2009 Summer: University of Denver Magazine

Summer 2009
U N I V E R S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
N I V E R S I T Y O F
A G A Z I N E
UN I V ER S I T Y O F
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY O
MAGAZINE
Our Wild West

Alumni S y m p o S i u m
october 2-3, 2009
R e f l e c t. D i s c ov e R . l e a R n.
“ i f theRe is one thing that characterizes DU’s diverse alumni population,
it’s a passion for learning. Please join us for the third annual alumni symposium,
where your classmates and some of the University’s most distinguished scholars
gather to share ideas and discuss some of the great issues of the day.”
— c hancelloR R obeRt c oombe
www.du.edu/alumnisymposium
2 University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009

Contents
Features
26 Colorado’s College War

In 1919, a series of bombings turned a football rivalry between
DU and the School of Mines into all-out intercollegiate war.
By Richard Chapman
30 Moonrock Madness
Western original Terri “t.” Stardust (BFA ’91) had a zany idea.
Now, every June, riders from around the country join her in
Wyoming for a Wild West version of equestrian competition.
By Jack Sommars
36 Mystery Man
An authentic Western character himself, bestselling novelist
C.J. Box (BA ’81) knows how to turn a tale.
By Tamara Chapman
40 At Home on the Range

National Western Stock Show CEO Pat Grant (MBA ’73) is working to
sustain and preserve a piece of Western heritage for future generations.
By Richard Chapman
Departments
44 Editor’s Note
45 Letters
47 DU Update
08 News  Groff goes to Washington
10 Sports  Skiing championship
13 Academics  The politics of public lands
15 Research  Pioneering Jewish women
18 People Hunter Gene Schoonveld
22 Q&A  Sustainability in the West
24 Arts  Ranchland photogravure
45 Alumni Connections
Online only at www.du.edu/magazine:
History  Woodstock West
On the cover and this page: At the Moonrock equestrian competition, Western riders rub shoulders
with cross-country, jumping and dressage competitors. Photos by Marc Piscotty. Story on page 30.
University of Denver Magazine Update 3
Editor’s Note
MAGAZINE
w w w. d u . e d u / m a g a z i n e
Volume 9, Number 4
M A G A Z I N E
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF
My West—the West of my youth—was one MAGAZINE
of blue-ribbon biscuits baked for the county fair; Publisher

Carol Farnsworth
gathering eggs, still warm, from under the cushion
Managing Editor
of a hen who would peck you ferociously on the Chelsey Baker-Hauck (BA ’96)
back of the hand if you didn’t move fast enough; Associate Editor
stalking through a silent, frosted autumn forest with Tamara Chapman
my dad during black powder season; waking up to Editors

Kathryn Mayer (BA ’07)
find the neighbor’s prize bull looking in our picture Nathan Solheim
Samantha Stewart (BA ’08)
window, and later having to scrub the thick track of
Editorial Assistant
bull slobber off the glass with vinegar and newspaper.
Craig Korn
Laura Hathaway (’10)

There was ample time for running wild in the nearby
Staff Writer
Uncompahgre River bottom land, tossing rotten duck eggs from the hayloft, Richard Chapman
wading irrigation ditches and baking mudpies in the mailbox. Art Director
Craig Korn, VeggieGraphics
Today, my West includes far fewer farmers, ranchers, hunters and open
Contributors
land. There are more Democrats and many more people, houses and cars. Jarl Ahlkvist • Jordan Ames (BA ’02) •
Wayne Armstrong • Jim Berscheidt •
The sky is still just as big as I remember, though, and there’s still plenty of
Janalee Card Chmel (MLS ’97) • Kristal Griffith •
the frontier pluck I knew from the roughhewn pioneers in my hometown. Doug McPherson • Marc Piscotty •
Jack Sommars • Chase Squires • Tiffany
One of the things I love most about DU is its Western legacy. Its Ulatowski • Wendy Winter-Searcy •
Jean Wittels • Richard Wittels
founders are the same pioneers who founded our state and namesake city;
Editorial Board
our histories are bound together. When I began coming across story after Chelsey Baker-Hauck, editorial director •
Jim Berscheidt, associate vice chancellor
story of DU alumni who embody the same Western spirit that shaped
for university communications •
my childhood, I sensed there was a larger story to tell. This issue is that Thomas Douglis (BA ’86) • Carol Farnsworth,
vice chancellor for university communications
story—a story of Western characters and character, freedom of spirit and • Sarah Satterwhite, senior director of
development/special assistant to the vice
new twists on old traditions. chancellor • Amber Scott (MA ’02) •
Laura Stevens (BA ’69), director of
I hope you enjoy it. parent relations
Printed on 10% PCW recycled paper
The University of Denver Magazine (USPS 022-177) is

Chelsey Baker-Hauck published quarterly—fall, winter, spring and summer—by
the University of Denver, University Communications,
Managing Editor 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. The
University of Denver (Colorado Seminary) is an Equal
Opportunity Institution. Periodicals postage paid at Denver,
CO. Postmaster: Send address changes to University of
Denver Magazine, University of Denver, University
Advancement, 2190 E. Asbury Ave., Denver, CO 80208-4816.

Spring 2009
MAGAZINE Letters
M A G A Z I N E
MAGAZINE
UNIVERSITY OF
MAGAZINE
Four Corners able to relive, remi- I was delighted to see the

Kudos for the article “A New Direction” nisce and chuckle article about George Lof and
(spring 2009). Much of my nonfiction heartily about our Early childhood his solar collector in the winter
education takes flight
reading has been about the plight of days at Denver 2008 issue of the University of
many American Indian tribes. Hopefully, University. Denver Magazine (Alumni Connections,
programs such as this at DU’s Graduate What a special place! As we say in page 57). It brought back many memories.
School of Social Work will increase aware- Hawaii: maika’i (excellent), imua (moving I was a chemical engineering student
ness of this much-neglected segment of forward)! at DU in 1948 when Dr. Lof came to DU
our society and perhaps stimulate funding Geraldine (Heirakuji) Meade (BA ’58) to head the chemical engineering depart-
to support these much-needed programs. Haleiwa, Hawaii ment. The position was open because John
Dolores Rusin (BA ’81) Green, who had been head of the depart-
Aurora, Colo. ment, was killed in the spring of 1948 in
I love the photo of the coeds in their a boating accident in the Platte Canyon
dorm room that appeared in the winter along with Ralph Conrad and several
Alumni connections 2008 issue (Alumni Connections, page 43). members of both families.
My fellow Hawaiian Club member However, the statement that “In the 1950s Dr. Lof directed the Industrial
Kenneth Yim—pictured in the spring 2009 students who lived on campus paid $249 Research Institute most of the time that
magazine (Alumni Connections, page for room and board each quarter” isn’t cor- it went by that name. This institute had
37)—became my brother-in-law. rect. I remember our weekly contributions begun life as the Bureau of Industrial
I always knew that after my second of $5 apiece so the designated roomies Research, which, I believe, was an adjunct
year at the University of Hawaii I would could grocery shop. An entire $30 a week to the chemical engineering department.
transfer to a college or university on the for us to eat on! Dr. Conrad was the original head of the
mainland. I submitted numerous applica- There was a living room, kitchen, bath bureau, thus Dr. Lof took both of the open
tions and soon after received letters of (with one sink) and two bedrooms in our positions in 1948. After Dr. Lof left and
acceptance from UCLA and the University apartment, and we had weekly Saturday Shirley Johnson became the institute direc-
of Denver. I decided on DU. inspections for housekeeping. There was tor, the name was changed again to the
Upon my arrival at Stapleton Airport, one evening per quarter when we could Institute of Industrial Research. A couple
I was greeted by fellow islanders who have males in the apartment, as long as at of years later the name was changed yet
took me on a quick tour of downtown least two roomies were present and the again to the University of Denver Research
Denver before heading off to University door was left open. Institute, which has continued.
Boulevard. I was on the committee that named As an undergraduate student I was
Organizations and affiliations (PEM, the dorms, and we chose Colorado-type able to earn a few extra dollars assisting
Hui O Kanaka, Women’s Inter-hall names such as Columbine, Aspen and on an hourly basis on some of these early
Council, Women’s Recreation Association, Spruce for the various halls. projects. Dr. Lof brought a solar collector
Alpha Chi Omega) provided me with We enjoyed listening to 45-rpm project with him when he came to DU.
educational balance. Outstanding, nur- records such as “Blue Velvet” and “A Bob Aldrich was the project supervisor.
turing faculty—including Dorothy House With Love In It” and went to the I believe the sponsor was the American
Humiston—kept me focused. Chancellor student union or our sorority houses for Window Glass Co. of Chicopee Falls,
Chester Alter—a visionary who guided coffee during the break, which was sched- Mass. Bob and I spent many hours climb-
the University “to face new challenges and uled so the downtown business students ing over the test solar collector, which
responsibilities with courage and determi- could commute back to the University had been built behind the Quonset hut
nation and faith”—inspired me to earn my Park campus. There were also weekly that contained the institute offices and the
degree. Wednesday chapel services at Buchtel chemical engineering labs.
In June 2008 I met with my for- Chapel. After graduation I went to work at
mer roommates/sorority sisters Linda What a life! the institute full time and continued there
(Hughes) Villesvik (BFA ’58) and Adrienne Anne Pennington (BA ’59) until 1957. Thanks for the memories.
(Johnson) Hynes (BS ’59). Although our Lakewood, Colo. George Custard (BSche ’50, MBA ’54)
residence hall no longer exists, we were Denver
University of Denver Magazine Letters 5

