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Spring 2012
FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE OF DENVER
HIGH-IMPACT EDUCATION PG. 14
CSI Metro State
Radio Days
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spring
2012
Spring 2012 / Volume XXVII / Issue II
///Contents
14
8
11
20
HIGH-IMPACT EDUCATION
9 Answers
CSI METRO STATE
RADIO DAYS
Chicana activist Nita Gonzales ties environment to learning at Escuela Tlatelolco, the dual-language school she heads.
An abandoned car and skeletal remains are among the clues when Metro State students investigate a staged “crime scene,” all in the name of learning.
Nathan Green (’01) and a friend are revolutionizing the “canned” music heard in businesses.
10 On the Job
30 The Rowdy Report
Snail DNA? Alpine permafrost? Undergraduate researchers are gaining experience they can use in jobs or graduate school.
DEPARTMENTS
Undergraduate research plays a key role in preparing Metro State students for careers or graduate school. Students (l to r) Kristen Willingham, Chad Lybarger, Cassandra Shenefelt, Banks Attaway, Matthew Arellano and Michael Kozub worked with Tom Davinroy (right), assistant professor of geography, to assess community expectations related to dog parks in Louisville.
2 Metro Vision
On the cover
Metro State President Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D., believes Metro State is at the tipping point.
3 Metrozoic Era Cupcake entrepreneur Lyla Padden, 12, learns business from Metro State graduate Robert Lanphier.
4 Newsworthy
Metro State grad Jon Robinson heads UMB Colorado, where he has worked for more than 30 years.
24 Alumni Times
Meet Metro State’s new softball and baseball coaches.
32 Don’t Blink Roadrunners ‘hoop’ it up.
The latest news from alumni, Denverarea companies that employ many Metro State grads, tax advice from a graduate and more.
Read the latest news from Metro State. Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
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Metro Vision///Letter from the President Dear Alumni and Friends, “The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire.” This is how author Malcolm Gladwell defines the pivotal moment when many small factors come together to create dramatic change. It’s also what it feels like to be working at Metropolitan State College of Denver in 2012. The Metro State community—faculty, staff, students, alumni, Board of Trustees, donors and friends of the College—has accomplished a heck of a lot over the last few years with very little money. • By the time you receive this magazine, the sustainably built Student Success Building (SSB) will be open. The SSB will provide our students with a convenient, one-stop resource for admissions, financial aid, academic advising, tutoring, cashier and other services. In addition, it will be home to our First Year Success program, which is currently serving approximately 500 freshmen and will ultimately serve all first-time freshmen. The goal of the program is the retention of these students through learning communities and other support activities. The SSB also will centrally house many other administrative offices, increasing the campus’s classroom and office space by 25 percent. • The SSB, too, will extend our reach into the community with our state-of-theart Center for Advanced Visualization and Experiential Analysis (CAVEA), a supercharged conference facility that will allow government and business decision makers to bring people together regionally and globally to solve complex academic, social and business problems. Our faculty will provide expertise to these meetings, and our students will have the opportunity to be trained on the latest decisionmaking tools. • The Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC), which is scheduled to open in the fall, is the recipient of one of the College’s first-ever seven-digit gifts: $1 million from The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. In recognition of this gift, the center’s 5,000-squarefoot conference space will be named The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Conference Center. The HLC is a unique public/private
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Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
ExecUtive Editor Cathy Lucas
partnership that we anticipate will eventually lead to funds for scholarships and financial aid. • Metro State has emerged as a calculus superpower. In the fall of 2010, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) examined more than 200 colleges and universities across the country for factors that improved passing rate, interest in advancing to Calculus II, general interest in continuing math studies, enjoyment of mathematics and confidence in mathematical ability. When the results were tallied, 15 colleges and universities emerged as having particularly strong programs, with Metro State being one of them. In the fall, the association will be sending a team to Metro State to study what makes our Calculus I classes so successful. • This spring, we will graduate more than 50 master’s candidates in professional accountancy, teacher education and social work. • And, we are also looking at the opportunities afforded by our potential name change, should Colorado’s Legislature ratify the bill to rename the College to Metropolitan State University of Denver. Perhaps nothing says that we are an institution to reckon with more than a quote from a representative of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association about Metro State’s aviation program winning the prestigious Loening Trophy: “The award is really about the best aviation program in the country. If you looked at Metro State as a school of law, they went against Harvard, they went against Yale, they went against Princeton and Stanford, and [the Loening evaluators] said Metro State is better. That would be the equivalent.” I’d say that’s some pretty good company and just one more indication that we are reaching the point—our tipping point—of becoming the preeminent, urban land-grant institution we visualized when I became president seven years ago. Please keep in touch. As a graduate, you have a definitive role in our success, and we love to hear and share stories of the incredible achievements of our alumni. Sincerely,
Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D. President, Metro State
Editor Donna Fowler (’80) Associate Editor Sandy Graham Art Director/Designer Julie Strasheim Design/Production Welch Creative Group Graphic Designer Ruth M’Gonigle Photographers Dave Neligh Jessica Taves Julie Strasheim Mark Woolcott METRO MAGAZINE EDITORial BOARD Bridgette Coble, Director of Career Services Donna Fowler (’80), Director of Internal Communications Debora Gilliard, Chair and Professor of Management Mark Jastoroff, Executive Director of the Alumni Association Cathy Lucas, Associate Vice President of Communications and Advancement Lunden MacDonald, Assistant Professor of Spanish Ken Phillips, Chair and Associate Professor of Industrial Design Carmen Sanjurjo, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education Julie Strasheim, Art Director, Creative Services © 2012 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
‘Flour Gal’ Blossoms With Alum’s Guidance
[
By Sandy Graham
]
Twelve-year-old Lyla Padden opened her cupcake business, Flour Gal, just more than a year ago, and she already knows she’s in the right field. “Ever since I was little, I’ve loved to bake,” says Lyla, a sixth-grader at Rocky Heights Middle School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. “I want to do this for the rest of my life.” Lyla launched her business by papering her school and suburban neighborhood with fliers she designed on a computer. Since her first sale last year to her teacher, the business has grown steadily. She offers about 20 kinds of cupcakes priced at $15 to $18 a dozen, depending on the flavor. Even with strong support from her parents, Monica and Andrew, Lyla knew she could use a pro to help Flour Gal flourish. She was among the first students to enroll last fall in the John B. Trueblood E-Coaching Program through the Center for Innovation at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She was matched with mentor Robert Lanphier (’95, communications), owner of Pour Kids, a Denver-area restaurant group. Lanphier jumped at the chance to become an e- (for entrepreneur) coach. “I’ve made pretty much every mistake in the book in my career,” he says. “If I can’t share that with someone, it’s a wasted opportunity.”
Lyla Padden and Robert Lanphier (’95, communications)
The e-coaching program is a collaboration among Metro State; Young Americans Center for Financial Education; John B. Trueblood, president of Trueblood Resources; and Denver-area entrepreneurs. Trueblood, a longtime Metro State supporter, wants to encourage creative young people: “If they can have proper mentors or guides or coaches or whatever you want to call them, it may shorten the entrepreneurial learning curve,” says Trueblood. Mick Jackowski, director of the innovation center, decided to partner with Young Americans Center for Financial Education because of its existing program for entrepreneurs. The center sponsors a youth business competition that provides mentors to the winners in each age group. The Trueblood program matches mentors to other competitors. In addition to Lanphier, three other Metro State graduates—Robert Algeo (’96, management); Pete Dascalos (’78, English); and Thomas Hoch (’92, technical communications)—participate in this program. The mentoring pairs meet at least monthly from October through May. If young business owners complete the program, they receive $150, thanks to Trueblood’s contribution.
Lanphier and Lyla have concentrated on promoting Flour Gal and better analyzing business costs. In addition to monthly meetings, they talk every other week by phone. Her profits go into an account for an iPad and college. She’d like to attend Princeton University. “It’s in New Jersey,” she says. “That’s where the Cake Boss (TLC celebrity baker Buddy Valastro) is from. He’s my hero.”
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Make you hungry for cupcakes? Metro State grads Denon (’01) and Sean (’99) Moore own Cake Crumbs bakery and the wildly popular Denver Cupcake Truck. Support fellow grads and eat your cupcake, too! www.cake-crumbs.com Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
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Newsworthy/// College News
Metro State name change at Legislature
Flight team feted at Loening Trophy ceremony
We’re one step closer!
Metro State has joined the likes of Harvard and Stanford with the awarding of the prestigious Loening Trophy to the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science and the Precision Flight Team at a ceremony held on campus Jan. 30.
