Regis University Magazine - Fall/Winter 2023 by Regis University

FALL/WINTER 2023

REGIS.EDU

VOLUME 31 ISSUE 2

ROCK LET THERE BE

p.18

REGIS FOOTBALL HERO GETS BUSTED p.32

CONTINUING REGIS' SERVICE MISSION p.24

CARING FOR GOD'S GREEN EARTH p.12

VOLUME 31 ISSUE 2

FALL/WINTER 2023

F E AT U R E S

10 A NEW ERA

Leaders, luminaries and alumni celebrate Salvador Aceves’ inauguration as Regis’ 27th president.

12 EARTH BOUND

Regis rolls up its sleeves to heed Pope Francis’ call to care for our planet.

18 ROCK OF AGES

Alumnus helps musicians young and old unleash their inner rock star.

22 A (THREE) STORIED HISTORY

A pope, a ghost and a lot of bats are all part of Carroll Hall’s first 100 years.

24 MISSION EXPANDED

Its Hispanic Serving Institution status lets Regis build on its history of service and enhance future opportunities.

Regis University Magazine is published biannually by Marketing and Communications for the University community of alumni, benefactors, faculty, staff, students and families.

INTERIM ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS James Thomas DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Sheryl Tirol EDITOR Karen Augé CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marcus Knodle ART DIRECTOR Nichole Atwood EDITORIAL STAFF McKenna Solomon Sara Knuth ILLUSTRATION Dan Alarcon Jr.

32 ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS

PHOTOGRAPHERS Skip Stewart Thoren Hyde

41 WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

CONTRIBUTORS Nick Benson Barry “Bear” Gutierrez Hadley Jenkins Noelle Williams

How Arne Herber went from the Regis football field to the Hall of Fame.

Regis alumni gather to share old memories and make new ones.

ON THE COVER: Under the guidance of a Regis alumnus, Denver’s School of Rock is humming along.

THIS IS REGIS

01 PRESIDENT’S LETTER 02 DULY NOTED 04 FACULTY FOCUS 05 FACULTY FEATS 06 SHARE YOUR SYLLABUS 07 STUDENT VOICES 08 SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT

A LWAY S R A N G E R S

42 RANGERS IN THE WORLD 44 CLASS NOTES 46 IN MEMORIAM 47 OBITUARIES 48 ASK REGI

Regis University supports a sustainable environment. Please recycle this magazine when finished reading.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

email: editor@regis.edu mail: Regis University Magazine 3333 Regis Blvd., L-27, Denver CO 80221

ADVANCE YOUR EDUCATION visit: regis.edu/apply call: 800.944.7667 email: ruadmissions@regis.edu LEARN ABOUT UPCOMING EVENTS visit: regis.edu/events-calendar follow us: facebook.com/regisuniversity

MAKE A GIFT TO REGIS

call: 303.964.3608 visit: give.regis.edu

PRESIDENT'S LETTER | THIS IS REGIS

As our new academic year began, Regis had much for which to be grateful. This fall, we welcomed a record 1,432 new students – traditional and post-traditional. That’s a 144 percent jump over last year’s incoming classes. And, reflecting our commitment to serving a diverse student population, 53 percent of those incoming freshmen were eligible for federal Pell Grants. While the numbers are gratifying, we must never forget that, through our Jesuit Catholic heritage, we aim to foster a community that is inclusive, compassionate and dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth. We encourage open dialogue and critical thinking, challenging our students and faculty to explore their beliefs and engage with diverse perspectives. Our commitment to our Jesuit Catholic heritage extends beyond the classroom. We actively engage in service to others, recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. We seek to create a more just and equitable society, advocating for those who are marginalized and working to address the root causes of injustice. At Regis, we are united by our shared goal of providing a transformative education that equips students to lead lives of purpose and meaning. We share a desire to be in harmony with others, to acknowledge that, while there is suffering in the world, we share a natural human desire to help where we can. That is an impulse that transcends race or national origin and was as common in students generations ago as it is now.

This fall, the strength of our community, and its power to offer comfort, was evident as our campus united in grief over the tragic loss of two students. Kai Mitchell and Iván Rojas-Gallegos were exceptional young people whose losses were felt deeply by our community. Much has changed in the 146 years since a group of Jesuit priests conceived what would become Regis University as a place to serve and care for Indigenous peoples of New Mexico. However, much has stayed the same. Our commitment to providing transformative education to all people has never wavered. That commitment has most recently been reflected in our earning of the federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution. As documented in the story “Dreams Realized” in this issue of the magazine, this achievement will allow us to serve a growing population of Latine and first-generation students in our metro Denver community and beyond. On paper, our enrollment numbers and the percentage of first-generation students and Latine students who have chosen Regis, are encouraging. But we should never forget that, at Regis, we measure our success in whom and what our students become and how they impact the world as stewards of a transformative Jesuit Catholic education. Better together,

Salvador Aceves President

REGIS.EDU

THIS IS REGIS | DULY NOTED

WE NEEDED A LOT MORE WELCOME MATS THIS FALL because students flocked to Regis in unprecedented numbers. A record 1,432 new young foxes, er, students — traditional and non-traditional — enrolled this semester. That’s a 144 percent jump over last year’s incoming classes. And this year’s freshman class, the class of 2027, boasts 72 more members than the class of 2026. Welcome all you fresh-faced, radiant Rangers!

AN OCEAN OF WORDS Vietnamese-American poet and writer Ocean Vuong, author of the award-winning On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and a MacArthur “genius grant” winner, spoke on campus in October as part of Regis’ acclaimed Stories from Wartime series.

THE NEW FACES DON'T ALL BELONG TO STUDENTS

MADHU T. RAO, PH.D., will be academic dean of Anderson College of Business and Computing, effective Jan. 1, 2024. Rao, associate dean of Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University, succeeds founding dean Shari Plantz-Masters, Ph.D., who remains on the faculty. ERICA MUNGUIA INGALLS became the new dean of students in August. Formerly dean of students at Front Range Community College, she served on the Hispanic Serving Institute Committee, holds a master’s degree from Adams State Univ. in Alamosa and expects to complete her doctorate in education at the University of Colorado in December.

DAN H. LAWRENCE, ED.D., former director of library services for the Community College of Aurora, is the new dean of Dayton Memorial Library. Lawrence led CCA’s Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

GETTING INTO GOOD TROUBLE All of Regis read his memoir, Solito, as part of the University's common read program, One Book, One Regis. So, when poet and author Javier Zamora spoke as the finale to this fall’s Good Trouble Conversations series, there was plenty of excitement on campus. Zamora’s book tells the story of his harrowing journey — alone, at age 9 — from El Salvador to the United States, to join his parents. In his work, Zamora, a Stanford University Stegner Fellow and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard, illuminates the experiences of migrants and those who exploit them.

DULY NOTED | THIS IS REGIS

DAY OF THE (VERY TALL) DEAD This fall, Regis welcomed a larger-thanlife Catrina created by Los Angeles-based artist Ricardo Soltero. The enormous, and enormously fashionable visitor, was part of Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Catrinas en mi Ciudad exhibit honoring Mexico's Día de los Muertos tradition.

NEITHER RAIN NOR SLEET... Nor 136 years of hailstorms, sun and snow could defeat Main Hall’s original mansard roof. But, as with so many seniors, its joints were giving out. So, a two-year replacement effort began this summer. The new mansard won’t be tin like the original, but will include energysaving insulation. Still, the replacement’s blue metal composition and 70-degree pitch mean it will look much like the original — a fitting tribute to a stalwart structure.

EXPERIENCE ON TAP A new brewery in St. Peter Claver, S.J., Hall offers students a chance to learn craft-brewing skills as they work toward Regis’ Certificate in Applied Craft Brewing. The program not only schools students on the finer points of creating a quality pint, it also offers tips on navigating the sudsy waters of the craft-brew industry.

REGIS.EDU

THIS IS REGIS | FACULTY FOCUS

The first time the data pointed in that direction, “We thought maybe that’s a fluke.” But when the pattern proved more resilient than expensive mascara, “The project shifted to be about, ‘what the heck is going on with these feminists?’” To find out, Harrold and Washington State University Assistant Prof. Chadwick Miller and Associate Prof. Andrew Perkins asked self-described feminists to show them the beauty products that are part of their daily ritual. They sorted those products into those sold in department stores or places like Nordstrom, and those that hang on the shelves of places like Target or King Soopers. The results, published this spring in Psychology & Marketing, were unequivocal. “We found it was the feminists who had more Sephora products. They were willing to do more research and pay more.”

The Make Up of Feminism

efore Barbie took over the summer, before everything everywhere was bubblegum pink, Mycah Harrold, Regis assistant professor of marketing, had already been experimenting with makeup for years. More precisely, with the complicated relationship women have with makeup. What Harrold learned might surprise a lot of living dolls. Namely, that women who consider themselves feminists are likely to spend more money on makeup than those who don’t. That certainly surprised Harrold. And it wasn’t what she set out to learn. While pursuing her Ph.D. at Washington State University, Harrold was investigating whether women felt coerced by marketers or society to buy and use makeup. “Where I started with this project, I was thinking that feminist scholars would say [wearing makeup] is never a choice. It’s holding women down. But I thought, ‘OK, let’s talk to the actual people.’” The answer, it turned out, was that some women feel pressure to doll up their faces, and some don’t. The women Harrold talked to had other surprising things to say, too. “We found that women who consider themselves feminists were willing to spend more money on [beauty] products than non-feminists,” Harrold said.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

The findings upend persistent stereotypes about feminists and grooming habits, which date back at least half a century. This summer, in a segment honoring the 50th anniversary of Ms. magazine, co-founder Gloria Steinem told CBS Sunday Morning that she recalled the head of one major cosmetics company explaining why he wouldn’t be advertising in the magazine: Women who read Ms. — feminists — didn't buy makeup, he said. That certainly isn’t true. But Harrold’s team did find that when it comes to cosmetic spending, age matters. “The older generation of feminists, they are not purchasing premium products.” Data from Lendingtree.com indicates millennials (ages 27 to 42), spend an average of $2,670 a year on beauty products. The average drops with each age group, with baby boomers, those ages 59 to 77, at the bottom, spending only $494, on average, for makeup. At the same time, older women are among those most likely to call themselves feminists, a 2020 Pew Research Center study found. According to the study, the greatest proportion of women who identify as feminists — 68 percent — are those aged 18 to 29. The next highest age group to consider themselves feminists was the 65-plus group. To Harrold, the findings don’t represent a setback for the feminist cause. Quite the opposite, in fact. She views it as progress, a sign that women are making their own decisions. “We’re suggesting that with the feminists, they are positioning the beauty work in their minds differently,” Harrold said. “They are taking it back, saying ‘I can be a feminist and I can be super pretty’. They are feeling those tasks are empowering as personal choices.” ~ KA

THIS IS REGIS | FACULTY FEATS

A novel by writing and contemporary literature Prof. Scott Dimovitz, chair of the English Department, has been published by Tailwinds Press. Described as a “smart, funny” work that examines the dismantling of American industry and the dangers of religious groupthink, The Joy Divisions takes place in the working-class Pennsylvania where Dimovitz grew up. A mystery novel by Prof. Eric Fretz, chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Department, has been published. Groundswell, published under the name E.J. Fretz, tells the story of an American detective, Julian Braxton, whose new life in paradise is upended by a series of unexplained deaths. Set in New Zealand, Groundswell is the first in what Fretz plans to be a series featuring the fictional detective.

