Colorado

Welcoming the Wolf to Colorado’s Western Slope

Anna Tolette — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:48:21 +0000

Welcoming the Wolf to Colorado’s Western Slope Anna Tolette Tue, 11/12/2024 - 13:48

Dan Oberhaus

On a cold morning in December 2023, Joanna Lambert found herself surrounded by five gray wolves on Colorado’s Western Slope. For most people, this sounds like the stuff of nightmares. But for Lambert, a professor who teaches animal ecology and conservation biology at CU Boulder, it was a dream come true.

“I was so close to the wolves, I could smell and hear them,” Lambert said. “The whole experience was just extraordinary.”

For the first time in over 75 years, gray wolves were about to set foot on Colorado soil, marking the first time an endangered and federally protected species was reintroduced to its native habitat by a democratic vote. And this historic occasion was due in no small part to Lambert’s tireless — and often thankless — work advocating for this misunderstood apex predator.

The “Big Bad Wolf”

Lambert was elated as she watched the wolves bound across the snow-dusted field. But as the last wolf disappeared into the Coloradan wilderness, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anxiety. After a decades-long career studying and advocating for endangered species worldwide, Lambert knew that releasing these wolves into the Rockies was just the beginning. The true test would be whether humans could learn how to co-exist with the wolves — and she had every reason to be worried.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, North America was home to millions of gray wolves whose habitats stretched from modern Mexico into the Canadian north. The largest of any dog species — technically known as Canis lupus — gray wolves were despised by settlers, who viewed them as a threat to their livestock, big game, and personal safety.

“Western settlers brought all these myths and legends about the ’big bad wolf,’” said Lambert. “There’s something about gray wolves that evokes more fear, dread and loathing than any other species I have ever worked with.”

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, settlers systematically tried to exterminate gray wolves in the region. Their programs were devastatingly effective, and by the time gray wolves were officially listed as an endangered species in the mid-1970s, only a few hundred breeding pairs remained in the lower United States.

A vote decides

When Lambert arrived at CU in 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had recently delisted gray wolves as an endangered species in the Northern Rockies. This sparked controversy among conservationists, who argued that gray wolf populations were nowhere near the levels needed to justify delisting.

“Colorado is arguably the best place in the U.S. to reintroduce gray wolves,” Lambert said. “We have around 20 million acres of protected public lands, the most abundant elk population anywhere in the country, and a prime location to enable full latitudinal distribution.”

The lack of government support particularly troubled Mike Phillips, director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, who was previously a state senator of Montana and former biologist with the National Park Service. When Lambert arrived in Boulder, Phillips was cooking up a plan to put the reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado to a state vote.

Lambert jumped on board and spent the next five years working with a political campaign team of scientists, nonprofit partners, pollsters, lawyers and citizen volunteers known as the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project (RMWP). By 2019, RMWP had enough signatures to get the initiative on the 2020 General Election ballot. Along with several RMWP colleagues, Lambert herself delivered those signatures to Colorado’s secretary of state.

She was also a spokesperson for the campaign. “Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be in television ads for a political campaign,” reflected Lambert. “I’m happiest in wild landscapes running around after animals, and there I was in the trenches of a campaign.”

The result was Proposition 114, which was voted into law by Coloradans in 2020. Beginning in 2023, it committed the state to releasing around ten gray wolves per year for the next three to five years.

Into the wild

The initiative was a landmark moment for ecological conservation, and it passed by the narrowest of margins — 50.9% in favor. When considering why some would be opposed to the measure, Lambert says that a lot of the opposition stems from concerns about personal safety (though gray wolves almost never attack humans) and impact on livestock producers.

For Lambert, these concerns echo the fears that once nearly drove gray wolves to extinction.

“We’ve lived with wolves and other apex predators through virtually all of our evolutionary history,” said Lambert. “That’s one thing humans are very good at — we’ve got a big brain and the tools to cope. It will just take time to attenuate the inherent fear that many folks have about these predators and to relearn how to share a landscape with them.”

Today, one of Lambert’s major research initiatives is investigating the different evolutionary trajectories of gray wolves and coyotes, the closest living genetic relative to the gray wolf. Unlike gray wolves, coyotes are increasingly co-existing with humans in urban environments. The question for Lambert is why, and the answer may have a lot to teach conservationists about how to tilt the odds in favor of successfully reintroducing the gray wolf throughout the American West.

