited a number of times by sitting, future and former U.S. presidents. The most frequent visitor so far has been Bill Clinton, who has been to campus three times. Here is a timeline of past DU presidential visits.

1911 William Howard Taft made the first presidential visit to campus in 1911. Coincidentally, Taft came to DU on Oct. 3—the same date as the upcoming debate. Taft knew Chancellor Henry Buchtel through Republican party politics. Buchtel had served as the governor of Colorado just a few years earlier.

1950 Three years before he became the nation’s 34th president, Dwight Eisenhower was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Aug. 23 summer Commencement ceremony. Eisenhower spent a lot of time in Denver because it was the hometown of his wife, Mamie. He also knew then-Chancellor Albert Jacobs, who had been provost at Columbia University when Eisenhower was president of that institution.

1960 On Feb. 4, then-Sen. John F. Kennedy came to Denver in an appearance sponsored by the DU Social Science Foundation. He did not actually visit campus; his speech, “The Global Challenges We Face,” was delivered downtown at the Denver Auditorium. The Denver Post at the time described Kennedy as “a possible candidate for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination.”

1961 In an event sponsored by the DU Young Republicans League, former vice president and future president Richard Nixon spoke to an audience of 4,000 at the DU Arena on Sept. 13.

1966 President Lyndon Johnson received an honorary degree at the summer Commencement ceremony on Aug. 26 in the DU Arena.

1979 Future president Ronald Reagan spoke at the arena-fieldhouse on campus on April 8. Though he was not yet an official candidate, it was widely speculated at the time that Reagan would soon announce his plans to run for the presidency.

1997 President Bill Clinton was part of the G8 Summit that met June 21 at the DU-owned Phipps Mansion. The building and its grounds were sold to private buyers in 2010.

2000 President Clinton appeared at Sturm Hall April 12 for a town hall meeting on gun control.

2008 On Jan. 30, a past president and a future president appeared on campus on the same day, both at Magness Arena. Former president Bill Clinton made a morning appearance as part of wife Hillary’s presidential campaign, and future President Barack Obama made an evening campaign stop. Denver hosted the Democratic national Convention a few days later.

Hail to the chiefsthe university has played host to presidents and candidates alikeBy Steve Fisher


UpdateCampus

Imagine being able to control the world around you with just a glance.

A team of University of Denver engineering students figured out a way to do just that. They imagined a way to help people with severely limited mobility control their environment simply by moving their eyes. Then they set about making that vision a reality.

Students John DeWitt, Jeff Evans, Peter Neilson and Jordan Rath toiled for an entire academic year, working with Professors Peter Laz and Mohammad Mahoor and adjunct Professor Bob Johnson in a senior engineering class to create a workable, affordable device that allows a user to move a cursor about a computer screen just by moving his eyes.

They tackled the challenge throughout the 2011–12 academic year in collaboration with Denver’s Craig Hospital, one of the country’s best-known facilities specializing in long-term care and rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.

The team was challenged to create five pairs of eye-tracking glasses and deliver them to Craig Hospital’s adaptive technology lab for testing. In June, students, professors and patients converged with hospital researchers for a road test.

Scott Abram sat patiently in a wheelchair inside the lab, a room crammed with devices and prototypes aimed at helping those with limited

mobility. Students set the prototype on his face and adjusted the eye-tracking module. They had him glance to the corner of a computer screen, then to the other corner as they dialed in the system to track his pupil.

They turned on an electronic “keyboard,” a screen filled with the letters of the alphabet, and had Abram focus on a letter. Abram glanced, and a cursor moved. He let it hover, and the letter “clicked.”

There was an audible sigh of relief from the team.

This year, a new group of students will look to pick up where the last team left off, making the design sleeker and more durable. Similar devices already exist, but they work best in strictly controlled environments with equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars. What the DU team set out to create was a real-world system—a less-expensive option that is durable enough to use every day.

“We were specifically trying to make the sys-tem more useable, as well as try to make it a low-cost option,” Laz says. “The vision was to create some systems that will be low cost—$100, $200—and that could create a new market where people could take this home and use it in their house.”

The eyes have itengineering students opening doors for patients with limited mobility By Chase Squires

See video of a patient using the eye-tracking glasses at www.du.edu/eyetracker

the Department of

electrical and Computer

engineering performs

cutting-edge research in

several areas, including

safety, security and

rescue; computer vision,

pattern recognition and

image understanding;

nano-electro-mechanical

devices; and renewable

energy and power

electronics. visit www.

du.edu/ece for more

information.

Wayne Arm

strong


Ad

Magness ArenaWednesday, October 3

Be here in spirit, grab a ringside seat!TUNE IN OR LOG ON

When the University takes center stage to host the first Presidential Debate of 2012,

millions of people worldwide will be watching.It’s a first for DU, Denver and the Rocky Mountain West!

C-SPAN coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. MDT,including a welcome by Chancellor Bob Coombe.

Debate is 7-8:30 p.m. MDT on major networks.

Visit debate2012.du.edu for the latest on the Debate, related events and tapping in through social media.

Live music, activities, food vendors and a real-time, outdoor telecast of the debate!

Registration opens September 15. debate2012.du.edu/news/debatefest.html

Are you in the Denver area October 3? Come to DebateFest on campus!

Photo illustration by Craig Korn

The Great Debate


Photo illustration by Craig Korn

Once a university has agreed to host a presidential debate, the questions

start to pile up pretty quickly. Who needs security clearances? How do

ticketholders get inside the Ritchie Center? Where’s everyone going to

park? What happens if it rains or snows?

And what about the networks that want to air their morning shows from

campus in the days leading up to the debate? What about faculty and staff who

work in the area that will become the fenced-off secure zone? Where do students

fit into all of this?

All these questions and more are now the province of David Greenberg, the

University’s vice chancellor of institutional partnerships. Working with constituents

and committees across campus, Greenberg is keenly focused on one date: Oct. 3,

the day the 2012 presidential candidates will square off in Magness Arena in the first

presidential debate of the 2012 election.

“It’s a big deal,” says Greenberg, de facto project manager for the event. “The

logistics are really mind-blowing.”

On Oct. 31, 2011, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD)—the

nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has sponsored the events since 1988—

selected the University of Denver as a debate host, making DU the first university in

Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region to host a presidential debate.

“We’ve been told that since it is the first debate of the series, involving a sitting

president and taking place at such a critical time for world and national affairs,”

observes Chancellor Robert Coombe, “the debate at the University of Denver

may be one of the highest-rated television programs in all of 2012, approaching the

numbers of the Super Bowl.”

The Great Debate the university

prepares for

its moment

in the global

spotlight.

By Leslie Petrovski

(BA ’82, MA ’91)


The University’s road to the debate began in March 2011, when the chancellor and Board of Trustees authorized the institution to make a bid to become a debate host for the 2012 election season. Eleven other schools submitted applications, among them debate veterans Hofstra, Washington University (in Saint Louis) and Wake Forest University.

The CPD had a long list of criteria: an air-conditioned hall of at least 17,000 square feet; nearby parking that can accommodate 30 television remote trucks, trailers and satellite trucks up to 53 feet in length; a 20,000-square-foot (minimum) media filing center in the same facility.

But meeting the CPD’s minimum specs may not have been the only reason the University landed the big event, says Associate Professor Seth Masket, chair of DU’s political science department.

“At least part of it has to be that Colorado has become a pivotal state in presidential elections,” says Masket, author of No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures (University of Michigan Press, 2011). “While it used to be reliably Republican, the state has become very competitive over the last decade, and it’s seen as the key to the increasingly competitive Rocky Mountain region. By some measures, Colorado is the ‘swingiest’ of the swing states. It’s well balanced between Democrats and Republicans, and it has shown a tendency to switch allegiances from election to election. So a lot of the campaign will be waged here in Colorado.”

For the CPD’s part, the priority is ensuring a seamless broadcast. The specter of the 1976 technical glitch that stopped the first debate between President Gerald Ford and challenger Jimmy Carter for 27 minutes looms to the point that the CPD would forgo geographically distributing the debates in favor of locations they know can get the job done.

“This is much larger than one campus and one city,” explains CPD Executive Director Janet Brown.

At the University, the debate is being handled by a seven-member steering committee, along with a 27-member organizational committee made up of representatives from offices ranging from

Parking Services and Campus Safety to Alumni Relations and University Technology Services. A separate student committee is planning events related to campus life.

Serving as a presidential debate site also comes with a price—$1.65 million, an amount the University has been courting donors to cover.