Larisa Hoffman, Ph.D., professor of physical therapy, presented at the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) meeting last May in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her topic was the potential for multidisciplinary courses that offer interprofessional education to be a means to integrate more rehabilitation professionals into health systems. Stephen Kirkman, Ph.D., Anderson College of Business and Computing assistant professor and program director for the bachelor of science in cybersecurity program, shared his expertise during an interview with Cybersecurity Guide. Cybersecurity Guide is a regular podcast and resource guide that covers the cybersecurity industry. Associate Professor of English Alyse Knorr’s fourth book of poetry, Ardor, was released by Gasher Press in September. With themes of eco-poetics and queer family building, Ardor “moves across the political and natural landscapes of Alaska, Colorado and the deep American South.”

Mile-High MFA instructor Erika Krouse won the Mystery Writers of America’s prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Award — aka the Edgar — in the Fact Crime category. Her book, Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, which has been called a true-crime/memoir mashup written with the lyricism of literary fiction, also won the Colorado Book Award for Creative Nonfiction. THINE, a collection of poems by Assistant Prof. of English Kate Partridge, has been published by Tupelo Press. The poems in THINE, set in the rapidly changing landscapes of Colorado and California, explore what it means to have children and create art in the context of climate change.

Ethan R. Sanders, associate professor in the History, Politics and Political Economy (HiPPE) department, was the keynote speaker at the Pontificia Universita Gregoriana (Pontifical Gregorian University) in Rome on Nov. 21. Sanders spoke on “Africa’s Soulful Politician: Human Dignity and Equality in the Thought of Julius Nyerere.” The Gregorian University was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551 and is the oldest Catholic University in Rome. Mile-High MFA instructor David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s thriller novel Winter Counts was named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 best mystery and thriller books. The honor puts him in company with authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Chandler.

REGIS.EDU

THIS IS REGIS | SHARE YOUR SYLLABUS

THE CLASS:

MACW 614 WRITING AS SOCIAL ACTION INSTRUCTOR: Assistant Prof. J’Lyn Chapman, Ph.D.

Chapman teaches in Regis’ Inside/Out Prison Education Program and has taught writing workshops at The Gathering Place, a shelter for unhoused women, children, and trans folx. ABOUT THE COURSE: Students develop sophisticated strategies for reading, writing, and teaching literature and creative writing as social action. By closely reading primary texts in the four major literary genres — poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and playwriting — and discovering the role of literature in 20th-century social justice movements, students learn to use a variety of rhetorical and stylistic approaches to craft writing that makes connections, promotes social justice, and fosters awareness and growth. STUDENTS ARE: Graduate students in the MA Literature and

Creative Writing Specializations, as well as Mile High MFA students earning a Pedagogy Certificate.

TEXT & MATERIALS: Kavita Das’ Craft and Conscience: How to

Write About Social Issues, Upton Sinclair’s The Cry for Justice, Mary Pipher’s Writing to Change the World, Frances Adler Payne’s anthology Fire and Ink: An Anthology of Social Justice Writing, bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress, and Anna Leahy’s Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom. CLASSWORK: In addition to writing an op-ed, experimenting

with the pantoum poem and analyzing social action depicted in film, students create work specific to their specialization. Pedagogy students compile a teaching dossier, including a syllabus, lesson plan, and diversity statement; literature students write a critical paper, accompanied by an annotated bibliography oriented around a social justice movement; and creative writers craft a collection of action-driven creative pieces. MAJOR LESSON LEARNED: By the end of the course, students

have identified social issues that matter to them and feel empowered to address these issues through their writing and teaching. By examining their spheres of influence, students can identify audiences and rhetorical situations on which their work can have an impact. Some students will produce a professional dossier oriented toward teaching to show prospective employers; others have the opportunity to reflect on their final semester and to consider participating in a community-based writing project in an experiential capstone.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

THIS IS REGIS | STUDENT VOICES

WHA T I S YOUR F AVORI T E MUSI C T O S T UDY T O ?

SAMUEL FUENTES CLASS OF 2027

“THE MUSIC I LIKE TO LISTEN TO MOST WHEN STUDYING IS WORSHIP MUSIC. I FIND IT VERY CALM AND VERY REPETITIVE, AND IT GETS ME IN THE RIGHT HEADSPACE FOR STUDYING.”

MADELINE BULGER CLASS OF 2027

ELIZABETH MYOTTE

“I LISTEN TO EDM WHILE I STUDY.”

GRAD STUDENT

“I LIKE TO LISTEN TO CHILL POP KIND OF MUSIC!”

RACHEL DAY

CLASS OF 2027

“I LIKE TO LISTEN TO JAZZ WHILE I STUDY.”

AIDAN O’MAHONY CLASS OF 2026

“I KINDA’ LISTEN TO R&B, JUST SOME CHILL MUSIC, AND STUFF LIKE THAT.”

HADLEY JENKINS CLASS OF 2024

"WHEN I STUDY, I LIKE TO LISTEN TO DISCO MUSIC! IT'S EASY TO LISTEN TO AND MAKES ME WANT TO DANCE, SO I DON'T GET STUCK SITTING IN THE SAME SPOT FOR HOURS."

REGIS.EDU

Photo: Nick Benson

THIS IS REGIS | SCHOLARSHIP STORIES

Senior employs Jesuit values to fight for a stronger, safer community

he billboard images can be hard to look at: a teddy bear and a gun on a coffin. A gun with the message “Hugs not guns,” in Spanish and English.

But combating gun violence in the southwest Denver neighborhood where Sayuri Toribio grew up isn’t easy, either. Still, the Regis senior is committed to trying. For two summers, she has been at the forefront of a youth-led effort to create forceful billboard messages that compel viewers to think about the issue. The billboards, funded with a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, were created with help from the Denver Police Department and Denver City Council President Jamie Torres. The billboards are just a part of Toribio’s community activism, and just the first steps in what she expects to be a career that blends business with social justice. Toribio said the teddy bear billboard has been tagged — a sign that people are at least reading the message. Now, she said, the challenge is to figure out how to progress from getting attention to sparking change. “They're reading the message,” Toribio said. “What are we going to

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

do about it? How are we going to do more? How are we going to interact with those people who don't take the message as well?” Before she enrolled at Regis, Toribio wasn’t familiar with the Jesuit values that would become central to her college education. But she already was practicing them. From the billboards to a community newsletter she created for southwest Denver, Toribio has dedicated her spare time to improving her community. So, when she arrived at Regis, thanks to the Business Leadership Scholarship, which covers her tuition, the values of Men and Women for and with Others and Magis already felt like second nature. “It's like I was already practicing them,” Toribio said. “I just didn't know what to call them or what they were, or I had never meditated on them before.” Toribio, who studies business administration with a specialization in marketing and a minor in French, has stayed involved with her community. For the past three summers, she has interned with Torres, the city council president, whose District 3 includes Toribio’s neighborhood. As an intern, she helps Torres with

SCHOLARSHIP STORIES | THIS IS REGIS

community engagement, social media and marketing. In August, Torres acknowledged her work during a Denver City Council meeting that included honoring Regis’ new status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

she’s passing along all she has learned to her three younger siblings.

Earlier this year, Toribio’s efforts were highlighted on 9News, and she and her younger brother, Mario, talked about how they are impacted by the high rates of gun violence in their their Westwood neighborhood. “It affects everywhere we go, whether it’s in our own home, our own street, our own school,” Toribio told 9News.

If she were to offer advice to fellow first-generation students, it would be this: “Be confident in your abilities. Knowing your strengths can help a lot in being in a room where you might be the only one that looks like you,” she said. “I think being curious and asking questions is what gets you further in life. If you don't ask questions, you're just going to be stuck with no answers.”

In 2020, she helped launch the Southwest Vida newsletter, written by youth in both English and Spanish. The newsletter covers topics from mental health to gun violence to immigration. Fifteen young writers contribute each month to the newsletter, which has grown from six pages in its first year to 16 in its latest issue. Toribio, who will graduate from Regis in the spring, said she hopes to focus on social justice in the nonprofit or business worlds. Her scholarship to Regis made this dream possible, and now, as a first-generation student,

“Now I teach my brothers and sister how to apply for scholarships, all the way up to full ride,” she said.

Toribio said she chose Regis because of the business and leadership scholarships she received from the University — as well as its commitment to Jesuit values, which she feels a deep connection with. “That was the path that I was already taking, but Regis was able to expand that and give terms to the work I was already doing,” she said. “Regis instilled the value of men and women for others.” ~ SK

Toribio worked with Denver police, the Denver City Council and the Colorado Department of Public Health to erect anti-gun-violence billboards in southwest Denver.

REGIS.EDU

Derek Scarth, right, said President Salvador Aceves, Ed.D., “lives and breathes” Regis’ Jesuit mission.

