Metro Magazine Fall 2011 by Metropolitan State University of Denver

VO L .

Fall 2011

FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE OF DENVER

It’s all in the Metro State Family PG. 14

THE LAND OF LAKES AND VOLCANOES

ON EQUAL FOOTING

PG. 10

PG. 20

MetroWEar!

The Alumni Collection Fall 2011 Left to Right: Men’s Hooded Full-Zip Sweatshirt Red S, M, L, XL, $34.98 Women’s Long-Sleeve T-shirt Grey S, M, L, XL $26.95 Women’s Jr. Burnout Fleece Silk-Screened Hoodie Grey M, L, XL, XXL $44.95 Unisex Long-Sleeved T-shirt White S, M, L $14.98 Student models, left to right: John Paul Magno Jaimee Rando Alicia Medley Jeremy Rodriguez

MetroWear

Order Form QTY

ITEM

Credit card orders can be called in to 303-556-4286 or faxed to 303-556-8392. Include your card number and expiration date. Please reference code V 27 FALL2011. For mail orders:

SIZE

UNIT PRICE

Cost of Item(s) Ordered

Enclosed is my check payable to Auraria Campus Bookstore.

My mailing address STUDENT & AUXILIARY SERVICES

I can be reached at phone/e-mail

COLOR

Tax: • 7.72% for Denver residents • 3.9% for Metro area • 2.9% for the rest of Colorado • No tax for out-of-state residents Please add $7 shipping and handling per item.

Questions? Call: 303-556-4286

Mail your order to: Auraria Campus Bookstore Campus Box T, P.O. Box 173361•Denver, Co. 80217-3361

TOTAL COST

Please allow two to three weeks for delivery.

www.aurariabooks.com

TOTAL PRICE

Fall

2011

Fall 2011 / Volume XXVII / Issue I

///Contents

It’s all in the Metro State Family

9 Answers

the land of lakes and volcanoes

on equal footing

Legacy enrollments— parents, kids, siblings and more—are on the rise at Metro State.

Former Nugget Bill Hanzlik talks about his life as a professional athlete and his role as a Metro State trustee.

Anthropologist Julie Reyes shares the experience she had with her students and her dad in his native Nicaragua.

The Access Center empowers students with disabilities with incredible technology and a lot of heart.

DEPARTMENTS

2 3 4 24 30 32

Letter from the President Metrozoic Era Newsworthy Alumni Times The Rowdy Report Don’t Blink

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Metro Vision /// Letter from the President Dear Alumni and Friends, The 2011 fall semester got off to a great start, with 115 students enrolled in the first year of our Master’s in Social Work Program. This brings the total number of graduate students to 250—a fivefold increase over last fall when our master’s in professional accountancy and teacher education were launched. The growing success of our graduate programs—which are generating revenue for the College rather than adding to our costs—is one indicator that, despite a grim outlook for state funding of higher education, our institution is thriving. Another is the incredible accomplishment of the Metro State Precision Flight Team and the Aviation and Aerospace Science Department. They have won the prestigious Loening Trophy, the highest national honor accorded to a collegiate aviation program. With the support of a $1 million gift from a local philanthropist—the largest private gift in our history—we will establish the One World, One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship at Metro State. Set to open next fall, the center will offer an interdisciplinary water studies minor, as well as related co-curricular activities on urban water issues. We’ll also be establishing a regional Equity Assistance Center (EAC), thanks to a two-year grant of more than $2 million

ExecUtive Editor Cathy Lucas

from the U.S. Department of Education. The Metro State EAC will focus on helping public school districts with issues such as school safety, racial and sexual harassment, bullying and the promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. While we are progressing on new initiatives, we are retaining our focus on many of our core offerings and serving our evolving student body, 32 percent of whom are now students of color, up from 28 percent last year. We are revamping and reinvigorating our Honors Program, growing our Teaching with Primary Sources program, and seeing record enrollment in our service-learning Americorps programs, to name just a few successes. Meanwhile, the construction of our Student Success Building (SSB) and Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC) continues on time and on budget. If you have a chance to head into downtown along Auraria Parkway, you can’t miss the two, both opening next year and funded entirely without taxpayer dollars I look forward to reporting to you many more milestones of progress on our path to preeminence. Meanwhile, please keep in touch. Sincerely,

Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D. President, Metro State

Voices /// Letters to the Editor Editor: My son, Patrick, is the fifth person, across three generations, of his family to have enrolled in Metro State. He completed his first semester, spring 2011, with all four A’s! He found the classroom work interesting and easy, but somewhat rigorous. So he got help whenever he needed it. At age 28, Patrick is older than many of his classmates. That is because he got a late start. He got a GED at 16. Then he led a somewhat vagabond existence for about 10 years, hitchhiking all over the western U.S. Then, in the fall of 2010, he called and said he was ready to come home to Colorado and enroll in school. He was ready to make some positive changes! I don’t think that he has declared a major yet, but I know he is very interested in going into social work to 2 2

Metro Magazine Magazine llllllllllllllll llllllllllllllll FALL FALL 2011 2010 Metro

become a youth counselor. He enrolled in Metro State with that thought in mind. We’re all very proud of him! Cheryl Murphy (‘96) Editor’s Note: Read about more Metro State families on p. 14. Editor: Thank you for printing the excellent letter from Barbara Fox (Summer 2011, p. 2, regarding illegal immigration). She is so right. Richard Hoos (’72)

Editor Donna Fowler (’80) Art Director/Designer Julie Strasheim Graphic Designer Ruth M’Gonigle Photographers Dave Neligh Chris Schneider Julie Strasheim

Jessica Taves Mark Woolcott

METRO MAGAZINE EDITORial BOARD Bridgette Coble, Director of Career Services Clay Daughtrey, Interim Assistant Dean of the School of Business Jeffrey Forrest (’90), Professor and Chair of Aviation and Aerospace Science Donna Fowler (’80), Director of Internal Communications Mark Jastoroff Executive Director of the Alumni Association Cathy Lucas, Associate Vice President of Communications and Advancement Lunden MacDonald, Assistant Professor of Spanish Carmen Sanjurjo, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education Julie Strasheim, Art Director, Creative Services © 2011 Metropolitan State College of Denver. Metro Magazine is published three times a year by the Metropolitan State College of Denver Office of Communications and Community Affairs for alumni and friends of the College. All rights reserved. Address correspondence to: Metropolitan State College of Denver Metro Magazine Office of Communications and Community Affairs Campus Box 86, PO Box 173362 Denver, CO 80217-3362 Please send letters to the editor, editorials and inquiries to: Donna Fowler, editor, at the address above or fowlerd@mscd.edu. E-mail alumni address changes and Class Acts submissions to: alumni@mscd.edu. The opinions expressed in Metro Magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies and opinions of Metropolitan State College of Denver nor imply endorsement by its officers or by the College’s alumni association. Nondiscrimination Policy Metropolitan State College of Denver does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability in admissions or access to, or treatment or employment in, its educational programs or activities.

Metro Magazine is printed on recycled paper.

Metro State’s past, present and future

/// Metrozoic

Era

The grand evolution of

Metro State theatre By Vonalda Utterback (’92)

It was one of those rare rainy, overcast days in Colorado—a perfect day for decluttering. As I sat sorting through a dusty box of memorabilia, up popped a dog-eared script of “The Shadow Box” by Michael Cristofer. Leafing through those worn and highlighted pages transported me back 24 years to my freshman year at Metro State. I remember reading an audition notice for the MSC Players’ production of Cristofer’s Tony award-winning play. With almost no acting background to speak of, it was a crazy idea to audition. Yet I did, and somehow I ended up with my first-ever lead role. Before 1987, although a few theatre classes existed under the Department of Speech Communication, there was no theatre major or department. The scrappy and determined MSC Players, a student club, represented Metro State theatre as an extracurricular activity, along with various instructors

and others from the outside community who volunteered their time to produce, direct and oversee the process. We held club meetings in a Lilliputian-sized room in the Arts Building and performed in Arts 271, the black box theatre still used today for classes and student productions. The same year I landed my first stage major role, Marilyn “Cookie” Hetzel, landed her role as theatre faculty member. With Hetzel at the helm, Metro State theatre began its arduous, yet grand evolution from student club to full-fledged Theatre Department, with Hetzel as its chair. Since 2003, the department has offered a bachelor of arts in theatre and a bachelor of fine arts with two concentrations—one in music theatre and one in applied theatre technology and design, as well as a minor in theatre. With my degree in English and journalism, I went on to become a professional writer and editor, yet I never lost my love of theatre. As a local community actress, director and producer, I simply can’t imagine my life without it.

