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Spring 2009

U N I V E R S I T Y O F

MAGAZINE

N I V E R S I T Y O F
A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY
MAGAZINE

Early childhood
education takes flight
Office of the Chancellor

Dear Readers:

We at DU are surely no strangers to the inexorable cycles of economic boom and bust. For most of our 145-year
history, our well-being was tied to the health of the local economy and the overall economy of the state. Early on,
the cycles were driven by the timing of gold and silver strikes in the Rockies and the impact of weather on Colorado
agriculture. As the city and the region grew in fits and starts, so did we.

Along the way we’ve enjoyed some very big highs and endured some very deep lows, such as the time following the
silver panic of the 1890s when we were in such dire straits (and deep debt) that we considered selling University
Hall to a group of investors who would convert it into a glue factory. Our condition was so fragile that our theology
department, which had its own endowment, seceded from the University to go its own way as the Iliff School of
Theology.

The University community lived through 120 years of boom and bust, up until the last great crisis in the mid 1980s.
Once again our institutional health was poor and our survival on the line, but the outcome was very different from
such crises in the past. We were not rescued by an economic miracle, a government bailout, an angelic donation or
any other such Band-Aid. Rather, the institution picked itself up and made some fundamental changes—changes
that gradually led us back to stability. Chancellor Dwight Smith and his colleagues made some hard choices, and the
institution began to move in ways uncharacteristic of traditional academia. The faculty revamped the curriculum in
bold and innovative ways. We became more creative and less risk-averse. We became vastly more sophisticated in our
operations and planning, particularly in the years under Chancellor Dan Ritchie. The kinds of decisions we made and
actions we took back in those dark days served us well as we grew into the institution we know today—a DU that is
innovative and agile, operationally sophisticated and focused on absolute quality.

Today, the University enjoys the strongest financial condition of its history, even as we face the roiling economic storm
that has engulfed the nation and much of the world. Our enrollments are solid, and looking ahead to next fall, we
have nearly 11,000 applications for the new class of 1,145 first-year undergraduates, up 30 percent from a year ago and
up more than 70 percent from the number of applicants just two years ago. Applications for our graduate programs
are up as well, and our footprint has broadened considerably. Nearly 60 percent of our undergraduates now come
from states other than Colorado, and our population of international students (both undergraduates and graduates) is
nearing 900. We are recruiting and hiring great faculty members, for whom we compete on a national scale. Our cash
reserves are solid and we have great liquidity. Unlike a number of other institutions, we are proceeding with major
construction projects (a new building for the Morgridge College of Education, an addition to Ben Cherrington Hall
and a new soccer stadium and training facility) because they are all fully funded, without debt. Our major concern is
for our students and their families, and so we have moved substantial new resources into financial aid.

Like so many times in our past, we face an uncertain and daunting economy. We look ahead with great caution, fully
aware of the worst-case scenarios. This time is different, though, because we are different.

news • events
Office of the Chancellor
• sports • community
Mary Reed Building | 2199 S. University Blvd. | Denver, CO 80208 | 303.871.2111 | Fax 303.871.4101 | www.du.edu/chancellor
2 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009
Contents
Features

22 A New Direction
Through a program in the Four Corners, DU’s Graduate School of Social
Work is educating social workers about the region’s unique needs.
By Brenda Gillen

28 A Hand Up for Early Ed


DU’s new Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy is working
to improve the picture for early childhood education.
By Jan Thomas

34 Islam in America
What does it mean to be Shi’i in a country that understands so little
about Islam? A new book by DU Professor Liyakat Takim traces the his-
tory and experiences of the Shi’i community in America.
By Tamara Chapman

Departments

44 Editor’s Note
45 Letters
47 DU Update
08 News  Soccer stadium
11 Arts  Indian art and identity
12 Q&A  Chaplain Gary Brower
16 Sports  Women’s basketball coach
19 People Cookbook author Elizabeth Yarnell
21 History  Campus radio
37 Alumni Connections
Online only at www.du.edu/magazine:
Academics  Science and politics
Research  Waste reactor

On the cover: Butterfly drawing by Hannah Eckert, age 5,


daughter of Jeanine Mayer Eckert (BA ’98) Story on page 28.

This page: Wheylaya Becenti, 7, daughter of social work alumnus Leland Becenti,
works on a traditional Navajo weaving. Becenti teaches traditional crafts as a
coping mechanism. Photo by Marc Piscotty. Story on page 22.

University of Denver Magazine Update 3


U N I V E R S I T Y O F

Editor’s Note
MAGAZINE

w w w. d u . e d u / m a g a z i n e
U N I V E R SVolume
I T Y9, Number
O F 3
M A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MPublisher
AGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF
There is a lot of buzz about education at DU Carol Farnsworth
MAGAZINE
these days, and not just in the ways you might
Managing Editor
expect. Sure, we’re in the business of educating Chelsey Baker-Hauck (BA ’96)
college students in a traditional campus setting.
Associate Editor
But our learning environment also includes pre-K Tamara Chapman
options, a school for gifted elementary and middle
Editors
school students, non-traditional programs for
Richard Chapman
adult learners, and continuing education for senior Kathryn Mayer (BA ’07)
citizens. Nathan Solheim

The future of education is the theme of this Creative/Brand Strategist


Craig Korn

year’s Bridges to the Future programming (see Jim Good


page 10 for details about the next event in the Art Director
series or visit www.du.edu/bridges); DU is even producing a related series Craig Korn
of television specials in partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS. The
Contributors
University recently broke ground for Ruffatto Hall, the new home for Alfredo Abad • Wayne Armstrong • Jim
the Morgridge College of Education. Alumnus Jim Cox Kennedy has Berscheidt • Janalee Card Chmel (MLS ’97) •
Mac Clouse • Carrie Field •
donated $10 million to establish the Kennedy Institute for Educational Brenda Gillen (MLS ’06) • Kristal Griffith •
Success (page 13) in the Morgridge College. The college’s Marsico Institute Roxanne Hawn • Stephen Huyler (BA ’73) •
Doug McPherson • Marc Piscotty • Karen Rubin •
for Early Learning and Literacy is off and running (page 28), and the college Chase Squires • Samantha Stewart (BA ’08) •
recently partnered with Denver Public Schools to create a teacher residency Jan Thomas (BA ’80, MA ’81) •
Peggy Ulrich-Nims • Janna Widdifield
program (read more at www.du.edu/today).
All of these developments are hallmarks of DU’s commitment to Editorial Board
the public good, examples of how the University, as Chancellor Robert Chelsey Baker-Hauck, publications director •
Jim Berscheidt, associate vice chancellor for
Coombe might say, leverages its intellectual capital against the great issues university communications • Thomas Douglis
of the day. Undoubtedly, education is among the greatest of those challenges (BA ’86) • Carol Farnsworth, vice chancellor for
university communications • Sarah Satterwhite,
we’re tasked with as a society. senior director of development/special assistant
What role has education played in your life? Educators, what are the to the vice chancellor • Amber Scott (MA ’02) •
Grace Stanton (PhD ’79), executive director of
biggest challenges you face? Parents, what concerns do you have for the
creative/brand strategy • Laura Stevens (BA ’69),
education of your children? director of parent relations
I encourage you to join the discussion.

Printed on 10% PCW recycled paper

The University of Denver Magazine (USPS 022-177) is


published quarterly—fall, winter, spring and summer—by
the University of Denver, University Communications,
Chelsey Baker-Hauck 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208. The
University of Denver (Colorado Seminary) is an Equal
Managing Editor 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.

4 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Letters

Faith matters Joe,” fall 2008). He Korbel kindly provided recommen-


For more than 41 years I have enjoyed read- had the exceptional dations, etc., in connection with job
ing various alumni publications from DU. ability to bring the applications.
I was stunned by the article “Saving Seph” real world of inter- I worked as a clerk for Time-
(winter 2008), which chronicled the hopeful national politics into Life, but the last two months my
battle against Seph’s Duchenne muscular the classroom. As an undergraduate at the parents in Norway provided me with funds
dystrophy. University, my area of concentration was and I attended language class with Mrs.
The article says of Seph’s mother, Lori: East Asian studies with a focus on modern Korbel. I remember how proud she was of
“The primary source of that hope is faith China. My academic adviser, Professor Peter her daughters!
in God … Lori frequently discusses God’s Van Ness, suggested that I sit in on a class Olav had an internship in the U.N.
power to deliver a miracle for Seph. Barring titled Soviet Foreign Policy in order to gain after we left Denver. We then returned to
a miracle, Lori says she can accept that some insights on their communist counter- Norway, where Olav worked for the Ministry
Seph will be in heaven if he dies before her, parts in China. Professor Korbel taught this of Social Affairs for a few years before join-
though she cries every time she considers class and graciously allowed me to join the ing the United Nations Development
it. ‘It’s a God thing,’ she says. ‘Without my group. His lectures and the class discussions Programme, first as a deputy resident repre-
faith, I would have nothing. No hope.’” were very interesting and sobering, consid- sentative in Nigeria and Pakistan, then as a
For four decades I have read DU arti- ering the subject matter. resident representative in Malta, Botswana,
cles that have unhesitatingly (and dare I say One session in particular came back to Somalia and Syria. Since his retirement in
foolishly) promulgated the typical university me as I was reading your article. Professor 1989, we lived in Norway. We have three chil-
worldview of secularism wherein matters Korbel was reviewing the turbulent events dren and seven grandchildren.
of faith and the importance of faith in the of 1968, culminating with the Soviet inva- I remember with the utmost pleasure the
routine of alumni lives are virtually never sion of Czechoslovakia in August of that happy days we spent as newlyweds in Denver.
mentioned (despite the Christian origin year. He was speaking in detail, and from We had hoped to return one day.
of DU). How refreshing it is to know that personal experience, of the people and Betty Svennevik
Seph is mothered by a woman who attacks events that led up to this tragedy. Everyone Oslo, Norway
his problem with a well-developed faith that in the class was transfixed by his presenta-
has been integrated into the routine of her tion, for here was a man who has seen the
family’s life. I don’t find Lori’s perspective ugly face of Soviet imperialism up close. A Online magazine
to be unusual. What I found unusual was classroom presentation does not get more The e-version of the winter 2008 University of
that the key aspect of faith was seriously compelling. I thought about Professor Denver Magazine [www.du.edu/magazine] is
considered in the context of the article. Korbel when Russia invaded Georgia in excellent. Keep up the good work.
For one, I would prefer to see more August 2008 and what his analysis would be Neil Sapper (BA ’63)
such faith deliberation in future articles of that event. Austin, Texas
(even if the object of faith turns out to be Patrick Stanford (BA ’72, MSJA ’77)
crystals or jackhammers). Everyone has faith Alamosa, Colo.
in something or someone. As alumni, it is Renaissance Room memories
worth contemplating whether DU is a help I am replying to the request in the fall 2008
or hindrance in developing a mature faith as My husband, Olav Svennevik (MA ’55), magazine [Alumni Connections, page 45] to
part of a complete education. received the University of Denver Magazine for share memories of the Renaissance Room or
Do not grow weary of doing well! a number of years and enjoyed very much Mary Reed Library.
Don Burgess (BA ’67) being in touch with his old university. Sadly, During the 12 months I was a graduate
Fort Worth, Texas he died in December 2007. student, I used the Mary Reed Library—the
Olav would particularly have enjoyed “Ren Room” in particular—to study and com-
the issue commemorating Josef Korbel. plete assignments. I also worked 20 hours a
Korbel’s legacy Professor Korbel was Olav’s thesis adviser week in the Ren Room, often from 8 p.m. to
I am writing to congratulate you on the and became a friend and excellent support midnight and 8 a.m. to noon. I lived in an
excellent article on the life and times of in many ways. They kept in touch for sev- apartment several blocks away and walked to
Professor Josef Korbel (“Remembering eral years after we left Denver, and Professor and from campus. I remember cooking, eating,

University of Denver Magazine Letters 5


reading and studying after my midnight shift placed feet and the words “left foot,” “right the Ren Room. Even though the latter had
and often going with friends to the nearby foot.” stacks of books packed in boxes all over the
Denny’s to have coffee, talk and eat. The romantic encounter in the Ren floor, just being there and seeing that same
Two particular Ren Room memories Room occurred near the end of the sum- fireplace, the high ceilings and huge win-
are as vivid as if they happened yesterday— mer of 1972. A handsome male about my dows brought back a flood of wonderful
one humorous and one romantic. In regard age asked for help in locating a journal: memories. I could picture my friends study-
to the former, the situation was that I had Picturescope. I checked the card catalog. After ing at the long, oak tables. I had a warm,
worked the two shifts and fell asleep about finding the periodical, I asked why he needed comfortable feeling because I was in a place
2 a.m. I dressed in the dark, trying not to it. He explained that he was at DU attend- where I had met lifelong friends and earned
awaken my roommate at 7:30 a.m. Soon ing a special summer seminar on the history an excellent education for my lifelong career.
after, I was in the Ren Room. I sat down, of photography. This was the beginning of a You see, it was at the Mary Reed Library that
crossing my legs. The desk was placed by the short but joyous romance with Alan Miller, I initially met Rena.
hallway entrance, in front of the fireplace. who returned that month to his home in Thank you for allowing me to describe
As I looked down I was aghast to see that (in Klamath Falls, Ore. I left for Dallas to begin my reminiscences. I must admit that I rarely
my mind, at least) my legs were deformed! a position as children’s librarian. took time to carefully read your magazine.
Standing up to examine the problem, with This past summer I had the great plea- But I’m so glad I did this time!
feet firmly on the floor, I saw that I had put sure of actually walking around the Ren Frances “Toni” (Smardo) Dowd (MA ’72)
my left shoe on my right foot, and vice versa! Room again after decades. My friend, Rena Dallas
At Denny’s when I related the incident to Fowler, who has resettled in Denver after
my friends, one kind, satirical soul took out many years of working in other cities and Send letters to the editor to: Chelsey Baker-
her pen and paper napkin, quickly drew and states, kindly drove me to the campus after Hauck, University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S.
University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208. Or, e-mail
wrote something on it, and told me to place I’d flown in from Texas with my young
du-magazine@du.edu. Please include your full
it on the floor when dressing next time. She daughters. Although it was a Saturday, the name and mailing address with all submissions.
had sketched a pattern with two correctly Mary Reed Building was open, as well as Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

Built for Learning

Built for Learning explores how and why the University of Denver
B u i lt F or L e a r n i n g

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With hundreds of color photographs and stunning illustrations,
Built for Learning belongs on your reading list.
Order your copy today at www.du.edu/builtforlearning.
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6 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


9 Study-abroad ranking
10 Climate effort
13 Laser microscope
14 Immigration panel
15 In-law relationships
18 Hand-washing study
20 Donor spotlight
Wayne Armstrong

Junior Virginia Woodfork and sophomore Cameron Lewis celebrated Barack Obama’s victory Nov. 4,
joining hundreds of students at the Cable Center to watch election returns. The University hosts
Republican and Democratic college chapters, and more than a thousand students joined DU Students
for Barack Obama. DU was a top stop on the presidential campaign trail, hosting visits by Obama,
John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ralph Nader and Bob Barr.

University of Denver Magazine Update 7


Top News
New soccer stadium taking shape
By Richard Chapman

When the sultry afternoon of Aug. 28 trudges up to the dinner hour, DU soccer fans will be eagerly settling into brand new
seats.
Floodlights will power up and a new scoreboard flicker on. The whistle will blow, cleats will stab manicured sod, and DU will unleash a
women’s team that won’t quit the pitch until they’ve blown the Gaels of Saint Mary’s College back to Northern California.
The next night, DU’s men’s team will sprint onto the turf and keep running until they’ve booted the Stanford Cardinal from ecclesias-
tical red to a pale pink.
Welcome to the University’s $6.7 million,
1,771-seat soccer stadium and conditioning com-
plex, a new DU jewel aimed at kick-starting soccer
to a new level and giving athletes in all sports a bet-
ter way to train.
“Under the lights, there’s extra energy and
extra passion,” says center midfielder Collin Audley,
a junior. “That first night will be really exciting.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be a better place
in the country to see a game,” says mens’ coach
Bobby Muuss.
Even the School of Art and Art History is
excited. As part of the overall project, the school is
getting a 12,500-square-foot studio on the south
side of the Ritchie Center. The studio will help rein-
state the Master of Fine Arts program and afford
drawing and painting students much-needed space
to work and learn.
The one-story, garden-level art annex is being combined with the soccer and conditioning complex for cost-effectiveness, says
University Architect Mark Rodgers. The $9.2 million combined project is to be completed by late fall.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” notes Annette Stott, director of the School of Art and Art History. “Things that the faculty have been
talking about for a couple years now become possible with this.”
Stott envisions classes in the annex by January 2010.
“It’s good that if you put in an athletic project you find some way to connect it with the rest of the school,” says Audley, who proclaims
a love of art when he isn’t scoring goals for the 10-7-2 Pioneers.
In 2008, DU men finished atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and qualified for the NCAA tournament, falling in the first
round to UC Davis 4-0.
DU women notched 19 victories, won the Sun Belt Conference and postseason tournament, and placed six players on the all-
conference team. DU women earned a trip to the NCAA tournament but lost in the first round to Kansas 2-1.
The results may be a prelude to glory days ahead.
“We want to be among the best soccer programs in the country on both the men’s and women’s side,” Muuss says.
Being the best means recruiting the best, he cautions. It also means scheduling top opponents like St. Louis and San Diego State and
attracting diehard fans. Being limited to day games in summer heat makes program building tough, he points out; televising night games
and exciting fans make that easier. Hence the need for the new stadium.
“We’ve lost kids because of facilities,” says women’s coach Jeff Hooker. “If [a recruit] sees a university has lights and a great field, they
think the school cares a little more about them.”
The strength and conditioning area will be tucked under the stands and will provide 11,000 square feet of training space for student-
athletes in all 17 DU Division I sports. The aim is to build unity and help with injury prevention and recovery.
“Getting healthy, staying healthy and getting stronger together as a team,” as Rodgers puts it. “That’s competing at the highest level.”