“If you look at universities that have previously held debates,” Greenberg explains, “a lot of them have done it repeatedly: Washington University, Hofstra, Center College. Obviously their metrics have proved it to be a worthwhile endeavor.”

Cathy Grieve (MA ’75, PhD ’79), executive director of Conference and Event Services at DU, was part of a team that

met in late 2011 with the other schools selected to host debates this year.

“They said, ‘Just picture CNN, ABC, all the networks on the campus green, everybody broadcasting live from the University of Denver,’” says Grieve, who has served on the debate steering committee since the application process began. “That just resonated with us. You’ll never be able to purchase that type of exposure.”

The University’s selection as a debate site has yet to generate the publicity wattage that leads to changes in matriculation. Emily Forbes, director of communication for the Office of Undergraduate Admission, explains that the entering class of 2016 was too far along in the enrollment process for the debate to matter. “We should see it not only next year, but also the following year,” she says. “With this age group, having a nationally prominent event on campus may be just as big an influence as the debate itself.”

But for the students already here, the debate is an eagerly anticipated event that will define their time at the University.

“To hear that there will be an estimated 200 million international viewers is incredible,” says junior and student body president Sam Estenson. “I expect our image to skyrocket around the U.S. and around the world. This adds prestige to the degree we’re receiving and the prospects we will have down the road.”

“Everything keeps me up at night,” says David Greenberg, vice chancellor of institutional partnerships and de facto project manager for the presidential debate. “We want it to appear to outsiders that it worked effortlessly and gracefully. And that people come away with a great impression of the University—not just the physical plant, but also the people who populate the University. That’s what we want.”

Wayne Arm

strong


H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

THE 2012 PrEsiDENTiAL DEBATE AT DU—here’s how You Can get invoLveD!

Of course the topic on everyone’s mind—students, faculty, staff, alumni and neighbors—is tickets. Everyone wants to sit in Magness Arena the night of the debate.

The CPD controls tickets, which will be allocated among a variety of groups, including the presidential campaigns and the University. The University intends to allocate its student tickets via a random lottery system.

Those who aren’t lucky enough to attend the main event will have plenty of exposure to campaign issues. Mindful of the educational potential surrounding the event, the University has mounted a Debate Event Series that so far has featured appearances by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (BA ’74, PhD ’81); former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; retired four-star Gen. George Casey (MA ’80); and PBS journalist Ray Suarez. (Visit debate2012.du.edu for a schedule of remaining events in the series.)

In addition, more than 5,000 campus community members and neighbors are expected to attend DebateFest, a free outdoor watch party on campus that features live music, family activities and debate viewing on giant screens. “Issues Alley,” a walkway lined with tents and tables, will find organizations championing diverse issues, while a “food truck rally” will introduce Denver’s vibrant mobile-cuisine scene to the national and international media.

Estenson, student coordinator of DebateFest, sees the chance to work on an event of this magnitude as a great resumé builder. But more than that, he views it as an extraordinary life experience.

“I think this Oct. 3 and this fall will be talked about for yearsand years and will be in every graduation speech for the classes thatexperienced this,” he says. “We’ll all be able to say, ‘I was on campus for the presidential debate.’ That will be an experience we all share.”

DebateFest, an outdoor watch party featuring live music, voter registration and live debate viewing on giant screens, will be held from 3–9 p.m. Oct. 3 on the south end of campus between the Mary Reed Building and Penrose Library. Admission is free, but tickets are required. Register and get more information at debate2012.du.edu.

Check out debate2012.du.edu for a list of lectures and events happening on campus before and after the debate. Scheduled speakers include award-winning author and science

advocate Shawn Otto on “Science and Antiscience in the U.S. Elections” (Sept. 13) and David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, on his latest book, An Age of Reckoning: Obama’s Surprising Use of American Power. (Sept. 20)

Coverage of the Oct. 3 presidential debate at the University of Denver begins at 6:30 p.m. MDT on C-SPAN. The debate itself begins at 7 p.m. on most major networks. Keep an eye on debate2012.du.edu to find out how you can share your debate-watching experiences with other alumni and parents in real time.

Come to

Campus

attenD a DeBate event series

LeCture

Event Series

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

watChthe

DeBate


When students from the Lamont School of Music

began moving into the brand new Robert and Judi Newman

Center for the Performing Arts in fall 2002, classical guitar

Professor Ricardo Iznaola noticed something interesting.

“The students immediately began to perform better in the

new halls,” says Iznaola, a Lamont faculty member since 1983.

“It’s a psychological thing in the performing arts that you live up

to the venue. There was an immediate sense of seriousness and

excellence transmitted by the building itself.”

Ten years later, that building remains a crown jewel of the

campus and one of the University’s most visible faces to the

larger Denver community. Its climate-controlled, wired-

for-sound rehearsal studios are a key selling point for music

students and faculty. Its Byron Theatre, with more than 40 stage

configurations, is home base for DU’s theater department.

Its concert halls of various sizes make it a favorite rental for

local music, dance and theater groups. And the center’s very

existence gave birth to Newman Center Presents, a concert

series that brings international names in classical, jazz, dance,

opera, theater and more to campus every year—and often gives

Lamont students the opportunity to interact and perform with

the visiting artists.

“It was an opportunity to select and bring to the campus and

the community this eclectic array of artists from around the

world,” says Newman Center Executive Director Steve Seifert,

who programs the Newman Center Presents series. “From the

beginning, we asked ourselves what already exists in the city,

because we don’t need to re-create something that’s already

here. We asked, ‘What can we do that would add to the cultural

fabric of the city?’ And the idea of doing a multidisciplinary,

multicultural series in the performing arts is what we settled

on, with a high component of artists who had never been

here before. By the end of our upcoming season, we will have

produced 138 different shows, 53 percent of which are by artists

who had never appeared in Denver before.”

But first and foremost, the Newman Center is home to the

faculty and students of the Lamont school, who rehearse in

its top-floor practice rooms, perform in its acoustically perfect

concert halls and record in its state-of-the-art digital studio.

“I know some other music schools in the area that have seen

it and call it the Taj Mahal of music buildings, and that’s what

we all felt like when we moved in,” says Joe Docksey, former

director of the school. “All of us just couldn’t believe that we

were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to

move in to what probably is the nation’s finest music school.”

Prior to 2002, the Lamont School of Music was located on

DU’s Park Hill campus, along with the Sturm College of Law and

the Women’s College. Then-Chancellor Dan Ritchie had the

vision of a united central campus, and Lamont led the charge.

(The law school and the Women’s College followed in 2002

and 2003, respectively.) Incorporating classic materials such as

limestone, travertine marble and sandstone—and modeled after

European concert halls—the Newman Center is made up of six

individual buildings, each separated from the others by a 2-inch

gap that ensures acoustical isolation. It was designed as a music

school and performance venue that would stand the test of time,

and it’s not hard to imagine a 100th anniversary celebration that

finds the structure just as impressive as it is today.

“I think what the University did in setting its sights that high and

then fulfilling those expectations is a real community service,”

Seifert says. “It’s great for students and faculty—everybody gets

to rehearse and play here, and I really do think it draws the best

out of them, and they go out into the next phase of their careers

with a background that would be really hard to get in a different

kind of facility.

“But it’s also really great for the community to experience the

kind of art that happens here,” he continues. “They can hear the

difference; they can see the difference; they can connect with

the artists in a way you don’t in other theaters, and the sense is,

‘Really, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.’”

By Greg Glasgow

The Newman Center celebrates a decade of artistic excellence.

D U T H E A T R E S E N I O R C A P S T O N E

F E S T I V A LUNIVERSITY OF DENVER

1CYCLE D U N I T ?W

HO

STAGEPLAY

WWW.DU.EDU/THEA

...AND TO WHOM?

2CYCLEL A V E N D E R

G I R LMAGICKA

3CYCLE FROSTBITE

MY BROTHER’SGIRLFRIEND

SHERLOCK

HOLMES & THE PROBLEM AT THOR BRIDGE

19-APRI

L 17MAY

20124 VENU

ES

SHOW

S

7

Student productions at the newman Center give young actors and musicians a taste of what it’s like to stage a performance in a world-class facility, whether they’re on stage or working behind the scenes. Annual musical productions such as Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (2010) and Bill Russell and Henry Krieger’s Side Show (2011) are joint efforts between the theater department and the Lamont School of Music, while opera productions unite students from Lamont’s opera theater department and musicians in the all-student Lamont Symphony Orchestra.