•

(l to r) Vonalda Utterback (’92) performs for the Theatre Company of Lafayette (Colo). Marilyn Hetzel has shepherded the Theatre Program since 1987. Students in the coveted Kaiser Permanente touring company. 2008 musicals: “A Chorus Line” and “The Wizard of Oz” (Dorothy and the poppies).

Metro State Theatre Through the Years n Late 1960s -2010 – close to 200 plays produced, including student directing projects. n April 1967 – “Viet Rock: A Folk War Movie” is performed. n April 1989 – Professor Marilyn Hetzel directs her first musical, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” The play’s writer/composer Clark Gesner attends, deeming it, says Hetzel, “one of the best performances he’s ever seen.” n 2000 – The Kenneth Kendall King Academic and Performing Arts Center opens, giving Metro State theatre access to a technologically advanced black box theater, production studio and a 300-seat shared courtyard theatre. n 2003 – Three theatre majors debut under the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences. n 2009 – The Theatre Program becomes a full-fledged academic department and joins in a partnership with Kaiser Permanente that offers a highly prized paid internship in which students perform in a professional educational theatre touring company. n 2011 – Audiences can look forward to seeing “Tartuffe,” “Working,” “Rhinoceros” and “Sweeney Todd.”

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Newsworthy

/// College News Enrollment up among master’s candidates and students of color

Wow! $1 million donation funds center for urban water education Metro State has secured a $1 million donation—the largest private donation in the College’s history—to establish the One World, One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship (OWOW Center). “In Denver’s urban environment, water stewardship and sustainability are especially important and relevant topics,” says President Stephen Jordan. “Our donor’s generosity is a testament to the College’s ability to address these issues from its unique vantage point as an urban land-grant institution.” Starting next fall, the OWOW Center will offer an interdisciplinary minor in water studies that addresses the growing demand for water and the need for greater public education about this vital resource. The center will also hold public education seminars and water stewardship activities on campus and in the community. The center will work with a high-level community advisory group to ensure direct relevance of the program to statewide water needs and interests. The $1 million donation, which came from a local donor who wishes to remain anonymous, will seed the five-year pilot project. The College will also contribute funds to the OWOW Center to lay the foundation for its long-term sustainability.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Enrollment in Metro State’s master’s programs is up fivefold this fall, from 50 students last year to 250 now. Part of the increase comes from the launch this August of the Master of Social Work Program, which added 115 graduate students to the total. Enrollment in the professional accountancy program tripled (from 16 to 57) and the teacher education program more than doubled (from 34 to 78). Also on the increase is the enrollment of undergraduate students of color, which now stands at 31.6 percent of the student body, up from 28.4 percent last fall. And the College continues to serve one of its core constituencies, with almost one-third of the student body being firstgeneration-to-college students. Meanwhile, the slight drop of 0.7 percent in overall enrollment to 23,828 students aligns with the College’s strategy to hold its numbers steady until more classroom space becomes available when the Student Success Building and the Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center open next year. (Visit www.mscd.edu/metrostaterising for construction updates).

•

New Equity Assistance Center to help school districts throughout region Metro State is set to establish a center that helps public school districts deal with equity and civil rights issues, thanks to a multiyear, multimillion dollar U.S. Department of Education grant. Awarded by the DOE’s Equity Assistance Centers Program, the grant is anticipated to total more than $2 million over three years. The College has received an initial amount of $681,931 for the first year. “Meeting the evolving needs of our school populations requires specialized training around issues of diversity, racial, sex and national origin discrimination,” says Percy A. Morehouse Jr., executive director of equal opportunity/ assistant to the president and the principal investigator on the grant. The new Metro State Equity Assistance Center (EAC) will offer technical assistance and training to public school districts, at the request of school boards, in desegregation and equity issues. The center will focus on improving school safety; decreasing the incidence of racial and sexual harassment and bullying; and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to underrepresented populations. The Metro State EAC, one of only 10 in the country, will serve DOE’s Region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

•

Flight team wins national trophy Metro State’s Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science has been awarded the Loening Trophy, which recognizes the most outstanding all-around collegiate aviation program in the country. It is the oldest and most prestigious collegiate aviation award in the nation, presented annually by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Foundation. The College’s Precision Flight Team won the trophy at the 2011 SAFECON (Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference) competition hosted by Ohio State University in May. The award represents excellence in aeronautical skills and sets the current benchmark for an overall outstanding collegiate aviation program. Key grading elements of the award include academics, community involvement, aviation skills, safety and an ability to advance the profession. “Our students have consistently been raising the bar at competitions in recent years, both regionally and nationally,” says Jeff Forrest, Metro State professor and chair of aviation and aerospace science. “I’m so proud of them and our faculty who inspire them to perform at such a high level of professionalism.” The perpetual trophy is made of pure silver, designed by Tiffany & Co. and dates back to 1929. It is named after aviation pioneer and inventor Grover Loening.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Newsworthy

/// College News

The soccer and baseball fields, along with the tennis courts, that now flank Auraria Parkway will be moved to the land at the southwestern edge of the Auraria Campus.

Metro State neighborhood continues to grow The land south of West Colfax Avenue and west of Rio Court near the Auraria Campus is vacant now, with little more than chest-high weeds and aging utility poles. But by next year, Metro State will begin a makeover of the site, eventually turning this overgrown patch into a multimilliondollar athletic facility, with tennis courts and fields for baseball, soccer and more. Metro State, the Auraria Higher Education Center, Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver bought the 13.5 acres in 2008 for $16.5 million. In September, the Metro State Board of Trustees approved a deal that gives the College a greater stake in the land and paves the way for phased development of the property. Metro State will take over CCDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and UCDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obligations and gain 50 percent ownership. In return, the College will get

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

first priority use of the land, naming rights to facilities it builds there, and right of first refusal if Auraria wants to bow out. Six tennis courts will be built by fall 2012. A timeline for two additional courts, baseball and soccer/recreation is being developed. Softball will take over the current baseball field when it moves to the new property and there will be room for club and intramural sports. The College will be seeking private donations to help fund its plans for the land. The acquisition continues the building of the Metro State Neighborhood on the Auraria Campus, which has begun with the construction of the Student Success Building, scheduled to open in spring 2012, followed by the Hotel and Hospitality Center in fall 2012.

â&#x20AC;˘

Metro State students are “stars” to neighborhood kids Four Metro State students helped brighten the summer for kids in the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood, as part of Metro State’s Journey Through Our Heritage (JTOH) program. The students developed and implemented a six-week summer program at La Alma Recreation Center for 25 children, ages 5-11. JTOH is a Metro State program that partners Metro State students with local high school students and engages them in a year-long program that enhances their current public school curriculum. It is sponsored by the Chicana/o Studies Department and supported by the African/African American Studies Department. “If it were not for programs like these, these kids wouldn’t have a chance,” said Marine Sgt. Dean Sanchez (‘07, criminal justice and criminology), who has been visiting the center regularly since he was a child. “I wouldn’t have had a chance.” Marketing major Jay Jaramillo, one of the Metro State participants, said the children would “see stars in their eyes when we (college students) visited. We let them know that we go to college just down the street and that they can do the same” when they graduate from high school.

•

#5.

President Stephen Jordan delivered the address at Aksum University’s commencement in July and participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new elementary school in Adowa.

Trips to Ethiopia yield more partnership opportunities

Two Metro

State delegations traveled to Ethiopia this summer, under the Metro State-Aksum University (AkU) partnership. The College received a $272,425 U.S. Department of State grant last summer to solidify the partnership. Since the partnership was established in 2009, the College has collected seven tons of books for AkU, hosted the Mayor of Axum and participated in fundraising activities to help build a new elementary school in Adowa, Ethiopia. In June, International Studies Director Ali Thobani led a group of five faculty and staff, who laid the groundwork for a study-abroad opportunity for 15 Metro State students at AkU next summer. President Stephen Jordan led a second delegation in July, which participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new elementary school and explored additional opportunities under the partnership. Jordan also delivered AkU’s commencement address.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

9 Answers

[By Joan McDermott]

Anyone who has lived in Colorado for awhile— particularly those who are basketball fans— recognizes the name Bill Hanzlik. After the Seattle Supersonics traded him in 1982, he played for the Denver Nuggets for 11 years. The 6-foot 7-inch forward helped the Nuggets reach the NBA Playoffs eight times, and was the Nuggets head coach in 1997-98. In recognition of his athletic achievements, Hanzlik was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. But Hanzlik did much more for Denver than play professional basketball. In 1986, the Notre Dame graduate founded the Gold Crown Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of Colorado’s children through athletics and education. He also served on the governing boards of several colleges in Colorado. In January 2009, Hanzlik was appointed to Metro State’s Board of Trustees by then-Gov. Bill Ritter.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

How many years were you a professional athlete? Eleven under contract. Ten I actually played. (The 11th year I got hurt the first day of training camp.)