8 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Students give DU high marks on One to Watch

faculty-student engagement Monica Kumar, marketing/finance


Senior marketing/

Wayne Armstrong
Eighty-eight percent of DU freshmen report a favorable image of the
finance major Monica
institution, and 81 percent of seniors would choose DU again if they could
Kumar is a rarity among
start their college careers over, according to the 2008 National Survey of
twenty-somethings:
Student Engagement (NSSE) released Nov. 10.
She knows the person
DU students continue to rank their education higher than peer institu-
she is. While many her
tions in four benchmark categories, including student-faculty interaction, level
age struggle with iden-
of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, and enriching educa-
tity, Kumar grasped a
tional experiences.
foothold years ago.
The survey doesn’t rank the colleges that participate; instead it provides
“She’s more prag-
a comparison between individual schools and peer and national institutions
matic than ideological,”
based on surveys of freshmen and seniors. The survey measured DU with
says Jo Calhoun, associ-
three different comparison groups: a self-selected peer group; a group of
ate provost of Student
institutions with the same Carnegie Classification; and with all 2008 NSSE
Life.
participants.
Kumar is Hindu
Student respondents gave DU particularly high marks on the level of
and a first-generation
faculty-student engagement. Eighty-eight percent of seniors surveyed at least
American. Her par-
occasionally discuss career plans with faculty, 56 percent of freshmen spend
ents—products of an
time with faculty on activities other than coursework, and by their senior year,
arranged marriage in India—are her inspiration. She loves Dr. Seuss.
26 percent of students have conducted research with faculty.
“He has these truly complex ideas that he just simplifies for children,”
Eighty-one percent of freshmen feel that the University places substantial
Kumar gushes. “Oh, the Places You’ll Go! makes me cry every time I
emphasis on academics, and 58 percent of them frequently work harder than
read it.”
they thought they could to meet faculty expectations.
If what she’s already accomplished is any indication, Kumar will
More than 380,000 randomly selected freshmen and senior students
be going places, too (graduate school and a career in New York City are
from 722 participating four-year colleges and universities nationwide took part
next on the agenda). Kumar is a member of DU’s Pioneer Leadership
in the 2008 survey.
Program and has been involved with the All Undergraduate Student
—Media Relations Staff
Association (AUSA) Senate since her freshman year. “I just kind of con-
sumed it,” she says.
Indeed. Her Senate roles have included terms as a Daniels College
DU ranks second for of Business senator and president of the DU Programs Board. Now, as
president of the undergraduate student body, she’s working on brand-
undergraduate study abroad ing a Pioneer identity (“It goes beyond a mascot,” Kumar explains),
developing sustainable energy on campus (she and fellow senators are
The University of Denver ranks second in the nation among doctoral working on a bike-sharing program with the city of Denver) and creat-
and research institutions in the percentage of undergraduate students ing a more cohesive campus community.
participating in study-abroad programs, according to the 2008 Open Perhaps what motivates her most is service to others—beyond
Doors report released by the Institute of International Education in late the borders of DU or even the nation.
November. Her family has been volunteering at an Indian heritage camp for
The report, which reflects data from the 2006–07 academic year, 10 years, where she helped teach identity to adopted Indian children
shows that DU sent 74.4 percent of its undergraduates abroad, just behind with Anglo parents. Even after visiting India on her own a handful of
Yeshiva University, which sent 75.7 percent of its undergraduates. Nationally, times, it was her trip there with others who had never seen the coun-
just over 1 percent of all enrolled undergraduates studied abroad. try that, she says, “changed my life.” During a winter DU interterm
DU offers more than 150 study-abroad programs in 56 nations. Its course—Project Dharamsala—she spent her days teaching English.
Cherrington Global Scholars program gives all eligible juniors and seniors “I tutored an ex-political prisoner who was only in prison because he
the opportunity to spend one academic quarter studying abroad at no supported the Dalai Lama. He will never be able to see his family back
additional cost beyond their normal tuition. The University will spend $10 in Tibet; it was just heartbreaking,” she says.
million this year on study abroad. In addition to student tuition, housing and If you ask her why she does so much—and so wholeheartedly—
some meals, this expense includes nearly $1 million for transportation, visa Kumar answers without hesitation: “It’s my responsibility to work
application fees and insurance mandated by host countries or universities. hard and give back.”
—Kristal Griffith —Kathryn Mayer

University of Denver Magazine Update 9


Sustainability Council works to create climate DU by the Numbers
neutral campus Recycling statistics
DU’s Sustainability Council is embarking on an effort that promises to be its most ambitious and lasting
yet—a bid to develop an all-encompassing plan for creating a campus that is entirely climate neutral.
3,000
Committees in the coming months will examine every aspect of campus life, from transportation to
Recycling bins on campus (part of DU’s new
heating to light bulbs, as they craft a plan that will satisfy requirements of the American College and University “Get Caught Green-Handed” program)
Presidents Climate Commitment.
The commitment, part of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, gives 20 tons
member organizations two years to develop a campus neutrality plan. DU signed on last year, and the plan is Material recycled in September 2008
due in September 2009. It will require the University to set a specific date to achieve neutrality. (the first month of the new program)
Jay Pearlman—who tallied DU’s carbon footprint through the consulting firm Sightlines—said DU last year
was responsible for nearly 82,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, although some 14,000 metric tons were off- 3.5 pounds
set through green-energy purchases. Of those emissions, more than half came from the electricity that powers Recycled material per student
campus. Transportation and campus-supported air travel were the next biggest culprits. in September 2008
Lyndsay Agans, a lecturer and diversity faculty fellow in higher education at the DU Morgridge College of
Education, researched and laid out the steps the council may follow in its quest for climate neutrality.
Her plan would touch virtually every facet of campus life with outreach and town hall meetings, faculty
10 tons
Material recycled in August 2008 (before
input and student involvement.
the program went into effect)
She said a plan could look at everything from recycling, electricity and transportation to using locally grown
food and moving toward an “organic” campus that depends more on natural fertilizers and less on pesticides in Compiled by Alfredo Abad, director
landscaping. Developing research and courses that target climate neutrality will also be part of the plan. of custodial services

—Chase Squires

The University of Denver presents

Steven Berlin Johnson, best-selling author of six books on the intersection of science, technology and
personal experience, including Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.

March 31, 2009 • 7 p.m. • June Swaner Gates Concert Hall


Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave.

America’s education system faces many challenges. Some critics contend that our public school system needs a radical
overhaul, while others recommend incremental reform. Virtually everyone agrees that there are more questions than
answers in this important policy arena. Join the discussion as the University of Denver’s 2008–2009 Bridges to the Future
series, which is free and open to the public, looks at the future of education in our complex society.

Go to www.du.edu/bridges to RSVP
or watch live online on March 31.
For those without Internet access,
please call 303.871.2357.

10 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Arts
Daughters of India By Kathryn Mayer

Stephen Huyler (BA history ’73) figured he


should take a class to familiarize
himself with India before he left for a trip there with a friend.
His friend ended up canceling the trip, and Huyler found himself
“riveted” with his Indian studies. So riveted, in fact, that he
convinced DU’s administration to let him create his own degree
in Indian studies and developed an independent yearlong
research trip to India during his junior year.
That year, he set to work on what he considers to be his
first book (unpublished essays and photos) while traveling
through India. The work was a collaborative effort: “I sent
[essays] to my mother handwritten, and she typed them up and
sent them to the University,” Huyler says.
Huyler, who came to DU intending to study creative
writing, felt a strong desire to capture the country and its people
in a creative fashion. “I saw things in India that needed to be
documented through photography in addition to words,” he
says. And on that initial trip, he knew what it was he wanted to
focus on: Indian womanhood.
“I had these very rich, rewarding experiences into the social
Indian dynamic in which I witnessed the strength of women,”
he says. “Men run hotels, men run the businesses, men run the
public sphere ... but women run the private sphere.”
His most recent book—his fifth on India and its culture—is
Daughters of India: Art and Identity (Abbeville Press, 2008). It
profiles 20 different Indian women, featuring color portraits and
text describing their journeys.
Stories range from traditional to modern, and each
Stephen Huyler

highlights women’s empowerment, Huyler says. Some of these


“daughters of India,” he explains, have had to “live behind the
veil” and were viewed as untouchables and treated as lower-class
Although most young women in India today wear contemporary fashions, girls in citizens.
some regions, such as this one in Kachchh, Gujarat, still proudly adorn themselves in “These are horrific situations, but they don’t view them as
traditional jewelry. such,” Huyler says. “It’s an example of [the strength] of women
globally.”
Huyler aims to dispel Western myths about Indian women, claiming that Americans are often jolted by
reports they hear about the country in general.
“We have our homes with televisions and cars and washing machines. ... We believe that people who don’t
have these are less fortunate or less happy, but in fact, that’s not true,” Huyler says, noting that the women he
features in his book are among the most content people he’s known.
Huyler has spent an average of four months a year in India for the past 37 years. “It’s tiring,” Huyler admits,
“but I love doing it. It feeds something inside me. It’s very nourishing.”
Although he says it’s impossible to speak all the Indian dialects, he has learned to comprehend a handful.
Many of the women he converses with understand and speak English and “are very, very open, kind, receptive
and generous people.”
“I’m very aware of the issues of inequality,” he says, “but I do not view Indian women as victims.”

University of Denver Magazine Update 11


Q&A
University Chaplain Gary Brower
on faith and college life
Interview by Janna Widdifield

Q What is your
function on
campus?
Q Many college students are living away from home,
family and community influences. Do you see faith as a
priority for most students, or is it something that goes on the
back burner?

A I help students, fac-


ulty and staff (but
primarily students) find A I would say probably it goes to the back burner, especially if
you look at the statistics. Eighty to 85 percent of students
the faith tradition that claim to be spiritual in one way or another—that’s nationwide,
they are interested in. I and it’s probably the same here. But if you look at the people who
have conversations with are actually involved in their tradition while at DU, I’m sure it
students who are seeking probably wouldn’t even approach 50 percent.
a religious home. I think two things happen. One, their connections are looser.
I also try to ensure So, they might attend church occasionally as opposed to regularly
that all religious groups like they may have when their parents were schlepping them
on campus are treated to and fro. Or, they may shift and move into the spiritual but
fairly. I spent a lot not-religious realm (as opposed to being spiritual and religious).
time last year trying to And then, of course, students away at college are frequently
make sure that religious exposed to religious diversity for the first time, and they begin
groups on campus got exploring that. But that doesn’t always take institutional form.
treated like all the other The statistics also show that students are engaged in a lot
Photo illustration by Wayne Armstrong

groups on campus. They of conversations about religion, but these happen in dorms
shouldn’t be treated and outside the classroom and not necessarily with religious
separately just because professionals.
they are religious groups.
So, for example, I
encouraged the student
senate to agree to fund
religious student groups just like any other group.
Q What is the greatest need of today’s college students
in the area of faith?

Another function would be to sort of mainstream religious


concerns—to make sure the religious voice is not left out. For
example, the Center for Multicultural Excellence is concerned
A A safe place to talk. My experience has been that many
students don’t feel free to talk about religious issues in the
classroom, but they want more opportunity to talk about these
about diversity. But until I got here, there wasn’t someone issues there. It’s hard to even come out to their friends. In many
devoted to keeping the conversation about religious diversity alive ways, it’s easier to “be out” as a lesbian or gay person on a col-
within the larger context of diversity. lege campus than a person of deep religion or faith. And I’ve even
Part of what I do is bring people together across boundaries. heard that from any number of gay or lesbian students (on lots of
I’ve done some work on some interfaith projects where I deal different campuses) who are also people of faith.
with students who may be actively involved in their traditions, I think the main reason is that we have a lot of stereotypes
but they are interested in learning from students from different about what religious people are. People don’t really want to come
traditions. Last fall we did an interfaith Habitat for Humanity out with that part of who they are. Not only may they open
project, and we had Jewish and Muslim and Protestant folks out themselves up to ridicule on the one side, but on the other side
there working together. (and this isn’t only true of students), they aren’t really confirmed
in what they think. Being asked to defend their position is really
tricky at a time when so much is in upheaval. You may have
grown up believing one thing, and now that it is called into
question on a college campus.

12 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Laser microscope provides
scientists inside look at cells
DU has brought a powerful new laser-powered

Wayne Armstrong
Somebody said the other day, “We used to not be able to microscope to the table, offering researchers glimpses
talk about sex, politics or religion. Well, sex is on prime-time inside cells and a chance to see how living things work
television, politics is all around us, and religion is the last on a molecular level.
of the barriers to be broken.” I think it is one of those really Biology Associate Professor Joe Angleson (pic-
private pieces, and we don’t have good ways of talking about tured) worked with colleagues and the provost’s office
it. I’m not so sure that it’s a question about the acceptance over nine months to select and fund the purchase of
of religious diversity. It’s a question of whether people are the nearly $500,000 Olympus laser-scanning confocal
microscope. It’s expected to help scientists delve into
willing to talk about or have a place to talk about questions of
the mysteries of bioscience, chasing diseases such as
faith without feeling like they are going to look weird to their
diabetes and neuromuscular malfunctions.
friends.
The microscope uses lasers to focus light on the subject; receptors pick up the
resulting image and deliver it to computer screens. Using it, scientists can see inside
a cell and focus on specific sections while eliminating the visual “clutter” for a clear

Q DU hasn’t had a chaplain since the mid-1970s.


