Archive for January, 2018

Degrees of opportunity: How DU is supporting an evolving student body

Degrees of opportunity: How DU is supporting an evolving student body

These days, the typical college student isn’t so typical. Compared to seven or eight years ago, students entering U.S. colleges and universities in 2018 are less likely to be white, more likely to be the first generation in their family to go to college, and more likely to be older […]

The Joseph and Loretta Law Institute of Arts and Technology plans to make the most current breakthroughs in artistic technology accessible to students and the public through seminars, workshops, visiting fellows and scholars, performances and education. Photo courtesy of Dennis Law

$20 million gift funds new institute for global art and technology

A $20 million gift from Denver arts supporter and former surgeon Dennis Law and his mother, Loretta Law, will fund the creation of the new Joseph and Loretta Law Institute of Arts and Technology at DU. The gift includes seed capital and long-term funding that will make the University of […]

For his documentary film about the club, Scott Montgomery has interviewed former employees, concertgoers, poster artists — including the iconic Stanley Mouse — and musicians who performed at the club, uncovering several DU connections in the process. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

Art professor re-animates Denver rock club the Family Dog

It was in existence for less than two years, but the Family Dog rock club — located just down the street from DU, near Evans and Santa Fe — was the epicenter of ’60s cool in Denver. Opened in 1967, the venue — an offshoot of concert promoter Chet Helms’ […]

Judy Kiyama conducts research on the high school-to-college transition experiences of first-generation students, low-income students and students of color. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

Education professor talks inclusivity and orientations

Judy Marquez Kiyama, a professor in the Morgridge College of Education, was once a first-generation college student whose introductory exposure to her alma mater, the University of Arizona, was through a six-week summer bridge program for first-generation students, low-income students and students of color. Later the assistant director of that […]

Ryan Keeney, a recent graduate student in the Department of Geography and the Environment, created an interactive digital map of every streetcar line that ever existed within the modern boundaries of the city and county of Denver, from the system’s inception in 1872 to its demise in 1950. Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library Digital Collections

Geography grad student explores Denver’s streetcar legacy

Alumni who took classes back in the days when the University was nicknamed “Tramway Tech” know that Denver once boasted a world-class public transportation system in the form of streetcars. In fact, many of the city’s buzzing commercial strips and distinctive neighborhoods — Colfax, Broadway, South Pearl — were once […]

A pilot project that launched in 2017 out of DU’s Office of Teaching and Learning asked students to sit in on classes in academic areas outside their majors and to share their observations and ideas with professors about how to make their teaching styles more inclusive. Illustration by James Yang

Students give instructors lessons in inclusivity

When it comes to making all students feel included in classroom lectures and activities, even college professors don’t have all the answers. Especially when it comes to first-generation students and students from underrepresented populations, both of whom may not be familiar with higher-ed customs and who may understandably bristle at […]

Essay: The First to Belong

Essay: The First to Belong

Lili Rodriguez is DU’s vice chancellor for campus life and inclusive excellence.   I am a double first-generation scholar. By that I mean that I am of both the first generation in my family born in the U.S. and the first generation in my family to attend college. There was […]

“If we can get people out to watch us just one time, they’ll come back,” says new women's basketball head coach Jim Turgeon. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

New coach means a new era for women’s basketball

Jim Turgeon admits that men’s basketball programs usually get most of the attention at universities. But for him, there’s nothing more exciting than women’s basketball. “I think [on the women’s side] the game is played the way it’s supposed to be: below the rim,” says the new head coach of […]

In hopes that students there will dedicate their lives to vital international causes, Grant Wilkins and his second wife, Marlene, created the Grant and Marlene Wilkins Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

Alumnus Grant Wilkins crusades against polio

Grant Wilkins (BA ’47) has dedicated his life to eradicating polio. For more than two decades he has traveled the globe, sharing his story in an effort to raise money for PolioPlus, a Rotary International Program aimed at eliminating the disease. He also distributes vaccines in the countries he visits. […]

Sara Hertwig Photography

Alumna builds a business around edible insects

Insects — whether crickets, locusts or ants — can be quite the pests. But for Wendy Lu McGill (MA ’12), they present an opportunity to cater to adventurous eaters looking to shake up their palates with an unusual but nutritional delicacy. McGill is CEO and founder of Rocky Mountain Micro […]

Shelf Discovery: Great reading from the DU community

Shelf Discovery: Great reading from the DU community

Whether you read for pleasure or edification — or both, whether you thumb through a hardcover or swipe through a device, you’re no doubt in the market for new titles to enjoy. The University of Denver’s community of writers is happy to oblige, producing good reads that raise questions and […]