In the meantime, Lambert believes that Colorado taking the reintroduction of gray wolves into its own hands bodes well for future conservation efforts in the state and across the nation. The journey, however, could be a long and winding one. In August, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials announced that two of the gray wolves released last year — along with three of their pups — would be relocated following a spate of attacks on livestock that local ranchers blamed on wolves.

While Lambert acknowledges this was a blow, she doesn’t see the relocation as a setback and says it’s important to keep sight of the bigger picture.

She says fewer than 0.01% of cattle in the northern Rockies are attacked by gray wolves, and that cattle are far more likely to die from eating larkspur weeds or even being struck by lightning than a wolf attack. And the majority of the reintroduced wolves, she says, are not causing any problems.

“The fundamental reality is that we are living through the sixth extinction crisis and we must learn how to live with wildlife,” said Lambert. “We are turning into a state that represents an alternative way of thinking about how to manage wildlife, and this should be a source of hope for everyone.”

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Illustrations by Anuj Shrestha

After an 80-year absence, gray wolves have returned to Colorado. CU’s Joanna Lambert discusses the implications — and why she fought so hard to make it happen.

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Fall 2024

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CNBC Anchor and CU Alum Carl Quintanilla Says Boulder Deserves National Attention

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:31:06 +0000

CNBC Anchor and CU Alum Carl Quintanilla Says Boulder Deserves National Attention Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/10/2024 - 12:31

Carl Quintanilla (PolSci’93) knows the news. Currently co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” and “Money Movers,” Quintanilla has journalistic experience that spans 24 years of award-winning broadcast and print reporting — starting with a political science degree at CU Boulder.

During his tenure as a newscaster, Quintanilla has covered everything from the Olympic Games to presidential elections to Hurricane Katrina and has earned numerous accolades in his field, including a national Emmy Award and broadcast’s highest honor, a Peabody Award.

As he heads to campus this week to speak at CU’s Conference on World Affairs, Carl told us about his storied career as a journalist, his lasting memories from CU Boulder and why CNBC is featuring Denver and Boulder in their new special, “Cities of Success."

How did you get to where you are today?

I went into college already knowing I wanted to be in journalism. It was never a question to me what I was going to do. I was very focused. During my school career, I was a DJ at Colorado Public Radio, and I interned at local papers. Those were all hugely helpful experiences.

I started working for the Wall Street Journal after graduation in 1993. The economy was on fire, there was a peace dividend, Clinton was president. Companies were hiring en masse and the Wall Street Journal was taking lots of chances on young kids.

I spent six years at the Wall Street Journal, and then slowly cable television became ascendant. They started putting cameras in our bureau. I had never really considered broadcast, but it was clearly where the industry was going. So I went to CNBC and NBC News in 1999. It’s been almost a quarter century. It’s gone by so fast.

How did CU Boulder play a role in bolstering your dream of being a journalist?

I can’t overstate how much CU Boulder was an important dynamic in my growth. When it came to academics, they really delivered the mail. The professors were engaged and attentive. They really wanted us to learn. CU taught me how to think critically. It’s one of the many things from CU Boulder that I still carry with me.

What memories stand out from your time in Boulder?

My freshman year, I was in Williams Village, which is its own kind of community. I remember our study groups would always go to Perkins for pie and coffee. There was a very, very special kind of home life among people who were in “Will Vill.”

I also marched in the marching band for a couple of years. I remember playing my alto sax on Folsom Field for hours, going to every game. That kind of cadence was a joy — being at the stadium every Saturday morning, playing as loud as I could when they scored a touchdown. Things like that are my most vivid memories of CU Boulder.

How is it being back on campus for the Conference of World Affairs?

I love being back on campus. There’s something very visceral about being back at Old Main or Macky or the UMC. The campus has changed quite a bit, but it’s still the same at heart. The atmosphere of the campus and the town are just so amazing. It’s just fun to go back and soak it all up again.

What’s your favorite thing about what you do?

I’m a news junkie at heart. I always joke with my wife that on my days off, I still get up at the same time and read the same stories. So I do like being paid to read and be informed and process as much about this crazy world as I can.

