Campus Community

CUPD makes arrest following on-campus grass fire

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 23:40:07 +0000

CUPD makes arrest following on-campus grass fire Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/23/2021 - 16:40

The University of Colorado Police Department (CUPD) on Thursday afternoon arrested a female suspect on charges of second degree arson and reckless endangerment following a grass fire on the university’s East Campus.

The suspect has been booked at the Boulder County Jail.

Boulder Fire Rescue, CUPD and several other local agencies responded Friday morning to contain the fire in an open area near CU Boulder’s Space Sciences Building along �鶹��Ƶy Drive. There were no injuries nor damage to any structures.

Boulder Fire Rescue announced on social media just after 3 p.m. that the fire had been officially contained. The fire burned roughly 6.3 acres.

In addition to Boulder Fire Rescue and CUPD, Boulder Police Department, Boulder Rural Fire Department, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Fourmile Fire, Louisville Fire Protection District, Lafayette Fire Department, Lefthand Fire and Boulder Mountain Fire assisted in the response as high winds created challenges in containing the fire.

“We are grateful for the response of our local partner agencies, both in containment of the fire to protect our campus community and in assisting with the investigation,” CU Boulder Police Chief Doreen Jokerst said.

Anyone who may have additional information about the cause of Thursday’s fire should call Sergeant Eric Edford at 303-492-6832. Those who have information but wish to remain anonymous may contact the Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website.

CUPD arrested a female suspect on charges of second degree arson and reckless endangerment following a grass fire Thursday afternoon on the university’s East Campus.

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Campus remembers shooting victims

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:48:27 +0000

Campus remembers shooting victims Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/16/2021 - 13:48

Andrew Sorensen

For more than a decade, generations of CU Boulder students, faculty and staff made acquaintance with one of the best friends they could ever have. And through the support of people around the country, her legacy will live on for years to come.

Teri Leiker, a longtime affiliate of the university’s chapter of the national Best Buddies program and superfan of the Golden Buffaloes Marching Band, died on March 22, 2021 during the shooting at King Soopers on Table Mesa. She was remembered during a service April 9 at the CU Events Center.

Her friends and family spoke at the memorial about Leiker’s confidence and charisma, which shone brightly in her decades-long career at King Soopers, as well as in the rest of her life.

Head to toe CU

The night before every CU Football home game, the Golden Buffalo Marching Band lines up in front of the Boulder County Courthouse for the Pearl Street Stampede. It’s a 20-year tradition engineered to hype up Buffs fans, and few were ever as hyped up as Leiker.

“The last few weeks I’ve been thinking back to all of our interactions,” said Matthew Dockendorf, Golden Buffaloes Marching Band director. “She was always there before the marching band got there.”

Without missing a beat upon their arrival, Leiker would unfailingly make a bee-line for Dockendorf or band members, wanting to talk about the band or the next day’s matchup.
“She was just head to toe CU, cheering and singing the fight song,” Dockendorf said. The CU Boulder fight song was so dear to Leiker that it was printed in the booklet at her memorial.

Despite not having a Stampede since 2019, Dockendorf said band members, faculty members and others quickly felt a pull to do something to honor Leiker’s spirit.

“We didn’t know what that was yet, whether that’s a moment of silence or an award at the end of year banquet,” he said.

Then two donors, Marty Coffin Evans and Robert Trembly, stepped in, offering a combined $10,000 to start the Teri Leiker Memorial Marching Band Scholarship. Dockendorf says their goal is to raise $25,000, enabling the scholarship to become an endowment, which would live on in perpetuity.

“We would award an annual scholarship to a student who represents school spirit, generosity, and kindness.” Dockendorf said, all qualities that Leiker embodied.

Dockendorf said the band also plans to hold a moment of silence for Leiker at the next Pearl Street Stampede, which he hopes could be this fall.

“She was a positive influence on so many people. It was such a joy to see her and to see her smile,” he said. “We hope that she can still hear us in the future.”

A great buddy

“I’m going to cry as I think about it,” said CU Boulder Best Buddies faculty advisor Oliver Gerland, who attended the memorial. “She touched people’s lives who went to that King Soopers and would get in line specifically to have her bag their groceries just so they could talk to her.”

Best Buddies is a national organization which looks to end isolation of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. When Gerland began working with CU’s chapter three years ago, Leiker, who had been involved for many years, stood out immediately.

“I saw her as a leader, honestly. She helped me get comfortable with the group,” Gerland said.

