14 minute read
Student Perspective
Jessa Granata ’23 works on embroidery techniques during an Arts and Crafts session led by Ana Kilgore ’21. Photo by John Le ’24
RIGHT: Olamide Olayiwoln ’24 and Ester Cornish ’24 enjoy an afternoon on Worner Quad on Jan. 20, with cookie decorating kits to celebrate Inauguration Day. Photo by Skye Schelz ’21 BELOW: Olivia Coutre ’23 crochets during a class offered by the Arts and Crafts Program. Students gathered twice a week to crochet together in Worner Campus Center. Photo by Patil Khakhamian ’22 Whitner Reichman ’24 and Maxwell Hinds ’23 take a break from studying during Block 5's fourth week to enjoy some hot chocolate and churros provided by Bon Appetit and the Office of Campus Activities. Photo by Skye Schelz ’21
Students walk across a snowy campus during Block 5. Photo by Skye Schelz ’21
ABOVE: Winter Start students tie-dye class shirts during their in-person activities. Photo by John Le ’24
LEFT: Frances Heiss ’15 instructs a weaving class in the Arts and Crafts Center, teaching techniques to Sarah Edell ’24. Photo by
Chidera Ikpeamarom ’22
BELOW: Filip Carnogurksy ’23 stands in a long socially distanced line at the Worner Campus Center to pick up a gift card to a small blackowned business in Colorado Springs. The Office of Campus Activities gave away more than 100 gift cards in late February in honor of Black History Month. Photo by Patil Khakhamian ’22
Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Faculty: THE RILEY SCHOLARS-INRESIDENCE PROGRAM
By Jennifer Kulier
A study by the Council of Graduate Schools found that most Black and Latinx doctoral students in STEM fields do not earn their degrees within seven years, and many leave their programs.
This is just one of the statistics related to the challenges members of under-represented minority groups face when seeking a career in academia — and it’s just one example of the reasons why, more than 30 years ago, Colorado College instituted the Riley Scholars-inResidence Program, and why, in the 2020s, it’s received a reboot.
Since 1988, the Riley Scholars Program has helped those in under-represented minority groups prepare for careers in academia, or determine if such a career is right for them. Every year, four to six individuals progress through the program, many with goals of becoming faculty members at CC or other colleges and universities.
“One of the great benefits of the program for fellows is that they have a job in which they don’t have service obligations and their teaching load is reduced, but they’re still paid sufficiently so they can focus on their dissertations, completing their scholarship, and navigating the job market,” says Heidi R. Lewis, director and associate professor of feminist and gender studies.
The latter, she adds, can be a challenge for predoctoral academics. Some never complete their dissertations or Ph.D.s. Financial realities force many to get a job instead and the demands of that job preclude them from working on and finishing their Ph.D.s.
The Program at HEART
Colorado College is a member of the Consortium for Faculty Diversity, whose goal is to increase the diversity of students and curricular offerings at liberal arts colleges, with a particular focus on enhancing the diversity of faculty members and of applicants for faculty positions. The Riley Scholars Program offers predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships to scholars hired through the consortium. Victor Nelson-Cisneros, retired associate dean at Colorado College, was both a co-founder of the CFD and was instrumental in the establishment of CC’s Riley Scholars Program.
The Riley Scholars Program provides its fellows opportunities to complete their dissertations or cultivate their postdoctoral research and enter the academic job market while gaining meaningful experience teaching undergraduates in a liberal arts setting. The program also provides CC departments and programs with opportunities to enhance mentoring skills, expand and reimagine course offerings and improve departmental and programmatic climate.
The program aims to recruit and retain faculty with marginalized social identities in the professoriate, especially at liberal arts colleges in the U.S. The program also aims to situate Colorado College as a premier site for faculty development, especially for undergraduate teaching excellence and quality scholarship.
Last year, along with Lewis being named director of and support specialist for the Riley Scholars Program, the program itself got a reboot, including a renewed focus on the mentorship of the fellows and a new focus on mentor development. And today, as Lewis works with the fellows as they navigate the program, Peony Fhagen, senior associate dean for equity, inclusion, and faculty development, works with departments and programs interested in or currently hosting Riley Scholars.
The benefits of the Riley Scholars Program represent something of a two-way street, offering advantages to both the college and the fellows. The program helps the college achieve a more diverse faculty with new perspectives, and renewing CC’s commitment to the Riley Scholars Program aligns with the college’s antiracism goals.
Lewis and Fhagen have worked to create a robust, intentional mentoring program for Riley Scholars. “Regardless of whether they stay at CC or go to a different institution, while they’re here, Riley Scholars are going to get good mentoring and support,” Lewis says.