Senate Bill 12-148, which would change Metropolitan State College of Denver’s name to Metropolitan State University of Denver, was introduced in the Colorado Legislature on Feb. 8—just six days after the Board of Trustees voted 6-3 to approve the new name. If passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the new name will be implemented in the 2012-13 academic year. “What was most important to me was to increase the value of degrees for students today and all alumni and students into the future,” says Metro State President Stephen Jordan. The three votes against the name-change motion reflected concerns regarding the limitations of an agreement with the University of Denver (DU) that was the result of DU’s objections to the name Denver State University, which Metro State proposed during last year’s legislative session. Stay on top of the bill’s progress at www.mscd.edu/namechange.
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Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center receives $1 million gift The Metro State Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC) has received its largest gift to date: $1 million from The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. In recognition of the gift, Metro State will name the HLC’s 5,000-square-foot meeting space The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Conference Center.
The day was proclaimed Metro State Aviation Aerospace Day by the Denver City Council, and the team was also recognized by the Colorado General Assembly. “There are only two Colorado schools to win the Loening Trophy: the Air Force Academy and now Metro State,” says Metro State President Stephen Jordan. Peter Bro, a representative of the National Intercollegiate Flying Association, who presented the trophy, said the team earned the honor and its members “are the ambassadors of the future of aviation.” The Loening Trophy, first awarded in 1929, recognizes excellence in academics, community involvement, aviation skills, safety and an ability to advance the profession.
When it opens in fall 2012, the HLC will train students studying hospitality, tourism and events using the adjacent SpringHill Suites™ by Marriott hotel as a learning laboratory. The $45 million center will be one of only 10 such training facilities on a college campus in the United States.
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Student Success Building to open When students return to campus after spring break on March 26, they’ll be coming back to a big, shiny, new building that will house most of Metro State’s student services in one location. Among the offices that are moving to the Student Success Building are all enrollment services, financial aid, Alumni Relations (see page 26) and academic advising. The president will also move to the new building, allowing for more classrooms at the spacestrapped Auraria Campus. Go to www.mscd.edu/metrostaterising for information about the grand opening, which is planned for late spring.
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Metro State partners with Hispanic chamber on leadership program The Denver Hispanic Chamber Education Foundation has accepted a proposal developed by Metro State for a Hispanic Leadership Development Program (HLDP). “I’m proud to add this program to Metro State’s latest achievements and collaborations with the community,” says Metro State President Stephen Jordan, who is a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board member. “We knew instantly that coupling Metro State with the Hispanic chamber to develop a regional leadership program would be a great fit.” Leroy Garcia, incoming foundation board chair, says, “We are fortunate to have partnered with Metro State and believe this program will serve a tremendous role in fostering growth and personal development within the Hispanic community.”
The program is based on leadership courses already taught by Political Science Professor Norman Provizer. In February, a diverse set of professionals representing multiple industries and service sectors began meeting monthly at the chamber. Metro State professors and community leaders are teaching topics such as identity, culture, policy, purpose and principles. Although the HLDP was established to help chamber members develop stronger leadership skills, the program also accepts outside participation to ensure diversity of thinking and backgrounds. The program is the first of its kind in Colorado, but it follows a proven model used by other chambers across the country.
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Metro State graduates first master’s candidates
Trapp picked for vice president
Metro State graduated its first master’s degree students during Fall Commencement. The five students were accounting students Lynn Lupomech and Irina Gellan and teacher education students Erin Symmes, Evan Roth and Madeline Burke.
Erin Trapp, former deputy chief of staff for two Denver mayors, has become vice president of advancement and external relations of Metro State and executive director of its foundation.
For each of the candidates, the affordability of the degree was one of the deciding factors for choosing Metro State. They hold degrees from institutions as far away as Russia and as close as Greeley, Colo.
Trapp, who worked for Mayors John Hickenlooper and Guillermo Vidal, will oversee the departments of development, grants and sponsored programs, and alumni relations.
The five master’s degree recipients were among a record 1,256 undergraduates graduating Dec. 18, 2011, at the Colorado Convention Center. Former Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric B. Shoomaker was the commencement speaker.
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• (l to r) Sandra Haynes, dean of the School of Professional Studies, hoods teacher education master’s graduate Madeline Burke.
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Newsworthy/// College News
College part of multistate project to
Biology prof goes buggy on DIY show He goes by many names: Robert, Bob, “Mosquito Man” and now, “Dr. Bedbug.”
recruit an d train teachers
The producers of the DIY Network’s “Disaster House” coined the latest moniker for Metro State Biology Assistant Professor Bob Hancock after he landed a spot on a segment titled “Nocturnal Nuisances.” The episode looked in part at what can happen when bedbugs are on the loose. Hancock, who joined the Metro State faculty in 2008, is a medical entomologist and an authority on blood-sucking insects. He was featured in a Westword story in March 2011 and in Metro Magazine. (To read, go to www.mscd.edu/ metromagazine and click archived stories under featured stories.) For the bedbug segment, Hancock had to convince the staff that real bedbugs should be used.
“The production staff and crew were kind of freaked out about having living bedbugs in their house, especially since it was the very first shoot of their season,” Hancock says. So he devised a “foolproof safety system” using only male bedbugs—48 of them. “Males are a deadend,” he says, since they can’t lay eggs and give rise to an infestation. During the 10-minute segment, Hancock and host Josh Temple chat about bedbugs as the insects crawl around a bed, their movements captured by a hightech camera. A specially trained dog named Macaroni is brought in to sniff out the critters and then industrial heaters are deployed to bring the temperature up to a buglethal 120 or so degrees. The heat treatment is, as Hancock put it, “the gold standard” of anti-bedbug weaponry.
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Metro State and Denver Public Schools (DPS) are partners in a multistate consortium of higher education institutions, local schools, education departments and nonprofits participating in Project m-NET (Mobilizing National Educator Talent). Funded by a federal grant, of which Metro State will receive $415,500 over five years, m-NET’s goal is to recruit and train never-before teachers to fill critical classroom needs. DPS will recruit and Metro State will train 20 teachers a year from 2012 through 2016 to teach science, technology, engineering, math or other high-need subjects in DPS. Qualified candidates— who already hold nonteaching college degrees— will enroll in Metro State’s Alternative Licensure Program and will fill full-time classroom positions in DPS as they move toward state certification as teachers. Nationally, m-NET is looking to train, support and retain 1,111 teachers over the life of the grant. Metro State was asked to join the project by The Ohio State University, m-NET’s lead institution, at last April’s Great Teachers for Our City Schools national summit sponsored by Metro State’s Center for Urban Education.
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Metro State students’ project focuses on accessibility for people who are blind You’re in a checkout line and want to pay with your debit card, but you can’t see the number pad. You might have to give out your PIN so someone else can punch it in. Or you need to get cash from an ATM, but you have trouble navigating the touch-screen because you’re blind. Addressing frustrations like these in a positive way is the aim of a joint effort by Metro State communication design students and the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton. Called “blind spot,” the project will use business cards, postcards, posters and other design elements plus a yet-to-be launched website to educate business owners, government officials and others about things that don’t work for people who can’t see. The project is meant to “open up awareness and create an opportunity for education around what accessibility means,” says Art Professor Lisa Abendroth, communication design coordinator. “We’re really positioning accessibility as a human right … a civil right within the context of the urban environment.” The blind spot campaign was developed over 14 weeks last fall during which the 10-member class met regularly with students and staff at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Among other things, it involves using graphics called “spots” to promote awareness about accessibility in businesses and public spaces, with the aim of educating. The website will allow people to post the location of a design problem so it can be resolved, and will include free downloads of window decals a business can use to signal that it is sensitive to the needs of blind people. The project is still in the prototype phase but is seeking a $13,000 grant. The hope is to turn it into a national campaign.
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Accelerated nursing students score a perfect 100 All 36 graduates in the 2011 Metro State Accelerated Nursing Program passed the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses. The 100 percent pass rate was a first for the program. The perfect score also gave the Nursing Department bragging rights. Of all baccalaureate and associate degree nursing programs in Colorado, Metro State’s is the only one to achieve a 100 percent pass rate in 2011, according to the Colorado State Board of Nursing website. Nationally and in Colorado, the average pass rate for the NCLEX-RN exam in the April-to-September reporting period was 88 percent. The test includes questions about all aspects of nursing: obstetrics, mental health, medical surgical nursing, leadership and management, community health and more, says Nursing Department Chair Barbara Nelson. The national council toughened the test effective last April before the Metro State students took it. The 17-month accelerated program, which leads to a bachelor’s degree in nursing, is for students who already have a non-nursing baccalaureate degree. They are admitted in January and complete the nursing curriculum in four consecutive semesters, including summer.