After the shooting, the national headquarters of Best Buddies raised nearly $60,000 for Leiker’s family. Best Buddies also announced plans to raise another $150,000 to create a satellite office in Boulder bearing her name.

“The fact that they’re naming it after her is important,” said Liz Lajoie, CU Best Buddies president. “It’s so special that that office is going to expand Best Buddies programming in the West and in Colorado, because Teri loved Best Buddies so much.”

Honoring victims, supporting the community

Leiker was one of ten people killed during the March 22 shooting. CU Boulder has established a committee to honor all of the victims and support the community healing process.

CU Boulder Athletics is also selling #BoulderStrong T-shirts, with all profits going to the Colorado Healing Fund.

You can submit other ideas for community support or get involved by visiting the CU Boulder March 22 community support page.

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Patty Limerick named to state Geographic Naming Advisory Board

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 19:33:32 +0000

Patty Limerick named to state Geographic Naming Advisory Board Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/31/2020 - 13:33

Andrew Sorensen

Patty Limerick, faculty director and chair of the board of CU Boulder’s Center of the American West, will play a central role in Colorado’s historic effort to reassess names of state landmarks.

Gov. Jared Polis appointed Limerick and several others to the Colorado State Geographic Naming Advisory Board beginning Aug. 1.

Patty Limerick, faculty director of the Center of the American West. (Casey Cass/CU Boulder)

“This collaborative group of people will bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the board and ensure we have an inclusive naming process,” said Gov. Polis. “This work is very important, because place names reflect who we were, who we are and are of intergenerational importance moving forward.”

Limerick is familiar with the challenges of reassessing historical names. Soon after she arrived at CU Boulder in the 1980s, Limerick wrote a report on a dormitory bearing the name of a participant in the Sand Creek Massacre. Limerick’s work led to the residence hall being renamed Cheyenne Arapaho in 1989, honoring the Indigenous people whose land it occupied.

“This experience gave me a lasting knowledge of the best approaches to and strategies for reckoning with controversial historical subjects associated with particular places,” Limerick said. “Disputes over the names of places, I have learned, carry the bedrock good news that people care, and are deeply committed to associating themselves with those places and their history.”

More recently, the Center of the American West has worked with Rocky Mountain National Park and the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapaho, and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes to educate visitors on the important ties Indigenous people maintain to the park’s landscape.

As a part of the board, Limerick said she plans to rely on connections she’s developed over 35 years of civic engagement from Paonia to Burlington and from Trinidad to Meeker.

“In truth, every place name acts as a brief—but concentrated and very resonant—poem, with every form of expertise and sector of society called upon to reveal its meaning,” Limerick said.

According to the governor’s executive order creating the advisory board, the Center of the American West is granted a designee on the board, alongside representatives from History Colorado, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, the Colorado Geological Survey and other state agencies and local governments.

Patty Limerick's writing on monuments and other subjects can be found on her blog, Not my First Rodeo.

Patty Limerick, faculty director and chair of the board of CU Boulder’s Center of the American West, will play a central role in Colorado’s historic effort to reassess names of state landmarks.

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Merritt Turetsky named INSTAAR director

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 13:45:00 +0000

Merritt Turetsky named INSTAAR director Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/02/2019 - 07:45

INSTAAR

Merritt Turetsky has been named the director of INSTAAR and will step into her new role in January.

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From Amsterdam to Boulder by rail, boat, bus and bike

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 13:00:00 +0000

From Amsterdam to Boulder by rail, boat, bus and bike Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/16/2019 - 07:00

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

An INSTAAR climate researcher eschews air travel on 8,000-mile ‘commute’ to take up a new position at the university.

An INSTAAR climate researcher eschews air travel on an 8,000-mile ‘commute’ to take up his new position at the university.

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Earth Lab students bring data analytics to environmental challenges

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 15:00:00 +0000

Earth Lab students bring data analytics to environmental challenges Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/24/2019 - 09:00

CIRES

Now in its second year, the Earth Lab Data Analytics Graduate Certificate gives students the tools to study environmental topics such as air pollution, glaciers and flooding.

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$5 million Titan Krios microscope will advance biomedical, life science research

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 12:00:00 +0000

$5 million Titan Krios microscope will advance biomedical, life science research Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/20/2019 - 06:00

Trent Knoss

A new cryo-electron microscope that can reveal intricate cellular architecture in stunning ultra-high 3D resolution will land at the �鶹��Ƶ later this month, the first of its kind to be housed in the state.