Making History and Securing the Future ON SEPTEMBER 22, IN AN EVENT SOLEMN AND CELEBRATORY, SALVADOR ACEVES, ED.D., WAS FORMALLY INSTALLED IN THE POSITION HE HAD HELD FOR MORE THAN EIGHT MONTHS: THE FIRST LATINO, FIRST LAY AND 27TH PRESIDENT IN REGIS UNIVERSITY’S 146-YEAR HISTORY. “The title of President of Regis University is the greatest honor of my professional career and I am indeed humbled by it” Aceves told the hundreds of political and faith leaders and luminaries who gathered in St. John Francis Regis Chapel for the occasion. “I sought this role not for my ego, but as a servant of God's word,” he said. This new chapter Regis’ life began with accolades for the University and its leader. Colorado Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, a Regis alumna, recalled that when she attended Regis in the 1970s, not long after women were admitted, there was roughly one woman for every 10 men on campus. Now, she said, women make up 60 percent of the student body, and serve in numerous leadership positions.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Numerous dignitaries, including Rev. Kevin Burke, S.J., Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, offered good wishes to Regis’ new president.

Former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), current U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, acknowledged the University’s recent designation as a HispanicServing Institution and told Aceves that “So many will be affected by your work and your leadership … as a Latino.” Aceves, previously the University’s chief financial officer, has been with Regis for nearly a decade. He was chosen as President following an eight-month national search. Chair of the Regis Board of Trustees Derek Scarth, who led that search, said Aceves’ leadership skills, academic expertise and deep

faith set him apart, and make him uniquely capable of leading the University into a successful future. “Thank you for your commitment to Regis University,” Scarth told Aceves. “Thank you for your commitment to God. And thank you for inspiring me to want to serve like you do.” Aceves thanked his family, and his wife of 38 years, Carol, for their support, and recognized the efforts of faculty and staff on Regis’ behalf. “Together, we are shaping a brighter future for our institution and the students we serve.”

Regis’ 27th president, Salvador Aceves, Ed.D. pledged to shape a brighter future for the University and its students.

REGIS.EDU

BY Sara Knuth PHOTOS BY Nick Benson

Healing the Earth

How Regis is answering the Vatican’s call to care for our common home BY Sara Knuth

vila Ruiz knelt into a fresh patch of dirt with a shovel in one hand and a small plant in another. Surrounded by dozens of fellow Regis freshmen, she began transferring plants native to Colorado into the ground. The patch of Regis University land where she was working was tucked behind modular campus buildings and beyond the backyards of homes in the surrounding neighborhood. Most Regis students could go their entire college careers without knowing the patch of land existed on their campus. But on the Office of First Year Experience’s Climate Action Day, this September, Ruiz was among a group of first-year students changing that, bringing growth and renewal to a new community garden previously vacant for years. “It’s a very simple action, but it has a big impact. If enough actions are taken, it becomes a big thing,” Ruiz, a freshman, said as she worked. “It's kind of healing to work with the ground and to put life in and to watch it grow.” Regis is counting on small actions to make a big impact. The small community garden is just one part of Regis efforts to implement the Laudato Si’ Action Plan, based on a document written by Pope Francis that calls upon people to care for the Earth — especially as it faces the ever-present threat of the climate crisis. The University’s Office of First Year Experience, which provides support and connection for new students, is bringing students into the conversation early. This year, in the lead-up to the

Prof. Jason Taylor, director of First Year Experience, and first-year students commemorated Climate Action Day by creating a garden on the Regis campus where a vacant lot had been.

day of planting, the office welcomed RAW Tools, a nonprofit that melts rifles down into plowshares, to campus to discuss the connection between the climate and justice. In the fall, RAW founder and Executive Director Mike Martin visited campus with his blacksmithing tools to demonstrate the power of transforming weapons intended for destruction into tools for cultivating life. And the work for climate justice goes far beyond First Year Experience, to encompass the entire University. In 2021, Regis formed a committee focused on Laudato Si’ to bring together University departments that can contribute to campus sustainability, from faculty members who are experts in ecology to student representatives to University Ministry leaders. The Pope’s call for climate justice When a colleague approached Kari Kloos to co-teach a class with her about eco-theology in 2011, she knew that science would play a large role in students’ coursework. What she didn’t expect was an equal emphasis on subjects like political science and economics. Kloos, assistant vice president for Mission and a religious studies professor, said her commitment to teaching sustainability grew from there as she discovered the ways the environment impacts different facets of life.

teachings he finds important for Catholics to hear. Although previous popes have instructed people to care for the environment, Laudato Si’ is the first encyclical dedicated to the environment. Kloos said the document draws on Catholic teachings, but also calls on people to engage in dialogue with scientists and policymakers. Laudato Si’ contains seven principles: Response to the Cry of the Earth; Response to the Cry of the Poor; Ecological Economics; Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles; Ecological Education; Ecological Spirituality; and Community Resilience and Empowerment. “It looks deeply at how the problem with environment is, fundamentally, in the Pope’s view, a spiritual problem, which is our failure to see how things like environmental degradation and poverty are related to each other, and what our role is in caring for those two things,” Kloos said. In October, Pope Francis released a short second part of the encyclical, titled Laudate Deum, Latin for “Praise God.” “‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter,” Pope Francis wrote, “for when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.” The letter reiterates the Pope’s call to care for the environment and adds a new sense of urgency as the Pope said Earth is approaching a “point of no return.”

“How do we look at the science of climate change and the needs of sustainability and consider it from multiple angles?” Kloos said the course asked. Eventually, Kloos began teaching the course on her own and often would invite professors from across multiple disciplines to speak to her class about their roles in caring for the environment. It’s safe to say that her experience with sustainability helped prepare her to lead the University’s commitment to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’. “I really loved what I learned from that experience,” Kloos said. “So, when I had the opportunity to support this work of our University’s Laudato Si’ committee, I wanted to make sure that it got in motion and that we’re able to make a difference for the University.” In 2015, Pope Francis released Laudato Si’, an encyclical that encourages “swift and unified global action” to address environmental degradation and global warming. An encyclical is a type of letter from the Pope that contains

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Students and faculty members dig into a patch of land and prepare to place plants native to Colorado. Native plants are more resilient in their natural climate and require less water.

Plants await their turn on Climate Action Day. The entire Regis freshman class gathered for a talk from staff from Broomfield, Colo.’s Butterfly Pavilion before they placed native plants.

REGIS.EDU

Nidawin Preston, administrative coordinator in the Regis College Honors Program, performs a ceremony to prepare the land for planting.

“Even if we do not reach this point of no return, it is certain that the consequences would be disastrous and precipitous measures would have to be taken, at enormous cost and with grave and intolerable economic and social effects,” Pope Francis wrote. For institutions like Regis, the mandate is clear. In 2021, former Regis President Rev. John Fitzgibbons, S.J., signed a commitment on behalf of the University to take part in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, putting Kloos at the helm. She’s had plenty of help in the years since. Urgent need for action Lindiwei Farrow-Harris, who was named interim director of sustainability at Regis in September, has had an insider’s perspective on the impact of sustainability efforts throughout her career. As a former public health inspector in New York City and now assistant director of Regis’ Physical Plant and Environmental Health and Safety Officer, she knows how systems run. “Something that always stood out to me was inefficiency … A lot of places don't have a wellconnected communication within the departments of the organization. And that leads to a lot of waste, even if it's just somebody's energy being wasted,” Farrow-Harris said. “[The Laudato Si’ Committee] made it a lot easier to just pinpoint the different parts of what make an organization sustainable ... and then how that affects other organizations, and then eventually, the rest of the world.” The Laudato Si’ Committee, she said, brings together different parts of the University that can make an impact. How can the University become more sustainable? That’s what the committee is working on. First, the committee is emphasizing spreading awareness about sustainability — starting with the definition. “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment,” according to

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.” For Farrow-Harris, Laudato Si’ perfectly captures this goal because the plan’s seven points acknowledge the ways sustainability and the environment impact all aspects of society. So far, concrete actions toward sustainability at Regis have included creating the First Year Experience garden, which is intended to become a pollinator garden that will attract insects such as bees and butterflies. The garden represents something larger, too. “The pollinator garden was a form of … openly saying, this is the culture that we're trying for form,” FarrowHarris said. “Because a garden by itself, although great and wonderful, does not solve an issue. It's a small drop in the bucket, but it does make students think about it. It makes them realize, ‘OK, at Regis, this is something that we think about. This is something that's important to us as a community.’” And even when sustainability goals are achieved, the work will continue. “There isn't an ultimate goal, because at the end of the day, you don't get to a point where you're like, ‘Okay, we've achieved it. We’re done.’ That doesn’t happen,” FarrowHarris said. “But the ultimate and ongoing goal [is] what you would call continuous improvement. Because there's never not going to be another idea. There's never not going to be something you can do better or organize better.”

ties into their work with introducing first-year students to the Regis mission. When RAW Tools, the nonprofit that turns rifles into garden tools, visited campus, students learned the connection between sustainability and violence. Sustainability, as Regis leaders emphasize, involves the collision of multiple worlds to serve our only world — Earth. For students, the lessons will last a lifetime. “It's strange to think off-hand, is gun violence related to climate change and sustainability? And if we look at it superficially, perhaps not,” Doppelt said. “Though, if we begin to delve more deeply, we can quickly begin to make connections … part of the reason why globally, weapons production is so widespread is because of violent competition for resources, exploitation of populations, for their labor or for their resources. Even within this country, if we look at the fundamental drivers of gun violence, they are across the board, socio economic … it's people who find themselves in social situations where they typically don't have secure housing. They don't have secure access to food or high-quality food. They don't live in environments where they feel safe and supported.” For students, the connections make an impact. “I think it's really cool, all these different things that we get to learn about, and I know it's not what I expected,” LeJeune said. “This isn't the reason I came here. It is the reason I will stay here.”

As Regis commits to sustainability, it’s the small acts that, together, will make an impact. Students feel the impact of ecological action On Climate Action Day, freshman Jolie LeJeune felt connected to her family. “I like planting things because it makes me feel kind of connected to my home,” she said. “We used to plant, and we had a big garden and it was really nice. So, I just have that childlike wonder.” LeJeune said she chose Regis because she was inspired by her late grandfather’s commitment to the faith and to serving others. “I like that the service right here is more inclusive, and I didn't know that that would be something I liked, because I really just came here because I liked the idea of educating the whole person,” she said. Martin Doppelt, academic program coordinator for First Year Experience, said the garden is a result of many discussions with Farrow-Harris and Jason Taylor, the director of First Year Experience. Their work on the garden

Student Avila Ruiz plants in the Regis garden. Some students won items created with RAWTools, a non-profit organization that turns guns into gardening tools.