DU radio As a side note, KGNU in Boulder was Guard, which affixed bayonets to the ends
“The nine lives of DU radio” (History, originally upstairs in the building on the of their rifles when they arrived on campus.
spring 2009) is hurtful to the students who mall where Old Chicago now is (or very In the end, the administration and the
worked so hard in the late 1960s to make near there), with minimal equipment and National Guard were triumphant: They
possible what the article writes about starting piles of records on the floor. It had all the were able to force the students to leave
in 1970. appearances of a pirate radio station or a the lawn and go back to their dorms and
Andy Laird (attd. 1965–66), Bill Saul student/hippie record-and-tape freak’s liv- apartments.
(BA ’69), Larry Jacobs (BA ’70), along with ing room (there were no CDs yet). It had It saddens me that DU students today
myself and many others, took KVDU from similar programming to KUNM and KCFR have no knowledge of this history. I was
its limited classroom use in the mass com- (folk, blues, contemporary “underground” therefore quite pleased to read about DU’s
munications building to its own facility on rock, feminist music, some Native American effort towards gender (and GLBTIQ)
South York Street. This didn’t occur in 1947 music, campus announcements, leftist equality. It is a reason I can now be proud
as the article states; we did it in 1966. And, news, etc.). to be a DU alum.
with no school funds, we built just about David Nereson Norman Malbin (BA ’71)
everything by hand. Denver Portland, Ore.
Your article refers to our “restrictive
Top-40 play-list,” which is what the student
listeners wanted at that time. You fail to Faith still matters Back to School
mention that we also inaugurated KVDU’s I support 100-percent Don Burgess’ let- I enjoyed the article “Back to School”
first live play-by-play coverage of Pioneers ter (Letters, spring 2009) and would like in the winter 2008 issue of your tasteful
hockey and basketball, began hourly news- to see more faith-based articles or stories. magazine. As a distant baby boomer, I
casts and launched DU’s first campus It is heart-warming to read and sense discovered that I think along similar lines
interview program, on which one of my the strength that Seph’s mother (“Saving as those baby boomers you see around the
early guests was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Seph,” winter 2008) emanates because of campus, and I may end up doing one or
The following year we obtained KVDU’s her faith in God. the other of the kind of things that moti-
first-ever operating budget from the student This country is great because of vate their return to school.
government. its Christian foundation. “Political cor- I admire the idea of an NGO that will
All this, I’m proud to say, paved the way rectness” seems to apply mostly to the focus on issues relating to ethnic relations
for John Wendorf and others to take the sta- Christian-Judeo principles which are to be in Nigeria, a country of more than 250
tion to even greater heights. “hushed.” All other faiths can speak out ethnic groups or tribes. Frequent conflicts
At least your photo is accurate: It shows because of being minority or different. among them constitute the greatest danger
Mr. Wendorf sitting at the console that Andy I’m proud for being a naturalized U.S. to national cohesion and existence.
Laird and Bill Saul built. citizen. Thank you for your consideration. You can see why I like your magazine;
Peter Funt (BA ’69) Rose Langland (MSW ’64) it brings DU and the pioneer spirit to me.
Pebble Beach, Calif. Albuquerque, N.M. It provokes thoughts, prompts actions,
and you share the sentiments of the larger
community. I therefore congratulate the
KCFR (now KVDU) in the ’70s was Gender equality editorial team, and the editor in particular,
sort of a “sister station” to KUNM in In the winter issue (Letters, winter 2008), a for a good job and thank the University
Albuquerque, N.M., as they were both uni- reader applauds DU for its efforts to make authorities for making sacrifices in all
versity FM stations run by students, with the campus more gay-friendly. fronts to make DU the pride of the civi-
similar programming and identical frequen- I remember DU as a very conserva- lized world.
cies (90.1 FM at the time). A few DJs who tive place—at least the administration Lawrence Anene (MA ’84, PhD ’91)
worked at KCFR also worked at KUNM was (not so the psychology or philosophy Kaduna, Nigeria
and vice versa. KUNM’s former program professors). For example, in 1969 students
director, Annette Griswold, worked at expressed their outrage about Kent State by
KCFR from around 1977 into the early ’80s gathering together and camping out on a
and was instrumental in getting it established grass lawn on campus.
as an NPR station. Around the same time, The administration didn’t like that Send letters to the editor to: Chelsey Baker-
Hauck, University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S.
they moved out of the old house on South and called the Denver police. The police
University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. Or,
York (which has since been torn down) and could not, or would not, make the students e-mail du-magazine@du.edu. Include your full
into new quarters on South Josephine or move. The administration called the gov- name and mailing address with all submissions.
Columbine, I believe. ernor and asked for help from the National Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

9 Finance management
11 Student ministry
12 Textbook project
14 DPS partnership
16 Arboretum research
17 Education building
20 Student coffee shop
23 Tuition increase

Wayne Armstrong
Junior international studies major and Chinese student Sunny Xiong shows photography student Lauryn
Strung Chinese calligraphy (the sign reads “peace”) at DU’s 26th annual Festival of Nations in April. The
all-day festival, hosted by the International Student Organization, included music, traditional dance and
ceremonies, international displays, decorations, food and other activities. DU enrolls 286 international
undergraduate students from 51 nations and 387 international graduate students from 60 nations.

Top News
DU alumnus to spearhead faith-based
initiatives in Obama administration
By Jim Berscheidt
Peter Groff’s (JD ’92) final days as president of
David Zalubowski/Associated Press

the Colorado Senate were spent working
on a flurry of last-minute bills and preparing for his move
to Washington, D.C. At the same time, the executive direc-
tor of DU’s Center for New Politics and Policy—formerly
the Center for African American Policy—also wrapped up
his teaching commitments in the University’s Institute for
Public Policy Studies.
On April 10, President Obama and Education Secretary
Arne Duncan appointed Groff director of faith-based and
community initiatives in the U.S. Department of Education.
He began work on May 11, just five days after the end of the
annual four-month gathering of state legislators.
“I came to DU 12 years ago not really knowing what
Chancellor [Dan] Ritchie had in mind, but the center really
evolved over time,” says Groff. “I’ll really miss the classroom
because I enjoyed the interaction with students.”
The center’s evolution included the launch of the
BlackPolicy.org Web site. In addition, Groff (pictured)
and center co-director Charles Ellison—who is based in
Washington, D.C.—began the Groff/Ellison Political Report.
The two also collaborate on a political radio series on Sirius/
XM satellite radio.
“Peter has done tremendously innovative work at the
center,” says DU Provost Gregg Kvistad. “The political report,
the radio show, the mobilization of young voters around
policy issues at both the Democratic and Republican national
conventions last year, and Peter’s teaching in our public pol-
icy program have contributed enormously to the University
of Denver and the national political dialogue.”
DU’s Center for New Politics and Policy will be
suspended until Groff returns from Washington, although he readily admits he doesn’t know when that will be. “I’ll
be there at least three and a half years,” says Groff, noting that the timing coincides with the end of the president’s
first term.
In the Department of Education, Groff will help empower faith-based and community groups, enlisting them
in support of the department’s mission to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence.
His work with the department began in late April when he began participating in daily conference calls with
officials in the nation’s capital. Groff moved to Washington immediately after the state legislature ended its work.
His wife and two children will follow during the summer.
Groff was appointed Colorado’s sixth African-American state senator in February 2003 and was elected to a full
term in November 2004. In January 2005, he was elected the body’s first African-American president pro tem; he
was the third African-American in the nation’s history to hold the post of state Senate president. Groff began his
career in state politics after being elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2000.
>>Read more about Groff at www.du.edu/today.

DU law, psychology ranked in One to watch
top 100 Joe Brown, mass comm and

Two University of Denver graduate programs are ranked among
library science
the top 100 of their kind in the nation in the latest U.S. News & World
While most aspiring
Wayne Armstrong
Report annual “America’s Best Graduate Schools” report, released in
filmmakers tend to con-
April.
sider themselves movie
The report lists the Sturm College of Law at No. 77, tied with seven
buffs, Joe Brown, a first-
other law schools. The ranking represents an 11-place jump over last
year graduate student
year’s ranking. In legal specialties, DU ranked No. 9 in the country for
studying filmmaking,
part-time legal education; No. 15 for environmental law studies; No. 19
says he’s never been well
for tax law; and No. 33 for clinical training.
versed in pop culture.
DU’s Department of Psychology, tied with 10 other schools, is
“I never even saw
ranked at No. 91. The department offers graduate programs in child
Home Alone,” jokes
clinical psychology, affect science, child development and cognitive
Brown, who studied phi-
neuroscience.
losophy and history as
For its rankings, U.S. News & World Report incorporates expert opin-
an undergraduate at the
ion and statistical data collected on more than 1,200 programs.
University of Colorado.
—Chase Squires
Then again, calling
Brown an aspiring film-
maker would be ignoring
Web site helps women learn to the fact that his first
film, National Sacrifice Zone: Colorado and the Cost of Energy Independence,
manage finances has been screened at several film festivals and now is part of the Wild
and Scenic Film Festival’s national tour.
Going through a divorce or losing a spouse is emotionally devastat- “I’m really interested in the power of documentaries to address
ing. But it can also cause financial upheaval. social issues,” says Brown, whose concern about oil and gas drilling in
Louis D’Antonio, a professor of finance and co-director of the Colorado prompted him to begin exploring film.
Reiman School of Finance at the Daniels College of Business, is work- With established success and natural leadership, Brown stands out
ing on a project to provide basic financial education to underserved among his classmates, according to Sheila Schroeder, assistant professor
women. of mass communications.
Working with partners at the California Institute of Finance at “He brings a really wonderful critical understanding and ques-
California Lutheran University, he is helping develop a Web-based pro- tioning to the table that we don’t necessarily see from everyone,” says
gram called BreakFreee (the extra “e” stands for empowerment). The Schroeder. “Most students are not submitting their work to festivals,
Web site provides customized education modules for women—divor- but Joe understands the importance of getting your work out to the
cees, seniors, single moms, teen moms, low-income women and wid- public.”
ows. The program is specifically aimed at lower-income women, who Educating the public on environmental issues motivates Brown,
often aren’t in a position to access traditional financial-planning services. who chairs the Colorado Environmental Film Festival and has been
The program, which is funded by a grant from the Certified Financial commissioned by Denver Urban Gardens to make a documentary about
Planner Board of Standards, seeks to help women alleviate financial the benefits of growing your own food and being part of a community.
concerns and stay out of financial difficulties by providing free, unbiased To balance film studies with what he considers more practical skills,
financial information. Brown also is working toward a degree in library science. After gradua-
Topics include basic budgeting, financial paperwork organization, tion, he plans on pursuing either a doctorate in mass communications
debt management, using credit, dealing with financial institutions, retire- and cultural studies or a master’s of fine arts in film.
ment and estate planning. Women who need more advanced informa- But don’t expect Brown’s talent and ambition to lead to Hollywood,
tion may access volunteer certified financial planners via e-mail. because both qualities stem from his belief that what makes film valu-
D’Antonio hopes to get business students involved in developing able to society is its ability to promote and effect change. And, at the
the content. end of the day, Brown wants nothing more from his film career than the
The project has established a partnership with the YWCA of the opportunity to make “films about social issues and get them shown to
Southwest to help identify women who need the service and provide as many people as possible with the hope they will lead to some discus-
them with computer access. sion and help change something.”
—Jordan Ames —Samantha Stewart

Sports
Ski-wiz
By Kathryn Mayer
DU has created a skiing dynasty.