What do you consider your greatest moment as a professional athlete? I had one game-winning shot. That was in a playoff game, with the Nuggets vs. the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas.

How do you use your experience as a coach to help guide the College as a trustee? I’m big on teamwork. What’s neat about the trustees, they all have areas of expertise, and use them to strengthen the team. So you listen to different trustees when it comes to different assessments of situations, whether it’s legislative, bond financing, academic affairs, budgets, finance… The teamwork is really fun to watch interact.

What have you learned about Metro State and its students that you didn’t know before joining the board of trustees? The quality of education at Metro State is so good. I’m astounded at how good the professors are and how the whole organization runs with such a limited budget.

As a trustee you’re in support of changing our name to include the word university. Can you tell me why? I always look at what is best for the student. Having “university” in the name takes away any thought that sometimes companies or individuals have that Metro is a community college.

What do you think is the solution to the higher education funding crisis in Colorado, particularly in regards to its effect on Metro State? I’m not sure I have an answer for that one. The thing I see is the value of the institution to the state. You’re educating more people for less revenue than just about any institution in Colorado. There is no more room to cut. Higher ed has never been funded very well by the state of Colorado. We’ve ranked anywhere from 45th to 50th nationally, depending on which survey, over the years. The tuition increases have already come, and I think they’re here to stay. It’s going to go from more state funding to individual funding.

You were a member of the Board of State Colleges, which governed Metro State along with three rural institutions, before you were appointed to our board. So you’ve been involved with the College for years. What do you see as the biggest change over the last decade? Substantial growth. At Metro State more than anywhere. I mean, the old rule of thumb back then was we’ll fund you more, to get kids going to college. So that’s what happened. The colleges worked hard on it, and more kids went to college. But now you’re educating more with less revenue because of the budget cuts. You know, Metro State does have some unique advantages being in a large city, an alumni base that stays in Colorado, and the foundation is the best foundation I’ve been around.

You’re the liaison right, with Metro State’s foundation board?

Center, for example, is huge (www.mscd.edu/metrostaterising). It’s a way to build a building with no state dollars, no federal dollars. We’ve got the chance to generate revenue. A little drop in the bucket, but still, it’s impactful. And the location is awesome.

Tell me about your Gold Crown Foundation, and why you started it? We were looking to fill a void. There wasn’t a really good basketball camp for girls. We—my partner Ray Baker and I—started as a one-week nonprofit girls camp at Metro State. I think the first year we had about 150 girls and we gave scholarships to about 50 of them. That “I consider undocumented students and was in 1986. We paid the coaches secular saints. Ithe consider the So we then donated rest tothem charity. ultimate finger of to years, all those did that middle for a couple and then bigots and nothings who say, rather than we kind of no thought, you know ‘Why can’tmoney immigrants give this away,assimilate? we think if we roll Why can’t they go to college?’” it back in, we can do more things. And that’s what happened. We had other camps, leagues, programs and so Gold Crown grew. Now we operate basketball, volleyball, golf—and the national wheelchair basketball championships for the Special Olympics. We provide about 35,000 opportunities, meaning one kid in one program, probably 15,000 to 18,000 unique individuals. We’re big believers that you can teach a lot of life skills through sport: teamwork, character, commitment, responsibility—all those things that can help kids.

•

Joan McDermott has been director of athletics at Metro State for 13 years. Under her tenure, the Roadrunners have garnered six national Division II championships.

Yes, between the trustees and the foundation board. The ability of the foundation to do more things is really good. And it shows in some of the unique things the foundation is doing— the Hotel and Hospitality Learning

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

The land of lakes and

volcanoes [By Julie A. Reyes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology]

10 Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Clockwise: Vendors line the streets of Sebaco, a crossroads between Matagalpa and Managua. (l to r) Students Anne Latimer, Savannah Yapuncich and Natalya Hoff, Julie Reyes and her father Eddy at Casa Materna with a young mother who had just arrived from the hospital. Lake Nicaragua and the Mombacho volcano.

Julie A. Reyes led a study-abroad course this summer to Nicaragua, the country of her father’s birth and a region in which she had conducted countless hours of field work. Accompanying the group was the assistant professor of anthropology’s father, a 1997 Metro State teacher licensure graduate. I fell in love with Nicaragua, my father’s homeland, on my first visit with my family in 1972, just months before a massive earthquake decimated the capital city, Managua. Many decades later, my first study-abroad experience as an undergraduate student took place there, where my dream of becoming an anthropologist began to germinate, much like the rich foliage that contributes to the dense cloud forests covering the country’s numerous volcanoes. After conducting research in Nicaragua through the 1990s, I had another dream: to one day travel with my father back to the country of his birth, to remind him that even through revolutions, economic embargos and the fact that it is the second-poorest nation in the Western

Hemisphere, Nicaragua will always be a part of who we are. In 2007, that dream became a reality when I traveled with my father to Nicaragua. I watched in awe as Dad touched the ground on which he had played as a young boy for the first time in 35 years. This summer, another dream—21 years in the making—came true. I took seven enthusiastic students on a service-learning,

“It was a breathtaking, life-changing experience and I will remember it for my entire life.” –student Allison Clark study-abroad course to Nicaragua. My dad, Eddy Reyes, accompanied my students and me on the 14-day course called Nicaragua: Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, a fitting title for a country continued on page 12

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011 11

known for its numerous lakes, lagoons and volcanoes, which number more than 50. My objective for this course was to provide students an opportunity to apply anthropological principles previously learned in the classroom to a cross-cultural understanding of Nicaragua. Students explored the connections between history, politics, economics, foreign aid, tourism and ecology to further enrich their historical and cultural perspectives. Additionally, I designed the course to expand the learning process through service learning and experiential education.

Mombacho, Las Isletas and the guardabarranco The majority of the course took place in Granada and Matagalpa. Week one, in Granada, comprised several excursions designed to challenge the students physically, mentally and socially. It was in Granada that the students experienced the land of lakes and volcanoes firsthand, where we hiked the nearby Mombacho volcano. 12

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

We followed that excursion with an exhilarating zipline ride through the canopy on 2,000 feet of cable stretching between 17 platforms situated from 10 feet to 100 feet above the forest floor.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every day of the trip was filled to the brim with experiences and discussions the challenged my mind and heart.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C;student Anne Latimer Everyone marveled at the breathtaking views of Mombacho and the coast of Lake Nicaragua. Later in the week, we kayaked through the little islands (Las Isletas) in Lake Nicaragua created by Mombacho, while the students observed their first colorful guardabarranco, the national bird.

Lectures, readings and journal writing rounded out each day. One afternoon, I instructed the students to conduct fieldwork by heading out in the streets of Granada, observing a public cultural phenomenon and later sharing their written reflections about how that experience provided a different perspective of Nicaragua than from the required readings alone. Seven days later, we headed to Matagalpa, located in the central mountains of Nicaragua. There, the students worked and interacted with approximately 20 young mothers from Casa Materna, a nongovernmental organization that seeks to reduce maternal and infant death rates in the Matagalpa region by providing pre-natal and post-natal care and education for mothers with high-risk pregnacies from rural areas.

Clockwise: Eddy Reyes and student Shawn Griffin kayak on Lake Nicaragua. Selva Negra owners Eddy and Mausy Kuhl provide a K-6 school for the children of their employees. Four generations live and work at the coffee farm. Students Shawn Griffin (in cap) and Allison Clark (red coat) teach an urban farming technique.

Four generations at Selva Negra The most meaningful service learning, however, took place at Selva Negra, a coffee plantation nestled among mountainous virgin cloud forests, where troops of howler monkeys, bellowing their deep calls above our heads, live among more than 200 species of birds, many endemic to Nicaragua. Selva Negra is an organic coffee farm that employs 250 fulltime workers and provides housing, three meals a day, a health clinic and a school for children grades K-6. Many of the workers and their families stay on at the farm long after their schooling, as is evidenced by four generations living and working there today. I first visited Selva Negra in the early 1990s, where I met the owners of the farm, Eddy and Mausy Kuhl, with whom I have maintained a close relationship ever since. The Kuhls had told me that the workers in the vegetable gardens wanted to know more about urban farming techniques like shallow pool gardening, basic wick gardening and wading pool gardening. Each of these methods are inexpensive, require no energy or moving parts, instruments or analysis, and are made from local materials, recycled if possible. My students’ well-researched presentation to the workers about these techniques was sincerely appreciated and prompted a vigorous and fruitful discussion.

