Around the Block

Dave Armstrong’s Collaborative Book Featured at Release Party Aug. 17

A release party for a new book by Dave Armstrong, CC’s director of information management division, will be held from 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17 in the Learning Commons Living Room at Tutt Library. Armstrong’s book, “The Burden of the Beholder – Dave Armstrong and the Art of Collage, features 18 high-quality prints of his collages, as well as poetry and short fiction by well-known writers.

CC English Professor Jane Hilberry edited the book and wrote the introduction. Armstrong and Hilberry invited established poets and writers to visit a website displaying 30 of Armstrong’s pieces of art. Each selected a collage and then wrote a poem or short prose piece inspired by that collage. In the book, each of these responses faces a print of the related collage. The writers are Aaron Anstett, Tom Absher, Harris Barron, Aimee Bender, Russell Edson, Jenn Habel, Jim Heynen, Jane Hilberry, H.L. Hix, Nancy Nye, David Mason, Roger Mitchell, Jim Moore, Kate Northrop, Jessy Randall, Leo Romero, A.E. Stallings, Phillip Sterling and Diane Thiel.

The book is a limited edition (only 100 copies were made, of which 75 will be for sale), handmade fine press book, designed and printed by Colin Frazer at The Press at Colorado College. The images are reproduced as gicleé prints, all text is letterpress printed and the book comes case-bound in red cloth. “The Burden of the Beholder” costs $125 and all profits benefit The Press at Colorado College.

CC well-represented in Teach for America

Colorado College has nine recent graduates participating in Teach For America, placing it among comparably sized liberal arts schools with the highest number of participants.

Career Center Director Geoff Falen says that Colorado College has a long, strong tradition of service, and Teach For America provides an opportunity for CC graduates to contribute their skills, energy and idealism in a challenging environment that needs their services.

“Our students’ long and strong interest in Teach For America often stems from their positive experiences in CC classrooms. They understand the strong and positive effect good teachers have on students. That belief, combined with a commitment to using their own educations to generate change, makes Teach For America a compelling option for them,” says Susan Ashley, dean of the college and the faculty.

Falen says that CC students, over half of whom are interested in non-profit and education work after graduation, are especially attracted to a two-year commitment that enables them to make a significant contribution while figuring out their next career or graduate school steps. “Given those parameters, TFA is often seen as a domestic adventure with real substance, a perfect fit for many CC graduates,” he said.

Teach for America is a national corps of outstanding recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. During the 2009-10 academic year, Teach For America received a record 46,000 applications from graduating seniors, graduate students and professionals. This fall, more than 4,500 new corps members will start teaching in schools across the country. They represent more than 630 colleges and universities.

Udis-Kessler Blogs on LGBT Spirituality for Tikkun Daily

Amanda Udis-Kessler, CC’s director of institutional research, has become a regular LGBT spirituality blogger for the interfaith Tikkun Daily, which aims to provide “a spiritual progressive perspective on politics, art, religion, and activism.” Tikkun Daily is the multimedia blog site of Tikkun, the bimonthly Jewish and interfaith magazine associated with the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

Udis-Kessler’s first blog post was on the spirituality of same-sex marriage. More recently, she wrote about Colorado Springs’ 20^th annual LGBT PrideFest and Pride Parade.

She and her partner, Associate Professor of Biology Phoebe Lostroh, co-wrote a piece, “The Hands of the Holy: Re-Envisioning LGBT Welcome in Faith Communities,” in the July-August issue of Tikkun Magazine.

Udis-Kessler has published widely on issues of sexuality, religion and social justice, including her 2008 book, “Queer Inclusion in the United Methodist Church.” At CC, she chairs the Institutional Review Board, recently co-chaired the Diversity Task Force, and serves on a number of other committees.

Extension Of Coverage For Dependent Children Up To Age 26

Colorado College will voluntarily implement the dependent children provision of federal health care reform, which states that employers must allow the coverage of child dependents, regardless of marital status, up to the age of 26. Coverage for these dependents must begin no later than the college’s next plan year, beginning July 1, 2011. However, with the cooperation of Great West Health Care, Delta Dental of Colorado, Eye Med Vision, and The Standard, we will offer the extension of the benefit starting September 1, 2010.

A month-long open enrollment period from August 1-31, 2010 will be solely for allowing plan enrollment for any child dependent(s) whose coverage ended, who were denied coverage, or who were not eligible for coverage at the initial date of enrollment because they did not meet the eligibility requirements at the time.