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In Memoriam Dr. Todd E. Bergren Affiliate Faculty in the Biology Department
Mr. Ronald R. (Rob) Christopher Affiliate Faculty in the History Department
Ms. Jane Eileen Kober Emeritus Assistant Professor of Human Performance and Sport
Correction: “It’s All in the Metro State Family” on page 14 of the Fall 2011 issue of Metro Magazine should have said Elaine Strickland attended Metro State, but did not graduate. Metro Magazine regrets the error.
Women’s Basketball, Tennis and Softball Coach
Mr. Curtis E. Wright Emeritus Vice President for Business and Finance (1965-1986)
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9 Answers
[ BY LESLIE PETROVSKi ]
As the oldest daughter of Chicano activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, Nita Gonzales came of age during El Movimiento—the Chicano Civil Rights Movement— and, like her father, has worked to battle racism and classism in its many forms. Deeply involved in the Denver community, she has taken stands on police brutality, bilingual education and better housing for the homeless. She co-chairs Nuestro Rio, an organization of Latinos dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of the Colorado River, and serves as president of Northwest Denver’s Escuela Tlatelolco, the private, dual-language school founded by her father, who died in 2005 at the age of 76. Nita is the recent recipient of the Chevrolet GREEN Educator Award for Escuela’s curriculum, which weaves environmental education with activism.
Have you always been interested in environmental activism? How does your interest in the environment connect to your social justice work? The whole issue of the environment is part of our culture as Chicanos. Ingrained in us and our culture are Mother Earth, water and how you handle water and the importance of that. With water, particularly with the rivers we have in this incredible state, we talk about how sacred and important it is and how it’s being used, connecting the idea that we’re in a semiarid place and we do things like plant Kentucky bluegrass for our lawns and have golf courses, which use an immense amount of water. Then we go and visit reservations where they’re struggling to have pure and drinkable water. And we study other parts of the world where water is like gold. We talk about development and the continual growth of population and ask, “Is it healthy for the Earth?” These are the kinds of things we do with students. We’ve incorporated into the curriculum at Escuela this whole study of rivers in the state. When we got involved with Nuestro Rio, it was natural for Escuela, where a fundamental piece is not just learning, but acting on what you learn—to take a stand and be able to speak out and have a voice around that.
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So how are students getting involved with Nuestro Rio and the Colorado River? There have been a couple of ways. We hosted Assistant Secretary Anne Castle from the U.S. Department of the Interior; she’s right under Ken Salazar. She came here and [our students] did a presentation on the Colorado River and a rafting trip that they did. They included quotes and comments from indigenous spiritual leaders about water and the sacredness of water, and then sat with her upstairs in one of the classrooms and had a discussion with her. She was very impressed by that. They’re now working with another conservation group to have a Colorado River Day. And they’ve gathered about 3,000 signed letters within our community about being very intentional and conscious about what’s going on with the river.
Why do you think it’s important for young people to engage with the environment? Why should our youngsters be involved? We’ve always been involved. This is where we come from culturally. We tell students, “You have the responsibility to be involved, to be aware and to be conscious because that’s expected of you. Your ancestors would expect you to be a caretaker, a guardian. You may think it doesn’t impact you, but eventually it does.” Here’s an example: When there’s a tsunami in Japan, it impacts us. How does it impact us? You’re paying more for car parts because they can’t get their factories up. Not only that, but there’s the radiation. We have to be very careful and conscious of what we do in our life every day.
How do they respond when you talk to them about engagement? They feel overwhelmed. When we talk about Japan and the tsunami and the nuclear plant, when we talk
about earthquakes and New Orleans— our students went to New Orleans to the Ninth Ward to help rebuild— they’re devastated. We’re 92 percent free-and-reduced-price lunch; these students are not from wealthy families. They were devastated by the lack of rebuilding that has gone on in New Orleans. It is generally in the poorer neighborhoods and they were so saddened by it. Our job then is to get them impassioned and help them figure out what can be their piece. You have to have a way to take that anger or frustration to a point where you can say, “What can we do?” Nuestro Rio is that way and it’s a good way for them to be involved.
Are you going to be working with Metro State’s new One World One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship? I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Sandra Haynes [dean of the School of Professional Studies] and Tom Cech [the center’s executive director]. I want to talk about how to get high school kids involved in that center.
What kind of relationship does the Escuela have with Metro State? Metro State has partnered with the Escuela since its birth. When the school was started by several parents in 1970, there were Chicano students at Metro State who came and interned as teachers at the school. And then when we graduated students, they went to Metro State. Metro State is where we recruit teachers for Escuela Tlatelolco. Today I have a teaching staff of about 15 teachers. Of those 15 teachers, 11 are Metro State grads. What we’re trying to do now is get 10th- and 11th-grade students to look at Metro State as an institution to aspire to. Chicano students tell me that they feel cared for at Metro State
and they feel engaged and that they belong there and that’s not true of every institution of higher ed.
What do you think about Metro State’s move to become a Hispanic Serving Institution? I think it’s long overdue, and I’m glad to see that’s where they want to go. That’s the demographic the institutions in this state will need to go to. California and Texas recognized that a long time ago. Metro State can get it done in a way that honors and respects the cultural diversity of the students in our community.
What do you feel you have yet to accomplish as an activist before you pass the baton to the next generation? I don’t believe in passing the baton to the next generation. Retirement is not part of my vocabulary. As long as there are issues and problems within our community, within our city, then I’m going to be involved. What I need to do is educate that next generation about those issues and give them the skills and tools to support them in taking the action necessary to move us closer to a humane, equal world.
What are you particularly proud of? Aside from my two children … keeping Escuela Tlatelolco vibrant, alive and available to students in our community so they have a choice to come to a school where they can be activists and catalysts for change. I still have the health and wherewithal. People say, “Aren’t you burned out?” I don’t know what that means. What I do know is that I still want to be actively involved. I aspire to be like Nelson Mandela, who ran for president in his 70s and won. That’s my hero.
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Keeping a good thing going
30 years at UMB Bank [
By Sandy Graham
]
UMB CEO Jon Robinson (’90, accounting) says Metro State’s accounting program was “the best program, hands down.”
“My goal when I started at the bank was not to be there for 30 years, but to learn a little bit about banking, then leave and go to school full time,” Robinson says. The bank owner, who had begun to mentor Robinson, urged him to consider night school. He pledged to give Robinson experience in every area of the bank to complement his degree. “I thought that was a pretty good deal,” Robinson says. He soon determined that Metro State’s accounting program was “the best program, hands down.” Robinson thoroughly enjoyed his classes, but combining work and school was no easy task. “It was tough. My day at the bank ended at 5 p.m. and my first class was at 5:30 p.m. at Metro,” he says. “It was work, school, homework—that was about it. In the end, it worked out for me. I looked at it as getting my undergraduate degree at Metro and my graduate degree at the bank.” After graduation, Robinson became a CPA in 1992. He has enjoyed all aspects of his banking career, but particularly likes working with entrepreneurs and small business owners to help them succeed. He has been active in community organizations such as Junior Achievement, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, the Better Business Bureau and Kiwanis. He happily added Metro State to that list about 12 years ago.
Most people work for an average of 11 employers by the time they are Jon Robinson’s age, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey. Robinson (’90, accounting) went to work in 1981 for a Denver bank and there he has stayed for nearly 31 years. “I’m bringing that average down,” jokes Robinson, 48, about the BLS survey. He initially worked for Columbine National Bank, which was acquired by UMB Colorado, and has risen through UMB’s ranks, becoming chief lending officer and chief executive officer in Colorado in September 2009. Robinson, who chairs the Metro State Foundation Board of Directors and was on the board of the Metro State Alumni Association, knew when he graduated from Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colo., that he wanted to go into banking or accounting. Experience, he thought, would help him decide. Columbine National gave the teenager that opportunity.
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Not surprisingly, Robinson considers raising money as the biggest challenge facing Metro State. He believes that state support for higher education is probably not going to return to historic levels and that new funding sources must be found—especially if Metro State is to continue providing opportunities for financially challenged students. “There’s not an easy way out,” he says. Robinson and his wife, Cathy, spend much of their free time watching their son’s and daughter’s activities. Michael, 15, plays football and baseball, and Aryn, 14, enjoys dance and volleyball. Robinson plays golf whenever possible and reaches for books about the American Revolution, Civil War and World War II for good reads. Asked what people would be surprised to learn about him, Robinson comes up blank. “There’s nothing. I’m an open book—I really am,” he says.