As much as my students, my father and I enjoyed the trip thus far, our time spent with the gardeners and families was the most rewarding of all. We worked side by side to plant tomatoes, peppers and green beans in the exhilarating tropical rainfall, listening to the sounds

“You came to Nicaragua for discovery, adventure and learning. You are leaving with a fire in your belly that will guide you in your search to fulfill what is needed and wanted in our world. Keep the fire alive and tattoo in your souls the noblest of virtues: to better the human condition.” –Eddy Reyes (’97) of children playing and laughing, our hands full of moist, rich and fertile soil. It was a privilege for my students and

me to be welcomed into the workers’ homes, and walk through their gardens, experiencing their daily activities. Eddy and Mausy also had asked that we bring used clothing and supplies for the school children. So, several weeks before our departure, my father (a teacher in the Denver Public Schools) requested donations of children’s Spanish books and clothing, which amounted to 11 stuffed suitcases that each of us checked and delivered to Selva Negra. As we delivered the books to the school one chilly morning, we were told that there was no library in the school, and these books would be the first to establish a children’s library. My students and family were sincerely moved by this aspect of service learning, realizing that this simple act of giving would be a continuous source of joy and knowledge for the children for many years. As we were leaving Selva Negra, Eddy Kuhl came with bouquets of beautiful flowers for all of us, courtesy of the workers’ gardens. With sincere appreciation, he said that since they had purchased the coffee farm in 1975, we were the first international group that came to work with the workers, not for them. I could not ask for a more appropriate validation for the course.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

It’s all in the

Since Strickland siblings Col. Laura Richardson (’86), Dr. Janis Coffin (’94) and Darwin Strickland (’95 and ’96), shown above in 2007, graduated, the trend of family members attending Metro State—called legacy enrollments— has grown dramatically.

Col. Richardson, now commander of Ft. Hood and nominated for promotion to Brigadier General, credits her father with encouraging his children to attend Metro State. “He never dictated where we should go, but knew that Metro State had smaller class sizes and that you got to know your professors one-on-one.”

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Tad Browning, U.S. Army • Operational Test Command, photo

Metro

State Family [ ] By Leslie Petrovski

On July 21, when Col. Laura Richardson (’86) accepted command of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command at Ft. Hood, she became the first woman in the Army’s history to do so. Col. Richardson is accustomed to firsts. She was the first woman to command Ft. Meyer (now Joint Base MeyerHenderson Hall); Laura and her husband, now Brigadier General Jim Richardson, were the first married couple to command battalions at the same time in the same division during the United States’ initial invasion in Iraq; and she was the first of three siblings to graduate from Metro State. (A fourth sibling, Elaine, did not attend the College.) Richardson, who’s been nominated for promotion to Brigadier General herself (her nomination awaits U.S. Senate approval), her sister Janis Coffin, M.D. (’94) and brother Darwin Strickland (’95 and ’96), are among a burgeoning number of alumni who have made Metro State a family affair. “My dad was a big supporter of Metro State,” Richardson explains of her siblings’ decision to attend. “He never dictated where we should go, but he knew that Metro State had smaller class sizes and that you got to know your professors one-on-one. Janis and Darwin went for the same reason I did, the ROTC programs are wonderful, there are tons of classes to choose from and you’re in downtown Denver on this beautiful campus.”

Family matters Pushing toward its 50th anniversary, Metro State is now of an age where legacy status is starting to matter. In “college-speak” a legacy is a prospective student or current student with a family member who attends or graduated from the same college. Traditionally colleges and universities (even fraternities and sororities) favored legacies for admission. The reasons range from assuming family members share characteristics, which make them good institutional fits, to cultivating donations from wealthy alumni parents by admitting offspring.

“We have parents going to school with their kids at the same time and graduating at the same time.” ‑Alumni Association Executive Director Mark Jastorff

A recent study by a researcher at Harvard University demonstrated that legacy preferences haven’t disappeared with freshman beanies. Harvard doctoral student, Michael Hurwitz, showed that at 30 highly selective colleges, legacy

status conferred a 23.3 percentagepoint admission advantage. Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and author of the book, “Affirmative Action for the Rich: Legacy Preferences in College Admissions,” has derided the practice, which favors students from families with strong educational or affluent backgrounds as “fundamentally unfair.” Though Metro State’s modified open-enrollment policy (legacy status has absolutely no bearing on getting into Metro State) makes it a profoundly different college from elite independents— the Harvards and Princetons of the world—the College nonetheless tracks legacy relationships on students’ applications for admission. The application asks: “List any family who has attended Metro State, name and relationship.” It turns out, most applicants don’t answer the question, says Office of Institutional Research Director Ellen Boswell (’77), but the numbers are still illuminating. In fall 2000 Metro State had 826 students who provided legacy information or 4.67 percent of the student body. Fall 2010 saw 1,951 students or 8.15 percent indicate their continued on page 16

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Professor Peggy O’Neill-Jones (far right), while not a Metro State graduate herself, is responsible for her two daughters, a sister, a son in-law and a step grandson choosing Metro State. (l to r) Kerry Jones (’02), Anne O’Neill (’07), Jack Wagy, Kelly Jones-Wagy (’05). Not shown: grandson Keith Jones.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

(l to r) Roy Alexander (‘74) and his son Ian, who’s studying electrical engineering technology, aren’t the only family members with Metro State ties. Two of Roy’s siblings as well as his mother in-law earned their degrees here.

Program housed at the College. “My girls could have gone anywhere, but they chose Metro State.”

Educating Colorado families Because of the College’s accommodating admission policies and diversity across age, ethnicity and socio-economics, at Metro State the word “legacy” connotes something more egalitarian and meritocratic than it might at a school with different demographics. Instead of perpetuating the privileges of the rich and haute bourgeoisie, Metro State is promoting a legacy of social mobility that looks a lot like the American dream.

legacy status. Either students are more willing to share their family connections on admission applications, or there are more legacies going to Metro State. That there are more students with Metro State histories makes perfect sense: With the golden anniversary looming, Metro State has enough years behind it to have matriculated several generations of Coloradans—Boomers, Xers and Millennials, not to mention nontraditional students harkening back to the Greatest or Silent Generations. It’s not unthinkable that some of today’s students have received Rowdy nudges from enthusiastic alumni grandparents. “Anecdotally, over the years working with students, I have encountered quite a few who tell me, for instance, that their mom, dad, brother, sister, etc., also attends or attended here,” says Director of Admissions and Outreach Vaughn Toland. “This gave me the impression that it’s fairly common for family members to attend here as well.”

brand, its history can play a role. When multiple siblings or multi-generations from the same family select Metro State, it sends a powerful message: Suddenly Metro State isn’t just a college of opportunity, it’s a college of choice.

“My dad went here, my grandma went here, my aunt and uncles. I used to come to Metro State basketball games with my dad.” ‑student Ian Alexander

“Two of my daughters went to Metro State,” says Peggy O’Neill-Jones, professor of technical communication and media production who directs the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Western Region

When Roy Alexander (’74, accounting) immigrated to the United States from Grenada, he lived with his great aunt in Northeast Denver for nine months while planning his next move. Anxious for a higher education and lacking a car, he took the advice of a cousin and enrolled at Metro State. “I could get there by public transportation, it was affordable and good quality,” Alexander says, “and that’s all it took for me to end up there.” Like many of his classmates, Alexander balanced work with his pursuit of an accounting degree. He landed his first post-college job at then-Big Eight accounting firm Touche Ross (now Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited), after one of his professors, Russell Bean, chided him for not attending the on-campus recruiting sessions. “He said, ‘Come to my office and I’ll give you business cards for a few of the big CPA firms. Just call them and don’t be afraid to use my name.’ “I did call and interviewed with three of them and got three offers. If Dr. Bean continued on page 18

As the College looks to position itself for the near future and further refine its

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

hadn’t seen potential in me, he wouldn’t have given me those cards. Whenever I speak—and I recently was the keynote speaker at the Metro State scholarship awards dinner—I try to mention him.” Today Alexander is a heavily involved community leader and the former chief executive officer and executive director of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority—as well as the father of current Metro State senior, Ian Alexander, an electrical engineering technology major who transferred to the College after a year at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.