Coverage will be extended for dependent children up to age 26, regardless of tax dependency or student status. However, child dependents who are eligible for other employer-sponsored group coverage will be excluded from this open enrollment period.

Please watch the staff and faculty digests in August for more information or visit the benefits website: www.employeebenefitswebsite.com/coloradocollege,
id: coloradocollege, password: benefits. If you have questions, please contact Shaleen Prehm, human resources manager and benefits administrator, at 389-6422.

Summer Reading List Dwindling? Check Out Class of 2014 Assignments

What are college students reading this summer? In preparation for New Student Orientation, CC’s Class of 2014 is reading “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World ” by Tracy Kidder.

Popular themes at other colleges include the Middle East, climate change, social justice, race in America, world politics, and the classics. Here’s a peek at what other colleges have assigned their incoming freshmen. Who knows, you might want to add one or two to your own summer reading list.

The College of Wooster: “Children of Dust” by Ali Eteraz. This memoir is about his coming of age in Islam as a resident of rural Pakistan, the American Bible Belt, and the modern Middle East.
Saint Michael’s College: “Field Notes from a Catastrophe” by Elizabeth Kolbert. The subtitle of this 2006 book tells more about its focus: “Man, Nature, and Climate Change.”
University of Dayton: “When the Emperor was Divine” by Julie Otsuka. The book details the lives of Japanese-American family members who were interned during World War II.
Lehigh University: “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson. The book details how the author came to build schools for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County: “The Translator” by Daoud Hari. The memoir reads like a novel and speaks about the horrors of the conflict in Darfur.
Bentley University: “A Hope in the Unseen” by Ron Suskind. The book describes the journey of Cedric Jennings, a young African American male, from the classrooms of an inner city Washington, D.C., high school into the world of higher education at Brown University.
St. John’s College: “Iliad,” attributed to Homer. Set in the Trojan War, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.

Darlene Garcia Wins National Outstanding Career Practitioner Award

Darlene Darlene Garcia, career counselor at the Career Center, was awarded the National Career Development Association’s Outstanding Career Practitioner Award for 2010 at a conference July 1 in San Francisco.

The award recognizes practicing career counselors, consultants, or teachers for outstanding performance in day-to-date service for people and takes into consideration:

Years of service in direct work with people in regard to career development in education, business and industry, and/or private practice;
Quality of service as indicated by innovative programs, recognition by local organizations, publications, etc;
Service to the profession as indicated by participation and leadership in professional associations at the local, state, and/or national levels.

Garcia has been a career counselor at CC since August 2001. She developed a method for combining in-depth assessments (MBTI Step II and Strong College and Career) to help students learn more about who they are, including their strengths, interests, and values. As an MBTI Master Practitioner, Garcia helps students identify their personal themes, so that they may explore and consider opportunities that fit them, simplifying the career exploration, preparation, and job search process. Over the years, these assessment appointments have become very popular among students, especially sophomores and seniors, she says. Beyond her own work with students, Garcia has brought Myers-Brigg theory to staff to help them understand themselves and CC students. She has also used the MBTI to help students understand their own and others’ preferred learning styles.

In addition to her work with MBTI and Strong, Garcia was involved in the development and leadership of the First Generation Group on campus, which provides support and education by staff and faculty to students who are one of the first generation to attend a four-year college. Outside of CC, she regularly presents on career issues and provides career counseling to the Colorado Springs community.

Sue Aiken, CC ’62, is a career counselor who encountered Garcia a few years ago at a career conference in Sacramento, Calif. After the initial conversation at the conference, Aiken called Garcia to ask her if there are any special projects she would like funded. Garcia told her she would like to combine the assessments and Aiken agreed to help fund the pilot. As a past recipient of the NCDA Outstanding Career Practitioner award herself, Aiken was present at the awards luncheon at the San Francisco conference.

KRCC News Director Andrea Chalfin Wins Two Awards

KRCC News Director Andrea Chalfin has received two awards from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI).

Chalfin received second place in the news feature category for “Confronting Suicide in El Paso County and Colorado Springs.” She also received second place in multimedia presentation for “Following the Harvest.”