REGIS.EDU

WS, PLAYING SHO D E T R TA S T S “WHEN I FIR OULDN’T BE OUS THAT I W V R E N O S T E LAST.” I'D G W, I HAVE A B .R. O N T. A E TO ABLE YRS. W/S.O AND BASS - 4 LUCAS, 12, GU

ITAR

LEFT TO RIGHT: Lucas T., Matthew L., Vada M.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Rock AND a Not-So-Hard Place BY Karen Auge and Sara Knuth PHOTOS BY Bear Gutierrez

f he hadn’t found the perfect parking spot outside a restaurant in suburban Chicago years ago, Jim Johnson might never have discovered his ideal career. The Regis alumnus was visiting family, and when everybody went to dinner one night, he pulled into a space outside something called School of Rock. “I said, ‘I’ve got to go inside and see this place.’ And they told me about the program,” in which aspiring Mick Jaggers and Joan Jetts — both young and not-so-young — learn electric guitar, drums or vocals, and perform live shows. “I said, ‘Do you have this in Denver?’” Turns out, they did. And a few months later, Johnson was running it. The premise is simple. School of Rock offers several programs, grouped by age and musical acumen. Most programs include private lessons, regular group rehearsals, and chances to perform live — sometimes for parents and friends, and sometime for large, public audiences.

D SO, F MY LIFE. AN O T R PA A N E LWAYS BE HAT I WAS “MUSIC HAS A I GOT TOLD T — 20 20 F O AS EXCITED.” FOR CHRISTM I GOT REALLY .O.R. D N A K C O R 2 YRS. W/S HOOL OF SION, KEYS GOING TO SC BASS, PERCUS VADA, 12, VO

CALS, GUITAR,

REGIS.EDU

TOP ROW STANDING LEFT TO RIGHT: Wolf S., Vada M. BOTTOM ROW SITTING LEFT TO RIGHT: Lucas T., Hendrix D., Matthew L., Logan C., Grace F., Ashlynn H., Addie R., Clayton Z. FRONT: Jim Johnson

In Denver, the School of Rock House Band — students audition to join — often plays public events and recently opened for Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheater. And Johnson is hoping a School of Rock performance band can add musical accompaniment to some Regis sporting events. Not all of rock stardom is familyfriendly, of course. Guitar-smashing, hotel-room trashing and other nonG-rated pursuits associated with the rock lifestyle are not included in the curriculum. And for younger kids, S.O.R. does change lyrics when necessary. “But most of the time we’ll play it as written as long as there’s artistic merit,” Johnson said. Sometimes in performances that artistic merit comes with a parental warning, he said. Proving that art indeed imitates life, School of Rock pre-dated the Jack Black movie by five years. The first School of Rock opened in 1998, fittingly, in Philadelphia — home

of American Bandstand and Chubby Checker.

backstage and hosting the band. It was a really cool experience.”

It didn’t take long for locations to pop up all over. One of the first schools west of the Mississippi opened in 2008, also fittingly, in Denver — site of the first North American performances by Led Zeppelin and Queen. (The latter, by the way, took place in the Regis Field House.)

It was not exactly the experience he set out to have — on paper at least — when he enrolled at Regis.

Now, there are more than 300 Schools of Rock worldwide, 10 in Colorado. Music had long been a big part of Johnson’s life, from piano lessons starting around age 5 to playing keyboard in a band while a Regis student and after graduating in 1996. He also learned the ins and outs of event staging, starting when The Samples came to campus in 1993. “The Field House was looking for volunteers to help with a Halloween show my sophomore year,” Johnson said. “I’d been on stage many times but I’d never seen how a show comes together. I ended up working

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Johnson’s parents wanted him to attend either a Catholic high school or college. Growing up outside Chicago, Johnson knew the reputation of Hinsdale Central High School’s jazz band. So he penciled in Catholic education for college, and that paid off. First he got to travel with the Hinsdale jazz band, even sitting in with the Count Basie Orchestra and the Tonight Show Band from the Johnny Carson years. Then he found his home, in Colorado. When it came time to choose a Catholic college, he didn’t hesitate. “My dad grew up in Denver. I already knew what Colorado and Denver were like and I decided Regis was the place for me.”

“THE MAIN TH ING IS THAT I LIKE PERFOR THESE PEOPLE MING. I SEE A HERE WHO H LL A VE BEEN DOIN LONG TIME, A G THIS FOR A ND I WANT TO BECOME THAT LOGAN, 12, GU LEVEL.” ITAR - 2 YRS. W/S.O .R.

Ashlynn H.

He began his Regis career as a biology major on the pre-med track, but quickly figured out that wasn’t for him. Before the end of his freshman year, he was in a band. “A philosophy professor was our singer. We did a set at Ranger Day.” After he graduated in 1996, Johnson worked days at a brewery and played music at night. The band did well, performing frequently in Evergreen, at Herman’s Hideaway and the bar that became the late, lamented Local 46 in northwest Denver. Eventually, Johnson yearned for a steady income and stability. That’s when he started on the path that led him to event planning. He learned a

lot, and earned steady paychecks. But something was missing. “I had a great job with the city [of Denver] managing event facilities. But I needed to get back to what I was really enjoying,” Johnson said. So in 2008, a few months after that fateful dinner outing, he took over management of Denver’s School of Rock; in 2014 he bought the franchise. Johnson hasn’t forgotten the Jesuit values that distinguish a Regis education; he’s a proponent of scholarships at S.O.R., and set up a non-profit to administer them. “Yes, it’s a for-profit business and I have to provide for my family. But I want to provide the experience in music I had

and those opportunities are not available in school anymore.” Most of S.O.R.’s little drummer boys and shredder girls won’t go on to rock stardom, and don’t intend to. The majority just want to have a fun, cool experience, Johnson said. Whatever their career goals, Johnson’s School of Rock students learn valuable lessons, from being at ease on stage to the keys to success in any field. “Talent is overrated,” Johnson said. “There’s no substitute for hard work and patience.”

“THIS IS THE B EST PART OF MY LIFE. I LOV DRUMMING, A E ND HONESTLY , BEING HERE OF FUN, AND IS A LOT THE PEOPLE H ERE ARE GRE INSTRUCTORS AT. MY HAVE JUST BE EN AMAZING.” WOLF, 17, DRUM S - 2 YRS. W/S.O.R.

REGIS.EDU

We’re gonna need a lot of candles for this birthday. Carroll Hall, the imposing building that appears to be part gothic monument, part turreted castle, this year celebrates 100 years of gracing the Regis campus. The grand dame has seen plenty during the past century and has had some work done — a new roof in 2021, a general rehab around her 50th birthday in 1973, and assorted touch-ups here and there. Nevertheless, Carroll Hall looks great for her age, and there’s no reason to think the building with the graceful arched entryway won’t be around for another 100 years.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

In celebration of Carroll’s centenary, we present the top 10 fascinating Carroll Hall Facts: 1. Work began on Carroll Hall in January 1923. The building, initially a residence hall, cost a whopping $200,000 and included 150 singleoccupancy rooms. 2. The building is named for Rev. John Carroll, S.J., but Rev. Carroll never made it to Colorado, much less Regis. But in 1777, he did establish in Baltimore the first Jesuit Catholic parish in the United States and helped organize the Catholic Church in the United States. 3. In April 1923, an estimated 600 people braved a spring snowstorm to watch the building’s cornerstone be laid. That chilly throng included the mayor of Denver and Colorado Gov. William E. Sweet, who, according to a Brown and Gold correspondent, “spoke with grace and forcefulness.” 4. The cornerstone supposedly included a time capsule. As for its contents, The Brown and Gold mentioned only — and a bit self-centeredly — copies of The Brown and Gold. Legend of the capsule has endured, but Mike Redmond, associate vice president for Physical Plant, says there is no trace of it in Carroll Hall documents or plans. The mystery deepens ... 5. From 1924 to 1925, the residents of Carroll Hall’s 150 dorm rooms were, as far as the city of Denver was concerned, living there illegally. The city didn’t recognize the building as a residence until 1925. 6. The stained-glass depiction of Rev. Carroll was a gift to the college by the Class of 1924. 7. An underground tunnel stretches from Carroll Hall beneath Hopkins Gardens all the way to DeSmet Hall. The tunnel’s pipes pull warm or cool air into Carroll from its younger, presumably more robust, neighbor. The tunnel’s ceiling is slightly caved in, so air is the only thing that can travel back and forth in the subterranean byway. 8. Carroll is haunted – apparently by a ghost with very specific tastes in furnishings and academic subject matter. The Brown and Gold reported that the third-floor Language House was “ransacked” by someone or something that replaced furnishings with “items one would associate with a scholar and scientist…” In a Letter to the Editor supposedly from the culprit, the ghost of the late Rev. Armand Forstall, S.J., claimed responsibility for the vandalism, saying “no one has the right to make a language lounge out of MY STUDY.” The legend of Forstall’s spectral chicanery dates to his death in 1948, whereupon his scientific work was lost. Word around campus was that he won’t rest until his work is found. 9. While numerous smart and perhaps saintly students, faculty and luminaries have passed through the doors of Carroll Hall, none got more attention than President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II. The pair of world leaders famously, and privately, met inside the walls of Carroll Hall for more than an hour in 1993 when the Pope hosted World Youth Day in Denver. 10. Presumably the president and the Pope didn’t realize they had more company during their private chat than just Secret Service men and women. The elegant Carroll Hall actually was quite batty for much of its history. The building was home to more than a thousand bats until the original roof was replaced in 2021. The bats migrated to Regis every year from New Mexico.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEMORY OR EXPERIENCE INVOLVING CARROLL HALL? SHARE IT WITH US. SEND EMAILS TO EDITOR@REGIS.EDU REGIS.EDU

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

BECOMING A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION EXPANDS OPPORTUNITIES FOR REGIS AND ITS STUDENTS

Dreams REALIZED A

BY Sara Knuth

lma Borunda-Granillo's 21st birthday was nothing like she had imagined.