“The family legacy here is big,” Ian explains of his decision to transfer. “My dad went here, my grandma went here, my aunt and uncles. I used to come to Metro State basketball games with my dad. I was homesick. I have several friends here at Metro State and I wanted to be at school with people I knew.”

The Salazar family, too, has a strong legacy at Metro State. As a young woman, Hope Hernandez-Salazar (’78, education and Spanish), the wife of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, aspired to be the first person from her family to graduate from college. Though her mom supported

In addition to Ian, two of Alexander’s siblings, Claudia Alexander Samuel (’90) and Ivor Alexander (’90) of the Denverbased engineering firm, Samuel

“My experience there gave me the ability to recommend Metro State to other family members who changed their lives, my sister, nephew and now my daughter, all of them might not have completed or continued their educations without Metro State.” -Hope Hernandez-Salazar (’78)

Engineering, graduated from Metro State, as did his mother-in-law, Arcenia Davis (’76). Other relatives, including Alexander’s wife Sheryl, have taken classes at the College.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

A strong legacy: Hope Hernandez-Salazar (’78) and her daughter Andrea are just two of several Salazar family members who have graduated from or are attending Metro State.

her decision, her father took the traditional position, “You’re just a girl. Why do you need a college degree?” Since Salazar’s graduation, her sister Suzanne Yamashita (‘94) and nephew Gabriel Salazar (‘03) have graduated from the College, and her youngest daughter, Andrea, is well into her hospitality, tourism and events management studies. “It was close to home and convenient. My first semester there I was pregnant with my daughter,” Andrea explains. “I decided to continue because I did so well and I liked the campus and the people and there are so many choices; you can do anything you want at Metro State.” “My experience there,” Salazar says, “gave me the ability to recommend Metro State to other family members who changed their lives, my sister, nephew and now my daughter, all of them might not have completed or continued their educations without Metro State.”

The ties that bind When Anne O’Neill accepted her diploma from her sister Peggy O’Neill-Jones in spring 2007 there were probably few dry eyes on the dais. “That was probably one of the proudest moments of my life,” she says. “We had a $20 bet on who was going to start crying first. It was way fun and way special.” O’Neill had spent 21 years working in myriad high-level positions ranging from oil accounting to owning her own business to sales and marketing, and what she liked most about these positions was planning events. Presented with a chance to reinvent her life (“that’s Latin for, I got a divorce,” she says), O’Neill, sitting in her sister’s Metro State office, decided to get a hospitality, tourism and events management degree, a degree she

has since leveraged into a career as an account manager at The Meeting Edge. (Read this issue’s Ask an Alum by Anne O’Neill on p. 25.) “We’re practically the Metro State family,” she jokes. Her niece and O’Neill-Jones’ daughter, Kerry Jones (’02), who went on to get a master’s in mechanical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and now is a quality assurance engineer for Belle Bonfils Memorial Blood Bank, helped O’Neill get through math at Metro State. Kelly Jones-Wagy (’05), O’Neill-Jones’ second daughter, earned a degree in education and history and currently teaches social studies at Overland High

“We’re practically the Metro State family.” -Anne O’Neill (’07)

School. Now her husband, Jack Wagy, after two tours in Iraq, is a Metro State accounting major. O’Neill-Jones’ step grandson, Keith, is also attending Metro State. Mark Jastorff, Metro State’s executive director of the alumni association, is interested in legacy stories like the O’Neills and the Joneses, because not only do they shape the College’s narrative, they also represent alumni ties that are potentially tighter than those of one-off grads. “Legacies have different levels of loyalties in fundraising, legislative advocacy and recruitment,” Jastorff says. “There is a much stronger sense of loyalty not just because of what the College did for you, but because of what it did for your mom or your brother. If we can identify those folks, we can give

them things to do and they can tell us what they want to see.” Anne O’Neill is a case in point. A member of the Metro State Alumni Association, O’Neill is teaching in hospitality, tourism and events management this fall as an affiliate professor. “I don’t want to understate this, but Metro State changed my life,” she says. “I’ve tried really hard to give back. They gave me an education when my window of opportunity had closed on many things. The teachers and staff and institution gave me a leg up. And, my sister, she’s my biggest supporter.”

Birds of a feather The Office of Alumni Relations is in the process of launching a Birds of a Feather Legacy Program to collect better data on legacies as well as celebrate the College’s unique legacy tradition. “We have parents going to school with their kids at the same time and graduating at the same time,” he says, “and we want to celebrate that.” Alumni Relations will be instituting a Family of the Year recognition program and are considering ways to honor legacy enrollments at Freshman Orientation and other events. The alumni board by-laws define an alum as anyone who has taken a class at Metro State. “One out of every four citizens in Colorado has had a class at Metro State,” Jastorff says. That’s a gigantic web and we need to capitalize on that.”

•

Editor’s note: Have a legacy story of your own? Share it at www.mscd.edu/alumni/birdsofafeather.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

On equal footing By Julie lancaster

Metro Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Access Center doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just provide assistance to students with disabilities, it empowers them.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Wayne Marshall (’07) credits the Access Center with his career at the Colorado Center for the Blind.

When Wayne Marshall (’07, human services) attended college for the first time, he was fully sighted. After earning an associate’s degree in communications at St. Louis Community College, he worked for the phone company for a few years. But his vision was deteriorating due to the genetic condition retinitis pigmentosa, and he realized he needed to change careers. By the time he enrolled at Metro State in 2005, he was considered legally blind. “I knew that I needed some help figuring this out,” he says. Metro State’s Access Center for Disability Accommodations and Adaptive Technology equipped Marshall with screen-reading (text-to-speech) technology to access instructional materials and testing accommodations (a reader/scribe to read him the test questions and write his answers). “The Access Center was very resourceful in helping me,” he says. “I gained a lot of valuable experience that assisted me not only with my education but also in my professional career.” Today Marshall is a case manager and senior services facilitator at the Colorado Center for the Blind.

Follow the yellow tile Located in the Auraria Library at the far end of a yellow rubber tile pathway that starts near the library entrance—a visual guide and a tactile one for those using canes—the Access Center is a small department whose work permeates the campus and has repercussions far beyond.

Assistant Director Greg Root says there’s a growing population of veterans with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To use the Access Center’s services, students must identify themselves as having a disability as outlined in the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Since ADA provisions are different from those that govern K-12 schools, the center helps high school students make the transition through its annual STEP event, in which students visit campus to learn about adaptive technology. The center also presents a 10-week adaptive technology class for high schoolers. Led by Director Greg Sullivan, the staff includes seven employees plus part-time reader/scribes, student workers and student interns. This team works with some 1,300 Metro State students with disabilities each semester—a population that is shifting, according to Greg Root, Access Center assistant director. “Today 85 to 90 percent of the students we serve have hidden disabilities, and

may have difficulty with reading, writing and taking tests,” says Root. “And it’s not just learning disabilities and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder); there is a growing segment of mental illnesses such as TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), especially with our returning vets.” continued on page 22

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

According to adaptive technology specialist Selim Ozi, Metro State is the “know-how” school in Colorado and the entire Rocky Mountain area for accessibility. “The Access Center provides assistive technology training to the Rocky Mountain States Disability Services Consortium, Denver Public Schools, University of Colorado Denver and Community College of Denver. We also provide computer access to all students on campus, not just the Metro students. We really are on top of this.” In addition to the technology available at the center itself, the staff has installed assistive technology on 400 student laptops and in all 12 of the College’s computer labs. In spring 2012, the center will launch Metro State’s own “virtual desktop” for students with disabilities—a capability currently offered only by such large universities as Stanford, Harvard and MIT. It will enable students to log on and access assistive technology from anywhere in the world. Root credits the College’s commitment to accessibility as a primary reason for Metro State’s prominence in this area. “We get a great deal of support from this institution,” he says, “and that is reflected in what students have available to them.” Another reason, according to Root, is that most schools don’t have an IT professional like Ozi working as an adaptive technology specialist. Ozi is quick to add that the center’s dedicated student workers help him stay abreast of the latest technology.

