Block 2—often the busiest time in the fall semester—is upon us! We at the Crown Center hope that you will take time out of your busy schedules to connect with colleagues at our workshops, gatherings, and events. Block 2 offerings invite us to reflect on teaching practices, plan for future growth, and think through challenges together.

Critical Language Inquiry in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Ruha Benjamin
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m.
Celeste Theatre, Cornerstone Arts Center
Free and open to the public

Dr. Benjamin will give the inaugural presentation in the Generative Futures Lecture Series. Dr. Benjamin is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab, and award-winning author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want, and she recently released her fourth book, Imagination: A Manifesto. Dr. Benjamin is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Marguerite Casey Foundation Freedom Scholar Award, the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton, and in 2024 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship. Copies of Imagination: A Manifesto are available at the CC bookstore and at the event. Sponsored by the Mellon Humanities for All Times grant. Have questions? Connect with the team by emailing us at generativefutures@coloradocollege.edu

Crown Center Faculty and Staff Workshop Series: Reading Strategies

Rebecca Tucker (Art History), Tina Valtierra (Education), and Christopher Monahan (Physics)
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 12:15-1:30 p.m.
Tutt Library 105
Registration
Develop practical approaches to help students engage with assigned readings.

Book Launch Event

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Cornerstone Arts Center Film Screening Room
Free and open to the public
Help celebrate the publication of Crown Associate Director Jessica Hunter’s novel, A Killing Cold.

Generative Futures Connecting Conversations

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 3:30-5 p.m.
Cossitt Lounge
The Crown Center is hosting a series of semi-structured conversations around the broad themes of the Generative Futures Mellon Grant (Critical Language Inquiry and Critical AI Literacy) throughout the year. Participating in a Connecting Conversation counts toward eligibility for Generative Futures course development grants. Drop in and share your thoughts on a variety of topics. Snacks will be provided!

Crown Center Early Career Faculty Workshop Series: A Year in the Life of CC

Friday, Oct. 2, 12:15-1:30 p.m.
Tutt Library 105
Registration
Sustain a successful academic year by planning for the rhythms of teaching, service, scholarship, and campus life. Work through strategies to shape your year in a way that offers a compelling narrative for your third-year review and tenure files.

Sharing Our Teaching Successes: A Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Workshop with Nancy Chick

Friday, Nov. 13, 12:30-5 p.m. (Block Break 3)
Tutt Library Tim Fuller Event Space 
Registration
Learn techniques for writing critically about your teaching goals, strategies, and outcomes, along with tips for publishing your work. 

This event kicks off the Crown Center’s new Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Program, a three-year pilot initiative to support CC faculty in sharing innovative pedagogical practices through publications and conference presentations.

Help the College Understand Students’ Attitudes about AI
CC is participating in a survey with other ACM colleges titled “A Survey of Experience with and Attitudes towards Generative AI Among Undergraduates at SLAC Schools.” This survey will help us better understand how undergraduate students at small liberal arts colleges like ours perceive AI. Please encourage your students to complete the survey between Sept. 28 and Oct. 9.  If you can set aside time in class for students to complete the survey, it will greatly improve our response rate. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete, and participants can enter a drawing to win a $20 gift card to the CC bookstore.

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

If YES, then join the 2026-2027 Building Bridges program! Meet someone new, learn about a different part of CC, get a free lunch, and win some sweet CC swag.
Here are the specific details:

Who: Any CC staff or faculty member.

What: Sign up now, and faculty and staff organizers, members of the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), Staff Council (SC), and the Office of Institutional Equity and Belonging (IEB) will match you with a faculty member (if you’re staff) or a staff member (if you’re faculty), based on your interests but also with some randomness built in. We will create some groups of three if the numbers aren’t perfectly balanced—please let us know if you would especially like this or prefer not! You and your Building Bridges group will choose some ways to interact. The basic package is for the staff member to visit the faculty member’s class or engage with their research/outreach in some fun way, and for the faculty member to visit the staff member’s office/workplace or engage with their work in some fun way, and for the partners to have lunch together at Rastall with lunch passes provided by the Dean of Faculty. This could be as little as 3 hours, during work hours, spread over the whole academic year. We will also provide you with a list of other activities that you can try with your partner—attending CC events, cross-constituency social stuff, and other minor adventures. We will have some giveaways. We have some excellent CC swag and a little funding to make this fun!

