Susan Grace, lecturer and artist-in-residence with Colorado College’s music department, was honored at the ninth annual Pikes Peak Arts Council Awards for her work as music director of Colorado College’s Summer Music Festival.
Grace, who has served as music director of CC’s Summer Music Festival since 1989, received the “Vision, Courage and Achievement Award” on Sept. 20 at Colorado Springs’ Stargazers Theater.
In April Grace received a Pikes Peak Arts Council “Force for the Arts” award, which celebrates Colorado Springs community members who contribute to the arts in education. She is a member of the Quattro Mani piano duo and a 2005 Grammy nominee for her work on George Crumb’s “Ancient Voices of Children.”
Mike Taber elected president of Geoscience Teachers Association
Colorado College Education Professor Mike Taber has been elected president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Taber, who is director of the secondary teaching program and director of the environmental program at CC, will serve as president for a year. He was formally inducted at the Geological Society of America meeting held in Portland, Ore., in mid-October. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers works to raise the quality of and emphasis on teaching the geosciences at all levels.
Anjali Desai and Nguyen Nguyen awarded Gilman Scholarships
Two Colorado College students have been awarded Gilman Scholarships for study abroad. Anjali Desai ’12 will study Spanish in Salamanca, Spain, for six weeks next summer, where she will live with a family. Nguyen Nguyen ’11 will study at the University of Botswana during the spring semester. She will take courses in political science, history, and Setswana, the local language. She also will be working on a yet-to-be-determined independent research project.
The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards for undergraduate study abroad. The program, established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, allows undergraduate students who are receiving Federal Pell Grant funding to participate in study-abroad programs worldwide.
Visiting fifth-graders get opportunity to quiz CC students
Approximately 15 fifth-graders from Patrick Henry Elementary School attempted to stump Colorado College students in the Worner Campus Center on Friday, Dec. 11, testing their knowledge of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
The younger students have been studying the history of the documents, their content, and their impact on everyday life. The visit to Colorado College was the culmination of their studies and they weren’t shy about testing the CC students’ knowledge.
“What rights are guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment?” fifth-grader Rafael Hernandez asked Kyle Novak, a senior from Princeton, N.J. Kyle, an English major, answered correctly, but confessed that he hadn’t gotten some earlier questions right. “That’s OK,” Rafael replied, “you did pretty good,” adding Kyle probably earned a B+. “Wow,” Kyle responded, “he sure is an easier grader than Tom Cronin!”
First-year student Maggie Ruble from Portland, Ore., who volunteers with local fourth-graders, said it was fun having the students on campus. She, too, got most, but not all, of the questions right.
The Patrick Henry Elementary School students also met with Political Science Professor Bob Loevy and ate lunch in Rastall Hall. Virginia Vonderweidt, programs assistant for Partnership for Civic Engagement who helped coordinate the visit, said one of the fifth-graders had only taken about 10 steps into the Worner Center when he stopped and said, “I want to go to college,” and pointing at floor, emphatically added, “here.”
Colorado College joined forces with several local service clubs, including the Colorado Springs Sertoma Club and the Academy Optimist Club, for the event.
CC staff, students exhibit wares at Arts and Crafts Fair
By Greg Collette ’12
If you attended CC’s annual Arts and Crafts Sale earlier this month, you might have come across several familiar faces.
Colorado College’s Worner Campus Center was packed with students and Colorado Springs residents Dec. 4-6, as crowds spent the weekend looking for unique gifts for their loved ones, or themselves, at CC’s annual Arts and Crafts Sale. The sale featured nearly a hundred artists, both professional and CC students and staff. Worner brimmed with thousands of the artists’ handmade wares. There was everything imaginable, from jewelry and pottery to greeting cards and handmade soaps.
Arts and Crafts Program staff members Brenda Houck, Greg Marshall and Jeanne Steiner also sold their homemade products at the fair, with Houck selling jewelry, Marshall selling pottery, and Steiner selling weaving. Several other CC staff members also had spaces at the fair, and it was a great opportunity for them to display their hidden talents. Elizabeth Pudder, service coordinator at the Center for Service and Learning, sold jewelry, LaVerne Garcia, processing preservation specialist at Tutt Library, sold beaded leather, Stephen Weaver, technical director in the geology department, sold his photography, and Lynnette DiRaddo, campus reservations manager at the Worner Campus Center, sold weaving.
The annual sale, which is nearly 30 years old, is an immense undertaking. Almost overnight, Worner Center is transformed into a show room. The entire first floor, with the exception of Rastall Dining Hall, is used, including Gaylord Hall and Benjamin’s. All of downstairs Worner also is used. It takes 15 Facilities Services workers all Friday morning to remove the furniture from Worner and load it into storage rooms and trucks, and all of Sunday night to bring it back in.
From the moment the sale ended on Sunday, planning for the next year begins. Advertising for vendors is a yearlong process, and attracts some of the region’s best artists and craftspeople (the furthest artist this year traveled all the way from Arizona).