On March 14 the Pioneers ski team won its 20th NCAA national championship—more than any other
Division I ski team and the fifth-highest number of championships won by any collegiate team in any sport.
The championship was the team’s first winning meet all season. “What we’ve learned as athletes is that we prepare all
season and improve throughout the season,” says alpine head coach Andy LeRoy, adding that the team put its energy into
the meet that mattered most.
Indeed.
Coming into the final day of the 56th NCAA Ski Championships in Bethel, Maine, three teams were within three
points. Denver pulled away in the final two events, beating second-place University of Colorado-Boulder by 56.5 points.
New Mexico, Alaska-Anchorage and
Vermont rounded out the top five.
The rivalry between DU and CU
wasn’t new this year; the two have
shared dominance over American
collegiate skiing for more than a half-
century. Together, they have a
combined 36 national titles in 56
championship meets. Colorado won a
record eight consecutive titles in the
1970s; Denver won seven in a row in
the 1960s.
“It’s definitely a milestone in the
course of DU history and skiing history
altogether,” LeRoy says of the cham-
pionship. “I’m proud and honored. To
Lincoln Benedict/EISA
continue the legacy is pretty sweet.”

Helping make that milestone was
Antje Maempel, who became the second
DU women’s skier to sweep the Nordic
titles. (Lisbeth Johnsen took the classical and freestyle titles at the 1996 NCAA championships.)
Maempel, a sophomore business major from Stuelzerbach, Germany, beat CU’s Alexa Turzian by just 0.5 seconds in
the 15K freestyle. She also won the 5K classical, marking the 72nd and 73rd NCAA individual skiing titles in DU history.
She was named MVP of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association.
“Every team member trained hard and did the best job when it counted,” Maempel says, adding that the team’s obsta-
cles were particularly challenging this year. In addition to tough snow conditions all year, especially for alpine skiers, “we
lost half the men’s team due to graduation,” Maempel says.
Leif Haugen, a first-year international business major from Lommendalen, Norway, led DU’s alpine team, placing sec-
ond in the men’s giant slalom and third in the slalom.
Along with All-Americans Maempel and Haugen, Harald Lovenskiold earned All-American first-team honors in clas-
sical, Annelise Bailly earned first-team in freestyle and second-team in classical, and Mike Hinckley earned second-team
honors in the men’s freestyle.
The victory marked the Pioneers’ sixth national championship since 2000. DU also won in 2001, 2002, 2005 and
2008. The Pioneers have won 27 Division I NCAA team titles overall—20 in skiing and seven in hockey.

DU by the Numbers
DU all a Twitter for Psychology
networking site professor studies
Coors Fitness teen depression
Center
statistics If Benjamin Hankin can figure
out why depression comes on
25,062 and dramatically increases during

adolescence, he hopes he can spare
Average number of visits per month many people and their families from
its debilitating effects.
16,238 From cave paintings to the Gutenberg press to cell phones,
methods of communication are ever evolving. “Social net- Hankin, associate professor
Student visits per month working” is the latest trend to burst on the networking scene; of psychology at DU, has been
it includes services such as Facebook, Myspace, text messaging studying depression for almost 15
45 applications and more. The University of Denver is on board, years. He and his colleagues found
Fitness classes offered each week recently establishing a presence on a social networking service that depression increases sixfold
called Twitter. during adolescence in the high school
2,800 Twitter—with some 3 million users and growing—is about years—when twice as many girls as
boys become depressed.
Group fitness class participants per being brief, to-the-point and instantaneous. Sometimes called
“micro-blogging,” the service intentionally limits users to shooting He is now hoping to find out
month why through two new research
off short bursts of information limited to no more than 140
7 characters.
Anyone can register for Twitter—for free—at www.Twitter.
projects. Hankin is working with John
Abela, professor of psychology at
Trainers at the facility Rutgers, on the studies.
com. Users then can choose to follow everything from news
One of their studies looked
105 organizations to corporations to personal friends. Once linked
up, “followers” automatically get short bursts of information— at 375 children and their parents
Exercise machines (excluding free tweets—which can be read online or even directed to cell for seven years, beginning when
weights and fitness balls) phones. DU also has Facebook and YouTube pages. the children were ages 11–14. The
>>youtube.com/user/pioneervideo National Institute of Mental Health
Compiled by Tiffany Ulatowski, director of >>www.Twitter.com/uofdenver (NIMH) and Canadian Institute
membership service for Health Research funded the
—Chase Squires
study. The ongoing research looks
for psychosocial predictors of
depression.
Student ministry makes lunches for laborers They’ve already found that
pessimistic youth who experience
On any given Tuesday night, the Nelson Hall private dining room transforms into a prep kitchen as DU under- more stress are the most likely to be
graduate students create piles of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. depressed. They’ll follow the youths
Since fall 2008, students in the Foundation Campus Ministry have been assembling sack lunches for workers until ages 18–21, when they hope to
at El Centro Humanitario, an organization offering a safe, indoor place for workers to gather each day as they seek have comprehensive data.
daily jobs. The other study, the Gene-
The project is the brainchild of Ryan Canaday, a student at the Iliff School of Theology who is pursuing a Master Environment Mood, will follow
of Divinity degree with a concentration in justice and peace studies. 750 children and their families as
In the fall, he took over the Wesley Foundation campus ministry. To go with the organization’s new name, the children progress through third,
Canaday was looking for a new way to get students involved in the community. sixth and ninth grades. The five-year
At the first meeting, the group made 20 sack lunches. Since then, the size of the group—and the number study, also funded by NIMH, aims to
of lunches the group turns out—has grown. The group now averages 30–50 students each week and produces understand how genes, psychosocial
around 100 lunches. factors and stress predict depression.
Most of the supplies are donated by Sodexho, King Soopers and various private donors. The group hopes —Kristal Griffith
to increase the production to 200 lunches per week and is currently looking for a second organization to receive
lunches.
—Jordan Ames

Pioneers Top 10 E-book project to provide free electronic texts
Progressive For U.S. students, spending $150 on a textbook
Rock Albums is an annoyance. But for many students in Uganda,

purchasing a single textbook is simply impossible. There,
the average price of a textbook is $51; a family’s annual
income averages only $250.
1. The Beatles: Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely
Daniels College of Business Professor Don
Hearts Club Band (1967) McCubbrey (pictured) is working to solve the problem.
Along with a team, he is working on the Global Text
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Project, which aims to provide up to 1,000 free,
up-to-date electronic texts for students worldwide.
Electric Ladyland (1968)
Content contributors and advisory board members
from approximately 50 universities and companies from
3. Yes: Close to the Edge (1972)
Wayne Armstrong
around the world are helping.

McCubbrey founded the Global Text Project in
2006 along with Richard Watson of the University of
4. Genesis: Foxtrot (1972)
Georgia.
When Watson was unable to find a suitable textbook for his undergraduate class on XML, he enlisted
5. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon the help of his class of graduate students to write a text. He was pleased with the result and used it in future
(1973) classes, each time asking his students to improve the content.
McCubbrey, who had been doing his own research on open content, learned of Watson’s project
and the pair decided to collaborate.
6. Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy In addition to compiling original books, the Global Text Project has received donations of textbooks
(1973) from professors after the publisher’s copyright has reverted to the author. The donated books are digitized
and updated by volunteer students and professors.
Five books are available now and another 30 are in various stages of production. The collection
7. Marillion: Misplaced Childhood (1985)
will eventually encompass titles in disciplines typically encountered in freshman- and sophomore-level
university undergraduate programs.
8. Ozric Tentacles: Live Underslunky The resulting electronic books are published online under a Creative Commons license. Users can
(1992) access the texts through the Global Text Project Web site and then download, print or burn a CD or DVD
of the text. Books will be translated into Arabic, Chinese and Spanish.
—Jordan Ames
9. Spock’s Beard: The Kindness of
Strangers (1997)
10. The Mars Volta: Deloused in the DU installs carbon monoxide detectors in all
Comatorium (2003) sleeping quarters
The University of Denver installed more than 1,800 carbon-monoxide detectors in all University-
Compiled by arts, humanities and social sciences
lecturer Jarl Ahlkvist with help from students who owned residences following the death of a graduate student in early January.
have taken his Progressive Music in the Rock Era The project cost about $50,000 and was funded through DU’s facility maintenance budget.
course. Ahlkvist defines “progressive rock” as rock
Lauren Johnson, a student in DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, died Jan. 5 from
music that has a countercultural sensibility; combines
rock music with other styles and traditions of music carbon monoxide poisoning in an off-campus apartment, which is not owned by the University. Five others
(such as folk, jazz and classical); places a high value also died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Colorado this winter. In March, the state legislature made
on innovation, virtuosity and experimentation; and
detectors mandatory in new homes and apartments. Previously, carbon monoxide detectors were not
is self-consciously cerebral—a “thinking person’s
rock music.” Ahlkvist says his list is biased in favor required by building codes.
of albums combining these four elements in unique Facilities Director Jeff Bemelen says the project is worth the expense and time to ensure the safety
ways to make music that he enjoys.
of all students. In addition to installing carbon monoxide detectors in every bedroom, detectors also were
placed near boilers. Bemelen says the University’s efforts exceed the requirements of the new legislation.
—Jim Berscheidt

Academics
Teaching a public identity
By Samantha Stewart
With the jagged blue outlines of the mountains rising to the west above the sprawling Mile High metropolis, it should be
impossible for Denver’s inhabitants to undervalue the vast, wild lands that surround their civilized enclave.
But, according to DU lecturer Lisa Dale, many residents of Colorado—both natives and transplants—take public land for
granted, even when it’s beneath their very feet.
“A lot of students like to go skiing but don’t realize that the only reason they are able to go skiing is because public lands exist,”
says Dale, who teaches political science and environmental policy courses.
Each spring, Dale teaches the core curriculum course This Land is Your Land: The Politics of Public Land Management in the
U.S., which aims to educate students on the philosophy, history, policies and conflicts that affect the management of public lands.
The course focuses on the West, where public lands account for almost 30 percent of the land base; that number is under 10
percent in the eastern U.S.
“Understanding public lands is
understanding the West,” says Dale,
who moved to Colorado from New York
20 years ago. “Without public lands we
wouldn’t spend our weekends skiing,
backpacking, riding mountain bikes or
hiking. We’d spend them at the mall like
they do on the East Coast.”
Students learn about public land
policies—governing forest management,
fire management, motorized and
nonmotorized recreation, wildlife habitat
protection and wilderness designation—
and the resulting conflicts. The course
also incorporates the disciplines of
natural resource management, ecology,
law and public administration.
Wayne Armstrong
The course “made me realize just how

tenuous the balance is between our need
for resources and our need to keep wild
U.S. Forest Service Recreation Planner Cat Luna shows DU students the evidence of illegal shooting at Left Hand places relatively untouched,” says senior
Canyon near Boulder. finance major Brad Pugh, who hails from
Dayton, Ohio.
To emphasize the challenges of public land management, Dale requires students to attend a field trip outside of class. One such
trip takes students to Left Hand Canyon just outside Boulder, Colo., where disputes between those opposed to recreational shooting
and motorized vehicle use in the area and those in favor of such use have been particularly contentious.
Dale hopes that by understanding the issues—and how the process of policy formation allows for public input—students will
take a stand.
“If we want public lands to persist, we have a vested interest in following events and being an advocate for what we care about.”
Cassandra Wich—a junior international studies major from Fort Collins, Colo.—intends to play her part.
After taking the course, she says, “I am more interested in seeing what Congress is doing in regards to environmental law. I
have even considered going into the field after attending law school.”
And even if students never apply the knowledge they take from her course, Dale believes that the lessons are integral to a DU
education.
“For students to graduate from a university in the West without realizing the context for where they live and why it matters
would be incomplete.”