How/When: Sign up by filling out this short survey by Tuesday, Sept. 29 and we will match you on Sept. 30. Save the date to meet your partner at our Lunch Launch on Monday, Oct. 5.

Why: To have fun and build community across constituencies at Colorado College.

Questions? Email Building Bridges Coordinator Beth Malmskog at <a href="mailto:bmalmskog@coloradocollege.edu" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #4764af;" title="mailto:bmalmskog@coloradocollege.edu“> bmalmskog@coloradocollege.edu 

Presented by Staff Council, the Faculty Executive Committee, the Office of Institutional Equity & Belonging, and the Office of the Dean of Faculty.

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Click on the links below to learn more about the event and/or RSVP for the event! 

Research and Internship Symposium

Friday, Sept. 25 | 3-5 p.m.
Cornerstone Arts Center
Oral presentations begin promptly at 3 p.m. in Celeste Theatre. Story-map and poster presentations begin at 4 p.m. in Cornerstone Main Space. Come and support your students! Learn about their summer experiences and research.

E-Waste Drop-Off Event

Thursday, Oct. 1 | 1-2 p.m.
Breton Hall Garage #8 in Lot C-1
Have College-owned e-waste to get rid of? Bring it to our e-waste drop-off event for proper recycling.

Connect to a community partner to co-create community-engaged classroom projects for a spring 2027 course through the PEAK Project. Submit an Educator Interest Form by the end of Block 2 (Sunday, Oct. 18). Until funds are exhausted, matched partner/faculty pairs are eligible for project development stipends ($500 each). 

We especially encourage faculty to consider course connections to applied project ideas submitted by community partners including research to support trout conservation, understanding the impacts of residential rain barrels, exploring what is keeping young people from political movement work, and storytelling around a local civic education program.

Did you know CC is a member of Campus Compact? Campus Compact empowers colleges and universities to advance their academic and civic missions by partnering with communities to address complex social issues and further equity, justice, and prosperity for all. More information can be found on Campus Compact’s Website.

Encourage your students to check out Career Center events including panels, employer recruiting sessions and networking opportunities. The upcoming lineup of employer and career events can be found on our Career Center Calendar of Events page. Students have access through the EE student newsletter and Handshake.

Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 3 for the U.S. Midterm Elections. Are you ready? 

In Colorado, all eligible registered voters automatically receive a mail ballot, which they can return by mail or at a ballot drop box. It is easy to register online using the last four digits of your Social Security number or your Colorado ID. If you register at least eight days before Election Day, you will receive your ballot by mail. After that deadline, you can register to vote in person up through Election Day. Visit GoVoteColorado.gov to register, update your registration, or change your address. You must update your voter registration each time you move. To register or update your registration in another state, visit vote.usa.gov. Visit the CC Votes webpage to learn more about the upcoming election and how to vote. 

Start your week sustainably! Bring your own clean mug and get any 16 oz. coffee or tea drink for just $4 at Susie B’s or Colorado Coffee! Only on fourth Monday, Oct. 12, until 11 a.m.

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Click on the links below to learn more about the event and/or RSVP for the event! 

Davis Projects for Peace Virtual Info Session

Monday, Sept. 21 | 12:30-1 p.m.
Zoom link shared after registration.

Changemaker Workshop: Restorative Conversations 

Thursday, Sept. 24 | 3:30-5 p.m.
Tutt Library 105

Changemaker Workshop: Power, Positionality, and Community Engagement

Tuesday, Sept. 29 | 3:30-5 p.m.
Worner Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Butler Multicultural Lounge

Changemaker Workshop: How to Dialogue Across Political Difference

Wednesday, Sept. 30 | 3:30-5 p.m.
Hybl Community Classroom

Community Engaged Scholars Orientation

Thursday, Oct. 1 | 1:30-2:30 p.m.
CCE Conference Room (1008 N. Weber)

Changemaker Workshop: What next? Discerning My Career and Changemaking Path after CC

Monday, Oct. 5 | 3:30-5 p.m.
Hybl Community Classroom

Davis Projects for Peace Info Session

Thursday, Oct. 8 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
CCE Conference Room (1008 N. Weber)

Research and Internship Symposium

Friday, Sept. 25 | 3-5 p.m.
Cornerstone Arts Center
Oral presentations begin promptly at 3 p.m. in Celeste Theatre. Story map and poster presentations begin at 4 p.m. in Cornerstone Main Space.