2344 EAST ILIFF AVE., DENVER, COTickets at Newman Center Box Office M-F, 10-4 and all Ticketmaster outlets. Charge by phone at 303.357. ARTS or online at ticketmaster.com. For more info., or to request accommodations for a disability, call 303.871.7720, Option 2. du.edu/newmancenter

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2005

AQUILA THEATRE COMPANYH.G. WELLS Produced By:By:

“The excellent AquilaTheatre Company, an extraordinary, inventive and discipl ined outfit.” –The New York Times

A talented young Engl ish scientist makes a startling discovery, and we are compelled to consider our own humanity and the fragil ity of modern society.

Innovative and dynamic, Aquila has earned an international reputation as one of theforemost producers of touring classical theatre.

Join us Behind the Curtain at 6:30 pm for a free lecture with Dr. E leanor McNees, University of Denver.

FRee PaRking AT ALL Newman Center Presents EVENTS!

www.newmancen te rp resen t s . comTickets available at the Newman Center Box Office

Open Monday - Friday 10am - 4pmSaturday noon - 4pm (Sept.-May only)2344 E. Iliff Ave. at University and Iliff

303-871-7720 www.newmancenterpresents.com

Sponsored by:

L.A. THEATRE WORKSPRESENTS:

THE

RIVALRY

THE JUNE SWANER GATESCONCERT HALL

THURSMARCH 2012

7:30 P.M.

AS AMERICA STEAMROLLEd TOWARdS CIvIL WAR, AbRAHAM LINCOLN ANd STEPHEN dOUGLAS EMbARKEd ON A SERIES Of dEbATES. THEIR EPIC CLASH Of IdEAS ANd ORATORy fORGEd A fUTURE PRESIdENT ANd A NATION.

1STwt

wt

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2004SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 20042344 EAST ILIFF AVE., DENVER, COTickets at Newman Center Box Office m-f, 10-4 and all Ticketmaster outlets. Charge by phone at (303) 357-arts or online at ticketmaster.com. For more information, call (303) 871-7720 or visit du.edu/newmancenter.

This striking group of 12 versatile young dancers proved that classical technique can express the hippest moods and ideas, and that contemporary ballet, when performed in a straightforward and honest manner, can indeed attract both a young and a mature audience. —Boston Herald

Tickets available at theNewman Center Box Office

Open Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm2344 E. Iliff Ave. at University and Iliff

For information, call 303-871-7720

www.du.edu/nemwancenter

ticketmaster.com303.357.ARTSAvailable at all Ticketmaster Outlets.

Sponsored by:

SowetoGospel Choir

Tuesday October 28, 2008

“Soaring and ecstatic... brought the house down.” – The Washington Post

FREE PARKING AT ALL Newman Center Presents EVENTS!

Swaner Gates Concert Hall7:30 pm

“M“M“McccFerrin is a Ferrin is a Ferrin is a

musical phenomenon...” musical phenomenon...” musical phenomenon...”

–The New York Times–The New York Times–The New York Times

Learn more about the artist and his music “Behind The Curtain” at 6:30 pm. Free.Learn more about the artist and his music “Behind The Curtain” at 6:30 pm. Free.Learn more about the artist and his music “Behind The Curtain” at 6:30 pm. Free.

2344 EAST ILIFF AVE., DENVER, COTickets at Newman Center Box Office M-F, 10-4 and all Ticketmaster outlets. Charge by phone at 303.357. ARTS or online at ticketmaster.com. For more info., or to request accommodations for a disability, call 303.871.7720, Option 2. du.edu/newmancenter

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005

The Newman Center Presents series has been bringing an eclectic mix of music, theater and dance to the University of Denver community since the newman Center’s performance spaces opened in 2003. From jazz singer Bobby McFerrin and the Colorado-based Aspen Santa Fe Ballet to theater companies like L.A. Theatre Works and the Aquila Theatre Company, some of the world’s finest performers have appeared on the newman Center’s stages.

Here we go, DU!Here we go, DU!New coaches, new players, a new conference— it’s a big year for the Pioneers.


Spring typically is the season of new beginnings, but at the University of Denver, fall is the time of change—at least when it comes to athletics. As new and returning

students prepare to fill the seats of Magness Arena to cheer on their Pioneers, there are changes happening behind the scenes that should make the 2012–13 season one of the most exciting in University history.

The biggest change on tap for 2012–13 is DU’s long-awaited move to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), as 10 teams—men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, and volleyball—leave the Pioneers’ longtime home in the Sun Belt Conference to embark on new regional rivalries against the likes of Utah State, New Mexico State and Idaho.

In hockey, head coach George Gwozdecky will embark on his 19th season with DU in what should be a historic campaign. The upcoming season will be the Pioneers’ final year in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which has been the program’s home for more than 50 years. DU is a founding member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which will begin competition in the 2013–14 season.

“We are fortunate to have enjoyed some great success in the past, and this upcoming year promises to be another outstanding year for our Denver Pioneers,” says Peg Bradley-Doppes, vice chancellor for athletics and recreation. “From our inaugural year participating in the WAC to our hockey team competing on the ice in the historic WCHA for the last season—combined with the excitement surrounding us hosting the presidential debate this fall—we look forward to another banner year.”

>>www.denverpioneers.com

Here we go, DU!Here we go, DU!Here we go! Here we go!

By Pat RooneyPhotos courtesy of University of Denver Athletics


The Pioneers will lack some of the firepower they boasted last year, as the team’s top two scorers, Drew Shore and Jason Zucker, opted to forgo their college eligibility to sign pro contracts.

However, the cupboard is hardly bare for Coach George Gwozdecky’s crew. Junior Nick Shore emerged as a consistent scoring threat last year, and Gwozdecky has expressed confidence that a group of sophomore forwards that includes Ty Loney, Zac Larraza and Daniel Doremus could develop into steady goal scorers.

DU should pack plenty of scoring punch along the blue line with sophomore Joey LaLeggia, whose 38 points last year were the most in the

nation by a freshman defenseman, and junior David Makowski, who scored 30 points as a freshman before enduring an injury-marred campaign last year.

Gwozdecky will face an intriguing situation at goaltender as Sam Brittain, Juho Olkinuora and Adam Murray battle for playing time. Brittain missed the first half of last season while recovering from knee surgery, and Olkinuora took advantage of the opportunity to produce a team-best 2.18 goals-against average.

“We’ll be good up the middle with Nick Shore,” Gwozdecky says. “Right now, we don’t have a No. 1 goalie. They’ll have to earn it. Adam,

Sam and Juho have all shown that they can give us a chance to win. They realize the situation, and they all want to be the guy. It should be a healthy competition.”

HOCKEY

The bad news for head coach Joe Scott is that the Pioneers will have to make up for the graduation of Brian Stafford, who started all 124 games during his career (a school record) before finishing fourth on the program’s all-time scoring list.

The good news? DU returns three starters and should be an immediate force in the WAC.

Guards Brett Olson and Royce O’Neale hope to make the sort of second-year jump put together last year by junior Chris Udofia. Udofia shared the team lead in scoring and emerged as a premier defender, recording 72 blocked shots while earning the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year award.

Early indications are that senior Chase Hallam will return to form after missing the SBC Tournament last year due to a back injury that initially stirred fears about surgery. Hallam avoided surgery and should resume his role as the Pioneers’ jack-of-all-trades.

Replacing Stafford’s keen shooting eye from three-point range is a concern, but Scott expresses hope that one of the three incoming freshmen guards—Nate Engesser, Jalen Love or Bryant Rucker—might ultimately fill that role.

“With Royce we basically return four starters, which is great for any team,” says Scott, whose club went 22–9 last year. “We’re trying to find out who the number five, six and seven guys will be. I think we’ll be versatile enough that we’ll have options. We’ll be able to go bigger, and we could go smaller. I like that we’ll have different ways to go to fill those roles.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Chris Udofia


Coach Jesse Mahoney has hit the ground running since he was hired in January, and he hopes that theme remains in effect during his inaugural season with the Pioneers. Mahoney, who helped lead Colorado State University to the NCAA Tournament during each of his seven seasons as an assistant with the Rams, wants DU to play at a quicker pace.

“The biggest thing is that our offense will run quite a bit faster,” Mahoney says. “With the size we have on the outside, we need to get the ball outside quicker. We spent most of the spring getting a feel for what that’s like. Defensively, the intensity of this group from the time I got here to now—it’s a different animal.”