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CSI M e t r o S tat e
[ BY Doug McPherson ]
The jagged hole in the skull left no doubt: It was murder. It took nearly three hours of digging on an unseasonably hot day in September 2011 in the sunbaked dirt of a landfill 50 miles northeast of Denver to come to this grisly ending, which investigators had suspected they might find all along. Two victims: one male, one female. Both shot point-blank in the head, execution style. Their torn clothing more evidence of a violent end. About 60 feet away from the grave sits an abandoned, dark blue 2002 Acura Legend with a thin layer of dust, eerily alone among the weeds. Inside, an empty bag from Burger King—the couple’s last supper? There’s blood spatter inside. At least one victim was shot in the car. Scattered nearby is more potential evidence: spent Smith and Wesson pistol shell casings, broken beer bottles, a tarp tied at both ends with rope, a Burger King receipt and some other small paper items.
Students ferret out clues to double ‘murder.’
All around the grave and the car, people wearing reflective vests are busy. Some are taking photos, a few are shoveling, others are sifting dirt through screens. And beside the road, a line of about 10 people walk side by side toward the car, their eyes all fixed on the ground. continued on page 12
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But when a small brush sweeps away the last layer of sandy dirt to reveal the first skull, the only sound (after a couple of gasps) is a light wind sweeping softly through the barren field to the east. There’s only respectful silence from more than 30 people who look on with the same awful expression on their faces—one that says they are witnessing some true embodiment of pure evil. It’s a moment most of those gathered will never forget. And perhaps that’s the way most lessons in college should be—hard to forget and useful for the future. College? Lessons? Yes, college. Those investigators are students and the gruesome scene staged by Metropolitan State College of Denver professors. Elaborate? Yes. Time consuming? Absolutely. But
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most importantly, the whole exercise demonstrates what college classes should be: effective. “This is a great way to get hands-on experience and really, in this field, you can’t get hired unless you have experience,” says Nicole Bassett, a senior studying forensic anthropology who’s at the scene. “Books can only teach you so much. Here, I’m learning exactly what the work is like and how methodical you have to be to do a good job. We’re walking through weeds in the hot sun, setting up search grids, digging, sifting—real-life stuff. We’re literally getting our hands dirty.” It’s not exactly the TV show “CSI: Miami.” “It’s not easy or glamorous work,” Bassett says. “We’re not walking around in stilettos with perfect hair.”
A local high school science class was invited to take part, too. Katie Day, a ninth-grader at Weld Central High School, says she found the whole exercise interesting, but admits she was a little afraid she was going to see an actual body. “I was a little worried coming over here. They didn’t tell us a lot, but when I got here it was better,” Day says. “I liked it. It gives you an idea of what actually goes on at a crime scene and what a career in this kind of work is really like. You have to be very cautious or you’ll contaminate the crime scene.” This is just one of many lessons students picked up this day. It’s what this macabre outing is all about: learning—more specifically, learning by doing. It is the brainchild of Catherine
Students from Metro State learn by doing as they search for clues at a make-believe murder scene, complete with “skeletal remains.”
Gaither (’95, anthropology), an associate professor of anthropology. Gaither says when she attended Metro State, she got plenty of good, hands-on experience. “When I came back to teach, I wanted to make sure my students got that same kind of local field experience. I started thinking about creating a scene and we actually did some work at an old cemetery in Byers (Colo.). But when people saw us digging there, they called the police on us, so we quit working there,” Gaither laughs. Eventually she found a landfill that was willing to help. So in August, she and Thomas Netwal, an affiliate professor who teaches criminalistics in Metro State’s Chemistry Department and a 30-year veteran of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, put their
devious heads together to think like murderers and create a crime scene— tossing clues and evidence around between the car and grave. (To ratchet up the reality of the field trip, Gaither and Netwal had plaster casts made of two actual murder victims.) “We want them to see if the evidence at the car matches with what they find at the grave,” Gaither says. Netwal says he believes students are getting “a true appreciation” of what goes on at a crime scene. “Everyone watches the ‘CSI’-type shows, so it has a certain appeal. But these students are becoming very well-educated in what does really happen—the strange hours, strange locations, the thorough documentation and every step of the process,” Netwal says. “They’re getting a pretty big
picture of how it all works, and if they have that kind of familiarization with the overall techniques, they’ll have a step up on the rest of the field.” The students’ time at the site is just the beginning of their work. Back in class, they will look at fingerprints, examine rope fibers, conduct chemical tests and write reports—all the same follow-up done at real crime scenes. “At the end, we’ll get all the students together and look at all the evidence to see if what they found matches what Tom and I set up in the field trip,” Gaither says. Eventually she would like to get students to hold a mock trial related to the exercise. “That would bring it all full circle for the students. I think that would be great for them.”
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High-impact
Focus on hands-on, applied learning gives students an edge at work and in graduate school.
Becky Brice, who graduated last year with a degree in earth and atmospheric sciences, digs a snow pit near Trail Ridge Road.
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education through undergraduate research
[
By Roxanne Hawn
If you have driven Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park or taken your dog to a dog park in Louisville, Colo., then you have benefited from active, applied research taking place at Metropolitan State College of Denver. It’s easy to think of research merely as scientists holed up in labs working on esoteric details or conducting largescale clinical trials on big diseases. Hypotheses and creativity, however, take shape in the classrooms at Metro State, in fieldwork across Colorado and the region, and in the minds of campus creatives of all kinds. The changing state of what we know comes directly from students and faculty asking questions that begin, “I wonder if … .”
The power of wondering and creating Speculation and the process of finding answers tie directly to critical learning opportunities for students. In 2008, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) published a report naming the top 10 educational practices and assessing why they matter. Undergraduate research made the list. According to the report, “The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions,
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empirical observation, cuttingedge technologies and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.” Metro State’s new Applied Learning Center brings the existing Internship Program and Service Learning Program and the new Undergraduate Research Program together under one roof. The AACU report listed all three learning opportunities on the highimpact list. “There has been quite a bit of publicity in higher education about these high-impact learning practices,” says Rhonda Eaker, director of the Applied Learning Center. “Undergraduate research has been documented to be one of those. What better way to teach critical thinking than to give students a problem and have them work through the process—how do we develop a research project that will answer this question?” Students see the benefits, too. “I have been told that the research that we are doing as undergrads is what students were doing their doctorate thesis on just a few years ago,” says Corbin Bradford, a biology major, “and I am so appreciative of the opportunities I have gained by working in the student research lab.” continued on page 16
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The goals of Metro State’s Undergraduate Research Program, established in autumn 2011, are to: • Develop a comprehensive inventory of undergraduate research under way on campus; • Sponsor a collegewide undergraduate research conference April 20, 2012, with students presenting their original, creative, intellectual contributions and research through visual displays and verbal presentations; and • Create a community among faculty and students involved in undergraduate research. Approximately 70 Metro State faculty members responded to the initial survey about active research. “We hope to stimulate, support and promote undergraduate research as a way of increasing and improving the educational opportunities for our students, better positioning them for the next step in their careers, whether that is graduate school or employment,” says Tom Davinroy, faculty associate for undergraduate research and assistant professor of geography. While Davinroy and Pamela Ansburg, faculty associate for undergraduate research and associate professor of psychology, aspire to grow the program, they remain realistic about the effect of outside influences such as possible cuts in state or federal funding. “I also think that it’s important to note that not all students and not all faculty are going to find that undergraduate research suits their goals,” Ansburg says. “It’s very important to be inclusive in the definition of ‘research,’” Davinroy adds. “It’s scholarly activity and unique contributions to the discipline. That certainly includes the arts. Musical compositions, for example, are well within the original contribution definition, and those are things we want to support.”
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Whether the topic has global implications, is of local concern or affects the daily lives of families, undergraduate research at Metro State provides the chance to learn more. Here are a few examples of current projects:
Jason Janke (in green jacket), associate professor of environmental science, explains his permafrost research a long Trail Ridge Road to students.
Rocky Mountain tourism and permafrost As the highest continuous paved road in the United States, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park remains an important tourist attraction in Colorado. Now, imagine if something caused it to crumble, cutting off both seasonal traffic and the flow of tourism dollars. Jason Janke, associate professor of environmental science, received grants from the National Park Service to study the prevalence and potential impact of permafrost on the road. “Permafrost is ice that kind of binds the landscape together,” Janke says. “If that ice melts, if the climate warms significantly, you’re going to have subsidence—sink holes. The ground is going to start moving, causing a bunch of structural problems. So there is an applied management side of this research.”
Metro State students Kristen Willingham and Michael Kozub survey Jan Mako (l), with her dog Coalbear, for a research project about dog parks.