The Titan Krios Cryo-Electron Transmission microscope, which measures over 8 feet tall and weighs in at more than 2,000 pounds, is considered state-of-the-art in life sciences and structural biology research, allowing scientists to image individual molecules with more detail and precision than ever.

“In order to understand the mechanisms of cells, all of which have evolved to do highly specific tasks, we need to know what the machines inside them look like,” said Karolin Luger, the endowed chair of CU Boulder’s Department of Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. “We can now see the assembly as it happens.”

The Krios microscope has been used to advance a number of biomedical fields in recent years, including cancer research. The device fires streams of electrons at cellular samples that have been frozen in vitrified states, then pieces together multiple 2D images to create a 3D rendering of an individual molecule’s unique variations.

The purchase was supported by a $5 million award from HHMI, which currently funds four Investigator positions at CU Boulder. The College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost and the Research and Innovation Office will provide substantial support in the form of a camera, as well as infrastructure, renovations and service contracts.

“This investment keeps CU Boulder at the forefront of life sciences research, where we have been for many years,” said Professor James Goodrich, chair of the Department of Biochemistry, which will manage the microscope’s operations. “It’s a transformational asset that will benefit not just the university, but other institutions across the state and region as well.”

The device will reside in a temperature-controlled laboratory in CU Boulder’s Sustainability, Energy and Environment Laboratory (SEEL) building on east campus. 17 labs from across the university plan to use the microscope in some capacity, including many from Biochemistry and the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

“We are thrilled to have this capability here on campus and our students are excited to peer closely at the cellular machinery that forms the foundation of life as we know it,” Luger said.

A new cryo-electron microscope that can reveal intricate cellular architecture in stunning ultra-high 3D resolution is the first of its kind to be housed in Colorado.

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CU Boulder bets big on community college students to boost STEM pipeline

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 15:00:00 +0000

CU Boulder bets big on community college students to boost STEM pipeline Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/06/2018 - 09:00

College of Engineering and Applied Science

A new federal grant focused on community colleges gives CU Engineering and its partners a boost to diversify interest in STEM fields in Colorado and coast to coast.

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Safety alert: Unlawful sexual contact reported at Farrand Field concert

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 05:05:08 +0000

Safety alert: Unlawful sexual contact reported at Farrand Field concert Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 08/25/2018 - 23:05

On Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018, at approximately 9:22 p.m., the CU Boulder Police Department (CUPD) was notified of an unlawful sexual contact that occurred at the Welcomefest concert on Farrand Field.

A female victim reported that a male suspect groped her and removed an undergarment while in the concert crowd. The suspect is described as:

6-foot-tall college-age Asian male
Wearing a white T-shirt, possibly with a CU logo
Thin build
Ear-length black hair

CUPD is currently investigating the incident. Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact CUPD at 303-492-6666. If you wish to share information anonymously, information on contacting Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers is available.

This message is being sent pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (“Clery Act”), a federal law that requires disclosure of major crime and policy information. For more information on the Clery Act and CU Boulder’s policies, please see www.colorado.edu/clery.

Sexual assault is not tolerated at CU Boulder. It can be both a crime and a violation of policy, see: University of Colorado Sexual Misconduct Policy and CU Boulder’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance’s Process and Procedures.

CU Boulder reminds the community of the following information that could aid in the prevention of similar crimes:

Sexual activity without consent (including with acquaintances, friends, or partners) is sexual assault.
- Consent cannot be obtained through coercion or threats.
- Use of alcohol or drugs may impair the ability to determine whether sexual activity is consensual.
- Learn more about the University of Colorado’s Sexual Misconduct Policy.
Don’t ignore situations that seem problematic or indicators that someone is trying to take advantage of a person who is vulnerable. Learn effective ways to intervene as a bystander and skills for supporting friends.

If you are the victim of sexual assault, you have many options for reporting, services, and assistance. For more information visit the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance. Retaliation for reporting is strictly prohibited. For free and confidential support, please contact CU Boulder’s Office of Victim Assistance (OVA) at 303-492-8855.

On Saturday, Aug. 25, at approximately 9:22 p.m. CUPD was notified of an unlawful sexual contact that occurred at the Welcomefest concert on Farrand Field.

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Accomplished comic artist lands prestigious Marshall Scholarship

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 20:34:55 +0000

Accomplished comic artist lands prestigious Marshall Scholarship Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/08/2017 - 13:34

For the second straight year, a CU Boulder student/graduate has been awarded a prestigious Marshall Scholarship that offers a full ride to any university in the U.K. Emma Oosterhous, an accomplished comic artist who graduated from CU Boulder in May 2017, will work on a master's degree in comics and graphic novels at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

Marshall Scholarship recipient Emma Oosterhous

Oosterhous, creator of the successful webcomic Alphabet Soup, is from Colorado Springs, and received a bachelor's degree in Spanish with a minor in in technology, arts and media. She also was a Norlin Scholar while at CU Boulder.