The Pioneers, who went 13–15 last season, have a few holes to fill with the graduation of Alyssa Bonelli and assists leader Julia Cawthra, but those losses could be offset by a healthy return to form from Faimie Kingsley.

Kingsley earned first team All-Sun Belt Conference honors after leading the team in kills and blocks. However, a recurring problem with shin splints forced her to undergo surgery in January to insert a rod into her tibia. (Kingsley endured a similar procedure on her other leg two years earlier.)

As Kingsley rounds into form, Mahoney says he expects improved play from junior Colleen King and senior libero Lyndi Johnson.

“I hate to single anyone out, because everyone has been doing a great job, but those two both had very productive springs,” Mahoney says. “One of the nice things about this group is our depth. There will be a lot more competition for spots, which will make the whole group better.”

VOLLEYBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCurious though she was, new

head coach Kerry Cremeans didn’t immediately review video of her new team and players in action from last season. Cremeans wanted a fresh, untainted perspective once she finally got the Pioneers into the gym.

And what has she learned about her DU squad? Although the Pioneers have lost Kaetlyn Murdoch, who ended her career as one of the program’s all-time leaders in scoring and rebounding, DU is well-stocked at the guard position as Cremeans implements an up-tempo style of play.

“I have not watched much film of the team, and that has been on purpose,” Cremeans says. “I didn’t want to know the stats, didn’t want

to know who the starters are, and I’ve been able to form my own opinion.

“For this team, we’ll have to outwork our opponents,” she continues. “We’re not going to be big, but we’ll be capable of playing aggressive defense. And we have a veteran point guard who knows how to push the ball up the court.”

That point guard, senior Emiko Smith, already has rewritten the DU record book by compiling a program-best 533 assists during her first three seasons. Smith increased her scoring average by nearly four points last season and will be expected to make a similar jump this year to help offset the loss of Murdoch.

Faimie Kingsley

Emiko Smith


UpdateCampus

Watch a video of Denver Urban Debate League students in action at du.edu/dudl

The Pioneers will look to press the reset button after a discouraging 2011–12 season.

A year of high expectations spiraled into a 5–11–3 disappointment that included losses in five of the Pioneers’ final six games. DU scored only 26 goals all season, and head coach Bobby Muuss has spent much of the offseason attempting to reshape the mindset of his players.

Muuss and his coaching staff also are instilling a more attack-oriented strategy in hopes of igniting a fire in DU’s stagnant offense.

“Throughout the winter and spring, everything we did was about being more competitive,” Muuss says. “We’re changing our system of play a bit. In the past, we’ve been more of an absorbing team, and then we’d transition out of that. We’re looking at a more attacking setup.”

The Pioneers will have the luxury of taking more chances offensively with the presence of sophomore goalie Oliver Brown, whom Muuss puts into the same category as former DU netminder and current D.C. United standout Joe Willis.

Muuss hopes the addition of two transfers, Ryan Dodson and Reid Hukari, helps jump-start the Pioneers’ offense. Dodson arrives from the vaunted program at North Carolina, which won the 2011

NCAA title. Hukari, a 6-foot-7 Colorado native, played in 11 games at UCLA in 2010.

“They’re coming here from other schools where it didn’t work out, and they have things they want to prove,” Muuss says. “Our freshman class is also very, very good. By far the best we’ve had on paper. If we believe in what we’re doing, I think it can be an exciting year.”

WOMEN’S SOCCERJeff Hooker has compiled a 270–101–33

record as he enters his 21st season as DU’s head coach. The Pioneers have won at least 13 games in each of the past six seasons, and yet few of Hooker’s many talented teams have entered a season with as much firepower as the 2012 squad.

“I don’t want to say it’s the same team as last year, but it’s pretty close,” Hooker says. “But what we took away from last year is that we didn’t win anything. We didn’t win the Sun Belt regular season, which we had high hopes for, and we didn’t win the Sun Belt Tournament and missed the NCAA Tournament. We’re looking to do the little things to change that.”

DU returns its top seven scorers from 2011, a group that includes junior Kristen Hamilton, whose 16 goals in a single season

tied for the second-most in the program’s history and allowed Hamilton to earn the Sun Belt’s Player of the Year Award.

Also returning to the pitch are junior midfielder Nicholette DiGiacomo and sophomore defender Sam Harder, both of whom earned first team All-Sun Belt honors last year.

Given the amount of talent on the field, the Pioneers are poised for a run at a conference crown in the team’s first season in the Western Athletic Conference.

“It’s going to be the most competitive that the WAC has ever been,” Hooker says. “It will be all new for the players and the coaches, and that part is cool. Different road trips, different teams. We’ll have more direct flights and less puddle-jumpers.”

MEN’S SOCCER

Kristen Hamilton

Drew Beckie

University of Denver Magazine ConneCtions 39

ConnectionsAlumni

The staff of the 1971–72 Clarion poses for a photo beneath a richard Nixon election banner. Nixon beat Democrat George mcGovern in the 1972 showdown—the first presidential election in which 18-year-olds were allowed to vote. From left to right, top row: Lee Kovel, Judy Frye, rich Lemer, Lynne Brown, Bob meek, Karen smith, Bob Brandt, richard Brown, steve soucheray, Vic England, christopher Wood. Bottom row: ron caspari (seated), future secretary of the interior Gale Norton, chris mcclaskey, r.c. Wihera, Ann Wilson and Brenda Bitter.

MEN’S SOCCER


1939Robert Mickey (BA ’39) of Lancaster, Pa., is a retired professor of religious studies. He taught at Franklin and Marshall College from 1950–85 and at Colgate University from 1948–50. Robert also received a master of divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., and was ordained in the Congregational Church in Berkeley in 1942.

1942Virginia (Raum) Lacy (BA ’42) of San Diego is retired and lives with her daughter Lari. She regularly attends YMCA exercise classes, theater performances and concerts and dines with friends. In

2011, Virginia went on a boat tour of Russia and a land and riverboat trip through Egypt. She also took a three-month trip around the world 20 years ago. Virginia has been mar-ried three times. Her most recent husband was the late Robin Lacy (BA ’42, PhD ’59)—her DU sweetheart.

The classes 1948George Stovall (BA ’48) of Corvallis, Ore., is publicity director for the World War II B-17 bomber crew members of the 483rd bomb group. He writes a monthly newslet-ter for the members, who are called the Clipped Wings.

1951Richard “Dick” Goodie (BS ’51) of Westbrook, Maine, is retired and lives with his wife, Joyce. They have two daugh-ters. Richard is a freelance writer and has written

three books. He was a 1992 inductee into the Maine Running Hall of Fame.

1953Mildred “Milly” (Janzen) Balzer (MA ’53) of Gwynedd, Pa., published Heldin: Coming to Terms (iUniverse, 2011), a book based on her mother’s life.

1957Carol (McClung) Neubner (BA ’57) of Greenwood, S.C., taught dance at Lander University in Greenwood for 34 years. She

was honored in April, when the university’s spring dance concert was dedicated to her. Carol established the Lander University Dance Company and the school’s dance program. The concert featured a piece that Carol choreographed and a dance by one of her former students.

1958John Manesis (BA ’58) of Fargo, N.D., recently published his fourth poetry book, In The Third Season (CreateSpace, 2012). His poetry has been printed in more than 70 literary publications.

Reginald Phelps (BS ’58) of Lincoln, Neb., recently wrote an accounting book titled Cover Your Nut: Practical Accounting in Plain English for the Real World (CreateSpace, 2011).

Henry Yost (BS ’58) of South Pasadena, Calif., traveled to Italy, Croatia and Monte-negro with his granddaughter, DU student Hayley Hoffman, while she was studying abroad in Rome last fall.

1962James Eastin (BA ’62) of Whitewater, Calif., was a track coach at San Francisco State University from 1963–65 and acted in movies, televi-sion shows and commercials from

1969–98. In 2005, James co-founded the Golden Rainbow Center-SAGE, a nonprofit that promotes health, wellness and social programs to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Palm Springs, Calif. James was honored by the center at a fundraising event at the Palm Springs Convention Center in November 2011.

reCent graDuates asCenD to the top

The University of Denver Recent Graduate Committee, along with other recent graduates in Colorado, has raised more than $35,000 in support of the Ascend campaign.

The committee, which includes alumni who graduated within the past decade, rose to the challenge set forth by Board of Trustees member Margot Gilbert Frank and her husband, M Allan Frank, to raise $25,000. They surpassed the goal within six months, and a year after the challenge was issued, the alumni collectively have raised more than $38,000. The money will help fund the new Academic Commons at Penrose Library, opening in 2013.