Being an anchor is different from being a reporter — a reporter has a beat, and there’s pressure to break news. The thing about being an anchor is you’re really almost a curator, trying to pick the best stories and organize them in a linear fashion for someone who’s watching, along with the help of your producers and your editorial staff. I think that there is real reward in helping someone who is maybe just waking up get their news diet and just process daily life.

Are there any career highlights that stand out for you?

A lot of my work that has been most recognized was probably during Hurricane Katrina. I was with the Today Show and NBC Nightly News. I remember when we realized it was going to be a much bigger story than the weather, with societal impacts and cultural impacts. Reporting on that story was hugely rewarding.

Tell me about “Cities of Success” — and why you’re excited to include Denver and Boulder on the list?

It’s truly all in the name. CNBC judged a host of cities on a variety of qualities and selected a few standout areas to feature. The pairing of strength between Denver and Boulder just really stood out.

On a personal level, I have the benefit of seeing the Mountain West from a prior era. Industry was very concentrated when I lived here — it was telecom, energy and aerospace, period. When I go back now, I see life sciences and biotech and quantum computing. These cities have an amazing, self-sustaining workforce. That is really the reason companies are moving here. It’s not just because of the lifestyle or the sunshine anymore. It’s because that’s where other successful businesses are and other smart people are. I am just really proud of Colorado. It’s an amazing thing to see.

You can watch CNBC’s one-hour primetime special “Cities of Success: Denver & Boulder,” on Thursday, April 11 at 8 p.m. MT.

Interview condensed and edited.

Photos courtesy Carl Quintanilla

Find out why CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla is proud to feature his hometown metropolis in the network’s “Cities of Success,” and how CU Boulder shaped his career as a journalist.

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How Law �鶹��Ժ Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

How Law �鶹��Ժ Are Keeping a Historic Water Distribution Tradition Alive in Southern Colorado Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

Sarah Kuta

Water is vital for life in the West. In Colorado’s San Luis Valley, it’s so essential that, for generations, some communities — called acequias — have treated it as a communal resource that’s meant to be shared.

For the past decade, Colorado Law students have supported the legal needs of these communities through the Acequia Assistance Project. The initiative is a collaboration between CU Boulder’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment with Colorado Open Lands, the Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association and several law firms in the state.

Through the project, law students work hand-in-hand with lawyers and professors to provide an estimated $300,000 worth of free legal services to the roughly 130 acequia communities in Colorado.

Not only does this pro bono work help keep a historic water distribution philosophy alive, but it gives students a chance to put theory into practice — and experience how natural resources law can affect real people.

“Water in the West is at a critical point right now, where climate scientists are predicting increased aridication in Colorado, which will likely result in less water,” said Mary Slosson (Law’24), one of the project’s student deputy directors. “It’s one thing to study these problems from a legal standpoint in the classroom, but it’s entirely another thing to talk about climate change with a small family farmer while walking their land.”

Acequia means “water bearer” in Arabic. The practice — which centers on a network of irrigation channels — originated in Northern Africa, then spread to Europe during the Middle Ages. From there, the Spanish brought the concept to the New World, where it took hold in Mexico and what is present-day New Mexico and Colorado.

But an acequia represents much more than just the physical infrastructure: It’s a way of life. In acequia communities, water is divvied up as equitably as possible — and landowners pitch in to help maintain the ditches.

This philosophy stands in stark contrast to the way water is distributed elsewhere in Colorado. The state’s water laws are based on “prior appropriation,” which means that whoever has the oldest water rights gets first dibs on water, according to Gregor MacGregor (IntlAf’12; Law’19), who participated in the project as a law student and now serves as its director. In times of scarcity, this approach — also known as “first in time, first in right”— means there may not be enough water for those with the youngest water rights, he added.

“In an acequia system, there aren’t shares — it’s one landowner, one vote,” said MacGregor. “The way they allocate water is more personal and values-driven. People on the acequia system are tied to the water and the land.”

For more than a century, Colorado’s legal framework did not recognize acequias. But in 2009, the state legislature passed a law that allowed acequias to incorporate while continuing to operate in their traditional way. To help acequias take advantage of this new recognition, Peter Nichols (MPubAd’82; Law’01) launched the project with Colorado Law professor Sarah Krakoff in 2012.