Unlike Alaska, where permafrost goes down hundreds of meters, Colorado’s alpine environment typically sees a meter-deep active layer that freezes in winter and thaws in summer, with true permafrost 2 or 3 meters deep. Below that, due to the warmer temperatures deep underground, the material stays above freezing. Janke involves students from several of his courses, including one about soils and a senior experience class, in the research. Rather than being an extracurricular experience, Janke’s students work on the permafrost project as part of their daily academic life. The team stuck temperature data loggers into the ground across approximately 10 miles of Trail Ridge Road. They tracked ground temperatures every two hours year-
Associate Professor of Biology Christy Carello (second from right) works with students to assess the impact of outdoor activities such as skiing on wildlife.
round. In addition to helping place the sensors along the road, students downloaded and evaluated the avalanche of data collected. “Ironically, the science behind the whole thing is that my original model suggested that there was permafrost in there, along the road,” Janke says. “Now all the field data indicate that if there is permafrost, it’s rather sporadic and patchy. So it’s the scientific process of taking the original model and modifying it, seeking the truth.” The project was an eye-opener for Becky Brice (’11, land use and geology) “because it provided a holistic view of science and the collaborative nature of this activity,” she says. “I learned that research is messy, difficult, adaptive and sometimes yields completely unexpected results.”
Community views for dog parks Most communities set leash laws to keep dogs from running amok in neighborhoods. That’s great for public safety, but perhaps not so great for the dogs. As fundamentally social animals, dogs need time to be, well, dogs. While not every individual dog enjoys a romp off leash with canine pals, communities of all sizes now expect to have access to designated off-leash areas for dogs—commonly called dog parks. Tom Davinroy, assistant professor of geography, took on some research projects for the city of Louisville’s open space advisory board around this issue. Students surveyed residents and assessed community expectations for dog parks in the area. They also looked at the impact on wildlife and vegetation if dogs run loose in some areas. “Looking at dog-park use,” Davinroy says, “it’s an evolving amenity in communities. We’ve done some preliminary surveys on the number of dogs people bring, how often they come, what their expectations are for facilities at dog parks. We’re trying to establish some best practices for management decisions. It’s an evolving
part of the suburban landscape that I find very interesting.” Davinroy’s students have found, for example, that some people go to dog parks for their own social needs. Some come for canine social interaction only. Others want their dogs to run in offleash areas, but they really don’t want other dogs around in the dog park.
Snail DNA and species survival Students involved in research with Hsiu-Ping Liu, assistant professor of biology, whose specialty is molecular evolutionary biology and conservation, experience the independence and physical hardships of fieldwork in Idaho, Oregon, California and Nevada as well as the exacting protocols required in the lab. Even how they wash their hands, dishes or equipment in the lab matters as they gather, extract and evaluate DNA of freshwater snails. Skipping a step or not following procedures easily could mar data and skew research results. That’s a big deal when you cannot tell snail species No. 1 from snail species No. 2 simply by looking at them. “Nobody is going to hire you if they have to explain every single thing to you,” Liu says. “I think just learning how to use the instruments is really important. Learning how to follow protocol is really important. Learning how to keep detailed records is really important. That’s not something our students understand just from taking classes.” Liu points out that undergraduate research gives students the chance to see whether or not they’re cut out for a career in research science. “They think that they love this,” she says, “but do they really want to be doing this?” For those who answer yes, Liu explains that having hands-on experience in research gives those going on to graduate school a competitive edge. For Ben Stanwood, a biology major, working with Liu has been his favorite college experience. “It has taught continued on page 19
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Metro State Undergraduate Research Projects In response to the initial research inventory request in autumn 2011, the new Undergraduate Research Program compiled a list of projects under way on campus, which include: • Conversion of vegetable oil and algae into biodiesel • Inequality in Chinese society • Astrodynamics flight deck usability analysis • Wolbachia infection in mosquitoes • Writing Center studies • Communication issues • Genetic variations in bedbugs • Inclusive educational practices • Ancient mammoth DNA analysis • Behavioral economics • Sustainability and energy conservation • Hydrology and geomorphology • Protein-DNA interactions • Gene cloning • Injury prevention in nursing • Usability testing • Forensic DNA recovery • Behavior, energetics and ecology of bloodsucking insects • Policies for preventing childhood obesity • Spanish literature and gender studies • Application of geographic information systems • Differences between static and dynamic augmentative communication devices • Communication ethnography Associate Professor of Biology Christy Carello (foreground) assesses wetlands during a wildlife research project.
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• Erosion rates on hillsides affected by prairie dogs • Concussions in athletes
meetings on how gondola operation impacts migratory songbirds. These are just a few examples of student presentations that have made an impact on the Colorado community.”
Students’ varied independent research As a member of Metro State’s Forum for Interdisciplinary Research Mentoring, David Piacenti, assistant professor of sociology, who first came to campus a year ago, helps students organize their own research projects and finds opportunities for them to share results with professional organizations.
Metro State student Huyen Nguyen studies snail DNA. me more about the realities of doing science than a normal classroom can provide. I have also learned that I love research and finally have found what I want to be when I grow up,” he says.
How outdoor activities affect Colorado’s wildlife For more than eight years, Associate Professor of Biology Christy Carello has been studying a wetland system near Breckenridge, Colo., that has been designated an Aquatic Resource of National Importance by the Environmental Protection Agency. Carello and her students spend untold hours in the field, trying to suss out how outdoor activities such as hiking or skiing affect the wildlife living there. Recognizing the sensitivity of the environment and Carello’s expertise, the town of Breckenridge takes this work into account when making environmental policy decisions about the area. “Most recently,” she explains, “one of my students gave a professional presentation at a meeting in Fort Collins on how ski gondola operation alters moose behavior. She won second place. I also had a student present a poster at local and international
In 2009-10, for example, sociology student Nancy Moon looked into the prevalence of end-of-life planning among active military personnel— particularly those going into or coming home from combat. Then in spring 2011, she presented her findings at the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology. Now, Piacenti is working with student Lisa Boyd, a sociology major, on an independent study project about applied social memory in the form of scrapbooking. With the large economy around scrapbooking, the practice extends beyond a mere hobby. People, women in particular, construct and reconstruct their memories and life stories this way. Boyd will present a paper about her work at the American Sociological Association Conference in Denver this year, Piacenti says. Boyd says her research has helped her narrow her search for a graduate program. “I have so many interests, so it has been helpful in narrowing those down. I really want to do a Ph.D., so that’s much more specialized than a master’s degree, so I’ve got to look at what kind of faculty I want to work with and what kind of concentrations the programs have.”
Aging and eldercare Pamela Ansburg, associate professor of psychology, is working with a student on a project that stems
from her primary research focus on age-related changes in cognition. “We’re designing a study to assess the impact of auditory distraction on problem-solving,” she says. “We’ll look at two age groups: college-age students and older adults. We’re expecting to find that increased distractibility will actually help problem-solving performance in some cases, and in other cases, it will impair it.” The student is helping with data collection and design of the materials along with literature review and research. “She is working through the hypothesis, and she’ll be writing up the complete project,” Ansburg says. “Assuming all goes well with the data collection, she’ll likely coauthor a professional presentation or publication.”
The effect of highimpact learning Whether students take jobs upon graduation or choose graduate school, faculty researchers and research advisors focus on outcomes for the students themselves. Metro State remains a teaching institution. However, with higher education research revealing how much students learn from the research or original creative process, the College chose to empower and encourage undergraduate research opportunities. Research brings a certain intensity and various brainpower challenges in an environment that’s different from a typical classroom. “The bottom line,” says Eaker, director of the Applied Learning Center, “is it’s really about getting students involved in a learning activity that can enhance their experience as students. The more faculty who are doing that, the more opportunities there are for students, the better.”
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Mix tapes with a message Metro State graduate melds marketing and music into a successful business. [
By Caitlin Gibbons
If you have visited certain casinos in Black Hawk, Colo., or stopped by some of Denver’s top watering holes in the last few years, you may have heard—unknowingly—the latest trend in piped-in music: radio stations handtailored for each establishment by New Level Radio.
Green and Ambrose met at a radio station in Hawaii. While working at the station, the pair had multiple clients express a desire for some sort of customized radio station for their businesses. Green was working on the sales side and Ambrose was an on-air disc jockey.
Founded by Nathan Green (’01, human performance and sport) and his friend Sam Ambrose, Denver-based New Level serves more than 200 locations. And it’s more than background music: It’s a nonintrusive marketing tool. Each station is built with owner input to fit the clientele served. It’s the ultimate mix tape with a message.