Kate Bleakly (BSBA ’02), co-social chair for the committee, thinks the group can have a strong influence within the University community.

“DU has opened doors for me and helped me achieve my goals on my career path, and as a proud member of the DU alumni community, it’s now my turn to play a role in ensuring new DU students have even better college experiences in store for them,” Bleakly says. “I volunteer my time on the Recent Graduate Committee, and I donate monthly to the Recent Graduate Challenge that’s part of the Ascend campaign. It’s a way for each of us to help ensure that the University of Denver is the best it can be.”

A study room in the new library will be named in honor of the Recent Graduate Committee and all of the recent graduate donors. In addition, a casino night was held in June at the Joy Burns Center, home to the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, to thank the alumni for their contributions to the University.

>>du.edu/ascend— Kelsey Outman


ProfilesLoan FeLLow John Capozzola

In 1942, John Capozzola passed up acceptances to the University of Chicago Law School, the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, a joint Tufts-Harvard pro-gram and the Fletcher School of International Law to attend DU as an Alfred P. Sloan fellow.

It was one of the best decisions he ever made, says Capozzola, a retired pro-fessor emeritus at New York University (NYU).

And it all happened because his faculty adviser at Pennsylvania State University insisted that Capozzola interview in Philadelphia for the Sloan Fellowship. That adviser, John Ferguson, also persuaded Capozzola to choose Denver over the more prestigious programs.

“Ferguson changed my life, because had I rejected his wise counsel, I would have missed out on a superb education at DU,” Capozzola says. The University also provided lifelong friendships and connec-tions that ultimately led to his job as a profes-sor at NYU.

The Sloan Fellowship was in its fifth year when 21-year-old Capozzola arrived as one of 10 fellows at DU. A Denver Post article pub-lished June 14, 1942, says the group, selected from several hundred applicants, was chosen based on “qualities of leadership and congeni-ality, along with high academic requirements in the field of political science, economics, accounting and statistics.”

Capozzola was a Sloan fellow twice. His first fellowship was interrupted in October 1942, when he was drafted for service in the Army Air Force during World War II. After returning to America, Capozzola briefly studied law at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met a young nurse, Shirley. The couple married and had three children. They were married for 62 years, until Shirley died in 2007.

When Capozzola returned to Denver in 1945, he resumed his studies through the Sloan program. He graduated in 1947 with a master’s degree in business man-agement and went on to earn a PhD at Penn State.

Capozzola was president of Ess-Cee Sportswear Corp. in 1964 when Troy Westmeyer (BSBA ’44), an NYU professor and friend from DU, contacted him about a temporary vacancy as a graduate instructor at the university. Capozzola got the job and was appointed a full professor by 1973. His specialty was public sector labor relations.

In 1978, Capozzola received the Great Teacher Award from NYU. In 1991, the year he retired, Capozzola was awarded the title of professor emeritus at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. After retiring, he taught for five more years as an adjunct professor.

“Everything I’ve achieved, even at NYU, it started at DU with the Sloan Fellowship,” he says.

— Valerie Finholm

1963Marlow Ediger (EDD ’63) of North New-ton, Kan., received notice that two of his manuscripts were accepted for publication: “Writing in the Science Curriculum” in Education and “Oral Communication Across the Curriculum” in the Journal of Instructional Psychology. Marlow also co-authored Curricu-lum, School, and Teacher, a teacher education textbook. He was appointed as external examiner of PhD theses for Alagappa Uni-versity in India.

William Sterling (BSCE ’63) of Kansas City, Mo., was named a Public Works Lead-ership Fellow by the American Public Works Association. William has been the owner of Sterling & Associates, a consulting service, since 2008.

1964Tom Burns (JD ’64) of Englewood, Colo., was named the 2012 Englewood Citizen of the Year. Tom was mayor of Englewood for seven years and has been serving the com-munity for more than 30 years.

Glory Weisberg (BA ’64) of Englewood, Colo., was named Woman of the Year for 2011 by the Villager newspaper. Glory has been the Villager’s society editor for 26 years. She is involved in many charitable organiza-tions. Before joining the Villager, Glory taught elementary school in the Littleton and Denver school districts.

1965Fred Tesone (BA ’65) of Louisville, Colo., was awarded the Golden Lion award by the Colorado Sons of Italy.

1967Stephen Day (BA ’67) of Renton, Wash., was appointed president and chief executive officer of American Fast Freight Inc., an ocean forwarder and logistics company.

David Weinstein (JD ’67) of Denver is a trademark and copyright attorney. David was recently recognized and honored as a Colo-rado intellectual property Super Lawyer.


recently wrote a novel, Dead and Not So Buried (Camel Press, 2012)—a thriller set in Hollywood, Calif.

Vincent Khapoya (MA ’71, PhD ’74) of Rochester Hills, Mich., retired from Oakland University in 2009, after 36 years of teaching. He was selected as a United Nations monitor during the 1994 South African elections and was appointed visiting professor of political studies at the Univer-sity of the Western Cape near Cape Town, South Africa, for six months. Vincent also authored a textbook, The African Experience (Prentice Hall). The fourth edition was published in February 2012.

1974Ernest Lawrence (BA ’74) of Oconomo-woc, Wis., wrote a book, Alone with the Past: The Life and Photographic Art of Roland W. Reed (Afton Press, 2012). It is the first book written about Reed (1864–1934), who pho-tographed Native Americans in Minnesota, Montana, Canada and Arizona.

1968John Browne (BA ’68) of Bainbridge Island, Wash., is an attorney in Seattle. He is rep-resenting Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the Army sniper charged in the March 11 shooting in Afghanistan. John has represented several notable criminals during his legal career, including serial killer Ted Bundy and a teen-age thief dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit.”

1969Merry DeBoer (BA ’69) of Denver has authored two books, The Land of the Number Zero —an art book about a mathematical concept—and Stories From A Doll, which includes stories from the last four years of her mother’s life. She also is an artist who has shown work at the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver. Merry completed her trilogy of musicals, the Rose Trilogy, in 2006.

1971James Conway (BA ’71) of Los Angeles is a TV writer, producer and director. He

Marnie Stites (BA ’74, MPA ’76) of Colleyville, Texas, recently became acquainted with Don Helm (BS ’54) of Benbrook, Texas, through the

Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Ambas-sador Program. Don recently was awarded the Ambassadors’ Charles Cox Award for exemplary service and loyal dedication. Marnie received the same honor last year. Don is a lifetime honorary member of the chamber.

Ron Stock (JD ’74, LLM ’94) of Monterey, Calif., is the city administrator of Weed, Calif.

1977William Mellor (JD ’77) of Falls Church, Va., has been awarded the 2012 Bradley Prize from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. William is the current president of and general counsel for the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm.

Coming to a city near you!Visit www.alumni.du.edu/DUontheRoad

to view the 2012-13 schedule and to register for an upcoming DU on the Road.

DU on the Road brings the University of Denver from the foothills of the Rockies to a city near you. Throughout the academic year, complimentary cocktail receptions are held in various cities across the country. These gatherings provide a unique opportunity to speak with University leadership about the latest developments at DU while you

mingle with fellow alumni, parents and friends of the university.

We look forward to connecting with you as we travel to your city!


ProfileLavenDer Farmer Sarah Richards

As a University of Denver student in the 1970s, Sarah Richards definitely inhaled.

But it’s not what you think.It was 1972, and 21-year-old Richards and her

friends spilled out of the bus that had dropped them on the edge of the town of Grasse, in Provence, France, the center of the French per-fume industry. Chatting excitedly, heading into another unexplored corner of Europe during her junior year abroad, Richards suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, transfixed.

“Instantly, I could smell the perfume in the air,” she recalls. “It was totally intoxicating. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

Today, Richards, 40, is the queen of Lavender Wind Farm, a small, aromatic purple kingdom on an island off the coast of Washington. Her throne: a rusting red 1951 Farmall Cub tractor. Richards (BA ’73) grows six different varieties of lavender on nearly nine acres on Whidbey Island. The farm keeps Richards and four to five employees busy year-round, planting, cultivating and harvesting the lavender, then producing a bushel of different products made from the herb.

Richards admits she didn’t learn a lick about distilling essential oils or soil science while at DU. She majored in art and French. She had come to Denver from Massachusetts “to ski,” she says, laughing. After graduating in 1973, she embarked on a few decades of work entirely unrelated to organic farming. She returned to school, earned a counseling degree and worked for 10 years as a mental health therapist. “One thing led to another,” she says, “and I found myself on a piece of property I didn’t quite know what to do with.”

