Alumni Connections: January 2007

Alumni News

President Brown announces future plans. CU President Hank Brown announced at the recent CU Board of Regents meeting his plan to step down from the president's position in early 2008, fulfilling an earlier promise of providing the board a one-year notice of his departure. See Brown's letter to the Board of Regents and media coverage of his decision.

In memoriam.  Eldon Stevens, professor emeritus, Philosophy, died Dec. 28. Services were Jan. 10.  An obituary further honors this special man.

Fast-Track Admission
As an alumnus of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, you may be eligible to apply for admission to the Graduate School via Fast-Track Admission.  Fast-Track Admission is designed to expedite the application process for several UCCS graduate programs.  Former UCCS undergraduate students may apply to the Graduate School through Fast-Track Admission so long as their graduation date is no more than four years prior to the time of their application.  The following graduate programs accept Fast-Track applications for admission:
Applied Geography (MA)
Biology (MSc) (options in Biochemistry/Biotechnology, Exercise Science and Organismic Biology)
Business Administration (MBA)
College of Engineering and Applied Science (many programs available)
History (MA)
Nursing (MSN)
Sociology (MA)
For more information on these and other UCCS graduate programs, visit the Graduate School website or contact the Graduate Student Recruitment Coordinator at (719) 255-3072 / (800) 990-UCCS x3072 / gradinfo@uccs.edu.

University News

Year-end gift boosts campus. In a last-minute year-end transaction, the CU Foundation acquired property at 3650 North Nevada to benefit UCCS. Uses are being explored for the site which was sold at a price far lower than its anticipated valuation. The funds for the purchase, part of a bargain sale and donation, came from the president's initiative fund and were not from campus resources. See the property and details from the Silver and Gold Record.  The Rocky Mountain News also wrote about the acquisition of the former TRW building.   

State of the University. Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak provided members of the University Club a "state of the university" this week, updating them on campus programs, the university's vision, and construction.  Her presentation is available here.

Donations on record pace. The University of Colorado today announced it has raised $54.1 million since July 1, 2006, a 204 percent increase over the same period last year and more than 75 percent of its annual goal for the fiscal year.

Keeping tabs. For those anxiously awaiting the completion of various construction projects, or wanting to keep tabs on every brick as it is laid, Facilities Services has installed three web cams that will update viewers every 15 minutes. The sites are for the Student Recreation Center, Dwire Hall, and the new Science and Engineering Building.

In the Media

The Colorado Springs Business Journal quoted Fred Crowley, associate research professor, College of Business and Administration, about housing prices in Colorado Springs.

The Boulder Daily Camera wrote about the CU Board of Regents considering lottery proceeds as a funding source. 

The Rocky Mountain News wrote about Amendment 41 and possible changes by the General Assembly.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education wrote about the appointment of John Herrington, director, Center for Space Education.

The Arizona Republic quoted Jay Coakley, professor emeritus, Sociology, about violence in sports.

The Pueblo Chieftain editorialized about the importance of state support for higher education.

Alumni Spotlight: Yusef Komunyakaa

Yusef Komunyakaa is a graduate of UCCS who has made his mark.  He graduated from UCCS in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts and is the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.  Yusef Komunyakaa is a unique figure in American poetry and, to date, has authored eleven poetry volumes. Komunyakaa's poetry is celebrated for its short lines, its simple vernacular, its jazzy feel, and its rootedness in the poet's experience as a black of the American South, and as a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.  Critics have compared Komunyakaa to Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Amiri Baraka, and William Carlos Williams.
 
In 1965, Komunyakaa enlisted in the United States Army and began a tour of duty in Vietnam. While there, he started writing as a correspondent for the military newspaper, The Southern Cross. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his work with the paper. He left the army in the early 1970s and enrolled at UCCS where he began exploring creative writing.  Inspired by his newfound love and talent, Komunyakaa went on to earn an M.A. from Colorado State University in 1978.  He also received master's degrees from the University of California, Irvine.

In 1980, he joined the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, a closely-knit community of artists geared toward encouraging the self-conscious, individualistic writer. Komunyakaa completed Copacetic in 1981 after returning to Louisiana to reconsider how the music of his hometown reflected racial issues of the time.  He began teaching poetry in the public school system of New Orleans and then creative writing at the University of New Orleans.  While at the University, he met and married Mandy Sayer, an Australian fiction writer.

In 1991, he won the Thomas Forcade award, in 1993 was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry, in 1994 he won the Pulitzer prize in poetry as well as the William Faulkner Prize from the University of Rennes in France. In 1997 Komunyakaa began teaching at Princeton University in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing.  That same year he was awarded the Levinson Prize from Poetry magazine and the Hanes Poetry Prize. His newest book from Wesleyan is Thieves of Paradise.

UCCS applauds this notable alum for his many successes.  To learn more about this amazing UCCS graduate, view his extended biography and samples of his work at the Internet Poetry Archive.

If you are interested in supporting the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences and ensuring that students in the future have the opportunity to discover their hidden talents, please contact Maurin Anderson at (719) 536 4488 or Maurin.Anderson@cufund.org.

Campus Spotlight:
The Heller Center for the Arts and Humanities

The Heller Center for the Arts and Humanities is a dream ignited by the generous gift of Dorothy Heller.  This dream, shared by a broad base of faculty at UCCS and supported by the community, is sparked by the University’s plans to rejuvenate this unique spirit of artistic innovation in the unique setting that a Western retreat provides.

Dorothy “Dot” and Larry Heller lived a full life.  Nestled in their 1936 unique adobe home, they enjoyed mixing art with their Western lifestyles.  Before Dot passed away in 1999, she had become the first woman police officer in Colorado Springs and encouraged her husband in his artistic pursuits.  The home of Larry and Dorothy was once a gathering place where artists enjoyed weekend retreats, events where they could take advantage of the strong relationship between a commitment of the arts with a love of the West that the Heller’s had created. 

The Heller property sits on 34 secluded acres within the Eaglerock neighborhood west of campus, providing an open air studio for photography, painting and design, as well as an outdoor laboratory for study in biology and geology.  The estate’s special arts facilities, including a workshop and foundry, provide additional support for artistic endeavors of faculty and students.  The setting is also Western in feel and climate and surrounded by the art that Larry Heller created as his home became such an artistic center. 

After receiving the property, the University was able to gain funds to start the project through a gift of real estate in Montana from Elizabeth Taylor.  Future plans include facility rental, academic use, and other university-related programs related to community outreach.  Once renovated, the Heller Center will be able to host four to six classes a week in its three 25 person classrooms.  There will also be a 100 person multifunction room.

Given the nature of the facility and its historical importance, the Heller Center gives UCCS an opportunity to provide programs that will engage significant constituencies of the Pikes Peak and Front Range regions. 

UCCS is excited to complete this amazing project.  If you are interested in supporting the Heller Center for Arts and Humanities, please contact Maurin Anderson at (719) 536-4488 or Maurin.Anderson@cufund.org.