Universal Design for Learning With course material often presented in relatively inaccessible formats—did you know PDFs are inaccessible to screen-reading software?—the center’s newest passion is educating faculty in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a set of inclusive instructional strategies to benefit a broad range of learners, including students with disabilities, without compromising Jennifer Maxwell: Adaptive technology provides an equal footing for her academic success. 22

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

academic standards. It’s the classroom equivalent to the architectural principles that led to curb cuts and ramps. The Access Center offers extensive UDL resources and training for faculty. “We show them, for example,” Ozi says, “that making a PowerPoint file accessible takes five more minutes at the beginning, whereas modifying a file after the fact can take one and a half hours.” Ozi and his team work with approximately 700 print-disabled students per semester. They cut, scan and edit textbooks into alternative formats and do their best to tackle inaccessible handouts, PowerPoints, PDFs and library e-reserves. Gradually, more and more faculty members are learning how to provide accessible documents from the get-go, Ozi adds. Besides magnification and read-aloud technology, the center provides stateof-the-art software that highlights and pronounces words onscreen one at a time and converts text to audio files. Another technology produces text from a student’s dictation, and a “smart pen” records lectures and turns handwritten notes into audio files.

With the help of adaptive technology specialist Selim Ozi, the Access Center provides training to other institutions and school districts.

“In the olden days you were limited to hard-copy Braille documents that were large and cumbersome to carry around,” says Jennifer Maxwell, a junior computer science major. She has cerebral palsy and blindness and uses a power chair. She has been using accommodations her whole life. Adaptive technology “really provides an equal footing in terms of my academic success,” Maxwell says. An Access Center intern, she hopes to work in the area of adaptive technology and higher education. “I have attended other schools and Metro State is exceptionally efficient and well structured as far as getting me the accommodations, teaching me about what tools I may not be using but could be using, and empowering me to manage it myself,” she says.

•

“Receiving the scholarship was my ‘light bulb’ that I’m doing the right thing and I’m on the right path.” – Lesley Williams Criminal justice and criminology major Recipient, Pre-Law Endowed Scholarship, funded by Rob (’97) and Lee Ann Morrill

Thanks to the generosity of Metro State supporters like the Morrills, Lesley Williams, a 36-year-old single mother, and other students are able to continue their education at Metro State. Please visit www.mscd.edu/giving/donors to see the complete list of individuals, corporations and foundations who make up our Donor Honor Roll for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Alumni Times /// Alumni News and Events

Board adds four top-notch alumni

ore than 50 alumni and friends gathered on Auraria’s Ninth Street Historic Park on Sept. 9 for the 2011 Metropolitan State College of Denver Alumni Association annual meeting. They found good conversation, good food and good company—along with a backdrop of beautiful fall-like weather, and the seventh annual Denver Food and Wine Classic. The executive director of the Alumni Association, Mark Jastorff, welcomed attendees and spoke about new initiatives, including a new student alumni association and a campus employee-alumni group. Following remarks by Metro State President Stephen Jordan and Alumni Association President Jim Garrison, alumni voted in four new board members. Making the transition from alumni faculty representative to a full appointment to the board, Antonio (Tony) Ledesma, Ph.D. (’72, English), longtime associate professor of human services for Metro State, holds a number of outstanding faculty and service awards. With two master’s degrees, one in social work and one in counseling psychology and a Ph.D. in human communication from the University of Denver, Ledesma

has a number of choices for alumni volunteering at his various alma maters, yet he chose Metro State. “When I learned about the opening on Metro State’s alumni board, I embraced the chance to be an active part of the Metro State alumni community. I see both my teaching and my board membership as an important opportunity to serve and give back.” Recently bestowed the 2011 Alumni Recognition Making a Difference award for his contributions to the community, Hon. Chris Melonakis (’74, economics) is also delighted to join the board. “I’m reaching the end of my career and welcome the chance to give back to my college while I still have the energy and resources to do so,” says Melonakis. As an Adams County district judge (in the 17th Judicial District) since 1998, Melonakis is no stranger to public service. Helping to form the Integrated Family Drug Court to combat drug addiction among mothers of young children is but one of his many past projects. In turning his time and attention to the board, he feels it is “vital that the alumni board works to insure that the College maintains continuity in our identity as an urban school with a rich heritage of providing an opportunity to people who might otherwise have little or no chance for a college education.”

By Vonalda Utterback (’92) Joseph Sanchez (’06, mechanical engineering technology), a mechanical engineer with Northrop Grumman Corp. in Aurora is happy to strengthen his connection to Metro State through service on the alumni board. Sanchez has a history of involvement in cocurricular programs and activism as a student, so his appointment as an alumni board member seems a natural fit. “In 2006 I was surprised and honored to receive the Stephan M. Hay Leadership Award, given to the outstanding student who creates meaningful changes in the lives of other students at the College,” he says. “I will help on the alumni board wherever I am needed, but I would like to be involved in reaching out to recent alumni, as well as promoting the association to new graduates, and finding additional ways to help alumni after graduation.” Michael Miera (’80, bilingual studies) was honored as Metro State’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2011. Miera has strong ties to the College, having worked in Metro State’s Office of Admissions for 20 years. Currently City and County of Denver community development representative for the Office of Economic Development, he is most proud of 10 years ago helping found the La Raza Youth Leadership Conference Program, which presents an annual conference and five-month leadership training for Latino/a youth. “I was motivated to serve on the alumni board after I received the Distinguished Alumni Award,” says Miera. “Metro State has had a very positive impact on my life. I want to give something back to the college.”

•

New board members (l to r): Hon. Chris Melonakis (’74), Antonio Ledesma (’72), Joseph Sanchez (’06) and Michael Miera (’80). 24

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Do you have Metro State memorabilia that you’d be willing to part with? Search your closets, attic, chests, dungeons— wherever you store your old college stuff— and send it to us for safe keeping. Be it old yearbooks, campus newspapers, letter sweaters or jackets, t-shirts, pins, hats, anything having to do with Metro State at any stage in its history, we’re interested. If you live in the Denver area, just call the Alumni Office at 303-556-8320 and we will arrange to pick it up. If you live out of the area, pop it in the mail to: Metropolitan State College of Denver Alumni Relations Campus Box 11 PO Box 173362 Denver, CO 80217-3362 Whatever you do, don’t throw your Metro State memorabilia away; donate it to us!

Alumni Times

Donate your Metro State memorabilia!

ASK AN ALUM Make holiday parties work for you

By Anne O’Neill

Hard to believe, Thanksgiving will soon be here, then full swing into the holidays— that means holiday parties, receptions and a good time to network and meet new people. Associations, charities, colleagues, customers and vendors will be inviting you to their holiday soirée. Whether you own a business, work for a business, have a job or are looking for a job, holiday parties are always a great time to network and market yourself. You never know when you will meet your next employer or employee, vendor or customer. Be prepared. If you are accepting an invitation from a company or association holiday party, expect nametags. Nametags are useful to remember names and find some common ground. Nametags are worn as high as possible on the right shoulder, making it easy to read when shaking hands. When you shake hands, your eyes go to the right. Keep this in mind when choosing your outfit. Be wary of drinking alcohol, many a career or future career have been derailed by one too many. A cocktail (besides being delicious) is a good prop, something to do with your hands. It is a good icebreaker, to start a conversation or get someone’s attention. For example, “I was just going to get a drink, would you like to join me?” If this is an established relationship, you can always say: “Can I get you a drink?” Again, moderation in all things, order a tall drink with ice, it will last longer, or alternate with nonalcoholic drinks. A party is not the time to hand out business cards to everyone, but have a few with you just in case. Always have your elevator speech. Someone is bound to ask what you do for a living—be ready to tell them in 30 seconds your major areas, expertise or selling points. I always have trouble with this; I am a meeting and association manager. I usually follow mine with, “I did not know a job like that existed!” We all laugh, but at least I got the conversation started. Networking is a two-way conversation. Start by asking them what they do. People usually want to talk about themselves. This gives you a good idea of what is important to them and gives you common ground to start a conversation that leads to a relationship. Most of all be yourself and be sincere. Keep moving; if a conversation has drawn to a natural conclusion, be polite, excuse yourself and move on. Follow-up. No job is finished until the paper work is completed. If you found someone interesting, a good contact or you had something in common, send a note or an email. Yes, emails are acceptable now. It should be short, sweet and to the point. For example, “It was so nice to meet you at the company holiday party; I loved your story about your children. Let’s stay in touch. I will call you next week for coffee.” Finally, be sure and follow through .

•

An account manager at The Meeting Edge®, Anne O’Neill (’97, hospitality management and event planning) has more than 20 years of diverse business experience. She is also an affiliate faculty member in Metro State’s Hospitality, Tourism and Events Department and has served on the alumni association board since 2010. Read about her and her family of Metro State students and grads in “A Metro State family affair,” p. 14.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

Alumni Times /// Alumni News and Events

Help your alumni association move one step closer to paperless communication. Simply go to www.mscd.edu/alumni and update your profile with your email address. And please also share what you’ve been doing since graduation while you’re there. We promise to only use your information for Metro State purposes such as newsletters or evites.