Richards knew she wanted to farm the land, and she worked with the county extension agent to determine what types of crops would thrive. Surprisingly, the Pacific Northwest has a Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and dry summers. Her Whidbey Island acres are as amenable to lavender as the chalky cliffs of Provence. She recalled her time in France and her love for delightful-smelling things and recognized that her “creative and crafty kind of way of being in the world” would work well with a lavender crop.

She says she’s never worked harder in her life, but she loves it. Unlike working in the mental health field, working in actual fields reveals constant progress.

“You get to see the results of your work every day, in the land, in the plants growing,” she says. “Every day is a step for-ward, and you can see it. It is awesome.”

“It’s really, really hard work,” Richards continues. “But I never get tired of it. It’s amazing. Every year I look forward to the start of harvest, walking out of the fields with my arms full of fresh lavender. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”

>>www.lavenderwind.com— Shara Rutberg

Courtesy of Sarah Richards


1985James Legg (BSBA ’85) is the new CEO of PHD Virtual Technologies in Philadelphia. James previously was vice president of worldwide sales and sales operations at Idera and has more than 22 years of man-agement experience.

1986Richard McGrath (BA ’86) of Sioux City, Iowa, has been developing an efficient method to observe and assess elementary school procedures and recom-mend new practices. Richard is considered to be a pioneer in Kaizen Education Leadership.

1987Chris Pfeiffer (BSBA ’87) of Conroe, Texas, and his wife, Linda, opened the Homestead House, a high-end furniture store, on Feb. 1. Chris previously was a regional sales manager at a store of the same name in Colorado and was a manager at Louis Shanks of Texas. Chris started his 30-year furniture industry career at American Furniture Warehouse in Denver.

1988Robert Anderson (MBA ’88) of Spring, Texas, is a petroleum engineer with more than 25 years of domestic and international experience with major oil companies, including ARCO International and Vastar Resources, and independent oil companies, including Hunt Oil, Hugoton Energy and Anadarko Petroleum. Robert also is on the board of directors of CH&P Energy Partners and GeoResources Inc., where he is chief operating officer for the northern region and executive vice president of engineering and acquisitions.

Virginia “Ginni” McCann (MSW ’88) of Biloxi, Miss., is a retired gerontologist. She and 24 other retired professionals traveled to Cuba for two weeks in February with the Caribbean Cultural Religious Council of Long Beach, Calif., to explore Cuban communities, culture and religion.

Carita Watson (BBA ’88, MCIS ’98) of Aurora, Colo., received the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce 2012 Athena Award. Carita has been an executive at IBM since 1996.

Marla Ottenstein (BA ’77) of Naples, Fla., is a self-employed professional organizer. She writes a bimonthly column called “Get Organized” for the Naples Daily News. Marla recently presented two seminars on organizing at the Miromar Design Center in Estero, Fla.

1979

Irina (Kusnezov) Donaldson (BA ’79) of Larkspur, Colo., is grandmother to baby Alexander Nicholas Donaldson, born April 6.

Frank Schmitzer (MA ’79) of Austin, Texas, is the new librarian at the Oak Hill branch library. Frank has been involved in the Austin Public Library system for 25 years.

1981Helen Resnik (MSW ’81) of Denver was one of 23 women nominated for the 2012 Athena Award—the highest honor given by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. Helen is managing partner of Resnik Partners, a talent-management firm that helps organizations with leadership development, executive coaching and career transition. She also serves on the boards of directors of Rocky Mountain HR People & Strategy and Dress for Success Denver.

1982Brad Frigon (LLM ’82) of Littleton, Colo., has been named a Super Lawyer in the state of Colorado for 2012. Brad serves on the board of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Special Needs Alliance.

1983Tammy (Rivera) Berberick (BA ’83) of Littleton, Colo., recently completed a nine-month volunteer project with Florence Crittenton High School. Tammy created and taught a credit-based leadership class for teen moms.


From the back porch of her childhood home in Arvada, Colo., Kristen Iversen (PhD English ’96) could see the water tower at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.

The plant—built in 1952 on a swath of ranchland along the Front Range between Denver and Boulder—manu-factured plutonium triggers for atomic bombs. But Iversen didn’t know that when she was growing up in the 1960s and ’70s. Neighbors who worked at the plant didn’t talk about their jobs—or about accidents, leaks, and the fires that

released plumes of radioactive plutonium into the air, where southeasterly winds dispersed the deadly particles over the rapidly growing suburb of Arvada.

“Rocky Flats was the big secret of my childhood,” says Iversen, author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats (Crown, 2012). “No one knew what they did at the plant; the rumor in the neighborhood was that they made household cleaning products.”

Director of the creative writing program at the University of Memphis and the author of Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth (Johnson Books, 1999), Iversen has written a riveting and deeply personal story of growing

up in a place of stunning beauty and invisible danger. Iversen’s memories of riding her horses in the fields surrounding the plant and swimming in the lake behind her house take on a menacing quality as she docu-ments government attempts to conceal the effects of the radioactive waste released by the plant. Intertwined is the story of her family’s own “secret”—her father’s alcoholism.

In Full Body Burden, which was excerpted by Reader’s Digest in its July/August 2012 issue, Iversen writes about a legacy of cancers—leukemia, lung cancer, brain tumors—in plant workers and in residents who lived downwind of the plant. She includes stories about her own health prob-lems and those of family members.

It took Iversen more than 10 years to write the book, which draws on extensive interviews, government documents and class-action testi-mony about the plant, once designated by the government as the most contaminated site in America.

The plant was shut down by the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency in 1989 and designated as a Superfund site. In June 2007, the EPA certified the cleanup as complete, despite the warnings of scientists that unsafe amounts of plutonium remain in the soil.

A month later, nearly 4,000 acres of the 6,200-acre Rocky Flats site were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for eventual use as a public recreation area. About 1,200 acres of deeply contaminated land remain off-limits.

— Valerie Finholm

G R O W I N G U P I N

T H E N U C L E A R S H A D O W

O F R O C K Y F L A T S

K R I S T E N I V E R S E N

B U R D E N

F U L L B O D Y

G R O W I N G U P I N

T H E N U C L E A R S H A D O W

O F R O C K Y F L A T S

g r o w i n g u p i n t h e n u c l e a r

s h a d o w o f r o c k y f l a t s

f u l l b o d yb u r d e n

k r i s t e n i v e r s e n

Pioneer picsWhile on a yearlong

English-teaching stint in Seoul, South Korea, Lindsey Davis (BA ’06, CERT ’07, MA ’08) of Rochester, Minn., took a weekend trip to Tsushima, Japan, where she rode the length of the island on a rented bicycle. Davis stopped to model her DU hockey T-shirt in front of one of the island’s many temples.

As you pioneer lands far and wide, be sure to pack your DU gear and strike a pose in front of a national monument, the fourth wonder of the world or your hometown hot spot. If we print your submission, you’ll receive some new DU paraphernalia to take along on your travels.

Send your print or high-resolution digital image and a description of the location to: Pioneer Pics, University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816, or email [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name, address, degree(s) and year(s) of graduation.

Which alum was president of a sportswear company?

The answer can be found some-where on pages 40–50 of this issue.

Send your answer to [email protected] or University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. Be sure to include your full name and mailing address. We’ll select a winner from the correct entries; the winning entry will win a prize.

Congratulations to Michael Bolas (LLM ’80) for winning the summer issue’s pop quiz.

BooK Bin Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats


1990Judith Kolb (PhD ’90) of State College, Pa., is the recipient of the 2011 R. Wayne Pace HRD Book of the Year Award for her book Small Group Facilitation: Improving Process and Performance in Groups and Teams (HRD Press, 2011).

William Iacovelli (BSBA ’90) of New York recently was promoted to executive vice president at commercial real estate firm CBRE.

Ray Trygstad (MSSM ’90) of Naperville, Ill., is an industry professor, associate chair of information technology and management and director of information technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. On March 27, Ray received the school’s 2012 School of Applied Technology Excellence in Teach-ing Award. He also serves as chair of the National Board of Directors of the Gamma Nu Eta national information technology honor society.

1992Don Seastrum (MLS ’92) of Gunnison, Colo., has been asked to participate in the opening of a new museum of modern and contemporary art, Museo D’Arte Moderna E Contemporanea, in Cerreto Laziale, Italy. Of the 32 participating artists, Don is the only artist from the United States.