Not that she pictured spending the day the way many 21-year-olds do. While her friends got excited about going to bars and ordering their first legal drinks, the then Regis student just wanted to start her parents on the road to U.S. citizenship, something she already had and something that, once she reached 21, she could help them get.

REGIS.EDU

But after a legal battle that resulted from a misunderstanding, BorundaGranillo’s parents lost their jobs and began to frantically pack up their Denver home. The parents she’d hoped would soon become citizens instead found their future lives in the United States jeopardized and feared they would have to go back to Mexico. Her own dreams – of finishing her Regis degree and building a career helping immigrants in this country — seemed about to vaporize. That’s when she turned to the University for support. She had reason to think Regis would help. In the months before her 21st birthday, when her family’s legal battle was still ongoing, she appreciated Regis’ services. “Every semester, I would have to start the conversation with, ‘Hey, I might miss a few classes because I have to go translate for my parents,’” she said. “I saw a lot of the professors cared and it just led to me having a deep understanding with them. It's like a teacher and student bond but at the same time, it went far beyond that. They can see your human side and kind of help you through it.”

A MEANS TO HELP ALL STUDENTS Beginning this year, Regis can offer even greater support to students who come after Borunda-Granillo, who graduated in spring 2023. In March, the University was named a Hispanic- Serving Institution (HSI), a federal designation that brings with it new opportunities for students, faculty, and staff, including the

I SAW A LOT OF THE PROFESSORS CARED AND IT JUST LED TO ME HAVING A DEEP UNDERSTANDING WITH THEM. Alma Borunda-Granillo, Regis Alumna

◀•▶•◀•▶•◀• ability to apply for additional federal grants, fellowships, internships and research funding. It also provides Regis with an opportunity to serve the state’s growing Latine student population. As of 2022, some 22.5 percent of Colorado residents were of Hispanic origin, and 22 percent of them were under 18, according to the U.S. Census. What’s more, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute reports that Colorado’s Latine population grew by 72 percent between 2000 and 2019 — twice the state’s overall population growth. To qualify for HSI designation, Hispanic students must comprise at least 25 percent of a university’s enrollment. As of this fall, Regis well exceeds that threshold, at 43 percent of the Regis student body. Nicki Gonzales, Ph.D., vice provost for diversity and inclusion and a Regis professor of history, said the status links the University with a network of peer institutions that can offer guidance. It means that Regis has joined fewer than 600 colleges and universities nationwide with the designation. Of the nation’s 27 Jesuit universities, only one other— Saint

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Peter’s University in New Jersey — has achieved HSI status. Regis is the only private institution in Colorado with the designation. For students, the new status also means more support from offices such as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Excellence.

A STATUS THAT BENEFITS EVERYONE For Regis, the path to HSI status was a collaborative effort, with the entire campus community contributing. In its first year as an HSI, the University will work to ensure the campus is inclusive and welcoming, from writing signage in multiple languages to ensuring students have access to a culturally responsive faculty, staff and board of trustees. The University also will continue to engage with families and to create a culturally enhancing educational experience. Regis also has worked closely with other HSI universities. Colorado State University-Pueblo, an HSI since 2005, has offered advice — and praise — to Regis as it enters its new status. “They said, ‘Your mission is so compatible with HSIs. You don't have to convince your administrators that this is valuable because they already buy into your vision,’” Gonzales said. “And so that was really encouraging. It’s just nice to have partners in the work who aren't competitive with us, but who want to serve the community because that's what we do.” While the University has become an

HSI, the call to serve Latine students goes much further back than this past spring.

A HISTORY OF SERVICE More than a century before it earned its new HSI designation, Regis made a commitment to serve students who were Indigenous and Hispano (people descended from Spanish settlers before territories were annexed into the United States). In fact, that’s why Jesuit priests founded the University in 1877, as Las Vegas College in northern New Mexico. Gonzales, a former Colorado State Historian, said the University began by educating the Native and Hispano residents of the land. In the next several years, Regis evolved, moving its campus from New Mexico to Morrison, Colo., and then to the current Northwest Denver Campus in 1887. “Those are our roots. And then over time, you see, especially with the move to Denver, Regis has reflected the history of the city, where we have Irish immigrants, and then we have Italians and Southern and Eastern European immigrants. Catholic communities that sent their kids here,” Gonzales said. “And over the years, it has become more and more welcoming to the Latino community.” Gonzales, who joined Regis in 2007, said that in the years since then, the community around Regis has reflected demographic changes in Denver. “We have these huge shifts politically, economically and, and power-wise

in the city of Denver in particular, that really have moved in favor of this,” Gonzales said. “I think, in many ways, Regis is a microcosm of these different shifts, these larger shifts, and we benefited. And it shows that Regis is very integrated into the local community in ways that cause us to reflect those demographic shifts.” The biggest demographic shift, she said, comes from the influx of migrants and immigrants from Latin American countries. “With that demographic in particular, college is a pathway to the middle class and to a good life,” Gonzales said. “And as the power shifts in state and local politics, communities are gaining access to college education.” Regis added another chapter to that history this year when it named Salvador Aceves, Ed.D., as its first lay and first Latino president. His appointment was announced just months before the University was officially designated as an HSI. When Aceves was inaugurated as Regis’ 27th president in September, he highlighted the designation as an example of Regis’ commitment to serving a diverse population.

EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE TOP 10 SCHOOLS THAT OFFER THE MOST ECONOMIC MOBILITY IN THE UNITED STATES IS AN HSI.

“I stand before you for the whole and grateful heart,” he said during his inaugural speech. “My grateful heart reflects my love for Regis University, a school initially established in 1877 to serve the Hispanic and Native peoples of the New Mexico territory. Regis is now a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a designation we received on March 30 of this year. It is a designation that reaffirms how Regis University reflects the community it serves.”

MEETING A GROWING NEED Indeed, HSIs nationwide serve more students within the demographic than any other. Two-thirds of all Hispanic college students in the United States attend an HSI, according to a 2023 White House proclamation honoring the impact of schools with the designation. “They provide a quality education and empower underserved students — including Dreamers and firstgeneration college students — to earn degrees and build better lives for their families,” the proclamation read. The idea of designating HispanicServing Institutions emerged after the post-Civil Rights era and grew through efforts by the Hispanic Higher Education Coalition, which intended to address academic achievement gaps among Hispanic students. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities formed in 1986, and in 1998, the organization successfully lobbied for the creation of a national HSI program.

Report to the U.S. House of Representatives

◀•▶•◀•▶•◀•

REGIS.EDU

HELP AT A CRITICAL TIME At the end of Borunda-Granillo's freshman year, a misunderstanding about her parents’ receiving government assistance led to an intense investigation. The investigation resulted in frequent visits by authorities to both parents’ workplaces. That, in turn, led to them losing their jobs. Initially, her parents thought the best solution was to return to Mexico. They soon changed their minds, however. Their two kids’ education was too important, and Alma Borunda-Granillo was so determined to get her degree, and worked hard at it. But the decision to stay wasn’t easy. Before the family’s situation got better, it got worse. After her parents lost their jobs, the family lost its home. By her sophomore year, as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world and pushed college courses online, Borunda-Granillo didn’t have a home for a couple of months. She lived — and attended classes in — her car while her family looked for a place to live. When the pandemic began, Borunda-Granillo and her family were well aware of something many people, cooped up in their houses, couldn’t imagine: how difficult it is to live without a home. Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Nicki Gonzales, with her dog, Rosie and a group of Regis students during the Blessing of the Pets ceremony this fall. Gonzales, along with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Excellence, offers resources and support to students.

A major charge of the HSI initiative nationwide is to ensure that more students have access to higher education. According to the Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute, Hispanic Americans “are at high risk of not enrolling or graduating from institutions of higher education.” According to the institute, “Disparities between the enrollment of non-Hispanic white students and Hispanic students in postsecondary education are increasing.” It reported that between 1973 and 1994, enrollment of white students in institutions of higher education increased at a rate two times higher than that of Hispanic students. The impact of HSIs is felt nationally. In a report presented to the U.S. House of Representatives, Jose Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona University, said, “Each and every one of the top 10 schools that offer the most economic mobility in the United States is an HSI.” In general, according to Cornell, HSIs receive less federal funding than other types of higher education institutions. The supplementary funding, received through grants, helps universities bolster their support systems. For many students, the need for support remains as strong as ever.

Her passion for justice inspired Borunda-Granillo to pursue two majors: Peace and Justice and Communication. So, while struggling and living in her car, Borunda-Granillo juggled taking 20 credit hours translating for her parents in court, trying to avoid missing too many classes, and helping her younger brother, who was in high school at the time, stay on top of his grades while he also worked to help support the family.

COLLEGE IS A PATHWAY TO THE MIDDLE CLASS AND TO A GOOD LIFE. AND AS THE POWER SHIFTS IN STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS, COMMUNITIES ARE GAINING ACCESS TO COLLEGE EDUCATION. Nicki Gonzales, Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion

◀•▶•◀•▶•◀•▶• 28

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

“When I took my Introduction to Peace and Justice class, I was really intrigued, and I remember seeing a documentary in class about immigration and how a person there helped translate for people at the border who needed help,” she said. “And I was like, ‘I need to do that. I'm going to do that someday. I'm going to help people.’” During college, she often was living the subjects classmates learned about in class, such as homelessness. BorundaGranillo said her passion for her major, family, and the Regis community kept her going. “My family was definitely part of it, but I think also just having that sense of community with the professors and just seeing that you can still progress through all the hardships,” she said. “I just indulged myself in a lot of work, but a lot of it came down to just being passionate about what you're studying. For me, that was communication and peace and justice. I was able to apply a lot of what I was learning in class outside of class.”

with saying it's thanks to me and the effort that I put in … it was such a moment of closure and instant happiness.” While Borunda-Granillo’s family still faces hardships, they also had reason to celebrate in the past year. On April 30, when Borunda-Granillo spoke at her commencement ceremony, her parents were in the crowd to cheer her on. In October, she began working as the community organizer and garden coordinator with Growing Home, a nonprofit that assists Denver families with food, housing, parental education and more. They all are celebrating a dream achieved at last.