What significance do you see in DU’s decision
to reinstate the position in 2007, when you joined the
view. Adding a new dimension to micro-examination, the lasers also can manipulate
and stimulate cells, affording researchers the ability to see how living cells react to
stimuli.
University? The new tool has multiple applications. For instance, Assistant Professor Scott
Barbee is studying synaptic reactions inside muscles, probing deep inside the cells

A I think it was recognition of two things. It was recog-


nition that universities need to deal with the “whole
student” and devote resources to it. We deal with the social-
of fruit flies.
The images produced can be from inanimate objects or living tissue, allowing
researchers to see inside a cell as it lives and reacts in real time to input, such as
ization stuff in the residence halls, and we deal with health chemicals that may one day have medical uses.
and counseling, and certainly we deal with the intellectual life. —Chase Squires
Then,
we devote funds to diversity education, gender violence aware-
ness and alcohol awareness training, and then we just have
bracketed this other part that can either be a support or it can
Morgridge College of Education
inform all of these other pieces—that being the religious and receives $10 million gift
spiritual side. And so, I think the significance is that a “whole
student” includes that religious/spiritual side. The University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education received a
I also think there was a recognition on the University’s $10 million gift from James “Jim” Cox Kennedy (BSBA ’70) to create the James
C. Kennedy Institute for Educational Success. The gift, made in part through the
part that there wasn’t really anybody dedicated to deal
Denver Foundation, will endow three faculty chairs and a program/research
with that, and it wasn’t fair to expect the religious studies
endowment in the college.
department or the campus ministries to do it—partly
The Kennedy Institute will seek to identify innovative and cost-effective means
because neither religious studies nor the campus ministries for promoting and sustaining the educational success of vulnerable children—from
attract everybody. There wasn’t anyone looking at it from a early childhood through postsecondary education.
University standpoint. “The Morgridge College is undergoing a major transition, one that will
If DU is going to adequately prepare leaders, then those position it to play a catalytic role in the resolution of major educational issues
leaders need to be able to negotiate questions of religious our society faces, from early childhood education to K-12 reform to access and
diversity. Ignorance of [religious diversity] has had such a affordability issues in higher education,” says Chancellor Robert Coombe.
huge impact. I think that if I do my job well, more students In creating the institute, the gift establishes the James C. Kennedy Endowment
will be better prepared. for Educational Success and endowed chairs in early childhood learning, urban
education and innovative learning technologies.
Kennedy is the CEO of Cox Enterprises, which owns 17 newspapers, 80
Gary Brower is an ordained Episcopal priest with nearly 20 years of campus radio stations and 15 television stations. He’s a past member of DU’s Board of
ministry experience. He oversees DU’s Center for Religious Services (www. Trustees.
du.edu/crs), which encompasses 20 campus religious and spiritual organizations. —Jim Berscheidt
University of Denver Magazine Update 13
Strategic Issues Program tackles immigration issue
The University of Denver’s Strategic Issues Program hasn’t been shy in the past about tack-

Wayne Armstrong
ling big, tough issues: Colorado’s economy, the future of the state’s water supply and the state
constitution.
At a state Capitol news conference Nov. 14, DU Chancellor Robert Coombe announced the
blue-ribbon panel is taking on immigration—a topic that has sparked years of debate and massive
demonstrations and that touches everything from the country’s economy to national security.
Coombe said the assembled panel of 19 scholars, business professionals and civic leaders
understands the work won’t be easy. But the state and the nation must work toward a resolution, he
said, and DU is committed to lending its voice and expertise.
“As an institution of higher education in the state, it is really our responsibility, our obligation,”
Coombe said. “Our hope is that the Strategic Issues Program on immigration will be able not so much
to come forward with a solution, but perhaps come forward with a framework for a solution.”
Jim Griesemer (pictured), director of the program and dean emeritus of DU’s Daniels College of Business, said the nonpartisan panel will hear from some
leading political figures, including former Colorado Govs. Dick Lamm and Bill Owens, state Attorney General John Suthers and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
But they are also hearing from people working with social service agencies and others who understand the impact of immigration—both legal and illegal—on the
economy, health care, schools and other areas of government and society.
The Strategic Issues Program was founded in 2005.
The immigration panel’s final report—due in fall 2009—will be widely shared with the public, the media, public officials, business and community leaders
and other interested parties.
>>www.du.edu/issues
—Chase Squires

Uncovering the Past,


Creating a Future
Your gift can make all the
difference for our students.
DU students Nicole Saint and Stefani Schulte
are studying in one of only two undergraduate
pre-art conservation programs in the nation.
Recently they helped restore an original mural
of Shakespearean characters by John Edward
Thompson, painted in DU’s Little Theatre in
1929. Their “real world” experience was made
possible by the generosity of DU donors.
Find out how you can make history by naming
DU as a beneficiary of your estate or retirement
plan to help students like Nicole and Stefani.

www.giftplanning.du.edu

Office of Gift Planning

Give to a Great University 800.448.3238 or 303.871.2739


gift-planning@du.edu
www.giftplanning.du.edu

14 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


DU research shows in-law relationships Pioneers Top 10
impact marital happiness Most popular
Some people think the best way to approach their in-laws is to avoid them. But six years of DU student
research at the University of Denver suggests that is a bad idea.
Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, associate professor of human communication studies, has studied the
organizations
relationship between newlyweds and their in-laws extensively.
The quality of newlyweds’ satisfaction with their in-laws is directly connected to their marital 1. Hillel (750 members)
satisfaction, Morr Serewicz says.
Morr Serewicz says the most important thing couples can do is realize the seriousness of these
2. Club Sports (592)
relationships. In her most recent research, she proposes a triangular theory to point out the priority
in-laws have in making marriage satisfying. The theory basically states that a couple isn’t alone in a
marriage—the in-laws are part of the relationship, too.
3. Alpine Club (388)
It’s with that knowledge that she passes on this advice. First, the most positive impact that
parents-in-law can have on their child’s marriage is to express their acceptance of the new child-in-law. 4. Colleges Against Cancer (360)
Conversely, the most negative thing parents-in-law can do is slander or gossip about other family
members. 5. Lamont Student Music Performance
Finally, Morr Serewicz says the decision to end a relationship with an in-law should only be done Organization (340)
in the most serious situations. While there are times it is appropriate, it should be considered carefully
because it will strain the marriage. 6. National Society of Collegiate
—Kristal Griffith Scholars (330)

7. Chabad at the University of


Effort to identify new ‘Pioneer’ symbol Denver (281)
kicks off 8. Up Til Dawn (260)
More than 50 faculty, staff and students set forth Nov. 6 on a path some hope will lead to a new mascot
9. Pioneer Book Club (225)
to embody the spirit and capture the enthusiasm of the University of Denver campus and community.
In the first of what is expected to be a series of collective events aimed at defining a Pioneer, organizers
encouraged participants to ponder what makes DU a special place and what truly represents the University. 10. Undergraduate Business Student
The meeting followed an October announcement by Chancellor Robert Coombe that Denver Boone, Association (200)
retired in 1998, would not be returning as DU’s mascot. Students had led an effort to reinstate Boone Compiled by Carlie Field, AUSA
because they felt the current mascot, a red-tailed hawk named Ruckus (pictured), hadn’t generated Senate student organization
enough campus enthusiasm. committee chair
Although the University will not use the image of Boone in any official manner, Coombe said,
students and alumni are welcome to continue using the character in personal celebration of DU’s
history and tradition. He encouraged the campus community to continue the discussion of “what
it means to be a Pioneer, for today and the future.”
The November meeting opened with a history of DU’s mascots, from the earliest days
when the school’s athletic programs went under the informal nickname of the Ministers and the
Fighting Pastors. Students adopted the nickname Pioneers and the mascot Pioneer Pete in
the 1920s before later adopting Denver Boone in the 1960s.
Participants in a group brainstorming session aimed at identifying what
makes DU special offered identifying characteristics, such as the spires that
dot the campus to the tradition of the red vest and the school colors,
crimson and gold. The University also can be proud of its long tradition
of innovation, community service, international focus, and its history,
inextricably tied to the history of Denver and the Rocky Mountain West,
participants said.
Organizers encourage comment via e-mail at pioneer@du.edu.
—Chase Squires
University of Denver Magazine Update 15
Sports
Physics, hoops and Erik Johnson
By Richard Chapman

In head coach Erik Johnson’s world, two important people are at every DU women’s basketball game: Tom
Wilson and Isaac Newton.
And the game always boils down to one thing: Does Johnson’s scrappy group of DU players know enough about Isaac Newton’s
physics to get a Wilson-brand basketball through the rim more often than the other team?
Physics and basketball. For Johnson, who took over the DU women’s team last spring, they’re as much a fit as sneakers and socks.
When he watches forward Nnenna Akotaobi pump a jump shot or point guard Andi Mason stroke a free throw, shooting tips he
learned from his physicist father more than two decades ago come rattling to mind. Will the parabolic arc enlarge the target? Are there
Z vectors or just X and Y variables? What about gravity? Buoyant force? Drag? Will the backspin soften the shot?
And if the ball misses, can the rebounder properly judge the angle of incidence and get into position?
And you thought basketball was just something to eat popcorn by!
“His first word was ‘ball,’” Johnson’s mother, Kathryn, recalls.
His first basket was a hoop that his father, Jim, hung on a tree in the family’s backyard in Northern California. Roots and dirt
around the trunk kept the fourth-grader from dribbling. So, he learned to shoot—the physicist’s way.
“I told him about moving his arm in a nice plane and trying to get a good arc to get a bigger target,” says Jim Johnson, who admits
to a preference for bird-watching. “It’s not rocket science.”
But it is physics, which the elder Johnson knew from a long career at Stanford’s Linear Accelerator Center, a two-mile-long labora-
tory for crash-testing atomic particles.
“I learned to shoot over wires and branches and all that kind of stuff,” the younger Johnson says. “That’s why I became a great
shooter.”
Call it trial by bramble. Toss in the 6-foot-4 frame Johnson grew into and you get the makings of a distinguished playing career at
UC-San Diego, where he set career and single-season records for three-pointers and appeared in three NCAA Division III tournaments.
Johnson’s entry into women’s basketball began in 1994 in graduate school at the University of Rhode Island. The women’s coach
recruited him as a male practice player she hoped could toughen up her 6-2 center. So, Johnson knocked heads, studied, coached a little
and inched his way toward a career that since 1995 has brought coaching assistantships at the University of Rhode Island, San Diego,
Boston College and last spring, the top spot at DU.
“Right now, the perception is [that DU is] a nice little school you go to if you’re a smart kid and want to play some basketball,”
Johnson says. “I want to change the culture: If you’re a serious basketball player in Colorado, DU is on your list.”
Johnson’s effort to do that began April 30, 2008, the day he was introduced at DU and first met his team, a quirky assortment of
disenchanted veterans and returning redshirts.
“We heard there would be a team meeting at 6:30 in the morning,” recalls Akotaobi, a senior. “In walks coach Johnson and he’s just
full of energy, and we’re like, ‘Who is this guy?’”
The team didn’t wait to find out.
“They came to me and said, ‘Coach, we want to win the Sun Belt. What does it take? What do we have to do?’” Johnson recalls.
“They needed to be pushed, they needed to be disciplined; they were hungry for it.”
Most of them anyway. Three of the four recruits Johnson telephoned on his first day at DU said they were with him. The fourth
wasn’t sure. Jenny Vaughan, a blue-chip point guard being groomed for Canada’s Olympic team, had scholarship offers from Utah, San
Diego and Michigan. She had committed to DU, but the coach who recruited her was gone. Who was this guy Johnson, she wondered?
Answering that took two and a half hours on the phone and a flight to Vaughan’s hometown in Dundas, Ontario.
“We met, talked; he came to school,” Vaughan recalls. “He came to my house for dinner, met my family.”
Oddly, she recognized Johnson’s name from e-mails he had sent her while recruiting for Boston College. The familiarity made her
feel better, she says, but she still needed to size up the guy.
“We were hoping he’d say the things we wanted to hear, and he definitely did,” she says.
What turned the tide?
“When we mutually realized I wanted to win as bad as she did,” Johnson says.
With Vaughan in the fold, Johnson returned to the “push” his players had asked for. The new discipline began with, well, discipline,

16 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Marc Piscotty
Coach Erik Johnson points out strategy to sophomore guard Britteni Rice during an early season practice.

which led to tough conditioning drills and weight room work “like we mean business.”
Watch a practice and you see a rigorous splash of skills-drills, instruction, flying bodies, aggressive rebounding, running to
exhaustion and more talk than a pep rally. Everybody’s attentive; everybody’s involved. No showboating, no hissy fits, no doggin’ it.
The energy alone could run the lights in Hamilton Gym.
All from a team picked in preseason to finish sixth.
“I get so pumped up in practice cause of how hard we work,” Akotaobi says. “We’re jumping in passing lanes, we’re stealing balls,
we’re diving on the floor. We play an up-tempo, exciting style of basketball.”
Which may be like calling the Indy 500 a Sunday drive.
“I’m a nice person off the court,” says freshman Kaetlyn Murdoch of Temple, Texas, a 5-11 forward who uncoils for rebounds like
a boa constrictor after a small goat. “On the court, I’m not too nice.”
Her blue eyes shock with intensity.
“I don’t want to knock anyone’s teeth out,” she continues. “Just push them down and get the ball.”
The end of practice doesn’t end Johnson’s day. There are 6-, 4- and 2-years-olds waiting for him at home with wife Laura Davis, a
two-time All-American in volleyball at Ohio State and an Olympic team alternate.
“I can think I’m the greatest coach in the world, but when I get home there are still diapers to be changed and dishes to be
washed,” he chuckles.
To Johnson, the need to be a good husband and father is as important as being a good coach. He’s driven to balance both and
excel at each. “It needs to be magical,” he says of his obligations.
It is for Vaughan. “He genuinely cares about us. It’s awesome.”
Adds Akotaobi: “We’re all basically freshmen again … and I’m lovin’ it.”
>>www.DenverPioneers.com

University of Denver Magazine Update 17


Parent to parent
Encourage students to think broadly about
study-abroad options
As my daughter entered the University in fall 2004, DU’s Cherrington Global Scholars study-abroad program for juniors and seniors was moving
into high gear. As the winter term of her sophomore year approached, we began having conversations about possible locations: Germany,
the Czech Republic, Denmark. With each country having so much to offer, how were we to choose?
I believed the determination on location should be based upon the best opportunities for expanding cultural and language awareness, indepen-
dence and resourcefulness, and understanding of other parts of the global community.
I advise each student, along with his or her parents, to think as widely as possible about various countries, thinking outside the comfort zones
of English-speaking and European nations. Countries of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America provide powerful opportunities to expand
one’s worldview within the safe environment of the university setting, with the support of the Cherrington staff always available.
Give thought to this decision at the earliest possible point, even during the freshman year, to allow for possible language and cultural
courses to bolster the experience. In addition, early planning for the study-abroad experience improves the student’s ability to plan for graduation
requirements.
The Cherrington staff proved to be entirely organized and effective in guiding my daughter through the processes of planning and applying to
the program, and finally traveling to the foreign destination. The staff answered every question in a timely and kindly manner.
My daughter’s four-month stay in Istanbul, Turkey—where she experienced a Muslim religious tradition in a non-Western culture—shines as
one of the brightest experiences of her University of Denver career. A mind open to diverse experiences is a mind open to satisfaction and success;
the Cherrington program provides a platform for launching a lifetime of enlivening experiences.
>>www.du.edu/globalscholars
—Peggy Ulrich-Nims
Peggy Ulrich-Nims, a former DU staff member, is the parent of Christine Nims (BA international studies ’08).

Hand-washing study offers new


weapon against bugs
Getting undergraduates to do what’s good for them may be more
about what they think is disgusting than what they think is smart, DU research
indicates.
Moreover, if the message offers an easy way to avoid what’s disgusting,
many students will change their ways.
The 2007 study that led to these conclusions focused on getting students
to wash their hands more often, particularly after using the bathroom.
Fear of spreading germs or getting sick by not washing didn’t mean much
to students, focus group research suggested. What got their attention was the
knowledge that they might be walking around with “gross things” on their hands
if they didn’t wash.
In fall quarter 2007, researchers posted messages in the bathrooms of
two DU undergraduate residence halls. The messages said things like “Poo on
you, wash your hands” or “You just peed, wash your hands” and contained vivid
graphics and photos. The messages resulted in increased hand washing among
females by 26 percentage points and among males by 8 percentage points.
The study’s lead author, Renee Botta, associate professor in the
Department of Mass Communications and Journalism Studies, theorizes that
the severe drop in hand washing among males might have been that the habit
they brought to campus fell away the longer they were away from home
and the more they were pressed by studies. Then, too, males may require a
secondary message beyond the “gross ones” that motivated women.
—Richard Chapman

18 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


People
Cooking up a new culinary concept
By Roxanne Hawn

Two weeks before turning 30, Elizabeth Yarnell

Wayne Armstrong
(MLS ’98) awoke blind in one eye. The
news wasn’t good: multiple sclerosis. Although her sight
returned, the medical reality loomed.
Instead of melting down, however, she cooked up a
solution that improved her health and changed her career.
Today, the former instructional designer feels better and
lists inventor and cookbook author among her credits.
Yarnell, whose cupboards at the time featured
Gummi Bears and little else, believed she could fight
the disease by eating better. She took cooking lessons,
but fatigue won out. “Everything I wanted to cook took
forever, especially since my focus was on whole foods,” she
says.
Stumped by the Dutch oven she received as a
wedding present, this self-proclaimed “last-minute cook”
threw meat and vegetables in the pot and cranked her
oven as high as it would go (450 degrees). “Forty-five
minutes later,” she says, “it just smelled so heavenly. I
took it out, and we had a great dinner.”
Yarnell began experimenting with carbs and other
ingredients. Ultimately, she landed upon a solution for
whole-food, complete meals spanning culinary traditions
that require little prep and only 30–45 minutes to cook.
When a houseguest asked for her secret, Yarnell
drafted a 12-page manuscript. “It explained the concept
and the method and included a couple recipes,” she says.
“I started handing that out with Dutch ovens as wedding
gifts. People loved it.”
In 2001, she expanded the booklet, pitched publishers, launched a Web site and began the patent process to protect
her “infusion” cooking method.
Some 50 rejections later, Yarnell needed a new plan. Publishers were not interested. She didn’t own a restaurant. She
wasn’t a famous chef or chef to someone famous. She hadn’t even gone to culinary school. After promising negotiations,
corporate sponsorship from a major Dutch oven brand also fizzled out.
“This thing I’d been working on for five years fell through completely,” recalls Yarnell, who by then had two small
children. “Even my agent expressed a lack of faith in me, so I fired him. I said, ‘OK. I’m going to cry for a month, then what
am I going to do?’”
Despite her fears about the expense and stress of independent publishing, Yarnell rallied family resources, including
an advance on her inheritance, to publish 2,000 cookbooks. She sold all of them the first month. Over the next few years,
Yarnell sold another 10,000.
She set out for the 2007 Book Expo America to snag a new agent and a mainstream publisher. “As it turned out, the
editor from Broadway Books (a Random House imprint) already owned my cookbook,” Yarnell marvels.
The new edition of Glorious One-Pot Meals came out in January 2008. After years with little financial ease or sleep,
Yarnell says, “My biggest definition of success is having people ‘get it.’ This is a totally different concept, not just another
cookbook.”
>>www.elizabethyarnell.com
>>www.effortlesseating.com
University of Denver Magazine Update 19
Donor Spotlight
Houston Harte
Growing up on the plains of West Texas, Houston Harte (BSBA ’83) was sur-
rounded by a dusty horizon, long, flat stretches of cotton and oil fields, and philan-
thropy.
“Giving was just part of my family,” says Harte, who now lives in Santa Barbara,
Calif., as a semi-retired investor. “My grandparents and parents would give money
to kids’ families for school or summer camps—kids I grew up with playing on the
playground.”
During the Great Depression, Harte says, his grandparents collected shoes and
gave them to needy kids around town.
Craig Korn

The lessons were not lost on Harte, and today he sees a horizon of better
futures for kids through his own philanthropy.
He and his wife, Anne, recently pledged $250,000 to create the Harte Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Denver.
“Houston is so incredibly generous and humble that he initially discouraged us from using his name on the endowed fund,” says Ed Harris, vice
chancellor for University Advancement. “Only after we explained that attaching an alumnus name to the fund could both encourage his peers to con-
sider similar gifts and educate students on the importance of alumni giving did he acquiesce.”
Harte also directly supports a current DU student with money for “books, housing, whatever she needs,” says Harte, whose son, also named
Houston, is a senior at DU studying real estate development and construction management.
“My childhood was great, and I didn’t really appreciate it at the time,” Harte says. “The kids today are working a little harder than I did, and they
don’t have the opportunities I had, so I like to help.”
The giving comes back to him, he adds, “not in the form of the child coming back to say I’m a CEO of a huge company, but in the way of just be-
ing presented with an opportunity to help a kid. That really makes me feel good.”
—Doug McPherson

AT H L E T IC S
& R ECR E ATION

20 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


History
The nine lives of DU radio
By Samantha Stewart

“Radio should supply an outlet for emotion and be a vehicle for expression,” declared sophomore John “Nile” Wendorf
(BA ’72) in 1970.
It was the height of the Vietnam protest era and Wendorf, general manager of student-run campus radio station KVDU, had
recently secured the last noncommercial FM radio frequency in the Denver area.
During Wendorf’s tenure at the station, KVDU had gone from a station that adhered to a restrictive Top-40 play-list to one
dominated by progressive rock—a far cry from the station’s original programming.
When KVDU started operating from the modestly equipped T-8 Building on South York Street in November 1947, the station
broadcast campus news, original radio dramas and played classical music and the popular bebop music of the time. As a carrier-
current station, however, KVDU could only reach students living on campus.