Parent to Parent DU partners with Denver Public
Advise students to tap Schools on new teacher program
career center internship DU and Denver Public Schools (DPS) officials have a new partnership designed to
resources attract, cultivate and support exceptional teachers in high-need subjects and schools within
the district. When the Denver Teacher Residency program reaches its peak enrollment in
Following his junior year, our son Joe accepted an a few years, almost one-quarter of new teachers DPS recruits each year—currently more
internship from Northwestern Mutual’s Cunningham than 400—will receive training through the University.
Financial Group in Denver. The internship is rated as one The program is modeled after a medical residency. Participants will earn both a teaching
of vault.com’s top-10 internships for real work experi- license and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from DU’s Morgridge College of
ence. Early in the application process, Joe realized he Education and will receive a $10,000 stipend during their residency year. During the second
needed a resumé and a cover letter that would set him year of the program, residents will be hired as full-time teachers receiving customized men-
apart from the 200 other internship applicants. toring and support. They will receive full tuition reimbursement after completing a five-year
Before his first interview with Northwestern commitment in district schools.
Mutual, Joe scheduled an appointment in the DU “The Morgridge College of Education is working hard to break the traditional mold,
Career Center, where Internship Director John Haag remaking itself into a catalyst for education reform,” says DU Chancellor Robert Coombe.
helped him craft a resumé and cover letter specific to the Last year, Janus Capital Group established the Janus Education Alliance, a public-private
position he was applying for. partnership with DPS, to raise the caliber of education and educators in DPS. The Denver
Joe learned quickly that he wasn’t going to be mak- Teacher Residency program is a critical component of the Janus Education Alliance.
ing copies and running to the coffee shop for the boss. As —Jim Berscheidt
a Northwestern Mutual intern, he would be doing almost
the same thing as the full-time financial representatives.
Joe earned his Colorado life and health insurance license
and participated in a weeklong training course provided Construction on Cherrington Hall
by Northwestern. While the objective of most internships
is to “get your feet wet,” Joe’s internship had him diving
additions under way
right into the pool.
The Cherrington Global Scholars program sends DU students to the world; two new
Throughout the summer, Joe met clients daily and
additions to Cherrington Hall will bring the world to DU.
progressively built his client book and business, ranking
Bustling on the building’s south side are construction crews hard at work creating a
among the top 10 percent of interns nationally for total
distinctive 5,460-square-foot office and classroom annex, and a 1,656-square-foot office
production. He reached a benchmark set by the local man-
and video-conference complex west of that.
aging partner for a paid trip to the Northwestern Mutual
When completed mid-August, the main annex will house the Sié Chéou-Kang Center
annual meeting in Milwaukee. When school started again
for International Security and Diplomacy of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
in fall 2008, Joe was invited back to continue as an intern
The west addition will house the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, a
with Northwestern Mutual, which he accepted.
project that uses computers to analyze and forecast global trends and developments.
Although Joe had a terrific internship under his
The Sié Chéou-Kang Center will identify rising stars in the intelligence community,
belt, Haag suggested he broaden his experience to make
military and diplomatic corps of key Asian states and the United States and invite them to
himself more competitive in the job market after gradu-
DU for two or three-week bursts of medium- and long-range strategic planning, says Korbel
ation. Haag put Joe in contact with the vice president of
School Dean Tom Farer.
investments at a local UBS branch, resulting in another
The Sié Center also is aimed at establishing itself as a magnet for the nation’s brightest
excellent internship.
students, who will serve as junior research fellows.
We would encourage any student considering an
All this will unfold as a $3.5 million construction element designed to harmonize with
internship to visit the Career Center and build a close
the DU campus while reminding admirers of Asian styling.
relationship with the center’s staff. They can help stu-
Among distinctive elements will be a stone exterior patterned to align with the strong
dents with the internship search, resumé preparation and
expression of the existing “International Style” Cherrington Hall but detailed in a manner that
interview skills that can open doors to a future career.
references much of the recent work on campus, says University Architect Mark Rodgers.
—Jean and Richard Wittels
Some references to traditional Asian architecture include a roof of blue-glazed Japanese tiles
Jean has worked in DU’s disability services office for 11 years;
and a courtyard garden of rock forms focused on a magnolia tree, Rodgers says.
Richard has worked as a master electrician at DU for 10 years. The additions are being built to LEED standards, Rodgers says, and also will provide
Their son Joe will graduate from DU in June 2009 with a BSBA in significant enhancements to the heating, cooling and fresh air systems in Cherrington Hall.
economics. —Richard Chapman

Research
Jewish pioneers on the frontier trail
By Kathryn Mayer
You could say that being a New Yorker influenced Jeanne Abrams to become a Westerner.
Abrams, a professor at Penrose Library and director of the Beck Archives and the Center for Judaic Studies’
Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, moved from New York to Denver in 1973 and embarked on a career researching
Jewish history in the West.
Her work was inspired, in part, by a 1976 cover of The New Yorker on which New York was pictured as the biggest part of
the world. The West was “a footnote at that point,” Abrams points out—a reflection of many people’s mindsets. “It’s been my
passion for 25–30 years to deconstruct that myth.”
That passion led Abrams to write Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail: A History in the American West (New York
University Press, 2006)—the first academic book to trace the contributions of Jewish women in the American West.
The West, Abrams says, was historically more open for women to fully integrate than the East had been. “The West was
an area where risk-
taking was acceptable,”
she says, noting that
early pioneers were
still able to maintain a
Jewish identity. “The
[area] was definitely
more progressive in
terms of education
Courtesy of Beck Archives, Special Collections, Penrose Library
and professional
development.
and Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver
“Going West or
growing up in the West
signaled promise for
many Jewish women.”
Abrams studied
the lives of hundreds
of women, drawing on
historical records and
personal memoirs dating
The Denver section of the National Council of Jewish Women sponsored a kosher picnic near Leadville, Co., in 1895. back to the mid-1800s.
The book chronicles
a history full of firsts. Francis Wisebart Jacobs, “Denver’s mother of charity,” helped establish the national Jewish Hospital in
Denver, the city’s first free kindergarten and the Community Chest (which evolved into the national United Way).
In the 1920s, Californian Florence Prag Kahn became the first Jewish woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. “She won
election in her own right after she filled in for her husband [following his death],” Abrams says.
Seraphine Eppstein Pisko served as head of National Jewish Hospital—likely the ﬁrst Jewish woman in the U.S. to serve
as chief executive of a national institution.
Jewish women were at the forefront of the women’s suffrage movement, Abrams says, but even before they were allowed
to vote, many Jewish women in the West had “access to power circles” that enabled them to influence the men who could
vote.
Abrams also found that women often pioneered the organization of public Jewish life. For example, in the mid-1870s the
Jewish population of Cheyenne, Wyo., was about 40 when Bertha Myers established the city’s ﬁrst Jewish religious school.
“As one of the smallest groups among western female immigrants, Jewish women were unusual in their disproportionate
public visibility,” Abrams writes in the introduction to her book. “Although they were rarely revolutionary, they often opened
new doors of opportunity for themselves and future generations in a region that allowed them ‘a place to grow.’”

Students record tree-bud data for global science project
When first-year DU science students sign up for Professor Buck Sanford’s newest class, they have really
signed up for something bigger: a real-life probe into global warming.
For their class lab work, students measured tree buds as leaves emerged this spring. Then they upload
weekly findings into global databases being assembled for scientists to study today and for decades into the
future.
Sanford says scientists around the world are studying records of bud development to see if global warming
is affecting how early tree leaves emerge. With an army of 180 students taking his labs in the spring quarter, and
DU’s collection of trees in the campus-wide arboretum, the University has an opportunity to deliver a valuable
snapshot of activity in Denver every spring.
Every tree on campus is tagged with a number, so students in future generations can find the exact same
tree today’s students are studying. A student selects a bud on a tree and tags the area so the same bud can be
revisited. Then, for the next five weeks, students measure their selected bud three times a week and chart its
growth as a leaf emerges and starts to grow.
Students join in a campaign called Project BudBurst, which gathers data in a scientific field called phenology—
Mark Jensen/ iStockphoto
the study of the influence of climate on annual natural events, such as plant budding and bird migration. They
register on a Web site and upload their data, which is then made available to scientists around the world.
Sanford says his class isn’t pushing any one theory of global warming. Rather, it’s testing the hypothesis that
something is altering the life cycle of plants around the world.
—Chase Squires