Borunda-Granillo was able to get the support she needed — but Gonzales realizes there could be more students who need similar assistance. That’s where Regis’ new status as an HSI can help. The University has existing programs designed to assist first-generation students, including the First-Generation Student Success Program, the RU First Program, the Summer Bridge Program and 1Leads. “HSI money will allow us to, one, reimagine those (programs), make them more effective, and grow them. We'll be able to build our capacity to serve more students,” Gonzales said. “And so, that's really exciting to think about how we might grow our programs.” Being there for students like Borunda-Granillo aligns with this goal.

DETERMINATION REWARDED Borunda-Granillo’s determination, grit and the support she received from Regis faculty and staff helped her not only graduate on time, but also achieve the highest levels of success in her class. Borunda-Granillo received the Byron Plumley Peace and Justice Award and the Human Communication Honor Award. And she’s committed to helping other students. As part of her final capstone, she created a website that serves as a survival guide for other first-generation students, providing definitions for terms in higher education, such as “dormitories” and “academic advisor,” that help break down barriers. She also includes advice for applying for scholarships. “It feels like I finally made it, and it was thanks to y'all,” Borunda-Granillo said, referring to her professors and the community of supporters she had at Regis. “I still struggle

In August, Regis President Salvador Aceves, students, faculty and staff were on hand to receive a Denver City Council proclamation recognizing the University's status as a Hispanic Serving Institution.

REGIS.EDU

Ruby and Penny are not only adorable, they are blessed. The basset buddies, who live with Regis instructional designer Jonnia Torres Carolan, were among the dozens of furry family members of Regis students, staff and faculty who received blessings adiministered by Rev. Dirk Dunfee, S.J., this fall, in celebration of the Feast of St. Francis of Asisi.

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

At a November vigil outside the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, participants held paper monarch butterflies as a speaker read the names of immigrants who have died in U.S. detention centers. Regis students Alondra Gil Gonzalez, Ashley Garcia-Torres and Brianna Flores-Chavez organized the event along with the American Friends Service Committee. The nearly two dozen Regis students, faculty and staff who attended placed a butterfly on an altar to honor the lives lost.

REGIS.EDU

Kid in the Hall T h e p l ay e r w h o went from the REGIS backfield to gridiron g r e at n ess BY Karen Auge here probably aren’t a lot of people around who remember that Regis once had a football team, and a pretty decent one at that. Fewer still would know that one of the guys who patrolled the Ranger gridiron is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That guy’s name was Arnie Herber.

Photo credit: Courtesy: Pro Football Hall of Fame and Green Bay Packers

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Herber made his mark in one memorable season at Regis — 1929. From there, he went on to play 13 years with the Green Bay Packers, where he won championships and set passing records (mostly passing from the halfback position) that lasted a decade. He was named to All-Pro teams as a passer and a punter and then, when World War II depleted football ranks, came out of retirement to call signals for the New York Giants for another two years. In 1966, more than 35 years after he put on a Rangers uniform, and nearly three decades after Regis’ last football team hung up their cleats, Herber was part of the fourth class inducted into the Hall of Fame. A sportswriter who had known Herber at West Green Bay High School in Wisconsin wrote that “I have never seen [an athlete] on whom nature had showered so many of its gifts.” That same writer recalled that Herber was almost equally admired for his talent on the field and feared for his towel-snapping proficiency in the locker room. It’s not clear how Herber, born and raised in Green Bay, Wisc., made his way to Regis after starring in football and basketball in high school and playing his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But it’s safe to assume the 19-year-old newlywed (he’d married Lois Lefevre a year earlier) didn’t travel to the Rocky Mountains for Regis’ well-regarded science program. More likely, it was Regis’ fiery young head coach, Red Strader, that attracted him. Regis gave Strader, a former college player, his first coaching job. He would go on to coach the New York Yankees pro football team and the San Francisco ’49ers. Strader’s Ranger teams posted winning records in all but one of his three seasons at Regis. The quality and direction of Herber’s scholarship at Regis has been lost to time. Still, Herber’s prowess was evident to the scribes at The Brown and Gold student newspaper. In the October 15, 1929 issue, a writer recounted that the Regis Razzers, the official fan group “numbering about 100, motored to Boulder … to form the cheering section,” for a game between Regis and the University of Colorado. With Razzers in the stands doing whatever Razzers do, Herber carried the ball several times “to within scoring distance,” tossed a touchdown pass that was called back, and got off at least one 70-yard punt. Although the Rangers lost 27-13, The Brown and Gold pronounced that “Herber’s remarkable all-around play” kept them in the game. In the same issue, another Brown and Gold writer rhapsodized about the growing popularity and potential of Regis football: “… Regis is not only being recognized but is now as good a drawing card as any other team in the Rocky Mountain region.” With a new stadium and “a team of great fame which plays before great crowds,” the writer continued, it was just a matter of time, he was certain, before Regis becomes “The Notre Dame of the West.” By the next year, Herber had taken his talents back to Wisconsin and gotten a job as a

REGIS.EDU

handyman for the Green Bay Packers. Soon the Great Depression would knock the Regis football team to the sidelines for several seasons before it finally became a casualty of World War II’s insatiable demand for young men. Herber’s career is all the more remarkable considering that when he was born, in 1910, the National Football League didn’t exist. Most sports historians trace the origins of professional football —the amateur sport started on college campuses — to 1892, when the Allegheny Athletic Association paid former Yale star William “Pudge” Heffelfinger $500 to play in a single game. That seems more an unsportsmanlike fluke born of the Pittsburgh team’s desire to defeat its crosstown rival than the origin of a professional league. But the episode does provide an opportunity to use the words “Pudge Heffelfinger.” In the early part of the 20th century, a dozen or so professional teams sprang up, but the league wouldn’t come to be until October 17, 1920. Then, the Hall of Fame website reports, a group of men gathered in Canton, Ohio, at the Hupmobile dealership of Ralph Hay, owner of the Canton Bulldogs. The meeting produced what became the National Football League, along with the answer to the enduring question: “Why is the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio?” (For those not well-acquainted with early 20th century transportation, the Hupp Motor Car Co. produced Hupmobiles between 1909 and 1939. The light, nimble cars were, according to the Journal of Antiques & Collectibles, “a favorite among women and police officers.”) By 1930, when Curly Lambeau gave the Packers’ burly handyman a tryout — there was no draft then, no opportunities to boo the commissioner, no cameras pointed in the faces of anxious young men waiting to hear their name called — the NFL consisted of 11 teams. In those days, Packers’ jerseys were dark blue, Lambeau had barely begun the coaching career that would get a storied stadium named after him and nobody had performed the Lambeau Leap. Herber impressed Lambeau enough that he added him to a roster that included the likes of Jug Earp, Mule Wilson and Boob Darling. The NFL didn’t start keeping statistics until 1932. Nevertheless “Herber quickly proved to be one of the best signal callers of his era,” according to Lombardi Ave., the Packers site on Fansided, a network of fan-centric online news and opinion. Lombardi Ave. ranks Herber 35th on its list of the 50 greatest Packers of all time. (Brett Favre nabbed the top spot.) Those first-year, 1932 statistics show Herber was first-team pro-bowl, and led the league in pass completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns. Herber’s stats soared starting in 1935 when Don Hutson, considered the league’s first true wide receiver, joined the Packers. The following year, Herber’s 1,239 passing yards,

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

which netted 11 touchdowns, led a league that had started courting, but wasn’t yet fully in love with, the forward pass. The Packers went 10-1-1 that year, the league’s best record, and in the World Championship game in Green Bay’s City Stadium — no one had thought to call it a bowl or declare that it was Super — they walloped the Boston Redskins, 216. Amidst what has to be the all-time heyday for nicknames, Herber was named to the all-1930s team, alongside Buckets Goldenburg, Ox Emerson, Tuffy Leemans, Beattie Feathers and the immortal Bronco Nagurski. According to Packers historian Cliff Christl, when Herber left the Packers after the 1940 season, he held the NFL record for most passing yards — 6,741 — and that number didn’t include the two years he played before anybody kept track. In his playing days, Herber was listed as 5 feet 11 inches, same as Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, and just 10 pounds lighter. Beyond that, Herber wouldn’t recognize much of the football that goes on today. Through the early 1940s, substitutions were mostly prohibited, there was no such thing as position specialization and players, including Herber, played multiple positions on offense and defense. They also were all white. Like other major sports leagues, the NFL effectively banned Black players. A Black man wasn’t paid to play in the NFL until 1946, when the Los Angeles Rams and the Cleveland Browns each signed two. Black or white, players in those days weren’t in it for the money. In 1915, the Canton Bulldogs paid Jim Thorpe, who many consider one of the greatest athletes in modern history, $250 per game. In 1937, the highest-paid football player was Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who, according to Forbes, took home $8,000 playing quarterback for the team then known as the Washington Redskins. Low as it sounds, Baugh’s astronomic salary was more than double the average annual income among Depression-era American workers. By 1945, when Herber retired for good, the United States had won World War II and was embarking on an era of unprecedented affluence. Pretty soon, most households would have new things called televisions and a lot of them would tune to an increasingly popular game in which helmeted men tried to move an odd-shaped ball up and down a field. But it would still be a few decades before retiring players could count on a lucrative broadcasting contract, opportunities to hang out with Jake from State Farm or invitations to chat with the Aflac duck and Nick Saban. So Herber did what most players of his era did after retiring — he got a job. He joined Green Bay’s local Pepsi bottling company and was sales manager and secretary treasurer when he died of cancer in 1969 at age 59. Herber most likely could not have imagined today’s multi-million-dollar salaries, a championship game broadcast in 30 languages and Taylor-Swift-adjacent players.

REGIS.EDU

Being the first passer in NFL history to throw for 1000 yards in a season is just one of the accomplishments that got Arnie Herbert a bust in the Hall of Fame.

He did live long enough to witness football begin its trajectory toward marquee-sport status, with the quarterback its glamourous leading man. In Herber’s final year, 1969, “Broadway” Joe Namath — he of the shocking $427,000 contract — made headlines lounging poolside, swarmed by press and uttering outrageous guarantees ahead of a three-year-old game called the Super Bowl. Herber also lived long enough to hear his former teammate Clarke Hinkle in 1966 stand before a microphone and small crowd in Canton and call him “the most accurate long passer in the history of football,” and recount how he led the league in passing three seasons. He heard Hinkle describe a game in 1932 in which “He completed nine of 11 passes, three for touchdowns, he ran for two touchdowns, one 83 yards another 45 yards, and had six punts for an average of 65 yards.” As Herber stood to accept the bust of him that now sits in the Hall of Fame, he was too overwhelmed to say much. The words he’d planned, he said, “are so inadequate that I don't dare say anything because the feeling in my heart, no one can ever realize how great it is.” He probably didn’t even mind that Hinkle had called the little institution in the West where Herber tore things up 35 years earlier “St. Regis College.”