DU Archives
By the late 1960s, KVDU was comparably equipped to any commercial
radio station, according to The Clarion, but it still needed licensing from
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to extend the station’s
operating power throughout Denver.
Motivated by the belief that “a university like DU needs to be attached
to the community around it,” Wendorf took on the challenge of obtaining an
FCC license when he became general manager in 1969.
At the same time, students including Bill Feinberg (BA ’72) worked
to secure more airtime for progressive rock music from bands such as the
Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and the Doors, while others, including James
Levin (BA ’72), expressed concern that the “radical hippie element of DU”
had taken over the station.
On April 15, 1970, Wendorf and his supporters beat out their
competition—a local church—and the University received a license to
broadcast to an area stretching from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Cheyenne,
Wyo.
When it came time to affix the FM transmitter on the Mary Reed
Building’s tower, the students discovered they needed an additional $2,000. Without hesitation, and without his parents’ knowledge,
Wendorf withdrew money from his tuition account to pay for the installation.
The FM station, known as KCFR, started broadcasting on Sept. 17, 1970, with what Wendorf described as avant-garde
programming that included rock, jazz, blues, folk and classical. During that same academic year, KVDU was forced to shut down as its
student staffers left to work for KCFR.
Wendorf would be the FM station’s only student general manager. After its first year on the air, the University began hiring
professionals to run KCFR. Wendorf says he supported the decision because “KCFR wasn’t sustainable as a student-run radio station.”
Feinberg, however, saw it differently, saying the administration had become “uncomfortable with the power that could be
harnessed by students in a potentially inappropriate way,” as the on-campus anti-war protest Woodstock West had demonstrated the
previous year.
During the transition years, KCFR remained connected to DU, which continued providing funding and facilities.
In 1984, KCFR became an independent community radio station—one of two stations that founded the Colorado Public Radio
network.
New student radio stations emerged to follow KVDU and KCFR, starting with KAOS in 1971 and KEGH in 1982. But they
struggled with the same problems that plagued the former carrier-current station, and they, too, became defunct.
Technology has helped DU’s current radio station, KVDU, overcome many of the problems its predecessors encountered. Because
KVDU broadcasts over the Internet, students living off campus or studying abroad can easily tune in to the station’s hip-hop, pop and
indie offerings.
As campus radio was for earlier generations, “KVDU is the student voice of the University of Denver,” says sophomore Eric
Peterson, KVDU’s Web developer.
>>KVDU.du.edu

University of Denver Magazine Update 21


I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not
enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.
—Lone Man (Isna-la-wica) Teton Sioux, 1850–1918

22 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


A New Direction
By Brenda Gillen
Photographs by Marc Piscotty

Through a program in the Four Corners, DU’s Graduate School of Social


Work is educating social workers about the region’s unique needs.

T
he Four Corners is a vast region with long stretches of
highway between small towns. The area encompasses parts
of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, and its diverse
geography includes mountain ranges, river valleys, dry canyons, windy
mesas and desert. Farmington, N.M., one of the region’s larger cities, is
home to about 42,425 people and three Starbucks.
The region also is home to numerous American Indian tribes—
including Navajo, Hopi, Ute Mountain and Southern Ute—each with
distinctive customs and belief systems.
Like the rest of America, the region has problems—poverty, lack
of education, lack of employment, alcohol and drug addiction, domestic
violence and other crimes. But complex jurisdictional boundaries and the
interplay of federal, tribal and state systems can hinder social services.
The University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW)
is hoping to help improve the outlook, designing its Four Corners Master
of Social Work (MSW) program specifically to meet the needs of the Four
Corners region, including American Indians, educating students about the
region’s unique backgrounds and Native American communities. Founded
in 2002 as a way to reach students in underserved areas where the need
for social services is great but the opportunities for social-work training
are limited, the program aims to equip both Native and non-native social
workers with the tools they need to relate to diverse perspectives.
“The program is going to improve the services that are offered to
Native Americans,” says Marie Jim, a Four Corners Advisory Council
member from the Navajo tribe in Ganado, Ariz. “There will be fewer
barriers, so services will be better.”

Nelda Martinez at Acoma Pueblo University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 23


W hile many American Indians live on reservations, others
have moved to cities where job opportunities are more
plentiful. Some were raised traditionally; others were not. All of
another in the break room, or walk to downtown Durango just a
couple of blocks away. As friendships form, some of the Durango-
based students offer their classmates spare rooms or couches during
these factors affect their worldview and receptivity to various social the weekend sojourns. During the summer, students attend classes
work approaches. every day for two- to three-week “intensives.”
“Being aware and being sensitive to cultural differences Students meet with Ellingson every week. And after they
and viewpoints is vital for social workers,” says GSSW Clinical graduate, many stay in touch, filling her in on their personal and
Assistant Professor and Four Corners program Director Wanda professional successes.
Ellingson, who has practiced human services in the region for “Wanda is an excellent ambassador for DU and the program,”
20 years. East says. “She is a great mentor for the students. She influences
Many of the students in the Four Corners program are their careers and they continue to seek her out for support, guidance
American Indians themselves, representing the Southern Ute, and advice.”
Navajo, Jicarillo Apache, Acoma and Shawnee tribes, among others. Options in the program include a two-year MSW for students
“The norm in social work education is to learn the Western with bachelor’s degrees and a one-year advanced-standing program
theoretical approach and apply that to services with Native for students who hold a bachelor’s degree in social work.
Americans,” Jim says. The DU program, however, “helps students It’s important for the region’s social workers to earn master’s
recognize their cultural knowledge and utilize more of their cultural degrees, Ellingson says, to become eligible for supervisory positions.
background, which is beneficial in working with Native peoples.” The program, founded in 2002, has 62 graduates thus far, and those
The two-year program works in a cohort model in which graduates have gone on to provide social-work services in a variety
10–25 students start together, take every class together and of arenas.
graduate together. By the time they leave, Ellingson says, “They are “It brings this higher level of skill and knowledge, which many
a tight group.” agencies really need,” she says. “They take back new ideas and ways
The first year prepares students for general practice while the of doing things. It benefits agencies—especially on the reservations
second year delves deeper, preparing students for rural community where they’re trying to fill supervisory positions with Natives and
leadership and advanced clinical practice. not Anglos, which had been the case for years.”
Classes are taught in Denver and Durango, Colo. Students in Classroom learning is just part of the package. Fieldwork is
Durango take all the same social-work classes as Denver students where students take theories and put them into practice. Internships
during the first year. In the second year, students in Durango can relate to students’ career interests in or near their local communi-
take courses specifically designed for the Four Corners program, ties. Two-year students must complete at least 1,080 field hours;
including Native Peoples Practice: History and Policy and advanced-standing students must clock 600 field hours.
Assessment and Interventions With Native Peoples. The program Fieldwork sites dot the Four Corners region, with locations
uses interactive television to link students in the Durango classroom in Shiprock and Farmington, N.M., and Montrose, Cortez and
with professors in Denver, allowing students and professors to Durango, Colo. Placement agencies include the San Juan Regional
engage in a real-time videoconference. Medical Center, Navajo Nation Department of Human Services,
As a liaison with the campus in Denver, DU Professor Jean New Day Counseling, the Southern Ute Department of Regulatory
East, director of distance education at GSSW, travels to Durango and Justice, and many more.
once or twice per quarter and teaches a summer class there. La Titia Taylor directs the Southern Ute Higher Education
“We work closely to make sure the Four Corners program is Department based in Ignacio, Colo., and is a member of DU’s Four
congruent with what’s happening on the main campus,” East says. Corners Advisory Council. She says the Southern Ute tribe has
Classes take place over weekends, allowing students to continue been receptive to the GSSW Four Corners program.
working. While they’re on site in Durango, students can work “I think it’s really needed to help with our programs,” Taylor
on their homework in the computer lab, read or get to know one says, “and to help create a healthier community.”

24 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Leland Becenti, MSW ’08
Leland Becenti, who is Navajo and Apache, describes
growing up immersed in cultural teachings. Becenti is doing his
best to pass on the traditions, not only as a father of five, but
also as a consultant providing cross-cultural training in schools,
behavioral agencies and his community. He and his wife also
are craftspeople, weaving rugs, doing beadwork and teaching
traditional crafts as a coping mechanism.
Becenti has been working to keep Native traditions alive
since he was a student. In 2004, he helped dedicate GSSW’s
new building, Craig Hall, with a Navajo blessing. Using tobacco,
spring water and corn pollen, he made offerings to nature to
acknowledge what had been given and “to have the social work
building as a good place for learning.”
He commuted for hours each way to Durango to
attend the Four Corners program and has gone further with
his education than any of his immediate family members.
He says eventually he’d like to pursue a PhD, but now he’s
busy researching Navajo history and passing along traditional
knowledge. He says he’s surprised at how little people know
about American Indian traditions.
At a prenatal development conference last year, he
spoke about the father’s role during pregnancy, such as being
supportive and positive toward the mother, being disciplined and
respecting cultural taboos to avoid harming the unborn child. For
example, to keep the umbilical cord untangled, the father isn’t
supposed to tie anything during the pregnancy.
But it isn’t just in special times that traditional behavior
matters to the Navajo people. It’s important in everyday life,
Becenti says, explaining that family meals were traditionally
served on the floor where everyone sat together and ate from
one dish. “They’d talk to one another, make eye contact. Now a
lot of children eat alone in their room while their parents watch
TV. Even cooking was seen as spiritual. Nowadays they’ll just go
to KFC.”
Becenti says many of the struggles facing his and his chil-
dren’s generation can be blamed on a lack of cultural knowledge.
When he talks about the growing threat of diabetes to Native
populations, it’s clear that he believes ignorance is dangerous.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services,
American Indians and Alaska Natives are twice as likely to be
diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic whites, and there’s
been a 68 percent increase in diabetes from 1994–2004 in
American Indian youth under the age of 19.
Fry bread, which many consider a traditional American
Indian staple, actually was introduced in the 1860s, Becenti says,
during the Navajos’ internment at Fort Sumner, N.M. White
flour, baking powder and salt are fried in grease to make the
tasty, but unhealthy, snack. Before Fort Sumner, Navajos made
their bread from corn and roasted it over an open fire.
“Nowadays everybody wants fry bread. When you look at
it in the historical context, that’s when a lot of things changed for
us. Generational trauma affects pretty much everything,” Becenti
explains.
University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 25
Nelda Martinez, MSW ’04
Nelda Martinez is a home ownership specialist with the Acoma
Pueblo Housing Authority, located 60 miles west of Albuquerque. She
provides financial literacy training to clients seeking housing at Acoma
Pueblo, home to about 3,000. Clients are counseled about finances,
maintenance and the realities of home ownership as they progress from
a low-rent to a rent-to-own program.
“The [clients] don’t understand you have to have a steady job. It’s
very hard because there aren’t very many jobs,” she says.
Transportation is a big issue, with the nearest work centers 25 miles
away in Grants, N.M., or in Albuquerque.
Martinez took a 50-percent pay cut to return to the reservation,
where she could both help her people and care for her elderly mother.
She’s working toward getting her social work license and says the tribe is
planning to assume social services responsibility from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
A bureau representative comes to the Pueblo from Albuquerque
twice a week, but Martinez says it isn’t enough. “We need someone
every day. There are a whole lot of things that would be different.”

Sara Hunt, MSW ’06


Sara Hunt is a substance abuse therapist at New Day Counseling in
Durango. She’s Navajo, Choctaw and Taos, and although she grew up on
the Fort Defiance Navajo reservation in Arizona, she wasn’t raised with a
traditional Native upbringing. Through DU’s Four Corners program, Hunt
learned more about her heritage and about herself.
“One of the things that surprised me was that during the classes you
could see not only the professor, but our classroom. It was one of my best
clinical tools because I realized that when I listen intently sometimes I cock
my head or I nod. I never would have seen that if I hadn’t seen myself in
the classroom,” Hunt says.
Generational or historical trauma and its impact on family structure
and current functioning are among the topics covered in the Four Corners
program. One of the tragedies of the boarding school era was that
American Indians weren’t allowed to speak their native languages, Hunt
explains. That created a gap between grandparents who spoke only in
their native tongue and grandchildren and great grandchildren who could
speak only English.
Hunt is painfully familiar with the language gap. Her grandparents,
having been sent to boarding schools, decided not to teach their children
the native language for fear they’d face discrimination.
“With my great grandmother, we had to take one of my aunts or
family members to translate because my mom didn’t speak Navajo,” Hunt
says.
And since Hunt never learned Navajo, she can’t teach the
language to her children. But she can tell them about their great-great
grandparents—a Navajo rug weaver and a traveling medicine man. She
can tell them about growing up on the Navajo reservation, about being

26 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


shunned by the Navajo students because she wasn’t dark enough and
didn’t speak Navajo, and about being shunned by the white children
because she wasn’t white.
“It’s an odd identity to sit with,” she says. “I think that my cultural
outlook, ethnicity and cultural background are different from someone
who grew up in a traditional home. I can offer some ideas on balancing Loretta Martinez, MSW ’04
that. We practice or honor it in different ways.” Loretta Martinez is social services director for the Ramah
Hunt says she picked DU’s program because it was comprehensive Navajo tribe, two hours west of Albuquerque. In that role, she
and the resulting degree is versatile. Her clients’ biggest concerns are works within her own community, overseeing services for 4,000.
addictions, but they may have other pressing problems. Housing and Her responsibilities include financial, support staff, foster care, child
employment often are high on the priority list, so Hunt says she has to welfare and meeting with stakeholders. While doing all that, she
look “at more than just their substance-use issues.” She asks, “‘How do I remembers her GSSW professors talking about how important it is
help my clients get the things they need to stay sober?’ to abide by ethical standards.
“That wider social work perspective is a huge advantage to helping “They really pushed that on us.”
find my clients resources,” Hunt says. There are a variety of concerns in her community. For teens,
There are fewer resources in rural communities, Hunt says, but it’s pregnancy and high school truancy. For adults, it’s lack of
some of the region’s social workers were her DU classmates. education, skills and employment coupled with transportation issues.
“A number of people I graduated with are here providing services The elderly need in-home care, but because the community is so
that are useful for my clients,” she says. remote, nursing services are limited. Martinez and her agency are
She counsels 20–50 clients, many in group settings. The available to help directly and provide referrals to other agencies.
organization’s programs run three to 14 months, and Hunt says for some She says it’s important to consider traditional views as well
clients it’s “one of the few places that they feel welcome.” as modern ones, and Navajo tribal leaders suggest that service
Hunt says she loves what she’s doing, but if she decided to work on providers utilize the Dine’ Fundamental Law—a traditional, holistic
policy changes in Washington, she could. approach to living—as a form of intervention.
“It’s very exciting that while I’m enjoying doing clinical work, the “Some things I have learned coming from the Western view
education and the degree from DU pretty much let the sky be the limit don’t work with Ramah because they have a different worldview,”
for me.” Martinez says.
University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 27
DU’s new Marsico Institute for Early Learning and
Literacy is working to improve the picture for
early childhood education.