“The fact that we have this population that was more or less ignored for 150 years is a huge environmental justice issue,” said MacGregor. “This is a great way to use our very particular set of skills to right the wrongs of the past in a very meaningful way that empowers these communities to chart their own future.”

Law students help acequia communities by drafting bylaws and governance documents, representing them in water court and negotiating the sale of water rights. They also conduct extensive research to help acequias incorporate, as they did with the historic Montez Ditch in San Luis, Colorado.

“The Acequia Project has become part of our community,” said Charlie Jaquez, a former Montez Ditch commissioner whose ancestors were some of the original settlers of San Luis in 1851. “They have been very, very helpful — and very generous. Especially in areas like Conejos and Costilla counties, these communities just do not have a whole lot of money. The ditch would’ve just kept on going the way we did before, decade after decade, but now it’s been placed on solid legal footing.”

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Illustration by Sally Deng

For the last decade, Colorado Law students have supported the legal needs of acequia communities in Colorado's San Luis Valley through the Acequia Assistance Project.

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Spring 2024

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From South Park to Sopaipillas

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

From South Park to Sopaipillas Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/06/2023 - 00:00

Allyson Reedy

Trey Parker, right, and Matt Stone, left, relaunched Casa Bonita
with Dana Rodriguez, center

Unlikely: Meeting in a CU Boulder film class and creating a cartoon about foul-mouthed children that would turn Trey Parker (DistSt’18) and Matt Stone (FilmSt, Math’93) into household names.

Unlikelier: Taking that South Park money and dumping it into a bright pink, 49-year-old Lakewood strip mall restaurant, thus adding “restaurateurs” to Parker and Stone’s already lengthy resumes.

But that’s what the duo did in the summer of 2021, when they bought Casa Bonita for $3.1 million and proceeded to pour $40 million into renovating the iconic Mexican restaurant.

If the words “Casa Bonita” conjure up images of cliff divers and sopaipilla flags, then you either a) grew up in Colorado celebrating birthday parties in Black Bart’s Cave, or b) watched Cartman frolic through the “Disneyland of Mexican restaurants” in an uber-popular 2003 South Park episode.

But if you’re a Casa Bonita noob and wondering why cliff divers are involved and who Black Bart is, just know that this is not your run-of-the-mill restaurant. Casa Bonita is a special place, one where cliff divers plunge off a 30-foot waterfall; where, inexplicably, someone runs around the 56,000-square-foot behemoth of a restaurant in a gorilla suit; and where, yes, sopaipillas are summoned by flags at each table.

It all started in Oklahoma City in 1968, where Casa Bonita’s kitschy “eatertainment” model was so popular with families hungry for a kid-friendly restaurant that outposts popped up in other states, including in Colorado in 1974. While its sister restaurants shuttered over the decades, the Lakewood Casa Bonita remained the last standing… barely.

Long the butt of a running joke about nearly inedible food — not to mention tucked away in a suburban West Colfax strip mall — Casa Bonita wasn’t exactly thriving going into the COVID-19 pandemic. With diners reluctant or unable to visit restaurants in person, Casa Bonita’s woes mounted. In April 2021, longtime owner Summit Family Restaurants filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

What happened next was what Coloradans and South Park fans hoped for, but what seemed too preposterous — that someone, in this case Parker and Stone, would swoop in and save the gloriously campy Casa Bonita, preserving it for generations to come.

“Only people as rich and silly as Trey and I would do this,” Stone said in an interview with Denver’s 5280 magazine published in July. “This is definitely an indulgence. We want to do it for the state of Colorado. The businesspeople would say ‘no’ to something like this — and they did.”

When the sale became official in summer 2021, Parker and Stone promised to “change nothing and improve everything.” But would they Hollywood it out? Would they price out the neighborhood and families that kept the restaurant afloat for so long? Would they finally do something about the food? Would they destroy Black Bart’s Cave?!

It took two years, but in June we finally got our answers. That’s when Casa Bonita reopened to the public. Kind of.

To score the toughest reservation in town, you have to sign up for the restaurant’s email list, where they randomly selected lucky diners to come in for the soft opening. (As of press time, this is still the only way to get into Casa Bonita.) While the prolonged soft opening has annoyed some, it makes sense. This is a restaurant that can seat 700 people at a time, after all, so going from zero to 700, especially for first-time restaurant owners, is a challenge.

