CC Has Exciting, Varied Summer of 2013

Amanda Udis-Kessler, Director of Assessment and Program Review:
I started to record the third album of my music, welcomed an exchange high school student from Germany into our household, saw the TONY-award-winning musical Pippin on Broadway, preached the LGBTQ Pride Service sermon at my church, worked on a new sociology project about mechanisms of social inequality, read some ethics books, and visited the Bronx Zoo for the first time since my childhood.

Eric Perramond, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Southwest Studies
I spent May and June preparing for a course on food and agro-ecologies of the Mediterranean Pyrenees, to be taught in summer (Block A) of 2014. Then in July we moved to Chicago to do research on my next book and to prepare (with Bill Davis) the ACM Newberry Research Semester in the Humanities, where we will be teaching a group of 14 students from across the ACM colleges through December of 2013.

Pam Leutz, Assistant to the Dean of the College/Dean of the Faculty:
I spent 10 days in a small castle town in the Czech Republic making miniature design bindings, eating and drinking well, dancing and laughing with old friends there, and enjoying my “other life.”

Marion Hourdequin, Associate Professor of Philosophy:
Taught an interdisciplinary CC summer course on ecological restoration with my husband, geographer David Havlick. Presented a paper at an environmental philosophy workshop in Durham, England, and a talk at the Ecological Society for America meeting in Minneapolis. Began editing chapters for a book on ecological restoration in layered landscapes, and wrote a chapter for that book. Visited family in Connecticut and traveled with my husband and our children to Northern California for camping and hiking in old-growth redwood forest. Played soccer and went for some long runs.

Claire Garcia, Professor of English:
Thanks to a Mellon grant, I spent July in Tours, France, in the Cours Avancé at the Institut de Touraine. I spent a couple of days in Paris making s arrangements for my Block 3 class, Black Writers in Paris. I was home for three days before going to New Mexico to attend a family wedding, and then the following week I went to Washington, D.C., and New York City to do research at Howard University and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture respectively. During my East Coast weekend, I dropped off my son, Mateo Garcia ’07 at Dartmouth where he is starting at the Tuck School of Business. I then barnstormed routine yearly doctor’s appointments and cleaned out my closet, which for some reason I always do just before Block 1.

Susan (Stuey) Stuart Elliott, Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach:
I was an assistant coach for the Team Canada women’s lacrosse team that competed in the World Cup games this summer in Oshawa, Calif. We proudly represented the Maple Leaf in winning a silver medal with the largest number of countries (19) competing this year. It is an every four year world championship competition, which Team USA won.

Owen Cramer, Professor of Classics:
Over the summer I spent four days reading first-year writing portfolios, then about a month mainly reading for pleasure and enlightenment, then three weeks of visits: to Eugene and Bandon, Ore., with my children and grandchildren, to Breckenridge for a reunion of my wife’s oldest friends from Mississippi, and to North Carolina to see some of my and my wife’s cousins and a sister- and brother-in-law. Then I began canvassing for John Morse against the recall organized by NRA and national Republican operatives. Along the way we bought a new car (the old one is 25 years old) and had the house re-roofed.

Kristi Erdal, Professor of Psychology
After teaching PY100 in summer session, my family took our travel trailer through the upper Midwest, seeing Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments, Wind Cave National Park, attending a summer hockey game at the University of North Dakota (wearing our CC T-shirts!), sliding down the alpine slide at Lutsen Mountain on the north shore of Lake Superior, and visiting friends all along the way. Saw a lot of corn…

Bob Loevy, Professor of Political Science:
Over the summer of 2013, I published two new Internet books on the history of Colorado College. The first book is a collection of historical accounts of life at Colorado College written by faculty, staff, students, alumni, etc. Interesting items include an oral history on the founding of the Block Plan by Glenn Brooks and a chapter studying “The History of Gender at Colorado College.” The second book covers Colorado College history for the period 1999-2012. It includes the final years of Kathryn Mohrman’s presidency, all of Dick Celeste’s, and the first year of Jill Tiefenthaler’s.