“Five years ago, there was no one out there doing messaging in business,” Green explains.
New Level contracts with big-name Las Vegas casinos such as the MGM and the Luxor, and also local Denver eateries including Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs on East Colfax. New Level’s first client was L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in Denver in 2007. “The first client was just as exciting as closing a deal with the MGM. It was a validating feeling that we weren’t the only ones who thought this would work,” says Green.
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New Level has filled that void. For each client, no matter the size, a customized playlist of songs is crafted—by people, not equations. Where services such as Pandora use algorithms to determine a mood or genre of music for a business, New Level uses people to mastermind the mood. “We create playlists from scratch, based off of demographics, times of day people are frequenting the business and the overall vibe of the business,” Green says. Along with a selection of tunes, the stations are custom branded with station identification, and clients choose the voice of their stations.
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New Level also records customized in-house ads for each client. No competitor’s business is ever advertised on a New Level station. “Everything going on inside your business, we promote,” Green says. According to a 2006 retail media study by Arbitron Inc., 40 percent of customers who heard an instore advertisement made an unplanned purchase. “The biggest key for the client is the return-on-investment potential. Rather than just paying for music, now you are getting something you can monetize and see the return on it,” Green says. Although New Level has grown tremendously, the early years weren’t easy. Green and Ambrose started the business just as the economy crashed. And Green initially juggled his radio job with New Level’s launch. The company’s “world headquarters” was in Green’s Park Hill home until recently. But they persevered, hitting the phones and the pavement. The cold calling paid off: The company pulled in six figures its first year, Green says.
Nathan Green’ (’01, human performance and sport) has launched a successful business that provides customized background music for businesses.
Now the phone is starting to ring more often. They are working for a retailer in Dubai, who found New Level online and contacted the company. This year is on track to be the company’s best year yet. In building the company, Green and Ambrose have learned valuable business lessons. During the recession, for example, they briefly lowered the price for New Level’s services, but found it did them more harm than good. “We have a premium product. There is a reason the other services don’t do it. It’s a lot of work,” Green says. “We [learned we] need to stick to what we do and price it accordingly.” Although New Level has nothing to do with his physical education degree, Green values the time he spent at Metropolitan State College of Denver. The nontraditional environment at the College was what he was looking for. He came to Metro State as a transfer from Arizona State University on a tennis scholarship. “The school itself and athletics had a real integral part in me getting here. I felt like I could grow there,” Green says.
Although it took him a little more than four years to graduate, Green felt it was important to get a degree and then figure out what he wanted to do. And the one thing he knew he didn’t want to do was sit behind a desk from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. “In retrospect, it’s me in a nutshell. A lot of people think a physical education degree is easy. But they’re some of the hardest classes in college. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much. It was the ‘work hard, play hard’ ethic,” Green says. Green now works from anywhere with an Internet connection. The playlists for each business are hosted online and can be updated instantaneously if a song is being overplayed or a new hit needs to be added to freshen the playlist. He and the team of nine employees share the workload. The company’s blossoming financial success hasn’t changed Green’s hands-on approach to the business. But the man who says he loves to work hard and play hard doesn’t mind because of his job’s flexibility. “I could be sitting on the beach drinking a martini or margarita and change a station,” Green says.
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Judge Jami Jami Behrenbrinker Vigil (’95, anthropology) decides tough issues in court.
Education drops gavel on society’s woes [
By Doug McPherson
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“That’s kind of where it really started for me,” she says. “Metro was a good place for me. I could talk to my fellow students and teachers—just sitting and having really good, intellectual conversations with them. The other students were like I was—working students, too. They were engaged and took school very seriously. It was something that wasn’t given to them.”
Most days, Jami Behrenbrinker Vigil (’95, anthropology) sees problems that rip the threads from the fabric of families: child abuse, neglect, poverty, domestic violence, drugs and on and on. As a magistrate in Colorado Springs, Colo., who oversees family and juvenile issues in the 4th Judicial District, Vigil comes face to face, day in and day out, with the uglier side of human nature. She also spends a lot of time thinking about how to solve these problems, and she has come to believe that the best solution is education. “I think the state needs a way to bolster education for kids and young parents, teen parents,” Vigil says. “They’re at a significant disadvantage without it because education can prevent a lot of problems, prevent people from entering the juvenile offender system and help keep families together. It’s all very connected.” Vigil, who grew up in west Denver, feels a close connection with many she sees in her courtroom because she knows the uphill battle that lies ahead if they’re to improve their lot in life. “I had to work full time through college and I paid my own way. I know what that’s like,” she says. No doubt she’s a little partial when it comes to the brand of higher education that can help bring balance to families. “I think Metro State is that kind of college. It fits those who have to work because it has a flexible schedule and it’s a good, quality education. I’ve actually had some kids in my court who’ve gone on to Metro, and I told them I went there and I think it made them feel good to know that,” she says. While at Metro State, Vigil became deeply interested in and committed to human rights issues.
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Vigil says she was particularly impressed with Metro State’s professors—both their accessibility and their quality. “The classroom sizes were small compared to other universities, and I really had no negative experiences with teachers or the school,” she says. After Metro State, Vigil entered law school at the University of Colorado Boulder where she also worked for a legal aid clinic and later, a public defender’s office.
“I can’t think of anything more important than working with families, keeping families together and keeping children safe.” –Magistrate Jami Behrenbrinker Vigil
“I started realizing at the public defender’s office I was coming in too late to help people, and realized I could make a bigger impact working with younger people.” In 2010, the chief judge for El Paso County appointed Vigil to her current position as a magistrate. “It’s a great fit for me,” she says. “I get to work with a lot of people who are struggling and working to overcome incredibly difficult issues like poverty and drugs. I get to know them on a personal level. I can’t think of anything more important than working with families, keeping families together and keeping children safe.”
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Polishing
diamonds in the rough [
By Vonalda Utterback (’92)
] Human Services Associate Professor Shawn Worthy involves his students in practical, hands-on experience every chance he gets.
Researcher, teacher, psychologist, radio host, administrator, outdoorsman—Shawn Worthy has worn many hats in addition to his current post as associate professor of human services at Metropolitan State College of Denver. One common thread, however, is Worthy’s commitment to helping others succeed in life. Prior to Worthy’s 17 years at Metro State, the busy father of two worked as a clinical psychologist, specializing in family dynamics, high-risk youth studies, and teen suicide and crisis intervention. As a college professor and researcher, Worthy is also noted for involving his students in his outside work whenever possible. Giving students practical, hands-on experience puts them a step ahead as they move into the job market or continue on to graduate school. “The student involvement is why I continue to teach,” says Worthy. “We have so many ‘diamonds in the rough’ at Metro State—students who don’t realize their potential—and I love being able to help them along the path to their own achievements.”
In May 2011, many of Worthy’s skills coalesced when he partnered directly with one of his students to create the READY program—a project he is especially proud of. “READY is a weeklong job preparation program for young adults who have faced significant challenges in their lives,” explains Worthy. “The program was funded through, and inspired by, a request from the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, Youth Employment Division, and designed by me and student Kimberly Moore.” “We brought various experts in, including Metro’s Office of Career Services, to help with ‘hard’ skills such as how to search for jobs online and how to write a resume. But we also discussed and then role-played with the students’ critical ‘soft’ relationship skills such as how to effectively deal with customer complaints and keep your cool, and how to conduct yourself in various interview situations,” says Worthy. “That’s why the mayor’s office called us in [to develop the program]. They were looking for a holistic approach.”
In addition to Moore, a senior majoring in human services, Worthy says he was delighted to involve other Metro State students in the project as peer mentors. Four students, all human services majors, helped facilitate, which allowed the approximately 30 participants to break into smaller student-led groups for follow-up discussions, feedback sessions and mock interviews, leading to a more intimate and effective experience. “I found the whole experience to be extraordinarily rewarding,” says Worthy. “The kids that went through the program with us were seriously disadvantaged. Most of them led extremely difficult lives. Some were homeless and living in shelters. They were not sure what to expect and came in reticent and a little frustrated that the program was so long (Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.). “We saw their confidence and selfesteem build throughout the program. They began to look forward to coming in. You could see them grow and develop as the week went on. It was very inspiring.”