As people have trickled in, though, the verdict on the Parker and Stone-owned Casa Bonita 2.0 has become clear to restaurant reviewers, food influencers and the public — the beloved Mexican restaurant is the same, only better.

“This is definitely an indulgence. We want to do it for the state of Colorado. The businesspeople would say ‘no’ to something like this — and they did.”

The plunge pool is pristine (and safer, thanks to removing ledges that divers previously had to skillfully avoid), the furniture isn’t caked with years of sopaipilla crumbs and Black Bart’s Cave doesn’t smell. The whole place looks and feels exactly the same — just shinier and cleaner.

One thing that isn’t the same: the food. Parker and Stone knew that this was the one area that really did need to change, so they wisely tapped James Beard award-nominated chef Dana Rodriguez to helm the kitchen. Interestingly, Rodriguez applied to Casa Bonita when she moved to Denver from Mexico City in 1998. They never got back to her.

Now the kitchen staff cooks everything from scratch in the rebuilt kitchen, from tortillas for enchiladas to slow-simmered pork for carnitas tacos. The food is good, meaning no more jokes about eating before heading to Casa Bonita.

It’s all very unlikely — that Casa Bonita could exist for nearly five decades, that two hometown boys-gone-Hollywood would come back to sink their fortunes into it, and that these two CU Boulder film students would hit it big in the first place with swearing cartoon kids. But that’s the kind of restaurant Casa Bonita is, and the kind of guys Parker and Stone are.

Maybe it’s not so unlikely of a coupling after all.

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Photos courtesy Casa Bonita and David Williams/New York Times

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone reopened the Casa Bonita restaurant after a major renovation.

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Fall 2023

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10 Towns to Visit in Colorado

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 06:00:00 +0000

10 Towns to Visit in Colorado Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/27/2022 - 00:00

Kiara Gelbman

Are you looking to get away for a day, a weekend or longer? Check out some of the places on this list for a new adventure outside of Boulder.

1. Breckenridge

About two hours from Boulder, Breckenridge is a classic, tight-knit mountain community. Main Street, which sits just below the mountains, offers many restaurants and stores to visit. Be sure to stop into the Crown, the Rocky Mountain Cookie Shop and Downstairs at Erics, a classic with arcade games. Enjoy the hiking, biking and rafting opportunities in Breckenridge in the summer or visit Breckenridge Resort in the winter.

2. Estes Park

Home to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park is about an hour drive from Boulder. Visit the national park to see wildlife, go on hikes and enjoy the protected nature in this area. Make sure to get a timed entry pass online prior to arrival. Estes Park is also home to The Stanley Hotel, which was the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shining.

3. Steamboat Springs

Around three hours from Boulder, Steamboat Springs is home to Steamboat Ski Resort which has varying levels of terrain and difficulties. Steamboat Springs is also home to many hiking trails and options to go white water rafting. During your visit, take a ride on the Steamboat gondola or visit Strawberry Park Hot Springs which has man-made and natural pools of varying temperatures situated in the mountains.

4. Buena Vista

Two-and-a-half hours from Boulder, Buena Vista is home to many whitewater rafting operations with trips available through late spring to the summer months. Mount Princeton Hot Springs is a short drive from Buena Vista and offers natural pools in the river and man-made options including a waterslide.

5. Manitou Springs

South of Denver near Colorado Springs is Manitou Springs, a cozy town with several boutiques and restaurants. Manitou Springs is home to the Penny Arcade, which has arcade games both inside and outside, some of which can be played for a nickel. Be sure to visit the Cave of the Winds Mountain Park to go ziplining and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, a museum with reconstructed replicas of the Puebloan cliff dwellings.

6. Cañon City

A two-and-a-half-hour drive from Boulder, Cañon City is home to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, a canyon over the Arkansas River with a 995 feet high suspension bridge above the river and across the canyon. The park can also be visited on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad along the side of the canyon and next to the river.

7. Denver

Only a forty-minute drive from Boulder, Denver is the nearest city and the capital of Colorado. Denver is a great place to explore the city and its restaurants. Be sure to watch the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche, play at Ball Arena, go to a Broncos game or catch a concert.

8. Colorado Springs

Home to Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs is an hour-and-a-half ride from Boulder. Enjoy the scenery by driving or hiking through Garden of the Gods. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is located in Colorado Springs, an expansive zoo home to many animals including giraffes, hippos, meerkats and more.