A Hand Up for Early Ed By Jan Thomas


© Tamara Murray/iStockphoto

28 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


IN
In theory, the American education system is a quilt: an enormous patch-
work of schools, curricula, research, policies, funding mechanisms, teachers,
parents and students stitched together to accomplish a common goal.
In reality, the system is more like a maze, replete with numerous ways
to enter, dozens of dead ends and no straight line between a child’s first
learning experience and the time conventional education ends with col-
lege graduation. What’s more, parents and teachers who try to navigate the
labyrinth on their own are often confronted with overwhelming, outdated,
incomplete or simply erroneous data that turn basic decision making into a
nightmare.
Nowhere is the situation more confusing than at the onset of the educa-
tion process as children begin their first migration to school from home.
In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated that 65.7
percent of the country’s more than 12 million preschool-age children were
enrolled in some form of early learning program, but nailing down a figure
everyone can agree on is difficult. Why? In part because there are so many
places for structured early learning to take place—with licensed, unlicensed,
registered, unregistered, quality-rated, unrated, English-speaking, Spanish-
speaking and other-language-speaking home, private, public and church-
based schools all part of the mix—and, in part, because the line between
what constitutes day care and what constitutes preschool is so easily and
often blurred.
“Early childhood has tended to be a stepchild in the educational system,”
says Ginger Maloney, director of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning
and Literacy at DU’s Morgridge College of Education. “People still think of
this phase as more child care than education, and that tends to de-emphasize
the importance of learning.”

University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 29


Wayne Armstrong
Ginger Maloney reads Machines at Work to Ella Nichols (5), Sadie Halpern (5), Ella Hochman (4) and Michael King (5)—
students at DU’s Fisher Early Learning Center. Read more about the center at www.du.edu/magazine.

C reated in 2008 with a $1.5 million gift from the Cydney (BSBA ’78,
MBA ’80) and Tom (MBA ’79) Marsico Family Foundation, the
Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy is tasked with
University is not out there doing this research in isolation. Rather,
we should be building relationships with practitioners, policymak-
ers and people who are working to improve early childhood in
becoming an information resource for parents, professionals, legisla- Colorado.”
tors and others with a vested interest in early childhood learning. How does Colorado compare with other states in early child-
“DU has a strong interest in the importance of early childhood hood education? Generally speaking, the state gets a passing grade, but
as a part of the broader educational system of the United States,” there’s clearly room to improve.
says Maloney, former dean of the Morgridge College. “What we’re In its 2007 ranking of the 38 states with a defined preschool ini-
trying to do with the Marsico Institute is coordinate with other work tiative, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
going on across campus and bring the University’s resources to bear ranked Colorado 36th for resource allocation based on state-funded
on critical issues that the field of early childhood and the state are fac- spending and 29th for resource allocation based on all reported
ing right now. We see this as a critical time to strengthen what we’re spending.
doing in early childhood learning, and we really take it seriously.” Colorado ranked 22nd for the percent of 4-year-olds and 11th for
Although the institute is still in its infancy, Maloney has a clear the percent of 3-year-olds enrolled in the state’s preschool program.
vision of its future. And in a comparison of Colorado’s policies to 10 critical areas identi-
“In five years, I would like the Marsico Institute for Early Learn- fied by NIEER, the 2007 report awarded the state points for meet-
ing and Literacy to be seen as the hub for early childhood research ing benchmarks for specialized pre-kindergarten teacher training,
and early childhood policy analysis in the state of Colorado and to be teacher in-service hours, maximum class-size limits, staff-child ratio
known on a national level for contributing original research on issues and monitoring, but noted that Colorado didn’t meet NIEER goals
pertinent to improving learning environments for very young chil- for early learning standards, teacher degree requirements, assistant
dren,” Maloney says. teacher degree requirements, screening/referral and support services
In the shorter-term, Maloney says, “We want to help inform and meals.
important policy discussions related to early childhood.” In the 2008 edition of Education Week’s Quality Counts, Colorado
She pictures the institute having an important role in bringing ranked 25th of 51 (all states and the District of Columbia) for the
together the best minds and the best research to solve problems and percent of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool. The state earned
to improve the full complement of early childhood services. kudos for aligning its early learning standards with K-12 standards,
“We’re going to do a lot of work in partnership with other but it lost credit for failing to define school readiness, assess the
organizations,” Maloney says. “It’s very important that the readiness of students entering school or have a policy for providing

30 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


“DU has a strong interest in the importance of early childhood as a
part of the broader educational system of the United States.”
—Ginger Maloney

Christian Downs, age 4


Fisher Early Learning Center
Rainbow Fish Class

intervention programs for students not deemed ready for school.


“There are a number of studies that look at how Colorado
stacks up against other states, but the research is only as good as the
F or some, making a national commitment to provide every child with
high-quality early education is a no-brainer. They cite data that say
effective early education programs increase high school and college
information that goes into it,” says Darcy Allen-Young, Head Start graduation rates, reduce teenage pregnancies and illegal behavior, and
state collaboration director for the Colorado lieutenant governor’s help close the academic performance gap between low-income chil-
office. “There are many efforts in place in Colorado today on how dren and their more affluent peers.
to make our system the best it can be.” An analysis of tracking studies in Michigan, North Carolina
One such effort is a preschool-to-third-grade education sub- and Illinois led Arthur Rolnick, a senior vice president and direc-
committee that is addressing teacher preparation. tor of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and Rob
“Last year, the P-3 subcommittee was focused on access. How Grunewald, an associate economist at the same institution, to argue for
do we get more children enrolled in programs? How do we ensure national intervention.
more children are able to take advantage of these programs?” Allen- “Several longitudinal evaluations all reach essentially the same
Young says. “Now the subcommittee is focusing on quality. We’re conclusion: The return on early-childhood-development programs
working hand-in-hand with the Colorado Department of Education that focus on at-risk families far exceeds the return on other projects
to define it, and a subcommittee spin-off is going to focus on quality that are funded as economic development,” the two wrote in “Early
teacher education programs.” Intervention on a Large Scale,” an article first published in Quality
Contrary to popular assumptions, those programs may not Counts 2007. “Cost-benefit analyses of the Perry Preschool Program,
reside in a specific degree curriculum, and that makes sense to the Abecedarian Project, the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, and the
Maloney. Elmira Prenatal/Early Infancy Project showed returns ranging from $3
“Generally, the way that we’ve approached improving the to $17 for every dollar invested. This implies an annual rate of return,
quality of teaching is by insisting that people get certain degrees,” adjusted for inflation, of between 7 percent and 18 percent.”
she says. “But some research argues that it doesn’t matter what the In one of the longest studies, the North Carolina Abecedar-
degree is. What matters is what people have been taught in terms ian Project, researchers randomly placed low-income children born
of how to develop relationships with very young children, how to between 1972 and 1977 into test or control groups. Those in the test
develop their concepts and how to develop their language. group received full-time, high-quality education in a child care set-
“It’s not just the credential that matters; it’s what the credential ting from infancy through age 5. In analyses conducted when test and
represents in terms of content. It’s what teachers actually do on a control cohorts were 12, 15 and 21 years old, researchers found the test
day-to-day basis that makes a difference in how children succeed.” groups to have higher cognitive measurements and better reading and

University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 31


math scores. Additionally, test subjects completed more years of edu- “It’s one of those things where you think that you can inoculate
cation, were more likely to attend a four-year college and were older kids, where you can invest early and that investment would show
than their non-test peers when their first child was born. dividends, and somehow kids will be better off,” Kafer says. “Logi-
Proponents say results like that should make early education ini- cally, it would seem that if you got children into school earlier, the
tiatives a national priority. gap between disadvantaged kids and their more economically well-
“We talk nationally about economic stimulants. We talk about off peers would be bridged and these kids would be fine, but that’s
economic bailouts, about bailing Wall Street out while still focusing not what happens at all.”
on Main Street, but I don’t think there is a Main Street issue more Marsico Institute researchers conducted a literature review of
important and that has a better return on investment of our precious fade-out phenomenon research in 2008 and are looking nationally
tax dollars than investing in our nation’s children,” says Mark Gins- and internationally for the best solutions to combat the problem.
berg, executive director of the National Association for the Educa- “We looked for reasons why this happens,” Maloney says.
tion of Young Children. “We know the return is minimally going to “People like to think of early childhood learning as kind of a vaccine
be 7:1 and probably far greater. And the return is not just going to be against future educational failure, but it isn’t.”
in economic terms but also in helping to nurture a generation of suc- Once children leave a nurturing early learning environment,
cessful children grow into a generation of successful adults.” gains will be lost if the receiving kindergarten through high school
Those on the other side of the fence worry that well-publicized (K-12) system isn’t prepared to continue the process, Maloney
research results skew too heavily to the disadvantaged and flinch at explains.
the cost of state-funded preschool education programs, which the “It’s very important to give kids a level playing field when they
National Institute for Early Education Research cited as more than enter K-12,” Maloney says. “If that system doesn’t adequately address
$3.7 billion nationally and $28.9 million in Colorado in 2007 alone. and continue the kind of comprehensive services that early child-
“There’ve been a handful of studies that show some long-term hood learning offers, kids start to backslide or, at the very least, not
impact for disadvantaged kids, but by and large, most show no maintain their advantage.”
impact for the long term and certainly no impact for middle- and Currently, there isn’t a consistent and effective hand-off mecha-
upper-income kids,” says Krista Kafer, senior fellow for the Inde- nism, but Maloney expects the Marsico Institute to help solve this
pendence Institute. “Colorado spends about $29 million annually on problem.
early learning. I think we can invest that money more effectively. “That’s one of the reasons I am so supportive of what we are
“I think we pretty much know what works, but doing what trying to do here at DU,” she says. “We think a child’s journey
works is another thing indeed.” through the educational system should be a seamless experience
Low-income children tend to lose early learning benefits as they where children aren’t lost in the cracks as they transition from early
progress through elementary school—the “fade-out phenomenon.” childhood to K-12.”

Creating an information clearinghouse


Solving early childhood learning’s families with young children,” says the Colorado Department of Public
information-delivery challenges is Marsico Institute Director Ginger Health and Environment, the Colorado
an important item on the Marsico Maloney. “It’s designed to provide a Department of Education and Qualistar.
Institute for Early Learning and gateway to information and resources The Web site also includes an
Literacy’s short-term agenda. for parents, early childhood learning online video library, an event calendar,
The strategy is simple: Create an professionals, policymakers and other job listings, links to relevant research
information portal that provides a stakeholders.” and a data-rich family section with
clear-cut path through the maze. A The Marsico Institute and DU’s links to various parenting, health care,
beta version of that vision, www. Center for Teaching and Learning professional and systems-building
EarlyChildhoodColorado.org, went live designed the site, and the list of resources.
online last year. participating partners includes Any effort to provide parents and
“This site is an information representatives from the Colorado guardians with additional support
clearinghouse—a searchable Association for the Education of gets high marks from Darcy Allen-
database of what’s available to help Young Children, the Piton Foundation, Young, Head Start state collaboration

32 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


“… I don’t think there is a Main Street issue more important
and that has a better return on investment of our precious
tax dollars than investing in our nation’s children.”
—Mark Ginsberg

Hannah Eckert, age 5


Daughter of Jeanine Mayer Eckert (BA ’98)

director for Colorado’s Office of the much more than proximity, much is really built upon Smart Start
Lieutenant Governor. more than ‘the center is two blocks Colorado. They started this, and
“It’s important for families to be away and that’s where I’m sending we took what they did and prodded
really knowledgeable consumers,” my kid.’” it into a much more 21st century
she says. “Paying top dollar doesn’t The Marsico Institute’s Web technology environment.
necessarily mean you’re getting the site isn’t the first of its kind, but it “The Web site we created
best opportunity for your child, so breaks new ground for two reasons: is dynamic. It’s designed so the
parents have to do research and openness to input for users and community can continue to build
investigate whether a particular a guiding philosophy of favoring it. The Marsico Institute will help
provider meets the needs of their collaboration over credit. maintain the site, but we’ll host it
family. Does it uphold the values they “Other states have done in such a way that it’s not obvious
think are important? Does the center something similar, but they’re not that we’re the developers because
afford the necessary educational using our exact model,” Maloney EarlyChildhoodColorado is a service.
opportunities? I think it’s got to be says. “The work that we’ve done It’s not about us.”

Lori and Seph Ware


What does it

mean to be Shi’i

in a country that

understands so

little about Islam?

A new book by

DU Professor

Liyakat Takim

traces the history

and experiences

of the Shi’i

community in

America.
Wayne Armstrong

34 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


By Tamara Chapman

In recent years, Islam has emerged as the nation’s fastest growing religion, making it, says DU religious stud-
ies Associate Professor Liyakat Takim, “a very American phenomenon.”
So American, in fact, that in many U.S. communities the mosque is almost as much a part of the cityscape
as the church and temple. “For a long time, Islam has been a foreign phenomenon—located somewhere in the
Middle East or the Far East. We talk about Islam and the West, but we should be talking about Islam in the West,”
Takim says, adding that “Muslims are pumping gas; they are serving combos at McDonald’s.”
Despite their growing presence in American life, Muslims remain strangers to many of their fellow citizens. In
fact, when they give it any thought at all, Americans tend to regard the Muslim community as monolithic, Takim
says. Few understand the sectarian and cultural differences that characterize—and often divide—this community.
Even when people understand the distinctions between Sunni and Shi’i, they are unlikely to grasp the differences
between one subsect and another.
Takim attempts to remedy that in his forthcoming book, which introduces readers to the ethnically and cul-
turally diverse American Shi’i community, whose members follow the Koranic interpretations advanced by Ali ibn
Abi Talib. (Ali was the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and Shi’is regard him as Muhammad’s rightful
successor.) Because they are outnumbered by Sunni Muslims, Takim describes Shi’is as a “double minority” in
American life, a misunderstood group within a misunderstood group.
Takim’s book—Shi’ism in America—is due in bookstores in late summer or early fall. According to Takim’s
editor, Jennifer Hammer of New York University Press, the book breaks new ground, describing a community
that has been largely ignored by scholars.
“Most of the research that has been conducted on American Muslims has tended to focus on the Sunni
community—and, to a lesser extent, on matters relating to the Nation of Islam,” she explains. “This work will be
the first comprehensive study of the Shi’i experience in America and will therefore make a significant contribution
to the literature, from Islamic studies to American religions.”
In doing so, the book also traces the history of the Shi’i community in America and explores how, as Ham-
mer puts it, “Shi’is have negotiated their identity in the American context, and what the contemporary composi-
tion of the Shi’i community is. It also illuminates how living in the West has impelled the community to grapple
with the ways in which Islamic law may respond to the challenges of modernity and how they have interacted
with non-Shi’i groups in the United States, from Sunni Muslims to the Christian majority.”

University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 35


The Shi’i experience in America dates back to the 1880s, when a tiny community
of the early immigrants settled in Massachusetts, Indiana and Michigan.