Krista Fish, Assistant Professor of Anthropology:
This summer, I studied the behavior and biology of bushbabies, a group of nocturnal primates, at the Lajuma Reserve in northern South Africa. This pilot project was done in collaboration with researchers from other universities in the U.S. and the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria. Although we were only at the site for six weeks, we gathered a unique and extensive dataset that we will build upon over the next five to 10 years. Following completion of our work in South Africa, I traveled to Madagacsar where I participated in the 2013 International Prosimian Congress at Ranomafana National Park.

Mari Lee, Visiting Faculty, Environmental Program:
I hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. Incredible trek!

Ellen Rennels, Operations Assistant:
In July a wild nature episode unfolded in my back yard located eight minutes west of campus. At 4:30 a.m. I was jolted out of sleep by a horrific scream, like a rumble with 100 cats. The screams diminished and when I looked out a few minutes later , the early dawn light revealed a black bear killing a fawn. Gruesome as it was, I watched as the bear ate most of the fawn and then ambled over to my re-circulating fountain. He washed his paws, sat in it for a few minutes, then ambled off. That’s my summer story.

Jim Swanson, Director of Financial Aid
In cooperation with the Bear Creek Community Garden Association and El Paso County, my wife, Jannette, and I volunteered many hours this summer and donated perennials and labor to restore a neglected flower garden in a large median in the Bear Creek Regional Park on Creek Crossing Street off West Rio Grande and 21st Street. This is our third year rehabilitating and managing this flower garden, adding enhancements each year. It is our hope and goal that our efforts add to the beauty of our city for people to enjoy.

Ryan Raul Bañagale, Assistant Professor of Music:
Immediately following commencement I traveled to the Library of Congress for research in the George Gershwin collection. In June we celebrated the birth of our second son, Theo. Somehow I managed enough sleep to complete a full draft of my book on Rhapsody in Blue in July. Finally, with guidance from Professor Anne Hyde and support from the Crown Faculty Center, I hosted a book manuscript workshop wherein four expert musicologists came to campus to provide feedback on that book manuscript draft. I’m definitely ready to get back into the classroom!

Andrea Bruder, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science:
After one year of training, I met with friends from Belgium, South Africa, and England in Switzerland to begin our ride across the Swiss and Italian Alps. Every day entailed over 6000 feet of climbing, and the Alps are much steeper than anything I had ridden in Colorado. Pushing grades of 10-25 percent for several hours, we climbed mountain passes and rode over 40 miles each day. Breathtakingly beautiful views at the mountains made up for the pain. The descents were as steep on a mix of technical trails and roads. I finished strong and rolled into Riva di Garda at the end of day seven. Hardest thing I’ve ever done!

Esteban Gomez, Assistant Professor of Anthropology:
Megan Anderson and I did archaeological research in northwestern Costa Rica. This is the second summer in a row we have worked together to map out subsurface architectural features at archaeological sites in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province. This past summer Megan used Electrical Resistivity Tomography to test the Magnetometer data gathered in the summer of 2012, while I continued with excavations at locations targeted by the two geophysical techniques. With support from the Faculty Student Collaborative, students are currently working in the GIS laboratory to compile the data from the past two field seasons.

Diane Benninghoff ’68, Assistant Vice President for Advancement:
Faculty guest Bruce Coriell and I traveled with CC alumni and parents through Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. For 14 days, we floated through the greatest geology textbook on earth, saw wildlife, enjoyed the music and poetry provided by our guides and Al Mehl ’77 (and even some poetry from me), ran thrilling rapids, and hiked into side canyons. With Bruce’s guidance about Native American spiritual traditions associated with the canyon and river and how we might invite the special power of the canyon into our own hearts, it made for an experience that will be remembered forever. To get a flavor of the trip, view slides and videos.