9. Alamosa

Four hours from Boulder is Alamosa which borders Sand Dunes National Park where you can hike the dunes or sandboard down them. Alamosa also has the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge and the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad.

10. Vail

A two-hour drive from Boulder, Vail is home to Vail Resort, a renowned ski and snowboarding destination that offers gondola rides, hiking and mountain biking options during the summer months. The village of Vail is home to a variety of restaurants and shops. Visit the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens to enjoy the beautiful scenery or participate in their signature events like yoga or group walks.

Tell us your favorite places in Colorado to visit by emailing editor@colorado.edu.

Are you looking to get away for a day, a weekend or longer? Check out some of the places on this list for a new adventure outside of Boulder.

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The Music of Pueblo

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 17:11:44 +0000

The Music of Pueblo Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/06/2022 - 11:11

Christie Sounart

Susan Thomas and Xóchitl Chávez with musicians Sam Medina and Gilbert Medina.

Xóchitl Chávez (LatinAmer, SpanLit’02) grew up in Pueblo, Colorado's east side in a life rich with cultural heritage.

“Summertime meant church festivals and street parades," said Chávez, who was a member of Pueblo's youth marching band programs. “There was always some sort of music being played.”

Working as a young, bilingual radio personality in the city, she learned of the diverse historic music venues that served as hubs where long-term Pueblo residents and migrant workers united. The importance of these hubs has stayed with her as she studies cultural anthropology and ethnomusicology.

Chávez is now the first Chicana tenure track assistant professor in the music department at the University of California, Riverside. For the past year, she’s partnered with CU Boulder on a research project, “Soundscapes of the People,” that blends her work and heritage.

In 2019, Chávez met Susan Thomas, director of CU’s American Music Research Center, who was seeking a research project to focus on the diversity of Colorado’s music histories. Chávez encouraged her to start interviewing musicians in Pueblo.

“I was hooked,” said Thomas. “The thing that has really struck me is how fascinating Pueblo is as a city. It’s unlike any place I’ve ever been.”

Thomas — also the College of Music’s associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion — secured grants to study and preserve the history of music in Pueblo and surrounding areas, and began interviews in 2021.

By the end of the project, Thomas, Chávez and a team of three graduate students will have spoken to about 80 musicians and community members for the project, some of whom have played in Pueblo for nearly 70 years.

“Looking at music and sound is a powerful way to consider how Puebloans have built resilient communities and social identities,” said Thomas.

One particular elder, Sam Medina, known for his improvised songs called “versos,” helped coordinate interviews with musicians in their 80s, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April 2022, the team secured a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue the research through 2025. The interviews, music and stories collected will be publicly available through CU’s digital library and CSU Pueblo.

Said Thomas: “The American West has been really understudied. This is an opportunity to change the narrative about how people have made music and why it matters.”

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Photos courtesy Xóchitl Chávez

CU’s American Music Research Center is studying Pueblo’s abundant musical histories.

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What Happened to the Teachers?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 19:05:00 +0000

What Happened to the Teachers? Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 09/01/2018 - 13:05

Christie Sounart

Colorado, like many other states, has a serious teacher shortage due to low salaries, demographic shifts, inadequate training, and the rising cost of college education and teaching licenses. Can CU help?

Stephanie Mares (EBio’17) was in demand.

By the time the 22-year-old left CU Boulder in May with a biology degree and teaching certificate, she had seven job offers in a single Colorado school district, St. Vrain Valley, in her hometown of Longmont.

Had she kept looking, she’d likely have had more offers still, given her science training and English-Spanish bilingualism. Colorado is struggling with a serious teacher shortage.

“There’s a shortage in all of Colorado except for the Front Range,” said Katherine Schultz, dean of CU Boulder’s School of Education.

There are shortages in many states, especially for special education, math and science teachers, attributable to a combination of low salaries, demographic shifts, inadequate training, and the rising cost of college education and teaching licenses and other factors, according to a 2017 Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) report.

The shortage became apparent in Colorado in 2010, and is most severe in rural areas — partly because of their typical distance from colleges that prepare teachers, the need for teachers to handle multiple subjects and a greater need for culturally and linguistically diverse personnel, said the CDHE.