Takim’s interest in Shi’ism stems, in part, from his own faith and came around the 1970s, when the Wahabis started making their mark
experiences. A Shi’i himself and a native of Tanzania, he was once in America,” he says, describing a conservative strain of Sunnism that
the imam of an Islamic center in Toronto. There, and in the U.S. dominates the religious culture of Saudi Arabia.
communities he has explored, he has seen firsthand how Shi’is are With Wahabism on the rise in American Sunni communities, it
perceived and, too often, misunderstood. To gain insight into their has not been uncommon for Shi’is to be shunned within Islamic cen-
experiences, Takim surveyed and interviewed many members of Shi’i ters and groups, Takim says, citing a number of troubling trends and
enclaves, traveling to their community centers and mosques, visiting news items. On U.S. campuses, for example, members of the Mus-
them in their homes and even, on occasion, in their prison cells. lim Student Association frequently spar over sectarian differences,
The Shi’i experience in America dates back to the 1880s, when with some Sunnis calling for the exclusion of Shi’is. Increasingly, the
a tiny community of the early immigrants settled in Massachusetts, Shi’i faithful have arrived at their local mosques only to discover omi-
Indiana and Michigan. These Shi’is hailed primarily from Lebanon. nous signs posted on the front door: “No Shi’i allowed.”
Over the next decades, Shi’is crop up in unexpected places, much to What’s more, Takim says, when Shi’is and Sunnis clash in, say,
the delight of Takim, who took great pleasure in tracking their Ameri- Iraq or Lebanon, the confrontation also surfaces on domestic soil.
can odyssey. At least three members of the faith sailed on the Titanic; Nowhere was that more telling than in Dearborn, Mich., after the
only one of them, the sole female in the tiny group, survived. A few 2006 execution of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. In the days fol-
years later, in 1924, the nation’s first Shi’i mosque opened in unlikely lowing Hussein’s hanging, avenging Sunnis vandalized some Shi’i
Michigan City, Ind. businesses. Although the episode was limited in scope, it left the Shi’i
Throughout these early years, Takim explains, the Sunnis and worried about the possibility of escalating hostilities.
Shi’is found themselves so outnumbered that they overlooked their Takim has felt the sting of this anti-Shi’i campaign himself.
sectarian differences and worked together to preserve Islamic values. When he was a visiting professor at the University of Miami between
In the midst of America’s largely Christian milieu, in the face of its 1991 and 2001, Sunni students discouraged other Muslim students
boisterous culture, Takim says, “They had to accentuate their Islamic from taking his classes on the grounds that he was a Shi’i. “What we
identity.” see is sectarian differences from abroad arising in America,” he says.
Since the 1970s, the Shi’i population—indeed the Muslim Although this worries him, he finds hope in the Americanization
population as a whole—has experienced dramatic diversification of Sunni and Shi’i youth. “The younger generation is going to be dif-
triggered by immigration from Africa, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, ferent because they are all pretty much university trained,” he says,
among others. What’s more, the Shi’is also have increased their noting that they have been exposed to a diverse range of viewpoints.
numbers through proselytizing and conversions. This growth has Like so many second- and third-generation Americans before them,
resulted in tensions among the various groups, who often disagree he explains, “they are challenging the culture. The culture they are
over rituals and religious practices. For example, the Shi’is of Leba- creating is primarily an American one.”
non may find the rituals of their Pakistani counterparts offensive, if Takim’s book also looks at how Shi’is have adjusted to American
only because the latter show some traces of Hindu culture. Other life and American attitudes in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the
Shi’is may be alarmed by how their Iranian cousins use passion World Trade Center and Pentagon. In many respects, Takim explains,
plays in mourning practices. Shi’is were able to use 9/11 to their advantage, reversing negative
Many immigrant Shi’is also have struggled to understand what opinions that grew out of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Shi’i
Takim calls “black Shi’i,” or African-American converts to the faith. followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah. Americans
Like so many demographic groups populating the American scene, came to associate the Shi’i with the subsequent seizure of the U.S.
Shi’is struggle with differences. “There is racism in the Shi’i commu- embassy and the taking of 52 American hostages.
nity, too, as in other communities,” he explains. The resulting view of Shi’is as Islam’s radicals was, in many
The identity issues that emerge from these frictions give Takim respects, altered by the events of 9/11. As Americans learned more
much to ponder. What does it mean to be Shi’i in a culture that touts about Osama Bin Laden, they also learned about Wahabism and other
the advantages of pluralism, in a country that understands so little forms of extremism. Once the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq,
about Islam? And what makes a Shi’i a Shi’i when the community Shi’is were viewed more favorably—as supporters and allies. Along
demonstrates so much diversity? the way, American Shi’is used the post-9/11 events to denounce
“I think what surprised me was how the Shi’is are divided the violence associated with Bin Laden and to clarify their position
about how to approach Americans,” Takim says, looking back on within American society.
his research. Some Shi’is want to assimilate fully, while the more That process continues to this day. Like so many minority
conservative often favor isolation and retreat. But as Takim sees it, groups in the United States, Shi’is are learning to sustain their culture
the community’s largest failing has been its reluctance to engage the and practice their religion within the American context. “The Shi’is
larger multiethnic society. An impregnable isolation, he argues, only are as American as anybody else,” Takim says, “and they are proud of
perpetuates marginalization. their American identity.”
Takim is especially interested in fissures between American
Shi’is and Sunnis, noting that the two communities tended to coexist The New York University Press will post publication details about Shi’ism in
peacefully for much of the 20th century. “I think the turning point America in spring 2009 at www.nyupress.org.

36 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


38 Class notes challenge
43 Book bin
47 Money matters
48 Pioneer pics
50 Announcements
DU Archives

In 1956, the then newly established Denver Hawaiian Club flew in 200 pounds of orchids from the Hawaiian
Islands to make leis. Students Kenneth Yim (BSBA ’57), Shirley (Collins) Petsch (BA ’57), Grace Yamaguchi
(attd. 1955–56) and Lemisa Untalan (BA ’56) planned to sell the leis at the May Days carnival that night. If
you have your own May Days memories to share, please let us know.

University of Denver Magazine Connections 37


The classes
1945
Esther Lasher (BA ’45, MA ’67) of South
Bristol, Maine, was featured in the 62nd
Class Notes Challenge:1948 & 1949
edition of Who’s Who in America. Esther is a
retired minister.
1948 1949
Allan Howerton (BA ’48, MA ’51) has Victor Cotz (BSME ’49) lives in a retirement
lived in Alexandria, Va., with his wife, community in Pompton Plains, N.J. His wife,
Joan, for more than 40 years. Allan had a Jeanne, died on Aug. 11, 2007.
1950 long career with the federal government,
Arthur Wallace (BS ’50) wrote the book working in Denver; Albuquerque, N.M.; Marjorie (Bahr)
Mason Steam Locomotives (Heimburger House, and Washington, D.C. After retirement, he Taggart (BA ’49) met
2004). Arthur worked for the Gardner served as vice chair of the Fairfax County her husband of 58
Denver company for 35 years and served as an Civil Service Commission and was a founder, years, Harold “Bud”
engineering consultant for eight years. Now talk-show host and general manager of Taggart (BS ’50), at
retired, he lives in Aurora, Colo., with his a cooperative cable television channel. DU. The couple has
wife, Gyda “Bernice” Wallace (BA ’51). Allan and Joan have three children and six two children, Tim
grandchildren. Taggart (MBA ’81) and
Tammy Taggart May, and three grandchildren.
1952 WINNER!
Peggy (Powers) Seven individuals in Bud and Marjorie’s
Donald Hart (BS ’52) lives in Chula McCray (BS ’48) enjoys extended family have graduated from DU.
Vista, Calif., and spends his retirement retirement in Odessa,
photographing and recording nature. Donald Texas, with her husband, Herb. Prior, Peggy Harry Watts (BA ’49)
sailed his 42-foot ketch from Annapolis, Md., was self-employed for 35 years. She developed of Hays, Kan., received
to Santa Cruz, Calif. and sold WonderWeights, pattern weights for a 2007 national AARP
people who sew. She enjoys spending time Andrus Award for
with her children and grandchildren, golfing, Outstanding Volunteer
1955 bowling and singing. in Kansas. Harry is a
Raymond Miller (BS ’55) received the co-host on “Coming of
Kenneth Boulding Award from the Maryann Peins (MA ’48) of Edison, N.J., is Age,” a TV/radio show for
Association for Integrative Studies (AIS). a retired speech pathologist. Maryann fondly seniors. Prior, Harry had a
He’s a past president, journal editor and long- remembers serving as the president of the career as an ophthalmologist.
time member of AIS. Raymond resides in Graduate Students Club during her final year
Brisbane, Calif., and is professor emeritus of at DU. Margaret
international relations and social sciences at (Bettinger)
San Francisco State University. Marie Smolski (BA Weiland
’48) and her late (BS ’49) of
David Rothenberg (BA ’55) of New York husband, Joseph Denver spent
City conceived, co-authored and directed the Smolski (JD ’48), several days
off-Broadway play The Castle, which opened in enrolled in DU after hiking in Bryce
April 2008 at the New World Stages. The play World War II under Canyon and
reflects the life stories of cast members and the GI Bill. After Grand Staircase-
co-authors who served time in prison. graduation, Joseph went on to work as a Escalante National Monument in May 2008.
lawyer for an insurance company while Marie

1959 50th worked as a school nurse. All five of their


children made it through college. Marie lives
Claibourne Smith in Englewood, Colo.
(BS ’59, MS ’61) was
appointed interim
president of Delaware
State University in
August. While serving
1962 1963
Ronald “Ski” Adamczyk (BSBA ’62, Leslee (Carlson) Breene (BA ’63)
as president he will
MBA ’77) of Holmen, Wis., took a trip to published the book Hearts on the Wind
temporarily relinquish
Papua New Guinea with his wife, Patricia (Five Star Expressions, 2008) about the
his position as chair of the university’s board
(BA ’64), and daughter, Darcy (BA ’89), of struggles of immigrants and the early days
of trustees. Claibourne previously worked
Rochester, Minn. Ski and his family visited of the railroad industry. Leslee, who lives in
for DuPont Corp. for 34 years as the vice
tribes throughout the country and attended Denver, is the author of two other novels,
president of technology. Claibourne lives in
the annual “Singsing” tribe gathering on Leadville Lady and Foxfire.
Wilmington, Del.
Mount Hagen.

38 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Class notes challenge
Return to Where the Journey Began

Class of 1959
50th Class Reunion

1964 Kynewisbok
June 5-6, 2009
The Class of 1959 is invited to return to campus Class of 1964: A lot can happen in 35 years, and we want to
to celebrate this remarkable occasion. Reconnect catch up with as many of you we can. Your classmates want to hear
with friends, classmates, faculty and students while from you, too!
taking part in events such as the annual Emeritus What have you been up to? Share photos and family news,
Tea, Pioneer Alumni Legends inductions, spring discuss your travels and hobbies, or reminisce about your time at
Commencement and more. DU.
You can post you note online at www.alumni.du.edu, e-mail
For more reunion information, please contact du-magazine@du.edu or mail in the form on page 49. Class of ’64
the Office of Alumni Relations at
notes will appear in the fall issue. We’ll randomly select a prize
1-800-871-3822 or www.alumni.du.edu.
winner from all entries received by May 1.

Marlow Ediger (EdD Idjon Kurnaedy (MPA ’63) of Surrey, British 1970
’63) of North Newton, Columbia, moved from Indonesia to Canada Audrey (Friedman)
Kan., published the nearly 20 years ago. In Indonesia, Idjon taught Marcus (BA ’70)
following articles: at several universities, including the Indonesian of Denver wrote
“Current Events, the Senior Army College. All of her children are the book Survival in
Student, and the Social married, and she has three grandchildren. Shanghai: The Journals
Studies” in The Social of Fred Marcus (Pacific
Studies Review, “Mental View, 2008) with co-
Health in the Curriculum” in the Journal 1966 author Rena Krasno.
of Instructional Psychology, “Leadership in the Leroy Tsutsumi (BA ’66) is an educational The book describes
School Setting” in Education Magazine, “The aide at the Hawaiian Mission Academy in her late husband’s
American High School” in the College Student Honolulu, where he teaches English for experience as a Jewish
Journal, “The Old Order Amish and the Social second-language learners. Leroy fondly refugee in Shanghai. Audrey is a member of
Studies” in Perspectives, and “The School remembers the anthropology courses he took the Anti-Defamation League Catholic-Jewish
Principal as Reading Supervisor” in Reading from Alan Olson as a student at DU. Dialogue and a board member of the Kepner
Improvement. Educational Excellence Program, which
provides enrichment for students in Kepner
Charles “Chuck” Ferries (attd. 1957–63) was 1967 Middle School. Prior, Audrey founded and
inducted into the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Oren Quist (MS ’67, PhD ’73) retired from served as the executive vice president for
Hall of Fame in October 2008. Chuck is a his position as head of South Dakota State A.R.E. Publishing Inc.
former member of DU’s varsity ski team University’s physics department. He now
and a two-time Olympian. He also has the lives in Mankato, Minn.
distinction of being the only American to ever
win the Hahnenkamm slalom in Kitzbuehel,
Austria. Chuck lives in Ketchum, Idaho, with
his wife, Nancy.

University of Denver Magazine Connections 39


1971 1974 1975
Susan (Kaufman) Perlman (BA ’71) George Del Nanci Appleman-Vassil (BA ’75) is the
married Samuel Cheris, a Denver attorney Canto president and chief learning officer for APLS
and graduate of Stanford University, on (BSBA ’74) is Group. Nanci lives and works in Raleigh,
July 13, 2008. Six days earlier, she became founder and N.C.
a grandmother when her daughter, Stacie co-owner of
Perlman, and her son-in-law, Aaron Kingdom Racing,
Moskowitz, welcomed their son, Martin. which became the 1977
Susan lives in Aurora, Colo. first faith-based Jeanette “Jeme” (Ertl) Wallace (BS ’77)
team ever to accepted a position as the director of regula-
compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. tory affairs at General Electric Healthcare
1973 The Kingdom Racing car came in 14th in the in Barrington, Ill. Jeme and her team are
John Hayes (JD ’73) of Highlands Ranch, Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. George lives in responsible for implementing the pre- and
Colo., works full time from his home as Houston with his wife, Maria, and their three post-market global regulations governing the
counsel to Hayes, Phillips, Hoffman & children—Cristina, Carolina and Alejandro. medical device stand-alone software products
Carberry P.C. developed and manufactured by the company.

Artist Helen Davis

Wayne Armstrong
Helen Davis (EdD ’61) believes that her doctoral degree opened many doors for her
but, ironically, some doors nearly closed while she was trying to earn it.
“I was asked, ‘Does your husband have his doctorate? We don’t grant doctoral
degrees to women if their husbands don’t have one first.’”
Undaunted, Davis simply started taking classes and, simultaneously, society
evolved. Ultimately, she was granted her degree.
Clearly, Davis is a woman who takes advantage of opportunities and who cre-
ates them where they don’t exist. Because of her tenacious passion and many accom-
plishments, Davis is the 2009 recipient of the University of Denver’s Professional
Achievement Award.
Davis is a renowned artist, teacher and community activist who has inspired other
artists, teachers and activists to believe in their passions.
She set up an arts and crafts program for military families and personnel at
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center after World War II and then worked for 25 years as
a consultant for similar Army hospital programs. She headed the Colorado Women’s
College (CWC) art department from 1962–71 and ran the Boulder Valley School
District’s art program from 1971–76. She’s been an exhibiting artist, curator, juror and
lecturer across the United States.
Beyond her community achievements, Davis’ art is critically acclaimed and
includes painting, sculpture, ceramics, fiber and photography. All of her art is two- or
three-dimensional and that, again, is because of an opportunity she seized.
During World War II, Davis was an undergraduate at Northwest Missouri
State University, where the industrial arts department was hurting for students.
Woodworking, mechanical drawing and architecture courses had traditionally been dominated by men, who were then off to war.
“I took advantage of that, and I received a minor in industrial arts,” she says. “It gave me a technical background that few art people had.”
Millie (Schairer) Russell (CWC ’66) studied art under Davis and is today an accomplished artist. She says Davis’ effectiveness is due to her
positive approach to life.
“She taught by emphasizing the best in what you were doing,” says Russell. “She made you feel so positive about what you were doing that
you could hardly wait to do more.”
Davis, like most artists, has developed an “artist’s statement.” Hers is simple: “I make things because I must.” Similarly, her motivation to
teach and advance art in the community derives from deceptively simple needs.
“When I’m passionate about something, I want to share it,” she says. “I’m passionate about art, so I have found ways to share it over my
entire life.”
—Janalee Card Chmel

40 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


1983
Volunteer Louise Atkinson Lucien Dhooge (JD ’83) was named the
Sue and John Staton Professor of Law at the
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta,
Louise Atkinson graduated from where he teaches international business law
DU with an MBA in 1979 and has since and ethics. He lives with his wife, Julia, and
achieved professional success in the their cats in Decatur, Ga.
telecommunications and technology
industries, rising to her most recent role as
senior vice president at First Data Corp.
1985
Michael Miller (BSBA ’85) of Albany,
Along the way, she’s also become a Ind., is the president and COO of Bell
wife to Bill Atkinson and a loving mother Aquaculture, a company that raises fish for
to two daughters. And she’s done it all human consumption. Michael’s company
without ever leaving the University. was featured in the October issue of Food
“When I walked away with my Engineering Magazine.
degree, I felt indebted to DU immediately,”
Atkinson says. “Others may walk away
thinking they’ll never see the University 1986
Andrew Hamilton (BA ’86) of Evergreen,
again, but there were people there who
Colo., has been posted to the U.S. Embassy
Wayne Armstrong

really cared about me! I had to give back.”