1995Jennifer Cline (BA ’95) of New York was promoted to managing director of property management company Rose Associates. Jennifer joined Rose in 2005 as a human resources generalist and most recently served as director. Before joining Rose, Jennifer oversaw human resources for 15 hospitals in three states as a member of the medical staffing network. She also spent seven years managing staffing posts in the U.S. Army.

1996Larry Ambrose (JD ’96) of Den-ver was elected president of Denver’s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, where he will lead a new

nine-member board of directors. Larry previ-ously was executive director of the Auraria Foundation, manager of the Pueblo, Colo., convention center, a community college professor and a historic preservationist. He has founded and been a member of four registered neighborhood organizations since 1973. Larry and his wife, Jane, founded the One Sky One World International Kite Fly for Peace, which encourages people to fly kites for peace and the environment on the second Sunday of October in hundreds of locations around the world.

Chelsey Baker-Hauck (BA ’96) recently joined Metropolitan State University of Denver as senior director of marketing. Previously, she was editorial director at the University of Denver.

1997Keith Jacobus (PhD ’97) of White Bear Lake, Minn., was named superintendent of South Washington County Schools in Minnesota. Keith previously was director of schools for Douglas County School District in Castle Rock, Colo.

ProfilepoLitiCo David Von Drehle

David Von Drehle has covered a lot of presidential debates. But this year will be a first for the longtime political reporter and Time magazine editor-at-large—covering a debate at his old stomping grounds.

“It’s very exciting,” says Von Drehle (BA ’83), who began working at Time in 2006, after 15 years at The Washington Post. “It’s a great way to get students excited about the election; it’s a great way to let people in the press and those in politics get a sense of campus.”

Von Drehle will rehash the political sparring match—and discuss election issues and the state of journalism today—during his on-campus lecture Oct. 4, the day after the debate at DU.

These are subjects about which the seasoned jour-nalist has plenty to say.

On who will be the next president: “The public’s in a sour mood,” he explains. “It doesn’t feel like a year when the public will really fall in love with a candidate. It’s going to be tight.”

And the media still have a place in politics, he says, despite the proliferation of other communication meth-ods.

“In some ways, the influence of the media is waning, because [with social media] there are so many ways for campaigns to go at voters directly. But in other ways, we are even more important to the campaign because we’re trying to bring some sort of coherent piece to all this noise.”

Von Drehle often is one of the first to sort out the babble. His stories (which include an explanation of the recent Supreme Court ruling on health care and profiles of everyone from President Barack Obama to commentator and talk show host Glenn Beck) often grace the cover of Time. He also has penned a few books, including the 2003 bestseller Triangle: The Fire That Changed America (Grove Press).

Not bad for a guy who says he fell short of his “dream in life” to work for Sports Illustrated. After being bitten by the writing bug at DU (he was editor-in-chief of the Clarion), he went on to work as a sportswriter at The Denver Post before he was urged to “try out” writing hard news at The Miami Herald. “I did that and never looked back,” he says

>> David Von Drehle will speak at the University Oct. 4 as part of the Debate Event Series. Visit debate2012.du.edu for more information on upcoming speakers and events.

— Kathryn Mayer

Jose

ph M

oran


Deborah Lockwood (MSS ’97) of Denver was named an STC fellow by the Society for Technical Communications. Deborah has spent 26 years in the communications profession.

1999Alexandra Albright (JD ’99) of Chicago was appointed chief compliance officer for the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Alexandra previously served as an attorney for Kirkland & Ellis, concentrating on compliance, litiga-tion and corporate finance matters.

2000Josh Ganet (BSBA ’00) and Carli (Dyer) Ganet (BA ’01) of Long Beach, Calif., wel-comed a daughter, Lucy Elizabeth Ganet, on Dec. 22, 2011.

Martin Garnar (MLIS ’00) of Denver is reference services librarian at the Dayton Memorial Library at Regis University. In May 2012, he became the first librarian in the history of Regis to be promoted to

the rank of full professor.

2002Jessica Quinones (BM ’02) of County Wicklow, Ireland, mar-ried Phil Byrne of Maryport, England, on Sept. 28, 2011, at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm in Albu-querque, N.M. Jessica completed

a master’s degree in music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She is a freelance flautist and publishes articles on music performance and ethnomusicology. She is pursuing a PhD in tango flute per-formance at the University of Huddersfield in England.

Zach Robison (BS ’02) of Sycamore, Ill., recently completed a yearlong administra-tive fellowship at University of Colorado Hospital and was named process improve-ment consultant to a new department in hospital administration and operations. Zach received an MBA in health adminis-tration from the University of Colorado-Denver and is a board member for the Colorado Health Administration Alumni Association, the Colorado Association of Healthcare Executives and Global Health

Connections. In his spare time, Zach prac-tices yoga, swims, skis, camps and travels to Chicago to visit his niece and nephew.

2005Chris Bandemer (JD ’05) of Fort Wayne, Ind., recently founded Bandemer Law.

2006Paula Broadwell (MA ’06) of Charlotte, N.C., is the author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus (Penguin Press, 2012), a book about the current director of the CIA.

Matthew Harris (BSBA ’06) of Quincy, Mass., started a company called College Miner, which offers a product that helps colleges and universities analyze student outcomes and keep track of their network connections. DU’s network services depart-ment was Matthew’s first customer.

Christopher Sutton (JD ’06) of Macomb, Ill., in May was presented with the Illinois Geographical Society’s Distinguished Geog-rapher Award for his effort to advance the study of geography in Illinois. Christopher is a geography professor at Western Illinois University.

Contact usName (include maiden name)

DU degree(s) and graduation year(s)

Address

City

State ZIP code Country

Phone

Email

Employer Occupation

What have you been up to? (Use a separate sheet if necessary.)

Question of the hour: What was the first presidential election in which you voted?

Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, email [email protected] or mail your note to: Class Notes, University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816.

Tell us about your

career and personal

accomplishments, awards,

births, life events or

whatever else is keeping

you busy. Do you support

a cause? Do you have

any hobbies? Did you just

return from a vacation? Let

us know! Don’t forget to

send a photo. (Include a

self-addressed, postage-paid

envelope if you would like

your photo returned.)


2008Genevieve Chognard (BSBA ’08) of Dallas mar-ried Brendon Quick on Aug. 13, 2011, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Genevieve works for JP Realty Partners, a commercial real estate firm in Dallas.

2009Ian Jaffe (MBA ’09) of Denver is project director at PingOne, a business cloud net-work that has been featured in PC Magazine and eWeek.

Lisa Pittari (MSW ’09) of Denver has been awarded the State University of New York at Oneonta’s Outstanding Young Alumna Award for her accomplishments in the field of social justice, equity and inclusion. Lisa is a member of the Denver Mayor’s Youth Commission, working on issues that affect young people in Denver.

2007Jenny Starkey (MS ’07) of Lakewood, Colo., recently joined the Downtown Denver Partnership as market-ing and communica-tions manager. Jenny previously was a com-munications manager at

Engineers Without Borders USA and a com-munications manager at Project C.U.R.E. In 2010, Jenny was named to the Denver Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list.

ProfileLegisLator Crisanta Duran

The first time state Rep. Crisanta Duran met Barack Obama was in 2007 at the University of Denver, when she was asked to intro-duce Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, at an Obama campaign rally.

“That is one of the memories I cherish most,” Duran (BA ’02) says of the event.

Now, as Obama’s first term approaches an end, he is slated to return to Denver in October for the first presidential debate, an event Duran sees as another chance for the University to shine.

“To me, it’s just an incred-ible opportunity for the University to host this debate,” she says. “It’s sort of coming back full circle. I think it’s very exciting for the city.”

Duran always has been excited about politics and ser-vice, ever since she was a little girl.

“From the time I was young, I always had a dedica-tion to community service,” she remembers. “It’s very simplistic, but that’s where it started—just that desire to help others and make sure we have a healthy and thriving community.”

She carried that thinking to DU, where she double majored in Spanish and public policy.

“Both of those have really been tremendous in my abil-ity to be an elected official,”

she says. “We debated and discussed and learned about a wide range of policy issues facing Colorado and facing us nationally.”

After graduation, she attended law school at the University of Colorado. She was elected to House District 5 in 2009. She’s almost done with her first term and is becoming familiar with the ups and downs of public office.