“People have told me there are schools that haven’t had an 11th grade math teacher for a couple of years,” said Schultz.

The average starting teacher salary in Colorado is about $33,000.

Low pay is the biggest problem, though: The CDHE found that 95 percent of rural school districts’ teacher salaries are below the cost of living.

“In some districts teachers make about $30,000 a year,” said Schultz. “It’s difficult to take a job in an area that pays so little money, especially if you still have student loans.”

Statewide, the average starting teacher salary in Colorado was $32,980 in 2017, according to the National Education Association. Adjusted for cost of living, teacher pay in Colorado ranks 44th in the nation, National Public Radio reported.

CU Boulder is stepping in.

“There are two ways to address a teacher shortage,” Schultz said. “One way is through recruitment of new teachers. The other is through the retention of teachers who are already there.”

To cultivate future teachers, the university is promoting teaching careers to middle and high schoolers through classroom visits, internships and college-level credit for some high school courses. A new CU bachelor’s degree in elementary education equips graduates with skills for teaching diverse populations and emerging bilingual learners.

Current teachers play a role in inspiring the next generation. Mares’ high school history teacher, Chris Barnes (Hist’06; MEdu’10), persuaded her to consider CU Boulder for a teaching degree.

“He really pushed me, and he took me on my first campus tour,” said Mares, who received, and could not have attended without, significant scholarships. “This one teacher changed my life. I thought, ‘I can do this for other kids.’”

Barnes, now in his 13th year of teaching, saw potential in Mares’ work ethic and interest in learning.

“The job of teacher is getting harder and harder,” he said. “Teaching used to be just the dissemination of knowledge. Now you’re a counselor, a liaison between family and community, a language specialist and a bureaucrat.”

In rural areas especially, where schools often face a distinct shortage of infrastructure, technology and financial resources, Barnes said, teachers often leave by their fifth year in the job.

Last spring’s national teacher walkouts and protests — including April’s march by thousands of teachers on Colorado's state capitol — have heightened awareness of teachers’ economic circumstances.

CU’s education school is meanwhile bolstering the skills of current teachers. It’s developing an online dual master’s program in bilingual education and special education, for instance.

This fall, Mares is prepared to start her own career as a physics teacher at Longmont’s Skyline High School. But she hasn’t ruled out a future position in a rural school.

“I would prefer a school that is struggling a little bit because I think it’s where I can make the most impact,” she said.

Comment? Email editor@colorado.edu.

Photo by @iStock/studiocasper; @Getty Images/Matt Hoover Photo

Colorado's teacher shortage persists. Can CU Boulder help?

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Life in Colorado's Freshwater

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Life in Colorado's Freshwater Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2018 - 00:00

The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History is home to nearly 5 million objects and specimens. Twenty-eight of them star in a new exhibition of photographic prints called “Life in Colorado’s Freshwater,” now on display at the museum and nearby on campus. View them all.

The University of Colorado Museum of Natural History is home to nearly 5 million objects and specimens.

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CU Boulder Law Professor Named to State Supreme Court

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 07:00:00 +0000

CU Boulder Law Professor Named to State Supreme Court Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2018 - 00:00

Eric Gershon

In her role as director of Colorado Law’s Byron R. White Center, Melissa Hart brought a lot of distinguished judges to CU Boulder.

Now she’s become one herself — in December, Colo. Gov. John Hickenlooper named the CU law professor to the state Supreme Court.

An expert in constitutional law, Hart first came to CU in 2000, after a pair of prominent legal clerkships, a law firm job in Washington, D.C., and experience as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.

A graduate of East High School in Denver and Harvard Law School, she served as a U.S. Supreme Court clerk for former Justice John Paul Stevens.

“I am really excited to join the six justices currently on the court in working to make sure that our system is efficient and fair — that the work it does is clear and transparent, and that it works for people all over Colorado,” Hart said after Hickenlooper announced her appointment, according to The Denver Post.

Hart — whose grandfather Archibald Cox served as U.S. Solicitor General under John F. Kennedy and as Watergate special prosecutor — had previously made the shortlist for a seat on Colorado’s seven-member Supreme Court, in 2015.

She got another shot after Allison H. Eid — a former Colorado Law professor — left the court for a position on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. (That seat came open when its prior occupant — former visiting Colorado Law professor Neil Gorsuch — joined the U.S. Supreme Court last April.)