And many do stay. Some current members of the faculty or administration who started out as Riley Scholars include Claire Oberon Garcia, acting provost, dean of the faculty and professor of English; Mario Montaño, professor emeritus of anthropology; Manya Whitaker, chair and associate professor of education; and Brian Rommel-Ruiz, professor of history. Lewis also is a former Riley Scholar.
The Program in ACTION
Riley Scholar Juan Miguel Arias ’12 attended Colorado College for his undergraduate education from 2008 to 2012, when he graduated magna cum laude with distinction. A neuroscience major, he served as a paraprofessional in the Psychology and Neuroscience Departments for a year before beginning his graduate training. He first received a Master of Science degree in developmental and comparative psychology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Following that, he entered a Ph.D. program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, focusing on developmental and psychological sciences, finishing in Summer 2020.
His major interests were youth development, thriving, and equity, and he really wanted to find a way to connect that with other things he’s passionate about, including cultural histories of environmentalism and engagement with the outdoors. Arias identifies as Latino; he was born in Colombia, and moved to the U.S. with his mom when very young.
The Education Department’s Juan Miguel Arias ’12, left, and Solomon Seyum, with the Geology Department, are current Riley Scholars at CC. Photo by Jennifer Coombes
Juan Miguel Arias ’12, Riley Scholar
“It was always an extracurricular thing — my interest in the environment and the outdoors — always separate from my academic pursuits. But then I thought, ‘why don’t I do that in education?’ So I shifted into environmental education,” Arias says. “The main questions I work on now are: How do we make environmental education more equitable? How do we best support historically excluded people in demonstrating and cultivating their own forms of environmentalism? I’d like to help a whole range of kids and communities remember how uplifting a connection to nature can be, and how environmentalism has deep roots in cultural and social justice.” As he was finishing his doctoral studies, Arias reached out to the CC Education Department to let them know he was about to be on the job market and see what opportunities might be available. He was told that the department was looking for a young professor to teach classes for the Teaching & Research in Environmental Education (TREE) Semester, and that he should look into the Consortium for Faculty Diversity and the Riley Scholars Program. CC hired him as a Riley Scholar.
“It was a very good alignment of the Education Department’s needs and my interests and goals. I’ve been falling in love again with everything CC is trying to be about,” he says.
Arias says it’s felt good — like a homecoming — returning to family (his family moved to Colorado Springs a few years ago) and alma mater.
“It doesn’t feel like I just left. I very much feel the nine years that it’s been. To come back to a place that I knew when I was a different person in many ways — I still love this place and I have so many new things to contribute now. I’ve been shaped and remolded, coming out on the other side of a long grad program. Now I’m working alongside others at the college on equity, justice, and antiracism at the faculty level. Not only do I want to, but I also feel very capable. I know I can do it. I continue to learn a lot and I’m grateful to be doing it here.”
Arias spent much of the summer of 2020 in the mountains near Woodland Park, Colorado, at the Catamount Center, teaching CC students in a fully masked, socially distanced setting for the TREE Semester course Foundations of Environmental Education. He also taught Critical Education Theory. The following semester he taught Educational Psychology and a master’s-level course, Teaching Identities.
Although starting a new job during a pandemic has been hard in many ways, he’s been pleased with the experience of being a Riley Scholar.
“CC seems sincere in working to diversify the composition of its faculty and I’m excited to be a part of that. Not only am I on the receiving end of that as a Riley Scholar, but the work I do can also help move us forward on our antiracist ambitions. I have things to give to CC and I’m given resources to do that — even though it’s been a challenge because of the pandemic. There’s been a lot of concrete mentoring and informal reaching out from colleagues; ‘Let’s have a Zoom coffee, a distanced chat on the porch, etc.’ It has been very helpful.”
During a paired off exercise, Yasmine Khali ’24 (far left) and Erick Gullock Benavides ’24 (far right) look at different kinds of snow under a magnifying glass. Associate Professor of Organismal Biology and Ecology Emilie Gray’s CC105 Winter Ecology course visited Mueller State Park where students observed and took notes on various tree species and wildlife. The FYE course is designed for Winter Start students. Photo by Jennifer Coombes
By Sarah Senese ’23
Over the summer, amid the chaos and confusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, Creativity & Innovation at CC decided to tweak one of their longest-standing traditions: The Big Idea
competition. Creativity & Innovation Director Dez Stone Menendez ’02 had been mulling the change ever since she returned to CC in 2016. With a lot of help from the college, alumni, and the students, Innovation launched the Student Seed Innovation Grant to replace the Big Idea competition and get the first round of students funded and involved.