“Day to day, like anything, there are always obstacles to over-come,” Duran explains. “There were definitely times that I was

frustrated. The whole debate over civil unions, it was frus-trating to see a bill like that, where we had enough votes to pass but the process became obstructed. That said, I do believe very strongly in both sides coming together to produce results for the state. Overall, it’s been an incredible experience.”

Her greatest passion lies in creating economic opportuni-ties for Coloradans. One of her proudest moments was passing House Bill 1272, which went into effect July 1. It allows people on unemployment to get skills training or assistance in starting a new business.

“We all talk about how important it is to create jobs, and this is truly an example of legislation that is doing just that,” she says.

— Kevin Williams Way

ne A

rmst

rong


Deaths1930sHerb Bergren (attd. 1938), San Rafael, Calif., 3-26-12Dorothy Borgeson (BA ’38), Granby, Colo., 6-3-11Henry Tramutt (BA ’39, MA ’40), Arvada, Colo., 1-17-12

1940sDelphine (Diegel) Tramutt (BA ’42), Arvada, Colo., 1-5-12Esther Nelson (MA ’44), Denver, 3-7-12Barbara “Bobbi” Tobias (BA ’45), Denver, 3-21-12Bert Holder (BS ’48, MS ’49), Livermore, Calif., 4-20-12Leslie Howe (BSBA ’48), Hannibal, Mo., 4-24-12Henry Hurlburt (BA ’48), Denver, 9-6-11Duane Rames (BA ’48), Mesa, Ariz., 11-13-11Julius Warner (BSBA ’48), Denver, 3-19-12Herman Casagranda (BFA ’49, MA ’50), Morrison, Colo., 4-3-11William Dusterdick (BS ’49), Thornton, Colo., 1-17-12

1950sPhilip Weinberg (BS ’50), Peoria, Ill., 2-2-12Gwen “Miss B” Bowen (BA ’51), Denver, 3-29-12Imogene Chapman (BA ’51), Helotes, Texas, 3-2-12David Breternitz (BA ’52), Dove Creek, Colo., 3-5-12Herbert Edwards (BS ’54, JD ’58), Harbor Springs, Mich., 5-12-12 Bob Ewing (BFA ’54), Santa Fe, N.M., 4-2-12Albert “Lee” Gregg (attd. 1957–60), Corpus Christi, Texas, 4-7-12Robert Linson (EDD ’57), Muncie, Ind., 5-22-12 Ed Zemrau (BS ’58), Sherwood Park, Alberta, 4-26-12

1960sJ.R. “Jim” Clabaugh (BSBA ’60), Lakewood, Colo., 12-1-07Max Norton (PhD ’62), Modesto, Calif., 2-21-12Mary Borland (MA ’64), Santa Fe, N.M., 2-25-12Al Genovy (attd. 1966–71), Kalamazoo, Mich., 3-10-12

1970sLynn Bretz (MA ’73), Lawrence, Kan., 5-27-12 Jane Howell (MA ’74), Billings, Mont., 5-28-12Kathleen (Edwards) Barnes (BME ’76), Little Genesee, N.Y., 4-22-12Peter Weinstein (BSBA ’77), Downers Grove, Ill., 10-16-11Scott Clark (BA ’78), Lake Forest, Ill., 5-3-12

1980sMark Godek (BSBA ’80), Epsom, N.H., 3-15-12Cheryl (Schlessman) Bennett (MA ’81), Centennial, Colo., 4-9-11Webster Atwell II (BA ’85), Vail, Colo., 5-26-12

2000sSandra Holtz (BA ’00), Milliken, Colo., 5-14-12

2010sAlex Teves (MA ’12), Denver, 7-20-12

Faculty & staffVincent LaGuardia (BME ’65, MA ’67), former professor of music, director of orchestras and director of the Lamont School of Music, Aurora, Colo., 3-9-12Ben-Zion Netanyahu, former professor of Jewish history and Hebrew literature, Jerusalem, 4-30-12

2010Jason Conger (MSW ’10) of Scottsdale, Ariz., has opened Mile High Pyschotherapy, committed to individual and couples work.

George Gevargis (MBA ’10) of Denver recently started an organic food truck busi-ness, “Eat Eatclectic Mobile Eats,” with his wife, Katy. Lindsay Holtz (MA ’10) of El Paso, Texas, was designated a certified consultant by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Lindsay is a performance enhancement specialist and works with soldiers and their family members, as well as civilians, to help enhance personal and professional performance.

2011Karen Jernigan (MA ’11) of Colorado Springs, Colo., is an elementary school teacher in the West Bank. She wrote a poem that will be published in an international poetry book and is a semifinalist for an international poetry award. Karen asked her students to write poetry about their thoughts on peace and war. The Hope + Freedom Project agreed to publish the poems and will sell poetry books to raise funds for scholarships for West Bank students.

Radina Vassileva (BA ’11) of Aurora, Colo., was one of 75 young professionals nationwide selected to participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, a yearlong, federally funded fellowship for study and work in Germany. As a fellowship participant, Radina will attend a two-month German language course, will study at a German university for four months and will intern with a German company in her career field (international affairs and environmental policy) for five months.

Let us know Post your class note online at

www.du.edu/alumni, e-mail

[email protected] or mail

in the form on page 47.

Recent grad among fatalities at theater shooting

Alex Teves, who graduated in June with an MA in counseling psychology from the Morgridge College of Education, was among the 12 victims in the movie theater shooting July 20 in Aurora, Colo.

Teves, a 24-year-old Phoenix, Ariz., native, died protecting his girlfriend from gunfire at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Police arrested 24-year-old James Holmes, who had studied neuroscience at the University of Colorado-Denver, immediately after the massacre that wounded more than 50 other audience members.

Tom Teves, Alex’s father, told The Arizona Republic that Alex “was one of the kindest kids who always gave of himself. You won’t find anyone who has a bad word to say about him, and that was true even before he died.”

The Morgridge College of Education has set up a scholarship for graduate students in memory of Alex Teves. Visit www.du.edu/ascend for details.


“Do you believe that the 2010 supreme Court ‘Citizens united’ ruling threatens our democracy?”

—Steve Seifert, executive director, Newman Center for the Performing Arts

“if the euro were to fail, what would be your next step?”

—Sam Estenson, Undergraduate Student Government president

“Do you believe the usa needs to improve its international reputation? why or why not, and if yes, what would you do?”

—Scott Leutenegger, computer science professor

“Considering that america has fallen from the top spots of many measurable categories (education, health care, happiness, etc.), what do you see as the relationship between america and the world at large in 100 years?”—Laleh Mehran, associate professor, School of Art and Art History

“what policies would you propose to create a positive work/life/family balance for the nation’s women?”

—Crisanta Duran (BA ’02), Colorado state representative

“how would you resolve the crisis in syria and the negative aftereffects of the arab spring, in terms of authoritarian dictatorships using force against their own people, and what should the u.s. role in resolving that be?”—Vince Szilagyi, senior history, geography and

political science major and state chair of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans

“inside your proposals, you acknowledge that medicare is going to need to change dramatically over the next generation. Can you explain why your opponent’s plan for changing medicare is worse than your own?”—David Von Drehle (BA ’83), editor-at-large, Time magazine

If you were a debate moderator … we asked some of the people interviewed in this issue what they would ask the presidential candidates if given the chance.


Join us for Alumni Symposium and Homecoming & Family Weekend 2012

October 26-27DU is combining two of its signature fall events. Return to campus for a weekend full of discovery, Pioneer spirit and fun. Don’t miss this exciting time!

• Keynote addresses by Paula Broadwell (MA ‘06), New York Times best-selling author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, and Eric Alexander (BA ‘92), founder of the nonprofit Higher Summits and mountaineer who led the first blind climber to the summit of Mount Everest

• Faculty-led courses• Parent and alumni celebrations• Kids’ activities• Homecoming parade• Taste of DU• Pioneer Hockey• ...and much more!

Register online at alumni.du.edu or call 303.871.2777. Space is limited for some events.


One of the strangest items in

DU’s archives is a braided

lock of hair from new England

Revolutionary War hero-turned-

traitor Benedict Arnold. The

souvenir is part of a collection

of memorabilia and letters from

the Arnold family donated to

the University in 1988. The

collection belonged to Arnold’s

last living descendant and

great-granddaughter, Helen

Chadwick. As an elderly

woman, Chadwick lived alone

in a home near the University.

After she died, the papers

were left to a neighbor. The

neighbor, a DU alumna,

donated them to the University.

MISCELLANEA

Hair today

university of denver magazine fall 2012 issue

Documents