Research aims to improve
Illustration by Carl Dalio

military-civilian interface
From the start, the U.S. military’s Human Terrain Team
program, which assigns anthropologists and other social scien-
tists to units in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been controversial.
Proponents say that the cultural insights provided by the
teams help prevent conflict and contribute to more successful
initiatives; critics consider the program an exploitation of social
sciences for political gain.
Peter Van Arsdale, a cultural anthropologist and senior
lecturer at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies,
acknowledges the program’s flaws but believes the military can
ethically utilize social science.
For two years, Van Arsdale has been working with a team
assembled by eCrossCulture, a Boulder-based cultural-consult-
ing firm, to improve methods of ethnographic data gathering.
New education ‘centerpiece’ gets off
The team’s funding comes from the Office of Naval ground
Research. The office’s interest in Human Terrain Teams
prompted them to grant awards to four U.S. research groups. Construction kicked off in late February for DU’s newest building project, a $21.4
Since receiving the “phase one” award last year, the million new college of education building.
eCrossCulture group has worked to determine the most The Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall of the Morgridge College of Education will be a “cen-
effective combination of rapid assessment procedures. The terpiece of the future,” Chancellor Robert Coombe said at the building’s groundbreaking.
procedures allow researchers to determine the important eth- The new building (pictured) will house the Morgridge College, the Learning Effectiveness
nographic features of an area in a short period of time. Program and Disability Services Program.
To test the team’s theories, Van Arsdale recruited Angie “The next 10 years will see this University become one of the very strongest and
Bengtson and Jon Chu, second-year international develop- most impactful of universities in this country,” Coombe said. “And this building and this
ment master’s students at the Korbel School. program are an enormous part of that.”
Bengtson and Chu spent a month in Ethiopia during the Mike Ruffatto and his late wife, Joan, donated $5 million to the project in honor of
winter interterm conducting water-related research in separate their daughter, Katherine Ruffatto. Carrie and John Morgridge’s $10 million gift helped
villages. They used rapid assessment procedures such as infor- spearhead construction.
mant interviews, participant observation and focus groups. Occupancy of the 73,568-square-foot building is slated for mid-June 2010.
By providing the military with the necessary tools to Go to www.du.edu/today to read more about the project and College of Education
understand and engage indigenous cultures, Van Arsdale says benefactors Mike and Joan Ruffatto, Carrie and John Morgridge, Cydney and Tom Mar-
he hopes the human costs of conflict can be reduced. sico, Steve and Gayle Mooney, and the Boettcher Foundation.
—Samantha Stewart —Richard Chapman
Volleyball and women’s tennis teams recognized for

academic achievement
Two University of Denver sports programs were among nearly 800 Division I teams recognized by the NCAA in April for top academic performance.
Based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates, the DU women’s volleyball team and women’s tennis team earned NCAA Public Recogni-
tion Awards. These awards are given each year to teams with rates among the top 10 percent in each sport. Teams receiving public recognition awards this year
posted rates ranging from 976 to a perfect 1,000. Both DU programs earned scores of 1,000.
The Academic Progress Rate provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester or quarter by tracking the academic progress of each
student-athlete. The rate includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The 767 teams publicly recognized this year for high achievement represent 11.9 percent of the approximately 6,484 Division I teams. The list includes 448
women’s teams and 319 men’s or mixed squads.
The average GPA for DU student-athletes is 3.3, and the graduation rate is 80 percent.
—Media Relations Staff

People
A child’s wild wish
By Nathan Solheim
Donny and Missy Willis used to have an autumn ritual. They’d polish their rifles, dust off their tent, load the
car and head out on their annual hunting trip to the majesties of northwestern Colorado. Every year,
they’d have to tell Missy’s son, Jeremy Ledbetter, he’d have to stay home. And every year, he’d tell his mom he was going to go
hunting some day, no matter what. It was as predictable as the aspens turning yellow in the fall.
Missy Wallis hated to leave her son at home, but she couldn’t risk it. Ledbetter has a rare terminal illness—mitochondrial
intestinal neurogastric encephalopathy—that makes outdoor adventure almost impossible. His condition requires a near-
constant hook-up to a central line, he needs a ventilator to sleep, and when the 18-year-old isn’t in pain (he must take
morphine every four hours), he’s suffering from fatigue. He’s had more than 100 surgeries.
But last fall, Gene Schoonveld (BSBA ’60) helped Ledbetter break the routine.
Schoonveld serves on the board of directors of Child’s Wish—a charity affiliated with the United Special Sportsman
Alliance—which connects terminally ill children with guides, landowners or game ranches willing to donate hunting or fishing
excursions.
“For some reason, they have a real interest in going hunting,” Schoonveld says of the kids the charity serves. “I don’t
question it at all. You just try to get an idea of their physical limitations and do everything possible to make their wish come
true.”
When Schoonveld got Ledbetter’s request, he visited him at home in Loveland, Colo., assessed his needs and started
putting together plans for a deer hunt. Mike McQuay of Antlers Extreme Outfitters in Craig, Colo., donated a mule deer hunt,
and Schoonveld altered one of his own rifles so Ledbetter could shoot it. He even arranged for the young man to take his
hunter’s safety courses at home.
In the process, the two developed a close bond.
“He was like an adopted grandfather to Jeremy,” Missy Wallis recalls.
That’s nothing unusual for Schoonveld; the 71-year-old Fort Collins resident has three children and six grandchildren and,
like a lot of grandfathers, he’s spent a lifetime in the woods. He started hunting birds during his youth in southern Illinois and
continued hunting big game during his teens in Colorado.
While attending DU, he even skipped a few classes to go deer hunting, thinking no one would notice. He apparently didn’t
know legendary business law professor JJ Johnston well enough: “In the next class, he called me on it,” Schoonveld laughs.
In those days, the College of Business was downtown, and Schoonveld did double duty as a student and aircraft mechanic
for United Airlines and the old Frontier Airlines.
Schoonveld joined the Navy after graduation, spending two years as an officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown
and two years ashore at the Fleet Operations Control Center in Hawaii.
After his discharge, Schoonveld used his DU degree to land a job as a district manager for General Motors in northern
Alberta, Canada.
Though he had no trouble finding a job, Schoonveld never lost interest in hunting or biology, so after four years in the
frozen North, he enrolled at Colorado State University and earned a master’s degree in animal physiology and nutrition.
Schoonveld then took a job as a wildlife research biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. During his 32 years with
the agency, he worked with many of the state’s wildlife species and was responsible for reintroducing moose to the state.
After retirement in 2003, Schoonveld got involved with Child’s Wish while consulting for Bio-Tec Research, a Wisconsin-
based wildlife feed producer closely associated with the charity. As the charity’s point man in the West, he’s organized 15
hunting trips for kids from across the country.
“Gene is an asset in many aspects to our charity,” says Brigid O’Donoghue, Bio-Tec CEO and Child’s Wish founder. “Along
with his background in conservation and natural resources, he is very devoted to the children.”
Schoonveld accompanies the kids through their entire trip, helping them travel across challenging terrain, seeing to their
comfort and making sure their medical needs are met. One fall day a few years ago, he found himself asking permission from
an Inuit tribe in Alaska for four of his kids to hunt black bear on their lands. A few days later, he helped drag a bear out of the
swampy Alaskan muskeg. Over the years, he’s also taken kids elk hunting in Colorado and whitetail deer hunting in Oklahoma.

Wayne Armstrong
Schoonveld takes care to educate the children as much as possible. On hunts, he’ll tell them about the biology of the
animal they’re hunting as well as its habitat. He also instructs the teens on gun safety and how to properly dress an animal
after the kill. He’s even arranged to have animals mounted by taxidermists who donate their time and skill.
On last year’s trip with Ledbetter, McQuay spotted a nice mule deer. Ledbetter did his best to crawl through the sagebrush
and cactus with McQuay’s help. When they were close enough, Ledbetter popped up, took a shot … and missed.
They moved closer. The next shot found its mark, and the youngster had his first mule deer. It was a Western four-
pointer, which means it had eight total points in its rack.
Schoonveld had gone to fetch lunch for the group when he heard the shots.
“Gene’s a pretty cool guy; he doesn’t say a whole lot. But when he found out [Jeremy] got one, he was very emotional,”
McQuay remembers. “He said it was probably the toughest hunt he’d ever been on.”
For Ledbetter, bagging the deer was a dream come true. For Schoonveld, it was a successful hunt for a kid who really,
really needed it. For all the children he helps, Schoonveld’s trips are the thrill of a lifetime. And for most, it’s their last.
“It’s very demanding and emotionally draining, but it’s also very rewarding, especially when they’ve been successful,”
Schoonveld says. “It can also be very difficult when the hunt is over and you put them on the plane knowing this is their last
hunting trip, and in all probability, it’s the last time you’ll see them.”
Ledbetter, though, is still hanging on and already talking about his next hunt and a new fall ritual.
“After I got home last year and we all talked about how much fun it was, we started talking about going again,” Ledbetter
says. “We’re going for antelope this year.”
>>www.childswish.com

Coffee shop run, managed by HRTM students
The distinctive sound of the espresso machine cuts through the quiet murmurs of students studying together
at Beans, DU’s newest spot for a cup of joe.
The small student-run coffee shop in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM)
building has been serving students, faculty and staff since October 2008.
HRTM director David Corsun envisioned Beans when he took the helm of the school in 2007.
“We had this fabulous facility, a real learning laboratory, but the space that is now Beans was completely
underutilized,” Corsun says. “I knew we could use the space more productively and leverage it to educate
students.”
Corsun taught a food and beverage entrepreneurship class in spring 2008. Under Corsun’s tutelage, the nine
students in the class drafted the business plan for the full-service student-run coffee shop. The University invested
$20,000 in new fixtures and furniture for the shop, which opened in fall with a full staff of students.
Beans is open from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m.–1 p.m. on Fridays during fall,
winter and spring quarters. The shop serves a full range of coffees, teas, pastries and snacks.
Corsun plans to expand the shop’s offerings to include lunch items and smoothies and wants students to
be responsible for marketing Beans, managing the other hourly employees, and monitoring and presenting the
weekly profit-and-loss statement.
The students also will develop a plan to create a “Beans at Dusk” happy hour/wine bar on Friday afternoons.
Corsun also plans to work with the School of Art and Art History to provide rotating gallery space for student
Jeff Haessler
artwork.
—Jordan Ames
Become a
Coors Fitness Center
Young Alumni Member
For years, the Ritchie Center was
your fitness destination on campus.
Just because you’ve graduated
doesn’t mean that has to change!
reConneCt WitH DU anD BeCome a CoorS fitneSS Center YoUnG aLUmni memBer toDaY!
for more information, ViSit reCreation.DU.eDU/YoUnGaLUm

open to ALUMnI • I-25 & UnIversIty BLvD. • UnIversIty oF Denver • rItchIe center
09.Recreation_halfpage_Ad_Summer.v2.indd 1 3/27/2009 1:03:06 PM