While this may come as a shock for people who have grown to love the entrepreneurial competition, the Seed Grant has been a work-in-progress for years. The idea came from Menendez, who had been wanting to expand the program to anyone and everyone who had an idea, regardless of a business pitch or a spirit for entrepreneurship. She mostly “wanted to move away from the idea that innovation only lives within the business sector.” Although entrepreneurship is her forte, Menendez wanted any student who had an idea to be able to receive funds, obtain a mentor, and make that dream happen, regardless of whether it became a sellable product or was voted into existence by a panel of judges. In addition to expanding who can apply, the new Student Seed Innovation Grants allow funding for all students, as many times as they choose to apply. One of the most notable changes from the Big Idea competition is that a single student can apply for funding up to $6,000, whereas the Big Idea competition focused on group projects. Any student enrolled and taking classes at CC has the chance to make their idea a reality, try a project once and try again, or even follow a hunch they’ve had for a while. For Menendez, this is an opportunity to show students that they can have the space to try and fail, all while being encouraged to not give up.
Dez Stone Menendez ’02, Creativity & Innovation Director
PROJECT IN PROGRESS
Lauren Weiss ’21, who has been a participant in the Big Idea competition and is a frequent student of Creativity & Innovation’s workshops and classes, has taken to the Seed Grant and is thrilled about the change. Her project, Geek Girl, is a startup dedicated to advancing education and closing the gender gap in computer science. She’s seeking to do this through virtual coding courses, leadership trainings, and an iPhone app to connect mentors and mentees in the field. Through the Seed Grant, Weiss is able to extend the work her team did previously in the Big Idea competition, but with increased funds, a chance to dig deeper, and in the best way she works — independently. What Weiss really loves about the new grant is that it allows her to pair up with a mentor to bounce ideas off of, get feedback, and have someone who keeps her accountable for her work and is there for unwavering support. Weiss is excited to see how the Student Seed Innovation Grant program grows, given that this is her last year at CC. “I see this change benefiting Colorado College students by promoting a more collaborative environment on campus,” she says. “One of the key aspects to the grant application is demonstrating support, whether that comes from students, faculty, or even local community members.”
Another group working through the Seed Grant is Alexia Preston ’21 and Logan Hemming ’22. While their project is still in the prototype phase, they were both thrilled that the Big Idea competition had transitioned into what it is now. Their project, which is a small machine that would make for safer, more sustainable coffee, couldn’t have been put into the prototype stage without the new grant. “In a year where everything was put on hold, the Student Seed Innovation Grant allowed us to pursue a startup venture. As an idea born during COVID-19, timing was everything, so we are so happy the grant started when we did,” says Preston. While Preston and Hemming are not quite ready for the world to see their project, they are beyond thrilled that they now have the ability to work at their own pace and see their idea through, all thanks to the Student Seed Innovation Grant.
But the changes don’t stop here. Menendez’s original plan way back in 2016 didn’t end with only students finding new avenues to pursue ideas. Creativity &
Lauren Weiss ’21. Photo by Jennifer Coombes
PROJECT IN PROGRESS
Alexia Preston ’21 and Logan Hemming ’22. Photo by Jennifer Coombes
Innovation is currently in the process of creating a faculty and staff Seed Grant application, with the hopes that anyone at CC with a passion and an idea will be able to pursue it. Menendez says she even hopes that one day, “even a staff member and a student could come together to solve a real-world problem or ask a question.”
The Student Seed Innovation Grant program also seeks to make problem-solving more accessible and inclusive, encouraging all of CC that the questions they have are worth being funded and answered. While the Big Idea competition was fostering an atmosphere of creativity, some students worked better alone, didn’t want their idea to become a business pitch, or just didn’t work well in a competitive environment. While Menendez’s first love lies with entrepreneurship, the ultimate goal was to make a grant that anyone could have access to. “The things I learned from most were my failures,” Menendez says, “and the C&I initiative is preparing students to be comfortable facing ambiguity and the unknown, comfortable failing and trying again, but being supported all the way there.”
After this school year, Weiss will not be ending the Geek Girl story. She plans to study entrepreneurship at the University College London, where she hopes to further develop the startup by entering pitch competitions and gaining support through her graduate program. When asked what the Seed Grant and the Big Idea competition gave to her CC experience as a whole, she says she could “confidently say that being an active member of Creativity & Innovation has offered some of the most transformative experiences during my undergraduate studies.”