The Colorado Supreme Court has at least two other members with strong Buff ties: Justice Nathan B. Coats (Econ’71; Law’77) is an alumnus. Chief Justice Nancy E. Rice has been an adjunct law professor since 1987.

Hart will continue to teach a course at CU.

The law school will name a new director for the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, named after former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White (Econ’38).

Melissa Hart joins other Colorado justices with Buff ties.

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Film Buff

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 18:15:45 +0000

Film Buff Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/19/2017 - 12:15

Lauren Price

For Michael Brody, launching a film festival in Crested Butte, Colo., has been a dream come true.

It was in June 1983 on a bus in New Zealand that a stranger helped Michael Brody (IndSt’85) find his direction.

Brody, then 22, was unsure what his future had in store. After Peter Blake, a fellow traveler, taught him the art of the 16-line sonnet while touring the South Island together, he was hooked. This left Brody, a Denver native, hungry to return to Colorado and dive into creative writing, filmmaking and philosophy at CU Boulder, where he’d already been accepted.

“Storytelling was always inherent in me, but it took this incident of someone saying ‘this is how you do it,’ to let that come out,” said Brody, who spent several years traveling before attending CU and went on to found the Crested Butte Film Festival, now approaching its seventh year.

Upon graduation, Brody worked for CU’s film studies department for several years before taking a job as a film teacher at Boulder’s New Vista High School.

It was there, in 2005, that he began producing his first film, Document, a narrative about two outcast, small-town friends who seek fame in the Los Angeles film industry. When it screened on CU’s campus in 2010, he was struck by the idea of running his own film festival.

But it was a serendipitous moment during the search for a new place to live that set it all in motion.

After 20 years in Boulder, Brody was ready for a change of scenery. While scoping out Crested Butte, population 1,500 or so, as a prospective place to live with soon-to-be wife Jennifer, they learned that the little town’s short film festival, Reel Fest, had been discontinued five years ago. The couple saw their opportunity and seized it. Within 11 months (just two after their wedding) they were running the first Crested Butte Film Festival, which opened in September 2011.

After working careers in filmmaking and education, it felt right to channel their creativity in a way that could give back to a community that was now missing its film scene, Brody said.

Before moving to Crested Butte full-time in 2012, they traveled back and forth from Boulder. Community members offered their homes as lodging, eager to see a film festival return to their town.

“It almost brings tears to my eyes,” Brody said. “They loved what we were doing and just truly did this out of the goodness of their hearts.”

By now the festival — Sept. 28-Oct. 1 this year — is a Crested Butte tradition. Brody works as the film programmer and travels to other festivals around the country to select films. Topics range from the Syrian refugee crisis (Cries from Syria, which will be shown this year) to environmental degradation in China (How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change) to narrative-style films like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

There are more than 25 film festivals in Colorado every year. Brody said his festival’s films and the impact they have on the community help make it unique and important.

“I love the films that rock you to your core, that challenge the way we live,” Brody said, referencing one of his favorites, Bag It, a 2010 film about the wastefulness of plastic bags.

This year, CBFF began a partnership with Amazon Studios, the film division of Amazon.com, and will be showing new episodes from two of its biggest shows, Transparent and I Love Dick.

Always held in late September to coincide with the changing leaves of the Aspen trees, the four-day festival closes out the summer season in Crested Butte. With about 4,000 tickets sold per year, it brings an estimated 750-1,000 additional visitors to town, Brody said. Available ticket prices range from $15 per film to $240 for a four-day pass.

The CBFF also holds monthly film screenings on the third Thursday of every month year-round.

In addition to running the festival with Jennifer, who serves as the festival’s executive director, Brody continues to write screenplays. In the last few years he’s helped adapt a few novels into screenplays, most recently Created Equal, about a Catholic nun’s desire to become a priest and why the church believes she can’t. That film, starring Lou Diamond Phillips, was released earlier this year.

“I truly believe I have one of the best jobs in the world,” he said.

Lauren Price (MJour’17) is editorial assistant of the Coloradan.

Photo courtesy Arthur E. Michalak/Provocateur (top)

For Michael Brody, launching a film festival in Crested Butte, Colo., has been a dream come true.

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