in Nairobi, Kenya, since the summer
Atkinson is the recipient of the 2009 of 2007. Prior, Andrew was assigned to
Randolph P. McDonough Award for Service the U.S. embassies in Uzbekistan and
to Alumni. Since graduating, Atkinson has Afghanistan.
dedicated herself to so many causes and programs at her alma mater that it’s impossible to
name all of the lives she’s touched.
“I volunteer broadly and make sure I touch as many aspects of the University as 1987
possible,” Atkinson says. Darin Good (attd. 1984–87) is the
Among her commitments, Atkinson has spoken at graduation ceremonies, sponsored executive vice president for IBG
receptions in her home, mentored hundreds of students and graduates one-on-one and Business Services Inc. In September,
IBG announced the addition of
assisted with a campaign to purchase pianos for the Lamont School of Music. She co-chaired
Jack Hechinger, a senior business
Founders Day 2004 with her husband, sponsored golf tournaments and donated to many
administration major at DU, to its staff as
functions and schools, including the Women’s College and Daniels College of Business. an account analyst pending his graduation
But perhaps her biggest impact results from the 10 years she spent on DU’s Alumni during the 2008–09 academic year. Darin
Association Board of Directors, including two years as its president. During her tenure, lives in Englewood, Colo.
Atkinson suggested that the University create a robust Web site to reach out to its alumni.
“I felt we needed a global outreach program to stay in touch with our alumni,” says
Atkinson. “But when I said ‘global,’ the group’s eyes got wide and they said, ‘Let’s start local.’” 1988
Atkinson forged on. She, along with several other board members, posted their pictures Jeffrey Hall (MSJA ’88) of Olympia,
on a rough Web site for alumni, as well as brief descriptions of their lives. Within days, Wash., was promoted from deputy
Atkinson had heard from several alumni, including one living in Russia. state court administrator to state court
administrator at the Administrative Office
“I said, ‘There’s our global connection!’ It showed that this idea was good and that DU
of Courts.
could maintain relationships through their Web site.”
The board threw their backing behind the project. Today, the Alumni Association boasts
a busy site that includes special interest groups, class notes and a career center.
Atkinson says she’s been able to do so much for DU because she maintains a “laser
1989
Anne Dawid (PhD ’89) published the
focus” on her life’s priorities. book And Darkness Was Under His Feet:
“It’s hard to do it all—executive, mom, wife, volunteer—but DU is a top priority in my Stories of a Family (Litchfield Press, 2007).
life. And my husband has been a great support.” Anne’s book won the Litchfield Review
“When she commits herself to something, whether it’s DU, family or work, she does so Press Award for short fiction in 2007. She
with an abundance of passion and dedication,” Bill says of his wife. lives in Westcliffe, Colo.
Atkinson says that she’s motivated by relationships and believes DU is rare in its ability
to create lifelong friendships among students, faculty, staff and alumni.
“The people at DU genuinely care,” she says. “I want to help maintain those
relationships. When people leave DU today, I want them to feel just like I do!”
—Janalee Card Chmel

University of Denver Magazine Connections 41


1991
Daniel Hernandez (JD ’91) is a shareholder
with Ray, Valdez, McChristian & Jeans P.C. Philanthropist
in El Paso, Texas, where he lives. Daniel is
board certified in personal injury trial law by Merle Catherine Chambers
the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and
has more than 17 years of experience as a Back in 1999, a group of visionary women
trial lawyer. He is a member of the State Bar met for lunch and, by the time the meal was
of Texas, the New Mexico Bar, the El Paso finished, they had put the pieces in place for an
Bar Association, the College of the State Bar extraordinary gift to the University of Denver
of Texas, the American Bar Association and and to women and girls across the state of
the Texas Association of Defense Counsel.
Colorado.
Daniel practices in the areas of insurance
Among those women was Merle Catherine
defense, product liability, premises liability,
negligence, food-borne illness, deceptive Chambers (LLM ’84), whose name is now
trade practices, workers’ compensation, and etched in granite outside the dream-come-true
labor and employment. building: the University of Denver’s Chambers
Center for the Advancement of Women.
“Merle was immediately enthusiastic about
1992 it and made a commitment to the naming gift
Kyle Torke (MA ’92, PhD ’94) published his over that lunch,” recalls Michele “Mike” Bloom,
fourth book and first work of fiction, Tanning then dean of DU’s Women’s College. “The thing
Season (World Audience Press, 2008). Kyle that was so remarkable about her gift was that
lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is
she made it so quickly and enthusiastically. She
Wayne Armstrong

an associate professor at Colorado College.


validated the strength of the vision. Her confi-
dence and belief in the power of what we were
1993 and allowed other people to understand the vision.”
trying to create was the magic that got us going
Patricia Bisant (MSS ’93) of Brighton,
Colo., is the vice president of sales and Today, the Chambers Center houses the Women’s College, the Women’s Foundation of
marketing for RFD-TV. Colorado and other DU- and community-based programs, creating a synergy among the organi-
zations that was once unheard of.

1995 For her gift and ongoing work in the community, Chambers is the recipient of DU’s 2009
John Evans Award—the University’s highest alumni honor.
Vinay “Mickey” Desai (MA ’95) is the While Chambers says she loves the building itself, she says she made her quick commitment
executive director of the Anti-Prejudice
because the vision matched her own belief in systemic change for women and girls.
Consortium in Atlanta. Mickey has worked
“We weren’t talking about building a building, per se,” she says, “but a place where the occu-
in the nonprofit sector since 2001 and helped
revive the Atlanta Nonprofit Professionals pants come together and their energies create a positive impact on the community.”
organization. He chairs the Metropolitan An only child, Chambers grew up in an “oil family” and ultimately ran her family’s oil com-
Counseling Services Board of Directors and pany for more than a decade. She believes it is a responsibility, and a privilege, to share her good
is a member of the Georgia Lakes Society fortune.
Board of Directors and the United Way’s “I learned at my father’s knee that if you have an ability to make large gifts, then you
Volunteer Involvement Program Alumni should,” she says. From her mother, Chambers learned the importance of helping people.
Association. Mickey lives in Jonesboro, Ga. “My mother was a good liberal, and she gave of her time and talent,” says Chambers. “That’s
where I get the emotional underpinnings of my work.”
Jonquil Powell (BA ’95, MEPM ’99) Chambers says her proudest accomplishment is the work that she’s done for women and
joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition,
girls across many states. She established women’s foundations in states where her family’s busi-
located in Bozeman, Mont., as the associate
ness operated, including Wyoming, Montana and Oklahoma. She also gave generously to already-
development director. Jonquil’s fiancé,
Erik Nelson, is a native of Bozeman and a established women’s foundations in North Dakota.
partner in the design and development firm “I give systemically so that I can promote the greatest possible change for women,”
ThinkTank Design. Chambers says.
Today, she runs the Chambers Family Fund, which “seeks upstream solutions to improve
the lives of women and girls.” She recently made a $50,000 challenge gift at a Women’s
Foundation of Colorado luncheon, and she champions early childhood education.
But Chambers never seeks attention for her own actions. Instead, she says, “It has been
extraordinary to be able to help women.”
—Janalee Card Chmel

42 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


?
Book bin
While reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Russell Banks’
Which alum arranged a “dress
Cloudsplitter—both plots center on slavery—Michael White hatched the
for success” clothing drive for
idea for his fifth and latest novel, Soul Catcher (William Morrow, 2007).
the Denver Rescue Mission?
Set in 1857, Soul Catcher is the story of Augustus Cain, a slave catcher
entrusted with the task of hunting down Rosetta, a fugitive slave bearing
The answer can be found
scars from an unforgiving master. He captures her, and during an adven-
somewhere on pages 38–50 of
ture-filled journey, Cain slowly begins to understand that Rosetta’s worth
this issue. Send your answer to
is more than as a piece of property. This realization helps to form the basis
du-magazine@du.edu or University
for Cain’s own redemption.
of Denver Magazine, 2199 S.
“I like to write about characters who are missing something in their
University Blvd, Denver, CO 80208.
lives or who have failed in some way—psychically, emotionally, morally,”
Be sure to include your full name
says White (PhD English ’82). “Cain’s metamorphosis from unredeemed
and mailing address. We’ll select a
slave catcher to a man who questions the very nature of the country’s ‘peculiar institution’ prior to the
winner from the correct entries;
Civil War is a metaphor for any person of any time period whose fundamental values are in need of
the winning entry will win a prize
change.”
courtesy of the DU Bookstore.
A New York Times “notable author,” White has incorporated historical aspects in other works. His
first novel, A Brother’s Blood, tells the story of a woman hoping to unravel the mystery of her brother’s
Congratulations to Chris Claggett
death. The Garden of Martyrs recounts actual events of religious intolerance in early Boston.
(MOTM ’06) for winning the winter
In addition to writing, White directs Fairfield University’s creative writing MFA program.
—Kathryn Mayer issue’s pop quiz.

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Spring09_BookstoreAd2.indd 1 University of Denver Magazine 4:01:38 PM 43


Connections
12/17/08
Inventor Timber Dick
In his all-too-short career at the University of Denver, Timber Dick had such a profound impact on faculty,
staff and students that he is receiving one of the institution’s most prestigious awards: Distinguished Service to the
University.
Dick’s life was cut short by a car accident that left his wife, Annette Tillemann-Dick, and their 11 children
without “the most stabilizing force” in their lives and left DU’s School of Engineering and Computer Science
without a tremendously special colleague. Dick served as the school’s director of marketing and recruitment from
November 2003 until his accident in April 2008.
“We are all still so sad,” says Rahmat Shoureshi, the school’s dean. “To this day, I cannot believe he is gone.”
“The biggest and most important trait that Timber had for this job was his ability to connect with students,
Karen Rubin

especially teenagers,” Shoureshi says. “The other part was that, even though Timber did not have a formal
education in engineering or computer science, he had an innovative mind.”
Dick, who held bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management and administration from Yale University, began inventing ways to make
life better—and faster—at an early age. He was fascinated with automobiles and bicycles and worked tirelessly to improve their designs. He
invented a better baby carrier when Annette complained about having to remove her children from car seats when they were sleeping. The
result—the Sit ’n’ Stroll—is sold by Hammacher Schlemmer.
With his son Corban, Dick tackled what he believed is one of the biggest wastes in society: the internal combustion engine. In an effort to
reduce that waste, they invented the IRIS, which stands for Internally Radiating Impulse Structure; their company, Tendix, holds the patent.
“The IRIS replaces the piston and cylinder architecture found in most engines with a revolutionary device designed to more fully harness
the energy of combustion activity,” Corban explains.
In the months after Dick’s death, the invention received major awards from NASA and ConocoPhillips.
Annette says her husband always involved their children in his work, whether it was his latest invention or re-wiring the dining room
lights.
“Timber taught all of the time. He used absolutely everything to teach,” says Annette. “He especially liked bouncing problems off the kids
to see what ideas they could come up with together.”
She says the DU environment was “great fertilizer” for his ideas.
Similarly, Shoureshi believes that Dick’s home life contributed to his rapport with DU students.
“He and Annette had 11 children! That prepared him to understand deeply how to communicate with students.”
Todd Rinehart, assistant vice chancellor for enrollment and director of admission, frequently saw Dick’s interaction with prospective
students and their parents.
“Timber was very committed to making our world a better place and was inspired to invent things that helped people in their daily lives,”
Rinehart says. “While he truly was committed to DU and the discipline of engineering, he shared the same innovative and entrepreneurial
spirit that many of the young students he met with possessed.
“Timber believed in his heart that he could make a difference with a student who, someday in the future, would make a difference in our
world.”
—Janalee Card Chmel

1997 1998 2001


Diana Crabtree (BScc ’97, MAcc ’97) of Greg Fellman (MSW ’98) opened Seven Cheryl Weill (MSW ’01) wrote the book
Denver published the book Money for Teenagers Cups, a traditional Chinese teahouse on Pearl Nature’s Choice: What Science Reveals About
(Llumina, 2008), a personal finance guide Street in Denver. Greg’s interest in tea began the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation
for youth. Diana works as a certified public when he taught English in China for two and (Routledge, 2008). Cheryl earned a PhD in
accountant. a half years. chemistry from the University of California
at Santa Barbara in 1974. She retired from
Andrew Nearn (MAcc ’97) of Memphis, academic science in 1999 before obtaining
Tenn., retired from the hospitality industry 1999 a master’s of social work degree from DU.
in 2004 to become a medical doctor. Andrew Sally (Hess) Higgins (MEPM ’99) of Cheryl is in private clinical practice in Denver.
graduated from the University of Tennessee Lexington, Ky., is the safety, health and
College of Medicine in May 2008 and now is environmental manager at the Lexington
a resident in pediatrics there. He still believes, Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
however, that his wife, Ashley, knows more
about pediatrics than he does thanks to their
three children—William, Peter and Elizabeth.

44 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


2002
Entrepreneur Craig Harrison
Devon Bickford (BA ’02) of New York City
married Michael Suozzi on Sept. 13. Devon
works for the Child and Family Institute of St.
Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital as a clinical social
Craig Harrison (BSBA ’03) sits in his
worker; Michael works as an advertising sales
account executive. Cherry Creek North corporate office, the
window behind him offering a stunning
Lindsey Duncan (BBA ’02, MBA ’04) and view of the snow-frosted Rockies, discussing
Matthew Millns (MBA ’04) were married one of several companies he’s launched in
on July 5, 2008, at the Spruce Saddle Lodge the last five years. For the latest, US Capital,
in Beaver Creek, Colo. Alumni in attendance Harrison managed more than $10 million in
included Chris Baker (BSME ’03, MBA ’03) investments before he sold the company to
of Fort Worth, Texas; Meredith (Lippitt) Chicago-based Northport Private Equity in
Mankwitz (MBA ’04) of Denver; and Hung- June 2008.
Yu “Rachel” Lin (MBA ’04) of Denver. The
He’s launched two other companies
couple honeymooned in Calgary, Alberta;
that have done well in completely different
Emerald Lake, British Columbia; and Banff,
Alberta. Lindsey and Matt reside in Fort industries: Scout Cleaning and Maintenance,
Worth, Texas. an environmentally friendly cleaning service
that he owns with fellow DU alumnus Ryan
Morgan Earp (BA ’02, Boykin (BA ’02), and Housefront, a real estate
MA ’02, PhD ’07) of technology service company, which he and
Fairfax, Va., received Boykin recently sold to Motellus Inc. for $3
her PhD in quantitative million.
research methods Now, Harrison thinks he has a truly
Wayne Armstrong

from DU in 2007. She big idea percolating: restoring structurally


works as a statistician
deficient dams across the United States.
for the Department
Oh, and Harrison is just 28 years old.
of Agriculture and an adjunct professor for
Potomac College. Last fall, Morgan ran the Harrison is the 2009 recipient of DU’s Ammi Hyde Award for Recent Graduate
Army 10 Miler and Marine Corps Marathon Achievement, and while it may seem that his star has risen very high, very fast, Harrison has
and plans to run the George Washington been working at this for years.
Parkway Classic 10 Miler in the spring. In “When I was in high school, I read that the 3 percent of people who write down their
February, she plans to move to Capitol Hill goals end up making more money than the other 97 percent combined,” Harrison says. So,
with her significant other, Adam, and their he started writing down his goals.
dog, Mojo. He has a nine-page, single-spaced document containing all of the business ideas he’s had
since 1997. Each idea is only given one short paragraph. Looking it over, he can still remember

2003 some of his favorites.