Custom career services for Metro State alumni is Day’s goal By Doug McPherson

indsey Day is going to start off with a secret: If she wasn’t doing her current job (as the new assistant director for alumni career services in the Metro State Alumni Association) she’d either be a yoga instructor or a wedding singer. “I guess that’s not a secret anymore,” Day says with a smile. Even though she’s in career services, she admits choosing her own career was tough. “As a child I was always curious; I had my hands in all kinds of activities, and as I grew older I got stressed about choosing one, singular career path. There were so many exciting options; choosing one felt like I was closing the door on so many others.” Maybe going through that angst was good training for career services work. Regardless, she says she’s always been interested in education, but never wanted to be a teacher, so higher education fit perfectly.

“I’ve been very fortunate to find career services,” she says. “My job is to learn about different career paths and help students and alumni find a career that’s right for them. Even though I ultimately committed to one field, I’ve found a career that values my curiosity and diverse interests.” Day, who hails from Gainesville, Fla., first became interested in higher education administration as an undergraduate at Boston College

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

where she’d give campus tours to prospective students, which eventually led her to her first job as a graduate admissions counselor. That job, she explains, was a natural transition to career services. “I began to understand both the recruiter’s perspective and the common mistakes students make on their applications.” Day ended up at the University of Georgia where she earned a master’s in college student affairs administration. During her studies there she landed an internship in Metro State’s New Student OrientationOffice last summer. “I fell in love with Denver and was thrilled by the chance to come back. To me, Denver is the perfect city with all the beauty, seasons and culture of the northeast for a fraction of the price.” In her new position, Day says she wants to provide professional growth opportunities specifically geared for Metro State alumni that might include educational pieces such as career topic webinars or networking opportunities. She adds that so far she’s learned Metro State alumni want different career development resources than traditional undergraduate students. “Resources like information on changing careers, layoffs or re-entering the workforce, but I’m waiting until I hear more from alums before I start anything specific. I’m here to serve them, so I am happy to take these programs in whatever directions they see fit.”

•

Mark Jastorff

Janell Lindsey

Meghan Hartvigson (’10)

Lindsey Day

Gini Mennenga

Director of Alumni Relations and Executive Director of the Alumni Association 303-352-7207 mjastorf@mscd.edu

Director of Special Initiatives for Alumni Relations and Enrollment Services 303-556-6344 lindseja@mscd.edu

Alumni Engagement Coordinator 303.556.4076 mhartvig@mscd.edu

Assistant Director for Alumni Career Services 303-556-6934 lday8@mscd.edu

Administrative Assistant 303-556-8320 vmille17@mscd.edu

Alumni Times

YOUR METRO STATE ALUMNI REL ATIONS STAFF:

Mailing Address: Office of Alumni Relations • Campus Box 11 • P.O. Box 173362 • Denver, CO 80217-3362 Campus Location: 1059 Ninth Street Park • Phone: 303.556.8320 Visit us on the Web: www.mscd.edu/alumni

Metro State Alumni Association 2011-12 Board of Directors President Jim Garrison (’80, Economics) VICE PRESIDENT Cassandra Johnson (’04, Management) SECRETARY Victoria Hannu (’84, Computer and Management Science) TREASURER Judy George (’01, Business Management) PAST PRESIDENT and BOARD OF TRUSTEES REPRESENTATIVE Eric Peterson (’99, Marketing) Foundation Board Representative Rob Morrill (’97, Political Science) Scott Applegate (’96, Finance) /// Piper Billups,

Official college ring collection The official Metro State ring collection, designed for and by alumni, is a unique and lasting symbol of your lifelong connection to your alma mater. Part of the proceeds from ring sales benefit Metro State Alumni Association programs and student scholarships. If you would like to book a consultation, contact Shelley McClellan from Jostens at 303-921-6662.

•

(’99, Marketing) /// Marisol Enriquez (’99, Hospitality, Meeting and Travel Administration) /// Danyette Hardin (’07, Management) /// Antonio Ledesma, Ph.D. (’72, English) /// Brad McQueen (’95, Accounting) /// Hon. Chris Melonakis (’74, Economics) /// Michael Miera (’80, Bilingual Studies) /// RC Montoya (’93, Technical Communication) /// Chuck Moss (’88, Finance) /// Anne O’Neill (’07, Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management) /// Wendy Petersen (’89, Hospitality, Meeting and Travel Administration) /// Ron Ramirez (’94, Hospitality, Meeting and Travel Administration) /// Joseph Sanchez (’06, Mechanical Engineering Technology) /// Judy Shafer (’95/97, English) /// John Silva, (’91, Finance) /// Sterling “Noah” Steingraeber (’08, Marketing) /// Metza Templeton, (’07, Management) Classified Staff Representative /// Aerospace Science Chair Jeffrey Forrest, Ph.D. (‘91, Aerospace Science) Faculty Representative /// SGA President Jessie Altum, Student Representative.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

CLASS ACTS Class Acts highlights the latest news from Metro State alumni. To submit your information for publication, go to www.mscd.edu/alumni and click on Update Your Info. Jesus John Hernandez (’71, aerospace) is a real estate broker and owner of John Hernandez Realty in Denver. Dan Hopper (’75, education) has been a real estate broker since 1985, working with Remax Alliance in Westminster, Colo. Ray Pezolt (’70, aerospace) is director of operations for Pinkerton Investigations in Aurora, responsible for investigations in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming. Jesse J. Taylor Jr. (’79, accounting) is an accountant and owner of Taylor Tax Service in Lakewood. Taylor sold the tax portion of his business in 2010 and still provides accounting, sales tax preparation and payroll services.

Claude J. Christensen (’80, land use) is mayor of Sadieville, Ky. Kevin N. Pyle (’85, electrical engineering technology) is a systems engineering senior manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver. Pyle holds a master’s in systems management from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in engineering from the University of Denver, where he is also an adjunct professor in space systems engineering. William J. Slater (’88, hospitality, meeting and travel administration) is the owner of Millie’s Restaurant & Shopping Village in Delavan, Wis. Cathy S. Wright (’89, accounting) is the director of control and emerging risk for the financial services company Citi in O’Fallon, Mo. Wright passed the CPA exam in July 1989 and received her certificate in 1990.

Erin Chalmers (’98, journalism), is director of alumni relations and annual giving at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga. She holds a master’s of professional studies from the University of Denver. John Gaskell (’98, biology) is a science teacher for the Singapore American School in Singapore. Bridgette Everhart Hardin Ph.D. ( ’92, speech/psychology) is assistant provost for continuous improvement at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Claire Huckfeldt (’93, computer management systems) lives in Denver and has worked as an analyst and programmer for federal, state and local governments in Colorado, and for Lockheed Martin. USAF Maj. Gregg W. Jerome (‘99, management) is commander of the Presidential Logistics Squadron (Air Force One) at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Geraldine Madrid-Davis (’92, anthropology) is the director of financial security and consumer affairs for the AARP in Washington D.C. Chanda Turnbull (’96, psychology) is an associate human resources professional for the City and County of Denver/Civil Service Commission. She holds master’s degrees in counseling psychology and industrial/ organizational psychology.

Russell Agnew (’05, human performance and sport) is a senior advisor/broker with Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors in Denver. Gayle (Huston) Bashor (’08, criminal justice) is an executive liaison with the State of Colorado and is pursuing a master’s of science in legal administration at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

CLASS ACTS Alumni Times

Joe Fields (’07, mechanical engineering technology) is a mechanical engineer with the RMH Group, Inc., a consulting engineering firm in Lakewood, Colo. Fields worked on the design of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems for Metro State’s Student Success Building. Lee M. Gaines (’01, history) is pursuing a graduate degree in history at the University of Colorado Denver. Kristin Hanson (’08, history) is attending the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Adam Lee (’02, criminal justice) is based in Fort Belvoir, Va. and conducts felony investigations and provides protective security services for the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff. He was deployed to Iraq in 2005. In 2008, he became a federal agent. He’s currently serving a tour in South Korea. Vanesa Lopez (’06, modern languages) is a Spanish teacher and translator for the Adams 12 School District in Thornton, Colo. and is planning to pursue a master’s degree in international affairs at the University of Denver. Teresita McCarthy (’07, behavioral science) is a master’s candidate in San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science. Nicholas Miller (’06, criminal justice) started the Colorado Rush Rugby Football Club in 2010. Lauren Royall (’04, English) is a federal police dispatcher for the Federal Protective Service, the law enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security. She assists federal police officers, dispatches police and local emergency services, and aids officers in their duties. She lives in Brighton, Colo. Zeru A. Tige (’09, management) is an access controller for G4S, an international security company with an office in Denver. Kathleen L. Turner (’03, biology) is a freelance writer and owner of www.whitespace-llc.com in Tampa, Fla.