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

COMING SOON...

Spring 2024 is about to get another dash of Ranger magic! Located on the back side of the coors center, the newly expanded Ranger Co-op is rolling in, welcoming everyone – faculty, staff, and students alike. Hungry for grub or craving a dash of professional attire? We got you!

Coming April 2024

REGIS.EDU

C E L E B R A T I N G

L E G A C Y

LORETTO HEIGHTS COLLEGE REUNION 2023

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

The annual Loretto Heights College reunion honors the enduring impact of Loretto Heights College, which opened in 1948 as the only four-year college exclusively for women in the region. This year's reunion included a tour of the original campus in southwest Denver as well as a ceremony to honor distinguished faculty, staff and alumni. In September, a community of caregivers gathered at Regis to commemorate a major milestone with roots in Loretto Heights: the 75th Anniversary of the Loretto Heights School of Nursing. The event drew graduates as well as current and future students of the Loretto Heights College of Nursing at Regis, which is part of the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions.

Photos: Noelle Williams

REGIS.EDU

Planned Giving

Help us extend the impact of a Jesuit education into the future. Consider including Regis University in your estate plans: E M P OWE R FUTU R E G E N E R ATI O N S Ensure a transformative Regis education reaches countless students in the years to come. S PAR K M E AN I N G FU L CHAN G E Support causes close to your heart and soul.

E N J OY FI NAN CIAL B E N E FITS Discover potential tax advantages and financial flexibility. J O I N A C AR I N G CO M M U N IT Y Connect with likeminded donors in The Ignatian Society.

“We chose to direct our planned gift to Regis to establish an endowed nursing scholarship, because we love watching God multiply the few loaves and fishes we contribute to create positive change in the lives of our recipients.” – Diane and Russ Kyncl,

Regis University donors and members of The Ignatian Society for those who include Regis University in their estate plans

EXPLORE PLANNED GIVING AT REGIS.MYLEGACYGIFT.ORG OR CONTACT JACQUES SWANEPOEL,

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N IOF V E RGIFT S I T Y MPLANNING, AG A ZI N E DIRECTOR AT GIFTPLANNING@REGIS.EDU, 303-964-5367.

Over four days in late September, the Regis community honored the University's past, present and future during Blue & Gold Weekend. Now an annual tradition, the event drew parents, friends and alumni from across the country, including members of the Class of 1973, who celebrated their 50-year reunion. Throughout the weekend, the Northwest Denver Campus buzzed with activities including a family casino night, a charity run/walk and an alumni dinner on Boettcher Commons. The festivities kicked off with a community picnic to mark the inauguration of Regis President Salvador D. Aceves.

Photos: Noelle Williams

‘23 REGIS.EDU

Alumna’s perseverance, passion saves wild lives

tarting in 2025, hundreds, and eventually thousands, of California cougars — along with foxes, deer and other wildlife — will owe their lives to Regis alumna Beth Pratt.

Pratt is living the Jesuit mission by making it her own mission to save cougars. In Southern California, where she works, that means protecting them from perhaps their greatest threat: freeway traffic. As California regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, Pratt has spent 10 years spearheading the #SaveLACougars campaign. With help from a $25 million challenge grant from philanthropist Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation, she succeeded in raising over $100 million needed to build a bridge that would allow wildlife to safely cross the 101 Freeway. In April 2022, work began on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which will provide a secure path for cougars, and other wildlife, to cross over 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway north of Los Angeles in Agoura Hills, Calif. Pratt, a graduate of the Regis MBA program, credits her instructors and what she learned with inspiring her dream of building the crossing. “The Regis MBA program emphasized service and greater purpose, with a focus on complex problem-solving and leadership,” she said. Human incursion into wildlife habitats has reduced the available territories for mountain lions. Additionally, Southern California’s network of freeways effectively isolates cougars to the extent that they are diminishing their own population through inbreeding. In the case of some cougars, severe isolation has even prevented them from breeding altogether. Those that do try to find new habitat often venture onto freeways and are struck and killed by passing cars. When it opens in 2025, the 200-foot-long, 175-footwide Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Overpass will be the largest wildlife walkway in the world. In addition to its

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

Courtesy: Danielle Anderson

ALWAYS RANGERS | RANGERS IN THE WORLD

considerable scale, what sets the crossing apart from other wildlife overpass systems is that it accommodates an entire ecosystem on its surface. A nearby plant nursery is cultivating indigenous, fire-resistant plants, which will ultimately blanket the crossing. The crossing incorporates custom-designed sound walls, complemented by natural sound-dampening elements such as tall trees and dense vegetation. The entire setup is carefully crafted so, as wildlife stroll over 10 lanes of busy freeway, they may not notice the roar of cars below. That design element was necessary as excessive noise tends to startle and deter most wildlife from crossing. To build the wildlife crossing, Pratt secured donations not only from Annenberg but also celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Rainn Wilson, Barbra Streisand and the late musician David Crosby. Pratt said Regis helped her think through some of the issues around fundraising but also encouraged her to think about how our work impacts the world. “My final capstone research paper... was about how to form a nonprofit that brought financial independence to women in Afghanistan,” she said. “The MBA program excelled in teaching us how to analyze complex problems. We were tasked with writing extensive case studies each week, which compelled us to closely examine challenges and opportunities, greatly enhancing our problemsolving skills.” Pratt said she is thrilled to see the crossing finally becoming a reality. And finding purpose in creating a better environment makes her proud of the work she’s accomplished. "To me, this is all about creating a safer environment for our wildlife. They are doing their utmost to survive, so it's our responsibility to offer them greater support. Ensuring their safety as they cross the freeways is pivotal for their future." ~ ST

Everything you need, you already have. But we’ll be here just in case.

Apparel, textbooks, technology, coffee, snacks and stuff you likely forgot. THE BOOKSTORE at REGIS SQUARE

THE FANZONE at CLARKE HALL

REGISSTORE.COM SHOP ONLINE REGIS.EDU

ALWAYS RANGERS | CLASS NOTES

SHARE YOUR SUCCESS

Career changes, weddings, births? Submit your info. and jpg images to regis.edu/alumni

1990s Avery Brewing, the Boulder-based brewery founded by Adam Avery (RC ´91), celebrated its 30th Anniversary in July. Avery Brewing is consistently ranked among the top 10 largest craft breweries in the country. Carsome Group Inc., a car e-commerce platform serving Southeast Asia, has named Miguel Fernandez (ACBC ´95) as its new chief financial officer. Fernandez has nearly seven years of experience in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining Carsome, he was group CFO at Maya, a financial services and digital payments company based in the Philippines. Women Writing the West named Apertures: Findings from a Rural Life by Mary B. Kurtz (RC ´96, ´19) a finalist for the Willa Literary Award in the Creative Nonfiction category. Apertures is a collection of lyric essays that illuminate Kurtz’s experiences on her Colorado ranch. The Willa award, named for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather, recognizes outstanding literature that features women’s or girls’ stories set in the West.

ReNew Energy Global Plc., a renewable energy company based in India, announced that the board of directors has appointed Paula Gold-Williams (ACBC ´05) as a nonexecutive independent director. Jay Mellette (RC ´06) has joined AFC Bournemouth, a football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, England, as director of performance. In his role, he oversees all player medical and performance management services. Kristen Stiffler (RC ´06) was appointed executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Andrew Lazar (ACBC ´07) has joined BUCKLER Securities LLC, as head of rates sales. He previously served as managing director and senior rates salesperson at BMO Capital Markets LLC. BUCKLER is a broker-dealer that provides financing for mortgage-backed, agency and treasury securities. Brian Krill (ACBC ´09) has become executive director of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC). The 109-year-old SSWSC is considered by many to be one of the nation’s most successful ski clubs and is renowned for developing Olympic skiers and riders.

2010s Jeffco Human Services Foundation, a communitybased nonprofit dedicated to promoting innovation that moves families out of poverty, has appointed Marybeth Goodwin (ACBC ´10) to its board of directors. Tom Howie (RC ´97) has been appointed project manager for the city of Hays, Kan. ProMedica announced that Terry Metzger (ACBC ´98, ´02) has been named chief financial officer. ProMedica is a not-for-profit organization based in Toledo, Ohio, focused on improving the health of people across the country.

2000s Vitesse Energy, Inc., an investment company based in Centennial, Colo., appointed James Henderson (ACBC ´00) chief financial officer. Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc., a primary gold producer, has announced that Carolyn Turner (ACBC ´04) has joined the company as an independent board member. Turner is owner and principal of Graham Peak Consulting, LLC in Kingston, Idaho.

The Virginia War Memorial elected Lacyn Barton (ACBC ´11) to its board of directors. Barton currently serves as president of Woody Funeral Home and Cremation Service and Nelsen Funeral Home, in Richmond, Va. The Virginia War Memorial is a monument, museum, and educational center dedicated to Virginians who served to defend the United States in conflicts from World War II through today. Colin Windom (RC ´11) has become owner of the former Sterling Dental practice in Sterling, Colo. Windom, a native of the Eastern Plains town, has renamed the practice Windom Dental, and his wife, Chelsee Windom, will serve as business administrator. Windom told the Sterling Journal-Advocate that owning a dental practice together has been a long-time dream for the couple, who also grew up in Sterling. Christian Faith Publishing has published Ignatian Spirituality and Golf by Michael Keirns (RHCHP ´12).

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

CLASS NOTES | ALWAYS RANGERS

The book introduces St. Ignatius' teachings and describes how they can be integrated on the golf course. Each chapter offers perspectives on the game as St. Ignatius might have witnessed it, along with physical and spiritual exercise tips.

Hunter Schultheis (ACBC ´17) has joined BluePrint Automation as sales manager for the north central region. Virginia-based BluePrint specializes in vision-guided robotics, secondary packaging and turnkey systems. Melissa Smith, PharmD, (RHCHP ´18) has been named vice president of pharmacy for Precision Health Solutions (PHS), a leading diagnostic laboratory specializing in personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics. In this role, Smith will partner with prescribers, utilizing her experience in pharmacogenomics, to deliver patientcentered evaluation of medication therapies to improve patient outcomes.