“I thought it would be a great idea to put vitamins in chewing gum,” says Harrison with
Lia Chavez (BA ’03) opened the New
excitement. “Wouldn’t kids love it if they could get their vitamins by chewing gum?”
York City exhibition “Hillman + Chavez”
in September with William Hillman. The On paper, Harrison’s accomplishments describe someone very serious, very driven, very
exhibition featured 13 photographic works busy. While he is all of those things, in person, Harrison offers a bright smile, carries on open-
that explore light and space while abstractly ended conversations and expresses authentic interest in everyone around him.
presenting the figure as form. Lia lives and “Craig is smart, ambitious and one of the most genuine people I know,” says Scott Reiman
works in London. (BSBA ’87), who has become a mentor to Harrison. “He works hard at his business and is
definitely committed to DU in a big way.”
Johnny Cheng (BS ’03) Harrison recently co-founded a Young Alumni Scholarship fund at DU and has helped to
of Aurora, Colo., has raise more than $90,000, contributing generously himself.
started his first year at the “When I look at my life, it seems like everything good traces back to DU,” says Harrison.
West Virginia School of
“DU is the gift that keeps giving! Working on this scholarship has been a blast. It’s one of the
Osteopathic Medicine in
most rewarding things I’ve been a part of.”
Lewisburg, W. Va. While
at DU, Johnny was on Harrison readily admits that he is young for his achievements, joking that he needs his
the Dean’s List and was hair to turn gray, but he also gives credit to others.
a recipient of the Provost “Some of the confidence that I have is artificial because of the great mentors and partners
Scholarship. He graduated I’ve had,” he says, mentioning his dad and Boykin specifically. “I’ve never been alone in any of
in 1999 from Christian Heritage High School these endeavors.”
in Steamboat Springs, Colo. —Janalee Card Chmel

University of Denver Magazine Connections 45


Hallie Loizeaux (MSW ’03) of Rye, N.Y.,
married Brian White of Wilmington, Del.,
on Aug. 23, 2008. Hallie and her husband
Fixer Anthony Graves
plan on moving to Denver, where she will Anthony Graves (IMBA ’04) is a
work as a clinical social worker and he person who does whatever it takes.
will work with Western Orthopedics as an
When he was 26 and raising
orthopedic surgeon.
his 16-year-old nephew, Graves’
management job in the technology
2004 industry disappeared, so he took a job
filing for the Colorado Department of
Jared Casner (BS ’04) married Ashleigh
Bilodeaux on Aug. 31, 2008, in Montego Human Services to make ends meet.
Bay, Jamaica. Gerritt Koser (BSBA ’02, He realized he needed another
JD ’05) of Denver and Richard Steadman degree to get his career back on track,
(BSBA ’05) of Englewood, Colo., served so he went back to school, balancing
as groomsmen at the ceremony, which was his role as mentor to his nephew and
also attended by Jessica Sanchez (BSBA working two jobs to pay the bills.
’04) of Arvada, Colo. Upon their return,
When his Department of Human
the couple, who reside in Highlands Ranch,
Services job sent him out to deliver food
Colo., held a reception in Colorado Springs.
Jared received an MBA from the University to seniors, he discovered poverty and
poor living conditions. So, he served on
Wayne Armstrong

of Colorado in August 2008.


a board that was focused on creating
affordable senior housing.
2005 He walked into the Gilliam Youth
Cathy Bagot (MSLA ’05) has been elected Services Center and asked what they needed; he ended up working with youths to give them life
to the Board of Trustees of Bexley Hall skills and help them take responsibility for their actions.
Episcopal Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Commonly, without being asked, Graves finds himself walking in doors and asking people
Cathy lives in Westerville, Ohio. what they need. He says he’s an “asker” and a “fixer.”
Because of his eagerness to improve the community, Graves is receiving the University of
Glenn Gorden (BSBA ’05) of Yarmouth,
Denver’s 2009 Community Service Award.
Maine, joined the DU men’s lacrosse
coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach “I am motivated by making a material impact,” says Graves, who exudes calm despite the
in September 2008. Glenn played three myriad responsibilities he’s undertaken. “I like projects that help change people’s lives, especially
seasons at DU and served as an assistant people who may not have a voice to ask for what they need.”
coach for Brown University, helping to Devany Severin, public relations coordinator for the Denver Rescue Mission, says Graves
coach the team to an Ivy League title last was visiting the mission with a professional group that was doing one day of community service.
year. Graves could have handed out food to the homeless with the rest of the group and left, never to
be seen again.
Caleb Hebel (BSAcc ’05) of Denver was Instead, “Anthony asked what more the Denver Rescue Mission needed in the upcoming
named as one of the 2008 finalists for months,” Severin recalls. “Upon learning that we were in great need of men’s dress clothes and
Business Week’s best young entrepreneurs in
business attire, he offered to arrange a ‘Dress For Success’ men’s clothing drive.”
America.
Graves was thrilled with that program, which he ran through one of his favorite
Sarah (Beck) Hoge (BAcc ’05) married organizations: Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Chris Hoge on Aug. 23, 2008, at DU’s “I was ecstatic!” he says. “Most of the suits we received were either brand new or straight
Evans Chapel. The couple honeymooned in from the cleaners.”
Orlando and St. Petersburg, Fla. Sarah and Today Graves is an international operations and marketing manager at Sun Microsystems
Chris reside in Littleton, Colo. and has served as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer for DU’s Daniels College of Business.
He was elected to a four-year term on the Democratic National Committee and was a delegate to
Hunter Johnson (BSBA ’05) of Fort Worth, the Democratic National Convention.
Texas, has worked as a financial analyst for Graves is active on DU’s African-American Alumni Association and several other
American Airlines since October 2007. community-focused organizations. And yet, despite these weighty obligations, Graves still seeks
out grassroots community needs that he might be able to impact.
“I think I have a service addiction,” he says, laughing. “Lately, I see more and more need,
and I’m looking for ways to magnify my impact. When you see that you can really help someone,
really fundamentally improve their life, then you want to do it more.”
—Janalee Card Chmel

46 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


Money matters

iStockphoto
Today’s stock market is showing volatility unlike any time in
history; the Dow may be up 500 points one day and then down
700 points the next. The economy is in a recession. What should
an individual do in this environment?

Don’t panic. The long-run average annual return for the stock
market is about 12 percent. There will be some years where the
return may be higher—the late 1990s, for example—and years
where the return can be negative—the early 2000s, for example.
Invest in stocks for the long term; don’t sell just because the
market is down.

Budget for your monthly revenue and expenses. Most


individuals don’t know the amounts of their monthly
expenditures. How much is spent for food? For entertainment?
For clothes? Understand your expenditures and look for
spending that can be decreased to get you through the tough
economic times.

Invest conservatively. It is important to continue to save, but save now by investing in low-risk bonds, such as treasury bonds or low-risk
bond mutual funds. Bank certificates of deposit, which are FDIC insured, can also be an alternative. Match their maturities to when you will
need the cash, whether it be in six months, in two years, or whatever time frame fits your investment life cycle.

Mac Clouse is a finance professor in the Daniels College of Business.

Deaths
1930s Kenneth Dorst (PhD ’66), San Jose, Calif., 8-17-08
John Edwards (BA ’39), Englewood, Colo., 6-4-08 Ezekiel “Eski’a” Mphahlele (PhD ’68), Johanesburg,
South Africa, 10-27-08
1940s Paul Murin (BSBA ’68), Chicago, 8-23-08
James Flanigan (BA ’41, JD ’46), Denver, 8-30-08
Valerie (Vannatter) Watts (BA ’47), Hays, Kan., 6-12-07 1970s
Phyllis (Ingram) Ross (BA ’48), Englewood, Colo., 9-1-08 Timothy Geier (BSBA ’71), Cleveland, 3-6-08
George Hess (BS ’49), Boise, Idaho, 9-2-02 David Virden (BA ’71), Manchester, Mass., 8-29-08
Clark Scott (BA ’49), Lakewood, Colo., 10-9-08 Donald Wasko (JD ’71), Steamboat Springs, Colo., 8-26-08
Leo Zuckerman (BA ’49, LLB ’58), San Francisco, 12-6-07 Patricia Wagnon (MA ’74), Sacramento, Calif., 8-7-08

1950s 1980s
Orville Turner (BA ’50, MA ’55), Littleton, Colo., 7-20-08 Mark Kunsman (BA ’85), Bridgewater, N.J., 11-4-07
Rayman Overton (BS ’51), Broomfield, Colo., 6-9-08
Everett Pond (BS ’53), Denver, 9-17-08 Faculty and Staff
Arthur Robbins (attd. 1951–53), Denver, 7-2-08 Ilene Alfrey, custodian (retired 1999), Wheat Ridge, Colo., 11-7-08
Olav Svennevik (MA ’55), Oslo, Norway, 12-7-07 Charles “Mike” Beall, political science professor emeritus,
Longmont, Colo., 9-22-08
1960s Emma Bieshaar, registrar’s office (retired 1981),
Thomas Valliant (BSBA ’63), Englewood, Colo., 2-21-08 Lakewood, Colo., 9-29-08
Gerry Difford (MA ’64), Golden, Colo., 8-18-08 John Kice, chemistry professor emeritus, dean emeritus of natural science,
Warner Bromgard (MSBA ’66), Lakewood, Colo., 4-4-08 mathematics and engineering, Aurora, Colo., 10-31-08

University of Denver Magazine Connections 47


2006
Monika (Hutchinson) Coleman (BA
’06, MBA ’06) married Hans Coleman on
Pioneer pics
May 19, 2007, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Richard Lorance (BSBA ’68) of Duncanville, Texas, looks
The couple honeymooned in Ocho Rios, on as his grandson, Marshall, feeds a parrot at the San Antonio
Jamaica. DU alumnae Gretta Heidenreich Zoo. Richard and his wife, Susan, take Marshall on vacation
(BA ’06, MBA ’06) of West Hollywood,
with them every year.
Calif., Glenna Gagliardi (BA ’05, IMBA
’07) of Denver, and Sarah Gabriel (BA ’08) As you pioneer lands far and wide, be sure to pack your
of Denver served as bridesmaids. Monika DU gear and strike a pose in front of a national monument,
and Hans live in Centennial, Colo., with the fourth wonder of the world or your hometown hot spot.
their Siberian huskies, Kamatz and Nukka. If we print your submission, you’ll receive some new DU
paraphernalia courtesy of the DU Bookstore.
Joe Nelson (BSBA ’06) of Englewood,
Colo., is an account manager with Rocky Send your print or high-resolution digital image and a
Mountain Instrument Co. Prior, he was description of the location to: Pioneer Pics, University of Denver
a strategy and business consultant with Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208, or e-mail du-magazine@du.edu. Be sure
BearingPoint Inc. to include your full name, address, degree(s) and year(s) of graduation.

2008
Beth Gyurovits
(MBA ’08) was
Reunion recaps
named director
of marketing and On Aug. 9, 2008,
Internet programs graduates of DU’s MBA
for the nonprofit Class of ’88 celebrated their
National Pain 20th reunion with a picnic.
Foundation. Prior, From left: Steve Dill of
Beth worked as Golden, Colo.; Denis Foley
a Web manager of Denver; David Velasco
at Johns Manville and as the global Web of Highlands Ranch, Colo.;
strategist for Maxtor Corp. In 2000 she
Tony Juarez (kneeling) of
started the Denver Women’s Hockey
Pueblo, Colo.; Pamela White
League and served as the president and
director of marketing. Beth lives in of Lafayette, Colo.; J.P. Illes
Highlands Ranch, Colo. of Aurora, Colo.; Jim Darr
of Lakewood, Colo.; Stan
Andrea McCrady (BM ’08) completed Gross of Longmont, Colo.
DU’s four-year bachelor of music degree in
two years. Andrea, who previously practiced Last December these DU alumnae
family medicine in Spokane, Wash., got together for an ornament exchange, a
pursued the degree to ground her music tradition they have carried on for nearly
academically. 20 years. Although a varied mixture of
stay-at-home moms, part-time workers
Andy Thomas (BSBA ’08) of Bow, N.H.,
and career women, they are held together
has signed a one-year, entry-level minor
league contract with the National Hockey by the common bond of sisterly affection
League’s Anaheim Ducks. Andy plans on as all were members of Delta Zeta during
making his professional debut playing for their time at DU. Pictured (back row, from
the Iowa Chops of the American Hockey left): Gloria (Weiner) Eddy (BA ’90) of
League. Centennial, Colo.; Shannon (Richardson)
Harding (BA ’90) of Greenwood Village,
Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, Colo.; Patsy (Ruther) Di Domenico (BSBA
e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail in the form
’90) of Highlands Ranch, Colo.; Kari (Armato) Ansay (BA ’90) of Castle Rock, Colo.; Cheryl (Dolechek)
on page 57.
Metzger (BSBA ’90) of Aurora, Colo.; Mary (Scharrer) Inabu (BSBA ’89) of Aurora, Colo.; Pam (Norris)
Krammer (BSBA ’89) of Lone Tree, Colo. Middle Row (from left): Steff (Engel) Frese (BSBA ’90) of
Broomfield, Colo.; Susan (Bradbury) Kamberos (BSBA ’89) of Littleton, Colo.; Chris (Pastor) Nelson
(BSBA ’90) of Thornton, Colo.; Shannon (Marshall) Neary (BSacc ’90) of Belton, Texas. Front: Amy
(Marshall) Van Orman (BA ’90) of Parker, Colo.

48 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009


PioneeRing futures Quotable notes
Thank you to everyone who responded to the fall issue’s question
When you of the hour: What was/is your favorite Denver-area attraction?
give to the
Chancellor’s “DU Stadium.”
Innovation Fund, Margaret (Bettinger) Weiland (BS ’49)
you help DU Denver
students access
transformational “City Park.”
experiences for Harold “Bud” Taggart (BS ’50) and Marjorie (Bahr) Taggart (BA ’49)
a world-class Denver
education.
“The Rocky Mountains!”
Be A PART of our
continuing legacy Oren Quist (MS ’67, PhD ’73)
of excellence by Mankato, Minn.
giving to DU.
“Elitch Gardens’ Trocadero Ballroom.”
For more information, Harry Watts (BA ’49)
please call
800.448.3238 Hays, Kan.
or visit us at
www.giving.du.edu. “Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Echo Lake and the parks.”
Maryann Peins (MA ’48)
Edison, N.J.

Contact us
Tell us about your Name (include maiden name)
career and personal DU degree(s) and graduation year(s)
accomplishments, awards, Address
births, life events or
City
whatever else is keeping
State ZIP code Country
you busy. Do you support
Phone Fax
a cause? Do you have
E-mail
any hobbies? Did you just
return from a vacation? Let Employer Occupation
us know! Don’t forget to What have you been up to? (Use a separate sheet if necessary.)
send a photo. (Include a
self-addressed, postage-paid
envelope if you would like Question of the hour: How did you celebrate your graduation?
your photo returned.)

Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail your note to: Class Notes,
University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208.

University of Denver Magazine Connections 49


ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lifelong Learning Nostalgia Needed
OLLI DU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute If you have ideas for nostalgic topics we could
is a membership program designed for men and cover in the magazine, please send them our way.
women age 55 and “better” who wish to pursue We’d love to see your old DU photos as well.
lifelong learning in the company of like-minded
peers. Members select the topics to be explored Pioneer Generations
and share their expertise and interests while
How many generations of your family have
serving as teachers and learners.
attended DU? If you have stories and photos to
>>universitycollege.du.edu/learning/viva/
share about your family’s history with DU, please
send them our way!
Annual report
The University’s annual report for the 2007– Calling All Experts
08 year is available online at www.du.edu/
annualreport. We’re trying to get to know our alumni better
while developing possibilities for future articles.
Please send us your ideas. We would especially
Get Involved like to hear about readers who:
Just moved to a new city and don’t know anyone?
Need to expand your professional network? Want • live outside of the U.S.
• are members of the military
to attend fun events and make new friends, or
• have been impacted by the financial crisis
reconnect with old ones? Join a local alumni • are farmers or ranchers
chapter: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; • were DU Centennial scholars
Minneapolis; New York; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; • are members of the Class of 1964
St. Louis; and Washington. To find out how • are involved in hospice/palliative care
you can get involved, call the Office of Alumni • served in the Peace Corps
Relations at 800-871-3822 or visit www.du.edu/
alumni/chapters. Career Connections
Pioneer Alumni Network Join other
Mark Your Calendar Denver area alumni for free networking events
Volunteer Day Provide assistance to the each month.
homeless community April 24 at Project >>www.alumni.du.edu
Homeless Connect, held on the DU campus.
For more information, e-mail Essayists Wanted
ProjectHomelessConnect@du.edu.
The University of Denver Magazine is accepting
proposals for reflective, first-person essays
Red Vest Tournament Join classmates, on any subject (600 words in length) for
faculty and friends June 3 at the legendary possible publication. Opinion pieces will not
DU Photography Department

Sanctuary golf course to raise funds for Pioneers be considered. Materials submitted will not be
athletic scholarships. Register by May 27. Contact returned.
Jon Boos at 303-871-4467.
Stay in Touch
50th Reunion Class of 1959, join your Online Alumni Directory Update your
classmates on campus June 5–6. Call 1-800-
contact information, find other alumni and
871-3822 for information.
“bookmark” your alumni friends and classmates.
>>www.alumni.du.edu/
You also can read class notes and death notices.
Online class note submissions will automatically
DU on the Road Find out what your alma be included in the University of Denver Magazine.
mater has been doing since you left. See if DU is
>>www.alumni.du.edu
coming to a city near you.
>>www.alumni.du.edu/Duontheroad
Contact us
University of Denver Magazine
2199 S. University Blvd.
Denver, CO 80208
du-magazine@du.edu
50 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009 303-871-2776
TreaT yourself To
a day of golf aT
The sancTuary.
And Put More Athletes on the DU Roster.

Join the drive to enhance the University of Denver’s 17 NCAA Division I


sports programs. Support our teams by enjoying a special afternoon
of golf at the Third-annual Red Vest Invitational Golf Tournament.

June 3, 2009 sancTuary golf course


To reserve your spot or for more information contact Jon Boos at 303.871.4467
Event sponsored by: Snowy Range Aviation, RE/MAX and Sanctuary Golf Course.
University of Denver Magazine Connections 51
Miscellanea
For whom the bell tolls
In 1949, John Evans Jr.—
chairman of DU’s Board of Trustees
and the Rio Grande Railroad
board—gave this bell as a trophy
to the winner of the Utah-Denver
football game. The bell shuttled
back and forth between schools
until Utah inherited it by winning
the final football game in 1960
(DU retired its football program
after that season). The bell had
disappeared into obscurity until
1993, when Leo Goto (BSBA ’67,
MBA ’74)—a DU trustee and
owner of the Denver landmark
Wellshire Inn—purchased it at an
Evans estate sale. He then donated
the bell to DU. Today the bell is
displayed in the garden outside the
Leo Block Alumni Center.
Wayne Armstrong

52 University of Denver Magazine Spring 2009

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