DU makes Denver’s ‘Best Battery-powered vehicles help campus
of’ list safety patrol and save money
Westword, Denver’s “alternative” weekly newspaper, Campus Safety has saved some green by going green, purchasing two battery-
released its annual “Best Of” collection of the weird, wacky and powered vehicles in lieu of new gasoline-powered patrol cars.
wonderful in Denver, and as usual, DU wasn’t left out. The T3 model vehicles have been in use since late November. T3s come with
For 2009, the University has garnered meritorious two rechargeable batteries, each
Wayne Armstrong
mention in two distinct categories: ceramics and cookbooks. of which lasts for an eight-hour
The culinary citation offers praise to Penrose Library for the shift and takes three to four hours
9,000 books and magazines that comprise its famed Margaret to recharge. Campus Safety has set
Husted Culinary Collection. It won “Best Way to Spice Up the the T3s to a maximum speed of 12
Kitchen Like It’s 1899.” mph.
The “Best Ceramics Show” award honors Myhren The initial investment, at
Gallery for the show that director Dan Jacobs organized of about $11,000 per vehicle, was
“eye-popping” sculpture done over four decades by artist Paul less than two-thirds the price of
Soldner. Images of his work can be found at www.paulsoldner. purchasing two traditional patrol
com. vehicles. Each costs about 20 cents
The Husted cookery collection includes tips on food and per day to operate, compared to
health published as far back 1683 and is one of the three largest the $25 per day average fuel cost
such collections in the United States. The material was acquired for a single patrol vehicle. After two
by the Boettcher Foundation and donated to the University in years of service, Campus Safety
1985. Director Don Enloe says, the T3s
DU has been included in Westword’s list on a number will pay for themselves through
of occasions over the years for accomplishments from art to savings in fuel costs alone.
athletics. Examples include Cab Childress, who was named Aside from clean-energy and
Best Architectural Visionary in 2004, and DU hockey, which cost-efficiency, T3 models have a
earned Best College Sports Team honors in 2005. The Ritchie number of advantages over other
Center was named Best New Building in 2000, and former clean-energy vehicles, Enloe says.
DU forward Paul Stastny was designated Best Avalanche player T3s come equipped with warning lights, sirens and a raised platform that affords the
in 2007. operator greater visibility. Additionally, the three-wheeled T3 provides greater stability
The Westword selections are chosen largely by nominations than a two-wheeled Segway, and the T3’s zero-degree turn radius makes it more
from staffers, but some unscientific public balloting also occurs. maneuverable than a golf cart.
—Richard Chapman —Samantha Stewart
Business students take top honors in national competition

A five-member team from DU’s Daniels College of Business edged out competitors from some of the nation’s leading business schools in March to take top
honors in the sixth annual Race & Case competition.
The event combines a business ethics case competition and NASTAR ski/snowboard challenge at Vail Mountain Resort. This year’s DU team beat out squads
from Brigham Young, George Washington, Colorado-Boulder, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rice, Southern Methodist University, Wake Forest, South Carolina
and Boston University.
The competition was launched in 2004 by members of the Graduate Business Student Association to complement the Daniels commitment to the teaching
and practice of business ethics.
Each team was given three weeks to prepare a presentation about a case focusing on managerial ethics in a corporate environment. The teams gathered in
Denver on Feb. 27 to present their recommendations on the case to a panel of 13 volunteer judges, including executives from Janus Capital Corp., Time Warner
Telecom, Re/Max International and Grant Thornton LLP.
Following the case, the teams traveled to Vail, where they competed in a ski and snowboard competition designed to test the members’ athletic prowess.
The University of Pittsburgh team won the case competition and the team from Colorado-Boulder took top honors in the race. The overall winner was the
team from DU, followed by the University of Pittsburgh in second place, the University of South Carolina in third place and Brigham Young in fourth place.
—Jordan Ames

Q&A
Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute
Executive Director James van Hemert
on sustainability
Interview by Richard Chapman
Q What does your institute do to promote

sustainability?
less stuff. No. 3 is to live in an urban environment with mobility
options and mixed land uses so you can leave your car in the garage
and walk and bike to places in your neighborhood. Your choice of
A We address fundamental land use, transportation policy and

regulatory matters on a regional and national scale. We tackle
issues that truly will have a long-term impact on sustainability. We
where to live has a profound impact. Also, support higher-density
zoning and backyard “carriage houses”—the kind of things that
make a city more urban.
also work to oppose “greenwashing”—a veneer placed on an unsus-
tainable practice that makes it appear green.
Q What are the most important changes in housing and
employment that people of the West must embrace?
Q The history of the West is rich with stories of indepen-

dence and ruggedness. Yet, sustainability is about com-
promise and cooperation. Does this pose special problems?
A The smaller your house, the smaller your carbon and eco-
logical footprint. And those houses should be near transit.
Unfortunately, the middle class likes the idea more than the
practice. People will choose a neighborhood because it has light
A The history of the West actually is as much about compro-

mise and cooperation as it is about independence and rug-
gedness. Case in point: FasTracks, the expansion of regional light
rail nearby, but they won’t take that rail. Also, we need to make
housing-use more flexible. Our view of what you can do with your
property is far too rigid.
rail in Denver. Fifteen years ago people were saying we would never
ride trains here because we’re rugged individualists and don’t
travel this way. Look what’s happening! It’s the largest expansion
of light rail in the country. Q America has built a society that is auto-dependent. How
do we fix that?
Q It’s been said that Americans favor sustainable practices

for everyone but themselves. Is this true?
A We’ve got to advocate for less automobile-dependent new
development and more retrofitting and in-fill development
within cities. We have to double our urban densities. That doesn’t
mean high-rise living. Amsterdam has a very comfortable density,
A It’s true for many of us. We’re willing to do a few convenient

things, such as buying a hybrid car, recycling, using reusable
grocery bags and using public transit for some trips. What we need
and there’s hardly a building in Amsterdam that’s more than five
stories. It’s one of the most beautiful, comfortable cities, and it
doesn’t feel crowded or cramped.
to do is to make wasteful or unsustainable ways socially unaccept-
able. Second, change the underlying structures, institutions and
financial incentives to work in a way that supports sustainable
living. We need to make the green choice the easy choice. One
example is Denver’s upgraded recycling program. They made the
Q How do we overcome resistance to changes that are at
the heart of the sustainability movement?
containers bigger and learned to sort the items, and the amount
they collected doubled. A Social marketing. We need to craft messages rather than just
preach and pound on the podium. We need to change our sys-
tems and be really clever so people think they’re doing it the easy,
convenient way.
Q What are the three most important sustainable prac-

tices that people should adopt?
The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute at DU’s Sturm College of Law was created in
A No. 1 is to lower vehicle miles traveled. Instead of making 1992 to conduct research and educational programs on legal and public policy issues
related to land use and development. Audio and visual media of more than 30 panels
all those trips by car, use a bike, walk, ride a bus or combine and lectures from the institute’s 2009 conference are available at www.law.du.edu/
errands so that you don’t make separate trips. No. 2 is to buy rmlui.

Volunteer Spotlight Upcoming tuition increase is the
Scott Steiss smallest in a decade
Scott Steiss says he is
Wayne Armstrong
In February, the University announced that for the 2009–10 academic
creating a “different kind of
year, tuition will increase by 4.9 percent—DU’s smallest tuition hike in a
abundance” in his life as a
decade.
volunteer for the Graduate
Effective in fall 2009, tuition for full-time undergraduate students will be
School of Social Work’s Bridge
$34,596. With room, board and mandatory student fees, the total cost for
Project.
undergraduates is $44,977, a 4.8 percent increase.
The Bridge Project is a
For some graduate programs, students enrolling in 12 to 18 credit hours
nonprofit whose mission is
per quarter will be charged a flat rate (tuition equivalent to 12 credit hours), or
to provide educational oppor-
$34,596 for the academic year.
tunities to children living in
Nearly 80 percent of DU undergraduates receive financial assistance,
Denver public housing. Steiss,
and the University has promised to continue increasing the amount of aid
who is a commodities trader
available. During the 2006–07 academic year, DU invested $42.5 million in
for BlueLinx Corp., began
undergraduate need and merit-based assistance. In 2007–08, the University
volunteering in 2006 as a
spent $47.8 million, and this academic year DU is projected to spend $50.3
tutor at Bridge’s South Lin-
million—an increase of more than 20 percent in three years. The financial aid
coln site. Quickly, though, he
office works closely with families to help them find assistance from a variety
and the site’s administrator
of sources.
both realized that Steiss had
—Jim Berscheidt
more to offer.
“I was more interested
in helping the kids with life
skills,” says Steiss. “I’d bring in
job applications, conduct mock interviews and talk about their goals.”
The site’s director suggested that Steiss also become a mentor.
That’s when Steiss met Vinnie Cruz, a high school student living in
South Lincoln Homes, a public housing project.
Steiss remembers that their first meeting ended with a unique
bonding moment. He had taken Cruz to a Nuggets game and then
drove him home.
“At the end of the night, I went to give Vinnie a handshake, and
he shook my hand in a sort of gangster-style handshake. I’m pretty
white,” Steiss jokes, “so he said to me, ‘You can help me with school
and I’ll help you with the handshakes.’”
Thus began a friendship that now includes “cheesy text mes-
sages,” sporting events and dinners up to three times a month, and
lots of straight talk.
Recently, Steiss took Cruz out to dinner to talk to him about
his goals after graduation. Cruz is attending the Life Skills Center
and should graduate in December. Cruz hinted that he may join the
Army. Steiss clearly outlined the path that the Bridge Project could
provide, including a full scholarship to college, if Cruz works hard on
his grades and entrance exams.
Cruz says he is still weighing his options but believes Steiss has
had a positive impact on his life.
“I’m guessing that if Scott wasn’t around, I’d be getting into
trouble with kids where I live,” says Cruz. “Scott’s a good guy, and I’m
glad I’ve got him as my mentor.”
>>www.du.edu/bridgeproject
—Janalee Card Chmel