Donna Bornhoft (RC ´13) was recently named principal of Saint Joseph Catholic School in Ft. Collins, Colo. Massachusetts Gov. Maura T. Healey named Kristen Elechko (ACBC ´14) Western Massachusetts Director. She will co-lead Healey’s Western Massachusetts office, serving as primary liaison between the state’s western residents and the governor’s office. Elechko most recently served as Regional Director for U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), where she was the Senator’s point person for matters related to central and western Massachusetts. John Hoover (ACBC ´15) has been named CEO of Medical City Fort Worth. Hoover had served as the hospital’s chief operating officer, and interim chief executive for several months before assuming the role permanently. Medical City Fort Worth is a 348-bed hospital that provides a full range of patient care. The Grand County Wildfire Council has welcomed Jessica Rahn (ACBC ´16) as its new executive director. Rahn, who started work in September, has a background in human resources management. Grand County Wildfire Council is a nonprofit, community-based education and mitigation program for residents and visitors. The council consists of members from local, state and federal government agencies, local fire departments and other organizations. On Feb. 21, Natalie (Kramer) Huff (RC ´17, RC ´19) and Matt Huff (ACBC ´16, ACBC ´16) welcomed baby Grace Marie Huff.

IMPACT 307, a startup business development program of the University of Wyoming, has named Josh Keefe (ACBC ´19) its new assistant director serving Laramie, Cheyenne and the surrounding areas. Keefe will provide business startup advisory services to innovative, growth-oriented entrepreneurs in southeast Wyoming.

2020s Family Nurse Practitioner Alexandra Hitchcock (RHCHP ´20) has joined the Parke Health Center and Stratton Medical Clinic staff. Lena Naomi Parker (RHCHP ´22) has been awarded the Surge scholarship from the Rizing Tide Foundation. Parker, a resident at the California State University-Long Beach Orthopaedic Residency program, will receive up to $10,000 to be used for tuition, room and board, books or fees. The scholarship recipients were chosen based on future impact potential, academic performance, personal character and conduct and leadership. Rizing Tide is dedicated to creating a more inclusive physical therapy workforce through scholarships supporting racially and ethnically diverse students and residents. Images by Chloe Richardson (RC ´23) were featured at PHOTOPIA Hamburg, an annual convention hosted in Hamburg, Germany, to celebrate photography. Her work featured there, which was part of her capstone exhibition at Regis last spring, is a combination of photography and augmented reality, and focuses on highlighting plant life during seasons that often go overlooked.

REGIS.EDU

ALWAYS RANGERS | IN MEMORIAM

FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

1950s

Joe C. Blossom (RC ´50) Harry E. Grant (RC ´51) Patricia E. Hawley (LHC ´54) Virginia Mary (Fonte) McGill (LHC ´55) Frank William Priselac (RC ´55) Mary Hester Murphy Munn (LHC ´57) William J. Bollwerk (RC ´58) Dolores V. (Manzo) Cody (LHC ´58) Louis A. Gerweck (RC ´58) Charles Justin McCarthy (RC ´59)

1960s

Priscilla Rivera Pino (LHC ´60) Thomas F. Hitzelberger (RC ´61) Richard Francis Rudolph, Jr. (RC ´62) James J. Lindeman (RC ´62) Thomas E. Giroux (RC ´64) John Gerard McWilliams (RC ´65) Richard “Dick” J. Knopke (RC ´65) George R. Maupin (RC ´66) Colleen Jane Denny (LHC ´69) Claire Jean Nix (LHC ´69)

1970s

Amer Plaisted (RC ´73) Molly Moroni (RC ´79)

1980s

Jean G. Rodriguez (LHC ´81) Barbara Marie Weber (RC ´81) Annette Maynard Bigalk (RHCHP ´87) James Theodore Rhoades (RC ´89)

1990s

Linda J. Botelho (RC ´96)

2000s

Sharon Leigh Hicks Atherton (RHCHP ´06) Debra K. Byers (ACBC ´08) Robert J. Simms Jr. (RC ´08)

2010s

Eugene Gonzalez (ACBC ´17, ´19)

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

IN MEMORIAM | ALWAYS RANGERS

Rev. Edward Flaherty, S.J., who made his mark on Regis as a religious studies instructor and made headlines in 2021 when he received several long-overdue World War II medals, passed away in June at 104. That he lived to an advanced age is fitting; Flaherty had a habit of doing things comparatively late. He was ordained a Jesuit priest at 47 and retired at age 99. At 102, as reporters, photographers and community members looked on, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Arvada) pinned on Flaherty the medals he had earned tending wounded and sick servicemen more than 75 years earlier. Edward Flaherty was born in Kansas City, Mo., on Oct. 3, 1918, to Edward and Mary Elizabeth Best Flaherty. In 1940, after Flaherty earned a bachelor’s degree in English, Philosophy and Latin from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, he was drafted into the Army just before World War II erupted. He served in the medical corps through the end of the war, seeing combat throughout the Pacific and earning two Bronze Service Stars, and numerous other medals. He taught at Regis from 1968 to 1993, and served as the campus Coordinator of Religious Activities for a decade. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Sister Rita Flaherty, CSJ, and his brother, Donald M. Flaherty, II. He is survived by a niece and a nephew.

This fall, the Regis community mourned the tragic loss of two beloved and promising students. Iván Rojas Gallegos was a computer science major from Avon, Colo., who played rugby for Regis’ club team. In 2022, Rojas Gallegos won a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which he used to study in South Korea. Gallegos was again studying abroad, in Thailand, when he passed away Oct. 1. As his sister Mariana Rojas posted on the family’s Go Fund Me page, “He made many smile from Mexico to Korea and to Thailand. Studying abroad through Regis, he was able to connect with others and bridged a wonderful bond with other cultures.” Kai (Caitlin) Mitchell was a junior nursing major with a psychology minor, co-captain of the Regis Spirit Team and active in the Regis Queer Student Alliance (QSA). In their hometown of Sugar Land, Texas, they taught kids to swim at the Goldfish Swim School. In 2022, Mitchell played the role of Josh in the Regis Ramblers musical 9 to 5. Before that, they were part of the ensemble cast of the Ramblers’ musicals Cinderella and Spamalot. “Kai was a ray of light in our productions… and a constant source of support for their castmates.”

REGIS.EDU

Ask Regi People are nutty, sometimes mean, and I get easily offended to the point where I can't control my own emotions. Between my own reactions and attempts to reconcile, I get so frustrated I could just scream. But that doesn’t work either. Help! Breathe in, 2,3,4, hollllllllldd... and out, 2, 3, 4. Better? OK. Let's dive right into this bizarro world of semi-human communication. It's all about understanding the quirks, quirbles, and quibbles of our fellow creatures and even come to embrace the sometimes painful ways they may express themselves.

This holiday season, give the

GIFT OF AN EDUCATION to support a transformative experience for Regis students.

Gifts to the Regis University scholarship fund benefit students like Fernanda Martinez-Reyes, a first-generation junior studying in the Loretto Heights School of Nursing, class of 2025. Inspired by the kindness of nurses, Fernanda has known since she was 10 that she wants to become one herself. With the support of a scholarship, she can focus on the impact of her dream, rather than the cost. Thanks to a generous Regis alumnus, your gift to our scholarship fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000.

Like a three-toed sloth clinging to a Guarumo tree, we animals each have our own ways of holding onto our unique expressions. Learning how to interpret each other’s intentions can be a hogboggling adventure. Take the gnawing of an innocently outstretched hand for example. The bite-er may be thinking, "Dude, I'm just messin' with you and I love you to tiny pieces!" But to the bite-ee, it could be interpreted as, "Just how much blood loss is too much and where do I go for a tetanus shot?" It's like deciphering a world of critterglyphics. Communication styles can be a wild ride indeed, influenced by history, culture, and upbringing. Like a kanga's pouch, there can be a lot hidden beneath the surface. It's up to you how you wish to deal with it, or not. So if you find yourself faced with a wild dog that's just plain cuckoo for coconuts, I'd encourage you to take a few steps back and watch the circus from a safe distance. Protecting yourself is the top priority - you are nobody's chew toy. And nobody else is your chew toy, either. Not every fox is eager for a belly rub; in fact, most aren't. Respect their space and even if it's coming from a good place, don't force your goodness upon them or you may end up with a tail of regret. Like trying to teach a cat to bark — or really do anything for that matter — it just ain't gonna happen. Trust your instincts, dear readers. Like my wise owl buddies always say, well — actually they say nothing, because silence speaks louder than words. It's a jungle out there so stay flexible and open your mind to alternate paw-sibilities when you navigate through this magical menagerie called interpaw-sonal communication. I love you all, my little peanuts. Yours in Wildly Whimsical Wisdom,

Give today at

give.regis.edu 48

Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E

FOR FUN | ALWAYS RANGERS

Doofus

and

Dazzler

Doofus posts willy-nilly on social media without sources to constantly spread knowingly false information.

Dazzler fact checks from multiple, credible sources to make certain the information he shares is accurate.

REGIS.EDU

3333 Regis Blvd., Denver, CO 80221-1099

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Denver, CO Permit No. 3092

THIS IS MARY. TEACHER. READER. BOOK CLUB LEADER. SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT. SCHOLARSHIP DONOR.

Scholarships fuel a lifetime of impact. Visit give.regis.edu to help provide a transformational education for the students of today – and tomorrow.

Scholarships helped Mary (Geilfuss) Sullivan, earn a degree from Loretto Heights College, class of 1966. Now, she helps the next generation by supporting scholarships at Regis.

give.regis.edu

Regis University Magazine - Fall/Winter 2023

Articles inside

Celebrating 100 Years of Carroll Hall

A Regis University Alumna’s perseverance, passion saves wild lives

Kid in the Hall: How Arnie Herber got his Start at Regis University

Dreams Realized: Becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Rock and a Not-So-Hard Place

Healing the Earth: Regis University's Response to Laudato Si’

Making History and Securing the Future

Senior employs Jesuit values to fight for a stronger, safer community

The Make Up of Feminism