Your husband dies of AIDS. You probably are infected, too. Alone, you will need to provide for your four children, but work isn’t available. You already live in poverty, and now you’ve been stripped of all property, including your tiny home made of sheet metal, plywood and other refuse. This […]

Few people know what it’s like to compete on live television. The studio lights are blinding, and millions of viewers watch your every move. In February, NBC Sports intern David Eichenstein, BA psychology ’04, tasted the limelight for himself when he starred in “The Intern,” a Today Show feature modeled […]

After teaching in Denver public schools for 20 years, Anne Pennington, BA ’59, thought it was time to start a new career. So, 40 years after graduating with a degree in theatre and education, she went back to school to get a master’s degree in ministry. It was “a time […]

Anyone who knows Scott Beard, JD ’93, knows about his passion for assisting crime victims. He’s been involved in victim services for more than 16 years, including working on national, state and local public policy issues affecting those who have been touched by crime. Beard worked for several national victim-related […]

Rugs can be much more than just floor coverings. Some, like those designed by Merry DeBoer, are true works of art. DeBoer, BA history ’69, has been designing artistic area rugs for 30 years. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, DeBoer worked as a dance and reading  therapist at a school […]

From Uganda to Nicaragua, DU students are waging a battle on behalf of human rights.

In one corner of Kenya, a DU student is lighting the way to peace.

When she completed her graduate studies, Jill Marquardt, MBA ’02, thought it was a great time to do what she always regretted not doing after her undergraduate studies—explore the world. After spending six months in Costa Rica, Marquardt had an opportunity to go to Senegal for three months as part […]

When GSIS master’s degree candidate Andrea Connell told her parents that she was spending a summer in South Sudan, they were more than a little apprehensive. “I tried not to elaborate on the security risks,” says Connell, noting that the Sudanese people have lived amidst civil unrest since 1955, with […]

Traffic jams in Nairobi are par for the course. Matatus—small, overcrowded buses—dart in and out of traffic and even drive on the sidewalks. Incessantly honking cars crawl along Langata Road—a major city artery—through billows of exhaust. Traffic is unoma—Swahili slang that means “really bad.” And just think, when Langata was […]

Social work PhD candidate Hadidja Nyiransekuye, MSW ’00, survived four years of war and genocide in her native Rwanda. “The magnitude of the genocide has made us daring,” she says. “We dare to speak, to research, to challenge ourselves and the world we live in.” American acquaintances she made during […]

Where others see a strife-torn, problem-plagued continent, Cindy Courville, MA ’80, PhD ’88, sees a cradle of potential. As a director at the National Security Council’s African Affairs office, Courville has her lens trained on Africa. And what she observes—a host of countries working hard on their problems—makes her optimistic […]

Tony Carroll, BA ’75, JD ’84, can picture the day when Africa no longer needs billions of dollars of humanitarian relief and development aid. Indeed, he’s devoted much of his career to hastening that day. With his undergraduate degree in economics and a background in securities law, Carroll is vice […]

Claudia Giannetti, MA geography ’92, immersed herself in a new culture when she came to the United States from Argentina as a student and a Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) staffer. Giannetti felt international encounters were important learning experiences, which is one reason why she stayed on at DU […]

For most Americans, commuting to work means getting into a car and driving a few miles. For Karin Polak, MA international administration ’99, going back and forth to work has taken on a new dimension. In the past few months alone, Polak has commuted to Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon and Egypt. […]