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Colorado College Remains a Top Institution in Sustainability
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By Julia Fennell ’21.
“We recognize that sustainability is a broad topic that extends far beyond just environmental issues. Our ranking as a top ten baccalaureate institution reflects this and all of our efforts across the college to create a more just world,” says Director of Sustainability Ian Johnson.
The Sustainable Campus Index is a ranking of top institutions in different areas of sustainability. The placement is based on the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, known as STARS, which is administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. CC is a gold-rated STARS institution.
CC remains one of only ten institutions of higher education in North America to achieve carbon neutrality, which was accomplished in 2020.
CC’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond the campus. The college has invested in a methane destruction project at the Larimer County landfill, which works to prevents methane, a greenhouse gas, from entering the atmosphere.
This is the fourth year in a row that CC has been recognized in the annual Sustainable Campus Index.
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Anthropology Professor Calla Jacobson Wins Prize for Manuscript
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By Julia Fennell ’21
Jacobson won the award based on an excerpt from her working manuscript, “The Tiger’s Paw Print: A Memoir of Myth and Desire in the Himalayas.” She was awarded $750, a developmental edit, and an agent consultation.
“For more than two decades, people have been telling me that I should write the story of my daughter’s origin — conceived, as she was, in an unlikely love that blossomed with a subsistence farmer in the Himalayas,” Jacobson says. “I have finally done so in a memoir that is part immersion into the daily life of a mountain community, part love story, and part retelling of a local mythology featuring sorrowful birds, stingy gods, a feral female yeti, and the ordinary humans implicated in their exploits.”
Jacobson taught at CC from 2000-2004 as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, and has returned since then as a block visitor. You can read more about Jacobson’s work and memoir on her website.
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Publicly Engaged, Actionable Knowledge Project
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The CCE continues to develop the PEAK Project, which launched in 2019. The PEAK Project promotes community-engaged teaching, learning, and research at CC to connect knowledge to action for community impact.
To do this, the CCE works to:
- Educate stakeholders about best practices.
- Connect CC educators, students, and partners to co-create:
- courses that provide opportunity to teach for community impact and learn about changemaking, or
- research that produces applied knowledge connected to community action (scholarly works and student theses).
- Promote community-engaged teaching, learning, and research at CC through recruiting, advocating, and storytelling efforts
If you are a faculty or staff member interested in transitioning a course to community-engaged learning, but don’t currently have the community connections to do so, you are invited to participate. To participate, please fill out this interest form by Sept. 25. Students interested in connecting with a partner for an applied senior thesis project should email jradke@coloradocollege.edu.
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Italian Professor Uses Horses to Help Students Focus
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Photo by Lonnie Timmons III
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By Julia Fennell ’21
“EGLHE inspires students to look for communication in places they are not used to, for instance, in the very subtle ways an equine face and whole body change to signal relaxation, pleasure, discomfort, satisfaction, or wanting a carrot,” says Minervini. “[Horses] are the masters of embodied emotions! This type of observation requires attention to detail, presence, and attunement. Being present and aware helps students focus.” Students often see EGLHE as a soothing experience, which is a welcome shift from the fast pace of the Block Plan, Minervini adds.
Minervini has a website where students write testimonials about their experience with EGLHE. Many students cited feeling less anxious, calmer, and more focused after a session with Minervini’s horse, Jimmy.
Minervini hopes to eventually collect data and run a study on the effects of EGLHE on mood and attention. EGLHE is a nonprofit foundation directed by Minervini and Haley Griffis ’17. Minervini received a grant from Creativity & Innovation at CC, which allowed her to trademark EGLHE.
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Submit Nominations for Renaming of South Hall
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Photo by Lonnie Timmons III
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By Julia Fennell ’21
Members of the Colorado College community are invited to submit their ideas for the re-naming of South Hall, formerly known as Slocum Hall.
The building was originally named after former Colorado College President William F. Slocum, who retired in 1917 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct. In Fall 2017, former President Jill Tiefenthaler investigated the allegations and brought the findings to the school’s Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees found “overwhelming and uncontroverted evidence” that Slocum did engage in sexual misconduct and egregious sexual assault while he was the president of CC. “Such behavior was reprehensible and is in direct conflict with the mission and values of Colorado College,” the board wrote in 2018.
As a result of the findings, the board voted unanimously to rescind Slocum’s honorary degree and ordered the immediate removal of his name from the residence hall and commons building. The spaces were temporarily re-named “South Hall” and “South Commons.”
The South Hall Naming Committee, made up of CC students, staff, and alumni, met via Zoom in May to discuss the re-naming process. The committee discussed a year-long timeline, as well as how to thoroughly vet name submissions. The committee acknowledged the great importance of the committee’s work being both transparent and understood by the broader community.
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Photo by Lonnie Timmons III
Students hike through Garden of the Gods on Aug. 24 as part of the Priddy Local Day Experience.
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