Enacted in 1953 by the British Parliament and named after former U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the scholarship was developed as a thank-you for U.S. aid in rebuilding Europe after World War II. It is offered to 30 to 40 students annually out of 1,000 applicants and targeted toward “intellectually distinguished young Americans—their country’s future leaders.” This year, 43 scholars were named.

"The highly selective Marshall Scholarship is one of the most prestigious in the world. We are thrilled Emma has been recognized for her creativity, intellectual curiosity, leadership and investment in community," said Deborah Viles, director of CU Boulder’s Top Scholarships office. "She represents the best of what CU has to offer. Hers is the second consecutive Marshall Scholarship awarded to a CU student, a huge honor for CU, and a fact that highlights CU’s commitment to investing in student success."

Students interested in seeking a campus endorsement for the Marshall and other U.K. scholarships should contact topscholarships@colorado.edu well before the April 16 campus deadline.

Q&A with Emma Oosterhous

What was your favorite part about attending CU Boulder?

My favorite part of going to CU is probably a tie between the TAM program and the Norlin Scholars community. Both of them gave me some fantastic mentors and amazing friends who were always there for me when I needed support.

Did you have a favorite class/student organization or a professor/mentor while you were at CU?

The class I took with Jim Walker in the Norlin Scholars program last year forced me to do my best work and made it fun. It was a class about exploring myself in relation to the world around me, and I know I came out of there a better person.

I also can’t really answer this question without mentioning Chris Carruth, whose image class taught me that photography is cathartic and powerful and way harder than it looks, and Juan Pablo Dabove, who taught my Argentine literature courses and mentored my research on Argentine graphic novels. They were both incredibly supportive during some of the hardest times of my life.

What was the application process like for the Marshall Scholarship, and how does it feel to be named a recipient of the prestigious scholarship?

The Marshall application process was pretty intense. In the spring there was a round of applications just to get endorsed by CU, and then I spent all summer working on the actual application. There were about seven different essays and I needed four letters of recommendation. I worked very closely with Deb Viles from the Top Scholarships office, and she always gave me wonderful feedback; I absolutely wouldn't have been able to do this without her.

I submitted it in early October, and then about a month later I found out I'd gotten an interview. I flew down to Houston with my dad for the interview (during which they read me a passage from a play and asked me to draw it out in a comic), and then that afternoon as I was in the airport waiting for my flight back to Denver, they called me and offered me the scholarship.

I think I'm still kind of in shock . . . Maybe it won't feel real until I'm actually over in Scotland. I’m obviously extremely honored to have been chosen among hundreds of brilliant applicants, and I’m proud to represent CU Boulder, the independent comics community and my queer community going forward.

How did you become interested in the comics and graphic novels field?

I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon, but the first time I thought maybe I wanted to be a comic artist was two or three years ago when I read Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. It defied every narrative expectation I’d had of comic books up to that point, and it was hilarious and profound and queer in every sense of the word.

From then on there was really no other option for me. I started my webcomic Alphabet Soup soon afterward, and I've been making comics nonstop ever since.

What are you most excited about when it comes to studying and living in Dundee, Scotland?

I’m most excited about getting some actual art education. I have no formal training (aside from one or two art classes in high school) because I was already halfway done with my Spanish major by the time I realized I actually wanted to be a comic artist. It was a little too late for me to change my major, but now I get a second chance to study my favorite thing in the world!

I’m also really excited for the weather in Scotland. I love Colorado, but I can’t be a brooding artist in all this sunshine.

Do you have any advice for current CU students when it comes to finding something they’re passionate about?

I think I got pretty lucky; my passion hit me like a truck relatively early in my life. I guess I want people to know that it’s okay if it takes you years or even decades to figure out what you love. You can’t rush something like this, but it always helps to get to know yourself better.

Try new things whenever you can! Examine your values and figure out what issues matter to you. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or choose the wrong path. Revisit the things that excited you when you were a kid. Be brave. Chill out. Pet a dog. I believe in you!

CU Boulder alumna Emma Oosterhous has been awarded the Marshall Scholarship. With a full ride to any U.K. university, she will pursue a master's in comics and graphic novels at the University of Dundee.

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