PRNDI held their annual conference in Louisville, Ky. KRCC, Colorado College’s NPR-member station, won in Division C, featuring organizations with one or two full time news staff. The award-winning broadcasts can be heard at:
http://krccnews.org/rccnews/confronting-suicide-in-el-paso-county-and-colorado-springs/2009/05/19/5970
and
http://krccnews.org/rccnews/following-the harvest/2009/08/27/6822

David Weddle Publishes Book on Miracles in World Religions

Weddle book Professor of Religion David Weddle has recently published a book on miracles in world religions. The book, “Miracles: Wonder and Meaning in World Religions,” examines the stories of miracles among the gurus, rebbes, bodhisattvas, saints, and imams of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam through the centuries. Finding a common ground in the definition that “a miracle is an event of transcendent power that arouses wonder and carries religious significance for those who witness it or hear or read about it,” he examines each tradition through the same lens. Weddle explores the mysterious healings in the waters at Lourdes, and those affected by evangelists, and explains why Sunnis, Shiites, and Sufis disagree about the nature of miracles in Islam.

Prof. David Mason named Colorado’s poet laureate

PoetLaureate Ritter Crow Mason — Top, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, former Colorado Poet Laureate Mary Crow, and new Colorado Poet Laureate Mason. Mason is also a graduate of Colorado College. (Lower photo by Anne Lennox)

Prof. David Mason will become Colorado's poet laureate. — Top, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, former Colorado Poet Laureate Mary Crow, and new Colorado Poet Laureate Mason. Mason is also a graduate of Colorado College. (Lower photo by Anne Lennox)

Colorado College Professor of English David Mason is Colorado’s new poet laureate, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter announced at the state capitol on July 1. Mason co-directs CC’s creative writing program. His poetry books include “The Buried Houses,” winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize; “The Country I Remember,” winner of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award; and “Arrivals.” Mason’s verse novel, “Ludlow,” won the Colorado Book Award and was featured on the PBS News Hour. The Contemporary Poetry Review and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum named “Ludlow” the best poetry book of 2007. Author of a collection of essays, “The Poetry of Life and the Life of Poetry,” Mason has also co-edited several textbooks and anthologies, including “Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry”; “Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism”; “Twentieth Century American Poetry”; and “Twentieth Century American Poetics: Poets on the Art of Poetry.” His next collection of essays, “Two Minds of a Western Poet,” will be published in 2011. Mason will serve as an advocate for poetry, literacy and literature at 10-12 events each year, including presenting the opening poem for the legislative session, visiting local schools, participating in Arts & Humanities Month, and reading at literary festivals. Colorado was the second state in the nation to appoint a poet laureate. Alice Polk Hill was appointed in 1919 and served until she died in 1921. Nellie Burget Miller served 1923-1952; Margaret Clyde Robertson served 1952-1954; Milford E. Shields served 1954-1975; and Thomas Hornsby Ferril served 1979-1988. Mary Crow has served 14 years, from 1996-2010.

Update 7/2/10:

Hear Mason’s reading of his poem “The Picket Wire” at Gov. Bill Ritter’s ceremony announcing the new Colorado Poet Laureate.

Update 7/6/10:

Listen to a Colorado Public Radio interview with David Mason.

Jay Engeln Named Director of CC Alumni and Parent Relations

By Steve Elder, Vice President for Advancement
I am very pleased to let you know that Jay Engeln ’74, P’03 will serve as the next director of alumni and parent relations for Colorado College. Jay will begin July 1.

Since graduating from CC as a biology major, Jay has brought energetic and wise leadership to a broad career as an educator, coach, and community builder. His passion for and commitment to Colorado College and the Colorado Springs community have remained strong since his graduation.

During the 1990s, Jay served as the principal of Colorado Springs’ Palmer High School, where he was widely recognized as having a transformational impact. In the early 2000s he served as the founding principal of Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch. Since 2002, he has been in demand internationally as a speaker and educational consultant on school/business partnerships and school reform issues.

Jay currently serves on CC’s Alumni Association Board. Jay and his wife Priscilla ’73 are members of CC’s 1874 Society. Their daughter, Anna Engeln, graduated from CC in 2003. In 2000, CC awarded Jay an honorary doctorate, and in 2006 the college inducted him into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Jay has served in board leadership positions in a number of organizations in the Colorado Springs community, including Colorado Springs Downtown, El Pomar Youth Sports Park, and The Resource Exchange (building independence for people with developmental disabilities). He is also an instructor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

As a senior member of CC’s advancement division , Jay adds to an already strong management team, which includes Diane Benninghoff ’68 (assistant vice president for advancement); Jay Maloney ’75 (chief development officer); Lisa Ellis ’82 (senior advancement officer and director of annual giving); Cathey Barbee (director of advancement services); and Nicole Rivet (director of foundation and agency relations, who chaired the search committee so successfully).