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Alumni Times///Alumni News and Events
Making the Metro State
connection [
Aerospace- and aviation-related companies account for some of the most Metro State-friendly employers in Colorado. But companies in any of a number of industries have tapped the school’s talent pipeline, finding a gusher of able employees bearing Metropolitan State College of Denver credentials. Employers say they like what Metro State grads bring to the job: diversity, maturity, seriousness about their studies and careers, and—most of all—loads of handson, real-world training gained through internships and pregraduation work experience. “The nice thing about Metro State is by the time you get to the school, you’ve already committed to getting a degree, not just partying around,” says Joe Sanchez (’06, mechanical engineering technology), now an engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Aurora, Colo., facility. Sanchez is one of 15 engineering, math and computer science graduates that Metro State has placed in the Aurora office of Northrop Grumman, a security company with offices worldwide. The Metro State grads are working as software engineers, database architects, software configuration analysts and other technical specialists. Gerie Grimes (’87), executive director of Hope Center in Denver, insists her staff isn’t chock-full of Metro State grads simply because of alumni networking. Yes, Grimes earned her own degree in nonprofit administration from Metro State, 19 years after she first enrolled, and she likes the spunk she sees in her fellow alumni. But the five teachers and three administrators with Metro State degrees—a quarter of the staff at the nonprofit education and vocational training agency—got there strictly on merit, she says. It also helped that they were mostly all employed there as interns or nondegreed staff even before they graduated and stepped into permanent jobs for which they were already exquisitely qualified. “They all seemed to have so much hands-on experience,” says Grimes. “The internship program really gave them a feel for what being in nonprofits is like. Plus, Metro turns
By Rebecca Jones
]
out a very diverse pool of students, which helps me in having a diverse staff.” Wendy Greenberg (’90, early childhood education) has been working at Hope Center for nearly 16 years. It’s where she did her student teaching. “I had family members who had gone through Metro and they had a good experience, so I decided to go there,” she says. “I was able to do my classwork at Metro and do my student teaching all while I was working full time. That’s why I chose Metro—not only for the great education, but for the flexibility.” Home to one of the nation’s largest aviation and aerospace science programs, Metro State consistently places its graduates in local companies doing everything from flying planes to designing navigation systems to managing airports. Jeppesen, an Englewood, Colo., company that specializes in aviation, marine and rail navigation, counts more than 100 Metro State grads among its 3,000 employees, including Tim Nave (’96), who joined Jeppesen, a part of The Boeing Company, 15 years ago. Nave, the director of strategic accounts, has found that his Metro State aviation degree prepared him well for his life’s work. Although he originally thought he would become a professional pilot, Nave changed course as he moved into his career. “My education was so well-rounded,” Nave says. “I learned other areas, like airport planning and management, how to build a commuter airline and advanced navigation skills. And Jeppesen is just a great company to work for, whether you have a degree in aviation or not. We have a lot of graduates whose degrees aren’t in aviation.” From Jeppesen’s viewpoint, hiring Metro State graduates is a matter of both quality and convenience. “From the navigation side of things, Metro State is one of the top programs in the country, and it’s right in our backyard,” says Casey Cole, senior corporate recruiter for Jeppesen.
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Jeppesen, an aviation, rail and marine navigation company in Englewood, Colo., has hired many Metro State graduates including these standing by the statue of Elrey P. Jeppesen, company founder and aviation pioneer. 24
Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
Alumni Times
Ask an alum
Tax preparation must go on year-round [
By Brian Smith
]
Taxes are a never-ending task for tax professionals as well as business owners across the country. As soon as one year’s tax reporting is completed, it’s time to prepare the next year’s records. While sometimes exasperating, taxes are a “necessary evil” and critical to a business owner’s financial success. Therefore, it’s important to follow two key steps to ensure your business’s year-end tax process is smooth. First, keep accurate business and accounting records throughout the year. All pertinent business documents such as loan statements, K-1s from investments and 1099s for other income should be kept organized and accessible. Review financial statements and accounts for discrepancies— such as miscoding of owner’s draws, owner distributions and asset purchases—on a weekly or monthly basis. Don’t let accounting discrepancies pile up for year-end reconciliation, costing you more time and money. These records are the crux to your year-end success, so be proactive!
Second, choose the right tax professional—it can mean the difference between a refund and a payment. Tax professionals specialize, just like doctors, which narrows their field of scope, potentially leading to errors in unfamiliar industries. For example, preparing taxes in the restaurant and bar industry demands an intimate knowledge of tip allocation rules and all aspects of the tip credit to provide exceptional service to restaurant and bar owners. The specificity of your industry should be reflected in the professional to optimize your financial success. Ultimately, having accurate and current records coupled with the right tax professional will alleviate stress and maximize your financial opportunities as you tackle yearend taxes and related processes. Be proactive, prepared and ready to ask the right questions!
•
Brian Smith (’08, accounting) is director of accounting with Restaurant Solutions Inc. (RSI), where he is responsible for maintaining RSI’s payroll and accounting policies and managing the 17 accountants in his department.
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Alumni Times///Alumni News and Events
Create Your Legacy
Alumni Relations to head for
new Auraria digs [
By Vonalda Utterback (’92)
]
Include Metro State in your will or trust today and create exceptional possibilities for tomorrow’s students.
(l to r) Alumni Association staff members Meghan Hartvigson, Gini Mennenga, Janell Lindsey and Lindsey Day tour the association’s new office space in the Student Success Building.
Including Metro State in your long-term financial plan allows you to: n Make a charitable gift while ensuring family is taken care of first. n Change your mind about your gift at any time. n Give a little or give a lot. n Support Roadrunners and their dreams for generations to come. To learn more about how you can invest in the future of Metro State, call our Planned Giving office at 303-556-2242 or e-mail snoble3@mscd.edu.
Visit us online at www.mscd.edu/giving.
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Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
Soon, Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Office of Alumni Relations will leave historic Ninth Street behind as it makes history by moving into the spanking-new, four-story, 145,000-square-foot Student Success Building (SSB) on the Auraria Campus. The SSB is the first building to be completed in the Metro State Neighborhood. The Alumni Relations staff will move in March during spring break. “As much as we love our current home and the history and heritage of Ninth Street Park, we are all very excited about moving into the new space,” says Mark Jastorff, executive director of the alumni association. “We will finally have our own conference room, better parking and accessibility as well
as an ADA-compliant building. I will be losing my own bathroom,” he laughs, “but that’s a concession I’m willing to make.” According to Jastorff, the association won’t gain much in total square footage. However, the office configuration and location will be more suitable for the needs of the busy office. “There are many pluses to the new space, but perhaps the best thing is we’ll be able to fully integrate with other Metro State departments,” he adds. “Currently, the departments we work with are scattered all over the Auraria Campus. It will be great to have more face-to-face interaction versus phone and e-mail. I think that is critical and will make collaboration so much easier.”
•
The Metro State Alumni Association thanks Liberty Mutual for its sponsorship of Homecoming 2012.
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: Student Success Building, Room 350 (as of March 26, 2012) • 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)
Want to know more about alumni activities at
Metro State? Go to www.mscd.edu/alumni/events for the latest announcements.
Scott Applegate (’96, Finance) /// Piper Billups, (’99, Marketing) /// 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) /// Joseph Sanchez (’06, Mechanical Engineering Technology) /// Judy Shafer (’95, English) /// Sterling “Noah” Steingraeber (’08, Marketing) /// April Washington (’93, Journalism) /// 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
Help your alumni association move one step closer to
paperless communication
Simply go to www.mscd.edu/alumni and update your profile with your e-mail 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.
/// Matt Brinton, Council of Administrators Representative.
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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. V. Michael Binder (’72, history) worked in the automobile business for almost 40 years. He is retired and living in Rogers, Ark. Henry Burkard (’77, business management) lives in Atlanta and is director, facilities management/safety officer, for the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital. Armonde Hainesworth (’72, law enforcement) recently retired from his role as a risk management specialist after 25 years of service with RTD. He lives in Denver. Paul Moore (’79, elementary education) is a fourth-grade teacher at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colo. Gordon Morrison (’75, math) is the retired owner of VS Merlot, a data migration consulting company. He was granted a patent for inventing Multi-Core and Hyper-Threading Technology, and is the author of the book, “Breaking the Time Barrier: The Temporal Engineering of Software.” He lives in League City, Texas. Hercules G. Papadeas (’79, management) is president and owner of Pest’R Us Exterminating, Inc. in Tempe, Ariz. Scott E. Roller (’76, aerospace science) spent 20 years working for five airlines and has visited 98 countries. He is now working in a second career as a water treatment technician with Denver Water. He lives in Loveland, Colo.