FMI Corporation Information Session

Tuesday, Sept. 29 | 3-4 p.m.
Career Center Carriage House

SRAM Information Session

Wednesday, Sept. 30 | 2-3 p.m.
Career Center Carriage House

Media & Communications Night

Wednesday, Sept. 30 | 4-6 p.m.
Cornerstone, Screening Room 131
Get advice and hear stories from a panel of established professionals within the journalism, film, and media spaces. Networking dinner starts at 5 p.m. 

Tuck Business Bridge Program Information Session

Thursday, Oct. 1 | 2-3:30 p.m.
Career Center Carriage House
This year the Tuck Business Bridge program will happen on campus at CC.

Colorado Business School Career Fair

Friday, Oct. 9 | 1-4 p.m.  
Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado 
Transportation will be available from CC leaving promptly at 11:30 a.m. Please fill out the transportation request form to reserve your seat.

Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy Tabling

Tuesday, Oct. 13 | 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.  
Worner Campus Center Main Space

Sustainable Wednesday

Wednesday, Oct. 7 | 5-6:30 p.m.
Worner Campus Center
Drop by Worner to meet our team, ask questions, and learn more about sustainability at CC.

The CC Exchange has new hours. Drop by the Worner Campus Center basement on Thursdays (weeks 1-3) from 12:30-2:30 p.m. to check out new stock (free) or drop off donations. Also, if you would like to partner with the CC Exchange on a project, please reach out to the Office of Sustainability at sustainability@coloradocollege.edu.

Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 3 for the U.S. Midterm Elections. Are you ready? 

In Colorado, all eligible registered voters automatically receive a mail ballot, which they can return by mail or at a ballot drop box. It is easy to register online using the last four digits of your Social Security number or your Colorado ID. If you register at least eight days before Election Day, you will receive your ballot by mail. After that deadline, you can register to vote in person up through Election Day. Visit GoVoteColorado.gov to register, update your registration, or change your address. You must update your voter registration each time you move. To register or update your registration in another state, visit vote.usa.gov. Visit the CC Votes webpage to learn more about the upcoming election and how to vote. 

CC Votes is looking for students interested in supporting CC’s Get Out the Vote efforts as a Class Representative. If you’re interested in supporting voter registration, education, and turnout of fellow CC students, complete this interest form or reach out to CC Votes at ccvotes@coloradocollege.edu to learn more!

Start your week sustainably! Bring your own clean mug and get any 16 oz. coffee or tea drink for just $4 at Susie B’s or Colorado Coffee! Only on fourth Monday, Oct. 12, until 11 a.m.

Need funding for a community project? The CCE Microgrants for Community Impact provide up to $1000 in funding to support CC students in their community service initiatives with the Colorado Springs and El Paso County communities. Email Sarah Elsey at selsey@coloradocollege.edu if you have questions.

Sign up for a BreakOut Saturday service project. Meet new people and community organizations! It is free to participate, and transportation is provided. Questions? Email BreakOut at breakout@coloradocollege.edu. 

Living in an on-campus apartment or off campus this year and looking to compost? The Office of Sustainability’s Campus Compost Program provides all the tools, training, and education you need to get started. Learn more on our website, or click the banner to request your bucket.

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

For many years, artists from across the Pikes Peak region have joined us on campus for the CC Arts & Crafts Fair, and the result has always been something special. This showcase of community and student makers is a valued tradition at CC.

This year, we’re taking a pause. Staffing changes at the College require us to reassess how the Fair is planned and executed. It is important that we develop a sustainable long-term strategy that supports a robust and enduring Fair.

We know the Fair is a favorite fall tradition for many of you, whether you’ve shopped the vendor tables, discovered a new favorite artist, or shown your own work. We don’t take this pause lightly, and it comes with real gratitude for and commitment to the community this event has built on our campus.

Our hope is to relaunch the Fair and continue this long-standing celebration of artistic convergence at CC. You can expect updates from us in the coming year. We look forward to sharing what’s next.

In community,

Associate Vice President of Student Life

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

To support transparency and shared understanding across the College, Staff Council and the FEC shares a weekly summary of key operational updates discussed at the College Operational Leadership Team (COLT) meeting. Please review this week’s summary. 

If you are interested in learning more about CC’s operational governance framework, including the purpose and current work of Standing and Temporary Operational Groups, please visit the Operational Governance webpage.

Sincerely,

14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903