Franky “Frank” Anderson (’11, English) is pursuing his master’s degree in sociology at San Diego State University. Alex Englander (’10, biology/chemistry) is a professional research assistant at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Anthony Jammal James (’11, management) is a student at Regis University in Denver. Joe Osborne (’11, criminal justice) is a campus safety officer at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood.

SHARON LOY

Curl up with a good book in Nebraska Loy (’99, individualized degree), a divorced mom of three and grandmother of four, knows the area well, having lived near Ravenna while raising her family. She purchased the historic 1907 building in 2009 after staying there during an annual reunion with friends.

If traveling to central Nebraska is in your future, you may need a place to rest your weary head. If so, The Printed Page B & B, Sharon Loy’s bed and breakfast in Ravenna, could be just your ticket.

Although neither her Metro State degree nor her work experience—15 years with the Boulder Clerk and Recorder’s Office and stints working with two study-abroad programs, including Metro State’s—included hospitality experience, “I just fell in love with the house,” says the Colorado native. “It was for sale, and it was a great price when compared to Colorado real estate.”

Two years later, Loy, 68, finds it challenging to host and maintain a historic home on her own. “There are so many things to do!” Yet she clearly enjoys the travelers who stay at her Victorian six-bedroom inn, many of whom return for their own family reunions, or come to view the area’s breathtaking sandhill crane migration. Loy renovated the home, formerly Aunt Betty’s Bed and Breakfast, and renamed it The Printed Page. “It’s named after a favorite bookstore of mine in Boulder,” explains Loy, a confirmed bibliophile. “Come here, forget all your troubles, curl up with a good book, and relax.”

–Vonalda Utterback (’92)

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

The Rowdy Report /// Roadrunner Sports

Exceeding expectations By Doug McPherson

Looking back nearly 10 years to 2002, the way some players and the coach remember it, Metro State’s basketball team was an unlikely candidate to hoist the NCAA national championship trophy. “It was a team that came through a lot of self doubt to vie for the title,” says Mike Dunlap, the team’s head coach at the time. “We knew it was going to be difficult to march through the tournament and win it. We were the underdog on national TV against a team (Kentucky Wesleyan) that had a strong tradition of winning.”

says Joe Kelly, a team member. “We were tight … we couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn.” And then in the locker room minutes before the opening jump ball, nerves were palpable. “It was a double whammy for the nervous system: a national championship on the line and the first nationally televised game for many of us,” Kelly says. In fact, they were so nervous that Dunlap ditched the usual pre-game talk in favor of some simple and fun exercises to release the tension.

One of the team’s stars, Patrick Mutombo, agrees, “Nobody expected us to win.”

Add to the nerves the fact that the team had stumbled leading up to the NCAA tournament and lost in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament.

Even on the day of the game, the question marks still hovered. “The pre-game warm up was a disaster— possibly the worst pre-game shoot around in my two years at Metro State,”

But as it turns out, that loss was a blessing in disguise. “Winning sometimes covers things up and losing sometimes reveals weaknesses,” Dunlap says. “That was the case in this instance. We met several times and uncovered

Former Head Coach Mike Dunlap The 2001-02 men’s basketball team celebrates its 80-72 win over Kentucky Wesleyan to take the NCAA championshiop. 30 Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

some trust and communications issues that helped us perform the way we needed to perform.” And perform they did, cranking out six consecutive wins and taking out Kentucky Wesleyan 80-72 to capture the title on March 23, 2002 in Evansville, Ind. That performance led to the induction of the team and Dunlap into Metro State’s Sports Hall of Fame in August. “The win was a tribute to the base character of the team members,” Dunlap says. “They had a steel character and they weren’t easily intimated by any other team. They were resilient.” But it wasn’t just the team or its resilience that made the season a success. Dunlap and his players are quick to share the spoils with those outside the limelight. “The president at the time, Dr. (Sheila) Kaplan, increased the budget so the money was there,” Dunlap says. “Joe

Arcese (vice president of administration from 1989 to 2002, also inducted into the Hall of Fame in August) and Joan McDermott (Metro State’s athletic director) were both incredibly great. There was great leadership to make the ground fertile for a championship.”

Metro state athletics corporate sponsors

As for what that season means in retrospect, Dunlap says this: “I believe what’s important about the win … is that the light shined on the College. The win was a gateway to others understanding the great things that were going on at Metro State, that we drew attention to a fine college.” Still, players took home personal and life lessons, too. Mutombo was one. “I was told early on that I shouldn’t play basketball or dream about being successful playing the game. It confirms what I’ve always believed: there’s a story inside each one of us waiting to be told. Those who succeed are the ones who don’t allow other people to stop them from writing their story.”

•

Into the Hall Metro State’s Sports Hall of Fame grew by 17 people in August. Inducted were: The 2001-02 men’s basketball team – It brought home the school’s second national championship in 2002. Members were: Lee Bethea, Mike Buggs, Chris Ford, Daniel George, Joe Kelly, Luke Kendall, Patrick Mutombo, Ryon Nickle, Ben Ortner, Clayton Smith, Lester Strong, O.J. Thomas and Mark Worthington. Mike Dunlap – Men’s head basketball coach from 1997 to 2006, who guided Metro State to two national championships, four RMAC regular season championships, six RMAC tournament championships and nine NCAA tournament appearances in nine seasons. Stephanie Allen – Women’s basketball player from 1996 to 2000 and the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,732 points. She also holds career records for field goals made (553), field goals attempted (1,453), three-point field goals made (248), three-point field goals attempted (674) and assists (393). Natasha Molock – Women’s basketball player from 2001-2005 who holds the school’s record for steals (455), over 200 more than the second place total. She ranks second in assists with 367 and third in points with 1,301.

Auraria Campus Bookstore Braun’s Bar and Grill CLICK’S COPY CENTER Coach America Hilton garden inn Hotel VQ @ Mile High STUDENT & AUXILIARY SERVICES Boulder running company Inn at auraria Phill Foster & Company Sportline The UPS Store

Joseph Arcese – Vice president of administration from 1989 to 2002, credited for orchestrating the hiring of championship-caliber coaches during his tenure and providing the impetus for Metro State to become a national contender in several sports. Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011 31

Don’t Blink /// A Last Look

ETA for the SSB and hlc... Construction of Metro State’s Student Success Building (SSB), above, and Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC), right, is on time and on budget. The SSB will open this coming March and the HLC in early fall of 2012.

•

Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll FALL 2011

An MBA for Metro

StateGrads

Take the next step

Convenient, Flexible, Online Learn on your schedule, not ours. Choose to study online, or on the Fort Hays State campus in Hays, Kansas. Full-time or part-time... again, your choice! Same great program, same great faculty teaching relevant, up-to-date courses using the latest in user-friendly course delivery methods.

Your Program... Your Specialty. One size does not fit all. That was true when you were a student at Metro State, and it’s true of MBA programs. Choose a concentration that will help you achieve your professional goals.

Market Competitive Tuition*

• Finance • Health Care Management • Human Resource Management • Information Assurance • International Business • Leadership Studies • Management Information Systems • Tourism and Hospitality Management • Health and Human Performance/ Sports Management • General MBA Studies

* Total estimated program tuition; current as of Fall 2011 ** Based on CO in-state residency; non-resident est. tuition $47,188

No Business Degree? No Problem. The Metro State/FHSU partnership offers you a seamless transition into the MBA progam. Begin your MBA while completing the business foundation courses. You do not have to wait!

Fast Track Admissions Requirements • A bachelor’s degree in Business from Metro State College • • Completion of all required admission materials • • Score a 990 or above with the MBA admissions formula: • 200 x undergraduate G.P.A + Official GMAT score = 990 or above

METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE OF DENVER Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

CAMPUS BOX 14 P.O. BOX 173362

PAID Permit 2965 Denver, Colo.

DENVER, CO 80217-3362

Metro State–Colorado’s college of choice One-fifth of undergraduate Coloradans choose Metro State

Tell your friends and family about our academic excellence and affordable cost. Or, if you have career development needs choose from our bachelor’s, master’s and certificate programs.