While there are many applicants, not all are selected to sell their goods. Sixty spaces are reserved for professional artists; however, more than 100 regional artists apply each year. Each application includes a CD with images of the artists’ crafts. A jury of 15 CC students involved in the Arts and Crafts Program and three staff members view the CD and then select 60 applicants.
Selling alongside the professional artists and CC staff are the CC students. This year, there were 25 CC students who had displays. Many of the students are part of the Arts and Crafts Program and sell their own handcrafted art. Other students sold handmade products to raise money for their activities like BreakOut, a student-run organization that sends CC students and staff on service trips during block and spring breaks. BreakOut sold products from the Women’s Beans Project, a Denver nonprofit that provides job and entrepreneurial skills to women with a history of unemployment, to help raise funds for the BreakOut trips.
Though the annual sale is the Arts and Crafts Program’s only fundraiser, it generates a substantial amount of money. On average, the sale raises close to $6,000 each year after operating costs, and did so again this year. The profit helps provide for many of the Arts and Crafts Program’s simple but necessary expenses, such as upkeep of existing equipment and the purchasing of new equipment for the clay, fiber, and jewelry studios.
There was never a time during this year’s sale when the Worner Center was not filled with people. Even Sunday evening, just before the sale ended, Worner was filled with shoppers trying to find the perfect holiday gift.
New or rehired employees from August 31, 2009 through December 4, 2009
Jayne Blewitt, Alumni Parent Program Specialist, Alumni & Parent Relations
Tobias Brace, Staff Nurse, Boettcher Health Center
Justin Freeman, Database Records Specialist, Advancement Services
Sarah Jaecks, Database Records Specialist, Advancement Services
Monica Leahy, Admission & Financial Aid Specialist, Admission Office/Financial Aid Office
Brenda Maldonado, Staff Nurse, Boettcher Health Center
Kevin Morgan, Patrol Officer, Campus Safety
John Papuga, Groundskeeper, Facilities Services
Jon Ramsay, Patrol Officer, Campus Safety
Margaret Rustenbeck, Staff Assistant, Facilities Services
Kim Wigglesworth, Lab Supervisor, Boettcher Heath Center
Anais Gude takes top honors in ACM photo contest
CC senior Anais Gude won both the grand prize and an honorable mention in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s second annual ACM Off-Campus Study Photo Contest. Gude’s photo “Working on Manhood” took the top honor. Her photo “Iron Fist” was one of 10 honorable mentions in the competition.
Gude, a sociology major and Asian studies minor, said she was exploring a Beijing hutong, or traditional neighborhood, when she came upon a group of migrant construction workers who were surprised by her presence, and even more surprised when she spoke Chinese. The winning photo depicts a boy who, when Gude asked if she could take his picture, nodded silently, took a long drag from his cigarette, and blew it toward the camera.
The winning photos will be featured in a traveling exhibit that will visit 11 of the ACM colleges. It is scheduled to be exhibited in Worner Campus Center February 24-March 3. Check out the
other winning photo entries.
Fall 2009 H1N1 cases and vaccinations
Since Nov. 24, when CC’s H1N1 influenza vaccination clinics began, 922 members of the campus community have been vaccinated either at the clinics or at Boettcher Health Center. Here’s a quick glance at our vaccine statistics as of Dec. 15, 2009:
- 656 vaccinations were administered at clinics in Slocum Hall, Loomis Hall and Mathias Hall: 427 H1N1 vaccine; 134 H1N1 flu mist (inhaled) vaccine; 95 seasonal flu vaccine
- 266 vaccinations were given at Boettcher Health Center
- Approximately 800 more doses of vaccine are currently on hand for spring, and at least 300 more doses may be obtained if needed.
- Boettcher Health Center has reported 190 cases of influenza-like illness among students, from late August, when residence halls opened, through Dec. 11. The chart here shows a week-by-week look at the number of new cases reported.
Phi Beta Kappa chapter earns high marks
Colorado College’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society was one of 22 rated 1 or 1.5 by the organization’s national committee in the evaluation of its annual report for 2008-2009. This means the chapter is among those that will be considered for the Exemplary Chapter Award that is presented to three chapters from institutions of varying sizes at the next Triennial Council meeting in 2012. Kudos to chapter officers Tomi-Ann Roberts, professor of psychology; Dennis McEnnerney, adjunct assistant professor of philosophy; and Ted Lindeman, professor of chemistry. There are four Phi Beta Kappa chapters in Colorado, and 276 nationwide. Officers and members of the college’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter are listed here.
Showalter signing new book on Dec. 19
Dennis Showalter, professor of history, will sign copies of his new book, “Hitler’s Panzers: The Lightning Attacks that Revolutionized Warfare,” at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers next to The Citadel mall. Showalter, a World War II scholar, presents a comprehensive study of Nazi Germany’s armored forces and their influence on the role of the army in the Third Reich. Panzers, self-contained armored units able to operate independently, became the nucleus of the German army’s fighting power as well as its moral focus and the core of its identity, establishing an entirely new military doctrine. Showalter is a visiting professor and guest lecturer at West Point, and former president of the Society for Military History. Click here for details on the signing and the book.