Elizabeth Fleming Collins (’87, music education) has taught music in Colorado, Montana and several countries, including Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kazakhstan. She is now the library and music teacher at the Khartoum American School in Khartoum, Sudan, and a multicultural mentor for Music Educators National Conference. Danny Jablonski (’87, hospitality, meeting and travel administration) is a flight attendant and service coordinator for Continental/United Airlines in Houston and is working on a master’s in health care administration. He plans to open a center for developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries in Seattle. Henry J. Quant (’84, aviation management) is the senior benefits administrator for ADP Inc., the largest payroll company in the United States. He lives in Stockbridge, Ga. Kevin Theander (’86, computer and management science) is a data center manager for Visa in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Kimberly I. Fielding (’99, social work) is a trauma therapist who was hired as part of a special appropriation from the Missouri Legislature to establish a special trauma program for children in the aftermath of a tornado. She works at the Ozark Center in Joplin, Mo. Kreg Hamburger (’99, leisure studies) is the vice president for Outdoor Programs for Girl Scouts of Colorado in Denver. Eric R. King (’97, aerospace science) is a police officer and flight instructor for the Denver Police Department and a captain in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol. Cheryl Murphy (’96, individualized degree in language and communication) is the newsletter writer/editor for St. Andrew Lutheran Church in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver. Sheila Anne Porche (’93, human services) spent 17 years working with Head Start and Early Head Start as a child and family advocate. She is an admissions counselor for Bridgepoint Education in Denver and is planning to start work on a graduate degree.
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Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
CLASS ACTS Alumni Times
Angela Alfaro (’08, English literature) is a program associate with Playworks Denver. David Altschuld (’05, finance) is an insurance broker with Stailey Insurance in Denver. Amanda Fitzsimons (’03, human services) is a tobacco policy and program specialist with the Jefferson County Public Health Department. She lives in Arvada, Colo. Amanda House (’06, biology) is a health systems diabetes care specialist for Novo Nordisk in Portsmouth, N.H. Londell Jackson (’03, individualized degree) is a job readiness instructor for the Center for Work Education and Employment in Denver. Andrew LaCrue (’09, human services) is an education intervention specialist for Colorado Youth for a Change in Denver, and is the co-founder of the b.e.t.a.s. (Becoming Educated To Achieve Success) Foundation in Commerce City, Colo., which supports students’ higher education goals by providing financial assistance and scholarships to students to participate in activities, attend leadership conferences and go to college. Christopher Olson (’09, mechanical engineering technician) is an associate engineer for Gas Compressor Consultants in Denver. Jennifer Patrick (’08, social work) completed a master’s in social work with an emphasis in policy, administration and community from Arizona State University in 2010. She is a cosmetics manager at Nordstrom in Denver. Stephen Sanderson (’02, fine art) is the owner of Stephen Sanderson Photography, which specializes in luxury wedding and fine art photography, in Denver. Joel Sayre (’04, land use) has worked on Denver’s FasTracks Yes campaign; as a public information officer on the new Bay Bridge in San Francisco/Oakland, Calif.; and is now the owner and president of Sayre Building Performance in Oakland.
Alexandra Barnard (’11, biology) is the recipient of the Wethington Fellowship and a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
Grace Gerber
The goat whisperer [ By Carson Reed (’83) ] It was a long journey for Grace Gerber (’86, legal administration), literally and figuratively, to the place she calls the Funny Farm— a 35-acre spread near Larkspur, Colo., that she bought in 1996 after her husband died. Living in Franktown at the time, the grieving widow had gotten lost on a drive and ended up at the farm, which was on the market. Gerber bought it on the spot and then stocked it with all manner of critters, eventually settling on cashmere and Angora goats. Fifteen years later, she tends to their constant needs, aided by guardians Chief, a dog, and Llama Boy, which is not. The more than 80 goats all have names, too, and Gerber can (and will) talk about each of them as family, celebrating their births and grieving their deaths. Like
most small farms, Funny Farm is a perilous business model. However, a well-bred, well-fed, well-loved goat can produce up to $700 of fiber a year—and will produce another goat as well. Her customers, who are artists, artisans and amateur weavers from all over the world, gladly pay a premium for her fibers because they are from a place that is organic, green, humane and, well, thoughtful. Gerber doesn’t just tend to the goats; she tends to the fragile land they live on. No tractor is allowed. She hauls hay in winter on a sled. She washes, dyes, cards and spins the fiber herself. She shares her wisdom as well, teaching classes in her home. Her business model is simple: “I give my four-leggeds the longest, happiest life possible.” In doing that for her animals, she says, she has done the same for herself. Learn more about Grace Gerber at larkspurfunnyfarmblogspot.com.
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The Rowdy Report ///Roadrunner Sports
Get down &dirty, say new Metro State softball and baseball coaches [
Gauged by personality and professional paths, Metropolitan State College of Denver’s new softball head coach Kristi Lansford and new baseball head coach Jerrid Oates could not be more different. Look for a striking similarity between their teams, however, at the end of games this spring: The newlook Roadrunners will be wearing the dirtier uniforms. “Of course we want to go back and play for a national championship, but what I really want are kids
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Metro Magazine llllllllllllllll spring 2012
who will play hard and not be afraid to run through a wall for their teammates,” says Lansford. “I always want our team to have the dirtiest jerseys after games.” Oates agrees: “I like my guys to have the freedom to play aggressively. We want to create the game instead of waiting for the game to happen. We want our players to practice hard, play hard, study hard and be respectful of the game.”
By Jay L. Clark
Lansford and Oates (pronounced “OAT-iss”) each arrived at Metro State with a history of success as an NCAA head coach. “Kristi may be a little quieter than Jerrid off the field, but on the field they are both fierce competitors,” says Metro State Director of Athletics Joan McDermott. “They are established, experienced head coaches who know how to handle all the pieces of running a program.”
]
Metro state athletics corporate sponsors
A second chance Lansford’s path to Metro State was anything but conventional. After graduating from high school in California as a three-sport athlete (softball, volleyball and basketball), she left home for college but quickly learned it was not the right fit for her. After a brief stint in sales, she joined the U.S. Air Force where she worked as a surgery technician for four years and was stationed at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. When she left the Air Force, she stayed in Colorado Springs as a civilian surgery technician for two more years. Lansford felt it was time to go back to school, so she returned to California where she enrolled in junior college for two years. She then went to California State University Bakersfield (CSUB), an experience that steered her toward a career in coaching. “At that point, I was 28 and had no intention of playing anymore,” Lansford says. “But I had a friend who talked me into trying out, and I made the team. It was just so much fun to get a second chance. And it led me [to Metro State].” Twice an all-conference outfielder, Lansford started her climb up the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at CSUB. Successful stints as head coach at Northwood University in Texas and San Francisco State University followed, where she led her teams to multiple winning seasons and earned 2004 California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors. In 2008, she returned to Division I CSUB, where she served as assistant coach for three seasons.
Close to baseball, far from the game Oates, who was a starting catcher for four years at Nebraska Wesleyan University, earned a degree in sports
management. But it took just one summer to alter his career path. “I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do … (then) did an internship and hated it,” says Oates. “I worked for a minor league baseball team, and I thought I wanted to do front office work. It was so close to baseball, but so far from the game.” To get back to the game, Oates decided graduate school was the prerequisite to coaching. As a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State University (FHSU), he helped lead the FHSU baseball team to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament in 2003. In 2003, he became an assistant coach at the Colorado School of Mines. In 2008, he took over as the head baseball coach for Mines and was the RMAC co-coach of the year in his first season. He has coached 20 AllConference players and 26 Academic All-Conference players. Growing up in Omaha, Neb., home of the NCAA College World Series, Oates has been a college baseball fan for as long as he remembers. He has spent his entire coaching career in the RMAC, and he has a strong understanding of what it will take to continue Metro State’s winning sports tradition. While Oates and Lansford are on different ends of the personality spectrum—the soft-spoken Lansford describes herself as “more of a discusser than a screamer,” while Oates calls himself “an aggressive guy”—the two share a deep devotion to developing their student athletes as young adults. And when the Roadrunners’ softball and baseball teams take the field for their games this season, the two coaches will have one more thing in common: the need for a good washing machine.
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
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Learn more at gometrostate.com.
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Don’t Blink ///A/// Last LookLook Don’t Blink A Last Roadrunners ‘hoop’ it up As Metro Magazine went to press, Metro State’s men’s basketball team was headed to the Division II Elite Eight Tournament March 21, 22 and 24 in Highland Heights, Ky. The Roadrunners upset No. 1-ranked Colorado School of Mines 73-64 on March 13 to take the Central Regional Tournament and qualify for the Elite Eight. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, the team will have taken the national championship for the third time in Metro State’s history.
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MetroMagazine Magazine llllllllllllllll llllllllllllllll SPRING spring 2012 2012 Metro
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