DU_Alumni_Du_Today_1/4page.indd 1 7/1/08 1:26:11 PM
Arts
Falling away from memory By Janalee Card Chmel
For the past 16 years, Barbara Sanders (BFA ’72) has been pioneering an
art form known as “photogravure.” Like pioneers in any field, her path
has often been challenging, confusing and, yes, messy.
“I like icky inks,” she says with a laugh.
Photogravure is actually a centuries-old printmaking technique that was
all but lost after World War II. Though Sanders had been introduced to other
printmaking forms during her studies at the University of Denver, she learned
about photogravure in 1993 during a class she took at the Honolulu Academy of
Arts. Her life since has been a quest to perfect her own process and art.
The photogravure process is quite intricate. Fundamentally, it involves
printing photographs using etched metallic plates. But that’s a deceptively simple
description. While each artist’s process is slightly different, today Sanders’ list
of materials includes: digital images, an ink-jet printer, overhead transparency
paper, carbon tissue (a hard-to-find thin paper with a gelatinous film), UV light, a
mezzotint screen (which she purchased from a man in Sweden), mirror-finished
copper, ferric chloride and ink.
During the process, a positive image is exposed on light-sensitive carbon
tissue, which adheres to the copper plate so that when etched, varying depths of
holes based on the dark and light aspects of the image are created. Sanders then
spreads ink onto the surface of the plate, wiping off any excess. The plate is used
to transfer the inky image to cotton rag paper.
Why go through this involved, unpredictable process to print a photo?
“One of the joys of gravure is the clarity,” Sanders says. “There is a brilliant
contrast of white and dark but with this great continuous tone. If you get up
close to a gravure, the paper is not shiny. The blacks are black, and everything
else is a continuation of that black.
“It was explained to me that when you create a gravure, the little drops
of ink are absorbed into the paper, so there is a third dimension,” Sanders
says. “With a photo on traditional silver paper, you’re looking at all one plane.
Photogravure is three-dimensional.”
“From the beginning, I recognized Barbara’s dedication to her projects along
with her willingness to spend the time and energy to get the results she wanted,”
recalls Dodie Warren, who introduced Sanders to the technique at the Honolulu
Academy of Arts. “In class, we had some stunning successes and some disasters,
and she seemed to like the challenges.”
Sanders’ patience and persistence are paying off. One of her prints, titled
View, is on tour with the Texas Photographic Society’s “Alternative Processes”
exhibition. That print, like many that Sanders works on today, is of a historic
ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where she lives.
“I’ve always tried to immerse myself in the places I live,” says Sanders. “As
I travel around the West and the Southwest, I am drawn to crumbling, ancient
and modern stone and wood structures. I am distressed that the history is falling
away from memory. I try to capture fragments, which will mean something when
the buildings are gone and the stories forgotten.”
>>www.steamboatgallery.com

All images courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society.
Denver Post, Nov. 7, 1919. Page 1.
Colorado’s College War

In 1919, a series of bombings turned a football rivalry between DU and the
School of Mines into all-out intercollegiate war.
By Richard Chapman

U
niversity Hall crouches like a stone lion.
Its rough walls ripple, a mane of oatmeal rock against a sleek sandstone coat. The look speaks of power and
permanence and is so regal it’s easy to overlook the two dozen or so curious rectangles clinging to the sides of the
building like handholds on a climbing wall.
The metal boxes aren’t adornments. They cover thick steel pins that skewer the building and bind the leonine
edifice tight.
Some in the campus community know the story of the pins. A few, like James Gibson (BA ’50), grew up hearing about them from
his dad, who reminisced about the pins. And the broken windows. And the dynamite. And the red paint. And the November day in 1919
when he and five DU classmates were stripped, shaved, branded and marched through the streets of Golden like prisoners of war.
T
he America of 90 years ago was very different. Prohibition Theology, Carnegie Library and Memorial Chapel.
had just begun. Flight was in its infancy. Women couldn’t The shock wave cracked University Hall.
vote. World War I had just ended, and the Spanish flu “If all the dynamite planted on our campus had exploded
pandemic was still killing millions. The White Sox threw the simultaneously, it would have knocked down our buildings
World Series, and fear of “anarchists and Reds” had the public in and destroyed life,” Chancellor Henry Buchtel told the Rocky
panic. Mountain News.
In Colorado, a bitter coal strike shivered the state and forced Miraculously, no one was injured, and no buildings fell
the governor to send troops to the mines. Record cold was down.
reported, and the workday in Denver was limited to six hours. Altogether, four bombs exploded. Ground zero was about
The University of Denver, unable to heat its buildings, closed 200 feet southwest of University Hall in an empty field where
campus for two weeks until the “coal famine” was resolved. the Mary Reed Building stands today. One bomb failed to det-
The only diversion was news coverage of the pursuit and onate—a clutch of five dynamite sticks whose fuse had been lit
capture of William Carlisle, the Parlor Car Bandit, named for his but which hadn’t gone off. An empty dynamite crate was found
“courtly manners” during train robberies. on University Boulevard.
DU in 1919 was known as the “Ministers” or “Fighting School of Mines students were blamed.
Pastors.” The school was 55 years old and boasted 1,800 stu- The night before, “slight” explosions had been heard, but
dents. It had 120 faculty members, dental, law and “commerce” neither damage nor injury resulted. Signs reading “Get D.U.”
schools, and prided itself on being the first university west of and “Give ’Em Hell, Mines” were found plastered on building
New York to offer college credit for training Scoutmasters. walls. The assumption was that the pranksters of Wednesday
Tuition was $150. evening had returned Thursday morning to make a bigger
DU had a football team but no stadium and competed in splash.
an athletic conference with CU, Colorado College, CSU (then “Police say the simultaneous explosion of 25 sticks of
Colorado A&M) and Colorado School of Mines. dynamite would have caused havoc for blocks,” The Denver Post
Hazing was rampant, as were college pranks. Some were reported in its lead story on page one.
as innocent as a cow ending up in a University Hall classroom. Buchtel was furious. He wasn’t alone.
Others were more inventive, such as when members of the Beta A wave of indignation swept the campus, inflaming students
fraternity stuffed a sophomore named Joseph Hoery into a cof- like Ralph Gibson, a burly fullback on the football team. Gibson
fin-like wooden crate, nailed the top shut, wrapped the box with was a West High graduate who had survived both World War I
rope, then summoned a freight service to deliver the crate to a and the Spanish flu before returning to Colorado to study den-
female student in Templin Hall, the women’s dormitory on the tistry at DU.
northeast corner of Josephine Street and Evans Avenue. “Students figured it was up to them to exact payment
DU’s archrival was the School of Mines, where students so for the offense against the University of Denver,” says James
often rode through Golden firing revolvers and dropping sticks Gibson, Ralph’s son. “Dad was a pretty tough guy.”
of dynamite for fun that the newspapers started calling them the The elder Gibson and others hired a car and drove to
“Blasters” and “Dynamiters” instead of the “Orediggers.” Golden with vengeance in mind. Their plan was to repaint in
So it might not have been a surprise when at 4:15 a.m. on crimson the 104- by 107-foot white “M” on Mount Zion over-
Nov. 6, 1919, a series of huge dynamite explosions shattered looking the School of Mines. The Mines “M” is the nation’s
the quiet DU dawn. The blasts rocked beds in Templin Hall so second-oldest mountainside monument and stood even then as a
fiercely that residents thought there was an earthquake, accord- cherished symbol.
ing to newspaper accounts at the time. The explosions blew The group didn’t depart Denver until mid-morning, and
out about 100 windows in University Hall, the Iliff School of though they were able to smear a large portion of the “M” with
University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009 27

Denver Post, Nov. 7, 1919. Page 7.
red paint, the task was far involvement and serious crimi-
from complete when they nal charges, points out Karen
were discovered. Steinhauser, a former prosecu-
Mines students, accus- tor and professor at the Sturm
tomed to college rivals College of Law who now is a
assaulting the “M,” had criminal defense attorney at
set up a telescope to keep Isaacson Rosenbaum. Charges
watch, The Colorado Transcript could include kidnapping, false
reported. It wasn’t long imprisonment, conspiracy, van-
before the Gibson group dalism, weapons violations and
was spotted and the alarm assault, and they would have
sounded. The DU students been broadly applied, with pun-
fled but were overwhelmed ishments measured in years.
by Mines students who had But in 1919, America’s skin
set up a barricade on the was thicker. “People did not look
road off the mountain. Both to the criminal justice system
Denver papers reported that back then to settle everything,”
shots were fired. But no one Steinhauser says. “They found
was hit or injured, and it was later alleged that the gun had other ways.”
held blanks. The first of these “other
“They were sneaky, but not sneaky enough,” Gibson ways” occurred in Denver two
chuckles, remembering his father’s account. days later, when DU and Mines
The newspapers splashed the front page with photos of were scheduled to face off in
the captured DU students dressed in POW overalls, their football.
heads shaved and large purplish-black “Ms” etched onto their “Never before has the bit-
scalps with silver nitrate, a caustic chemical that takes months ter feeling between the schools
to wear off. reached the blood heat that is rife
According to the Post, the captured students “were placed now,” the Post wrote. “Late Friday night representatives of the
under heavy guard in various fraternity houses” after being two schools met and agreed there would be no fighting … to
paraded through the streets of Golden “as prisoners of intercol- leave it entirely in the hands of the football teams.”
legiate war.” Denver’s police chief threatened to cancel the game if
Post reporter Bill Bliss suffered the same treatment. Mines trouble between the schools erupted, and DU trustees debated
students lured Bliss to campus with promises of a “big story.” whether the University should sever its athletic ties with Mines.
They met him in Golden, dressed him in convict overalls and Chancellor Buchtel favored settling things on the football
forced him to walk through the streets of Golden carrying a red field and predicted that DU would exact the necessary ven-
flag and a copy of the newspaper on which had been written geance for the dynamiting “by grinding the Mines to brick dust
“Yellow Journal.” Bliss was spared a head shaving because he was on the gridiron.”
already bald; he was spared the silver nitrate “M” by telling stu-
G
dents he planned to quit the paper and go back East. ame day dawned cold and white. Nearly 5,000 people
The humiliation climaxed in a mass meeting on the Mines arrived at the Broadway Park field in snow and freezing
campus presided over by school President Victor Alderson. Bliss temperatures for the afternoon clash. It was a grand day
contritely apologized for his newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News for a grudge match; miserable for football.
gleefully reported. And after much hooting and chauvinistic “Snow made fast playing almost impossible, fumbling fre-
speeches, the Mines students sent him back to Denver to com- quent and field goals out of the question,” the News reported.
municate a warning that if the Post’s owners didn’t “cease their Still, it was an impressive game. Rick Ricketson of the Post
slurring attacks, the Miners would give the proprietors a taste of gushed that “harder fought battles haven’t been seen in Denver.”
the clowning they gave the reporter.” Nor cleaner games, he added, noting that penalties were few,
Gibson and the other DU students were released later that sportsmanship abundant, sideline cheers “good natured,” and
evening. “the bitter, destructive feeling between the two schools not
“I’m sure he was upset, but I don’t think greatly so,” James exhibited” even though both teams “flew at each other like hun-
Gibson speculates. “He was relatively good-natured and took the gry devouring beasts.”
punishment the same way.” All that was missing was resolution. The game ended in a
Today, similar behavior would result in instant police 0-0 tie.

Denver Post, Nov. 9, 1919. Page 12
Hard feelings
Denver Post, Nov. 6, 1919. Page 8

remained. The day
after the football
game an early-morning
powder charge blew
off about 20 square
feet of the “M” on
Mount Zion. The
blast rocked houses
in Golden. A heavy
snowstorm prevented
anyone from being caught, but DU
students were blamed.
“But for the fact that the per-
petrators did not know how to place
the charge, the famous Mines ‘M’
on Mount Zion would have been
destroyed,” the Transcript reported.
Mines students armed themselves
with rifles and bayonets and com-
menced patrolling their campus and the other weapons of destruction,” the Post reported.
surrounding roads. The Post reported At DU, the focus turned to fundraising and the
that the patrols had been set up with Fighting Parsons’ bid to go “tiger hunting” at Colorado
Mines President Alderson’s permission. College.
Students piled desks and debris “The game with the School of Mines has keyed
on the bridge leading from Golden to and stirred the Ministers to anxiously count on a vic-
Lookout Mountain and stopped cars for tory this week,” the Post wrote.
inspections, lest DU students be con- DU lost 38-0.
cealed. Civil rights were ignored. The fundraising, which included a door-to-door
By Monday, Nov. 10, Colorado canvass of Observatory Park, turned out much better,
Gov. Oliver Shoup had had enough. such that the University’s fiscal emergency was eased
The college war had “disgraced the and the endowment bolstered.
state,” he said, and he ordered the law- The football team, meanwhile, looked forward
lessness to cease. to last-game redemption against Phillips University,
“I hope it will not be necessary to a Disciples of Christ institution in Enid, Okla. The
send troops to Denver University and Haymakers’ coach was nicknamed the Human Bullet.
the School of Mines in order to sup- DU lost 58-0.
press lawlessness,” Shoup said. Back on campus, life returned to normal. University Hall
The saber rattling worked. Student leaders at both schools was pinned together and today is perfectly safe. The broken win-
appointed representatives to meet, ascertain facts and lay blame. dows were replaced and the building redecorated. The following
What began as campus defiance softened to regret, especially fall, DU exacted revenge for the dynamiting by beating Mines in
at Mines, where students began to understand how the dynamit- football 16-6.
ing of DU had eroded the standing of their school. Ideas on how Peace reigned until the late 1920s, when Clarion editor
to improve relations included everything from a get-together, Robert Selig (BA ’32) led a group of DU students to Mines and
dance and “ceremonial burying of the hatchet” to a field day with “blew the M off the mountain,” recalls his son, Robert Selig Jr.
a giant tug-of-war between the student bodies. The ringleader was caught, stripped, shaved, branded and
In Denver, a grand jury began summoning students, taking his “private parts” covered in plaster of Paris, the junior Selig
testimony and fanning speculation there would be “wholesale recounts. His father was “dropped off at 16th Street on a cold,
indictments” before it turned its investigative eye toward “red icy night.”
activities in Denver.” The elder Selig went on to a successful business career fol-
At Mines, students quickly negotiated a treaty with CU in lowed by 16 years of service on the DU Board of Trustees. And
anticipation of their forthcoming football game on Thanksgiving in 1961, he received the Evans Award, the University’s highest
Day. The schools agreed to “eliminate paint, dynamite and all alumni honor.

Moonrock
By Jack Sommars
Photographs by Marc Piscotty
madness
Western original Terri “t.” Stardust (BFA ’91) had a zany idea.
Now, every June, riders from around the country join her in
Wyoming for a Wild West version of equestrian competition.
T. Stardust remembers the looks of disbelief.

Stardust (BFA ’91), an artist and competitive rider, was determined to build an
Olympic-caliber equestrian course in the middle of the Wyoming badlands. The site she
proposed was so stark and foreboding she called it “Moonrock” for its resemblance to a
lunar landscape.
There wasn’t a tree within miles.
No electricity.
Water had to be hauled in by truck.
If a thunderstorm approached, you drove hell-bent-for-leather to the nearest
blacktop or you’d find yourself buried to your axels in mud.
Oh, yes. Then there were the rattlesnakes.
“One thing I learned from my days at DU was that if you can dream it, you can do
it,” she says.
Ten years later, Stardust’s dream has become a destination. Each June, riders from
as many as 10 states and Canada haul their horse trailers to Worland, Wyo., home of one
of the most unique horse competitions in the country.

S
tardust, who grew up on a horse farm in Fort Collins, Colo., Olympics in 1996. “I had a chance to tour their cross-country jump-
attended DU on a volleyball scholarship. The athletic 6-foot-3- ing course and found it amazingly artistic,” Stardust says. “I realized I
inch middle blocker still holds a few school records. could apply my art talent to another aspect of something I love.
She graduated in 1991 and, fine arts degree and teaching certifi- “I thought, shoot, I’ve got thousands of acres right behind where
cate in hand, she started looking for a job. At a job fair she learned I live that are unused. It’s public land. If I could pull this off, it would
that a little school district in Wyoming was looking for an art teacher be a fascinating thing to do.”
and a volleyball coach. She started teaching in Worland that fall. Stardust went to the regional Bureau of Land Management
Worland is a blue-collar, middle-class town of about 4,800 peo- office in Worland to plead her case.
ple. “It’s not huge,” Stardust says, “but it’s big enough to have every- “Everyone came together for this project, even if they knew
thing that you want. We have two grocery stores and a movie theater. nothing about the sport. Frankly, nobody had a clue about what I was
It’s the perfect place for what I want to do. I love it here.” going to do with the land.”
The town was founded in 1900 by Charles “Dad” Worland, a Mike Bies, an archaeologist with the BLM, helped Stardust
fruit tree salesman who opened a saloon and stage stop about 150 untangle two years of government red tape.
miles southeast of Yellowstone. Butch Cassidy is said to have been a “I’ve been a bureaucrat a long time,” he says, stroking his beard.
frequent visitor, and the town’s first “bank” was an unguarded cigar “You don’t just jump to step four. You have to follow the process.”
box that Dad left on the bar. That process involved making an inventory of American Indian
But in 1906, the struggling community almost became a ghost artifacts and fossils on the 135-acre property.
town. The townspeople were shocked to learn the approaching rail- Bies and Stardust identified several ancient fire pits and a
road was building its tracks on the other side of the river. So they 45-million-year-old fossilized sea turtle. The course had to be
waited patiently for the dead of winter and moved all the buildings designed so those relics wouldn’t be disturbed.
on skids across the frozen Big Horn. Eventually they worked out a deal allowing the County Fair
No wonder Worland’s first newspaper was called The Grit. Board to own the lease while Stardust was named its caretaker.
Stardust tackled Moonrock with that same frontier pluck and The cost?
resourcefulness. “There’s no annual rent,” says Bies. “It’s basically for free.”
The idea for an equestrian event took root at the Atlanta But Stardust’s work was just beginning.

“They mean things to the space they inhabit.”
For example, part of the course is called Turtle Alley, in honor of
the fossilized turtle she and Bies discovered.
The water jump has fish carved into the timbers, a reminder that
the site was once an inland sea.
Three jumps dominating a ridge are painted with majestic stal-
lions. They pay tribute to the wild horses that still roam the badlands.
“Everything is there for a purpose,” she explains. “I tried to
honor the history and the landscape of the area.”
Stardust raised $100,000 to design and construct the course by
selling her artwork and soliciting sponsorships from local businesses.
But once she built it, would the riders come?
Dozens of horse trials are held across the country each year.
Most are easily accessible and close to large metropolitan areas. Wor-
land is a hundred miles from the nearest interstate. And while a local
barrel racing competition might offer a $25,000 purse, the winner of
Moonrock would take home a blue ribbon.
Yet the riders came. In 2006, more than 200 competitors and 250
horses converged on Worland.
“It’s been great for the economy,” says Michael Willard, execu-
tive director of the local chamber of commerce. “But many of the
locals really don’t know what to make of Moonrock. You see, around
these parts, the idea is to keep your horses inside the fences.”
Although first-time competitors can be intimidated by the rug-
ged terrain, veterans like Meridith Hatterman find it can be less dan-
gerous than more traditional venues.
“The footing is wonderful. The horses like that because it’s
easier to gallop on,” says Hatterman, who won the 2008 competition.
H
orse trials, or eventing, is a highly regulated sport. Although “If you’ve ever seen cross-country on TV, the lanes may be roped off.
each cross-country course is different, certain standards have But, at Moonrock, it’s not so restrictive. It’s much more of a positive
to be met for a competition to be sanctioned. Rider and horse experience, especially for a younger horse.
safety are paramount, and liability issues abound. “Moonrock is just more fun,” she adds. “There’s a lot of cama-
“It takes a lot of planning,” Stardust says. “You have to hire a raderie. And [Stardust] makes it more fun by adding non-horsy type
designer and, even though I planned to do my own artwork, I needed competitions after everyone’s done riding. She’ll have a dog competi-
to find a builder, too. There are so many legalities to consider, you tion or grill up brats at sundown—something that brings everybody
just can’t drop a bunch of jumps in an area and say, ‘yee-ha!’ together. That’s what so unique about the event.”
“A lot of people I talked to didn’t believe me. They thought I was The cross-country ride is the last of three separate competitions
crazy and didn’t want to be a part of it.” at Moonrock, following dressage and stadium jumping.
That’s because most jumping courses, especially those in the “Eventing is like a horse triathlon,” Hatterman explains. “There
East, resemble well-manicured golf courses, she says. are three separate events and you ride the same horse. It’s difficult
“They’re tree-lined with lots of hedges, the exact opposite of to be really good at one phase and still be competitive. You and your
what I was proposing.” horse have to excel at all three.”
After numerous rejections, Stardust found two Canadians who “The sport goes back to the days of the cavalry, when riders used
were willing to take on the challenge. to test their horses to see if they were ready for battle,” Stardust says.
Robin Hahn, a four-time Olympian, agreed to design the “Dressage is an art form for the horses, almost like gymnastics or bal-
course, and Steve Buckman, a builder from British Columbia, would let. But, years ago, the objective was to maneuver yourself against an
help her construct it. enemy and survive on horseback. On the battlefield, you might have
“Robin provided the basic design for the loop,” Stardust says. to jump a hedge or stone wall to pursue the enemy. That’s where the
“Then Steve and I would collaborate. He would build me a frame or stadium jumping and cross-country come in. There are lots of things
shape and I’d adorn it a certain way.” a horse had to be able to do.”
Stardust spent hundreds of hours carving, painting, creating It takes years of training for both horse and rider to reach the
mosaics and etching copper for each obstacle. higher levels of competition.
“Each jump is unique, but they’re all interconnected,” she says. “It’s all about trust,” says Stardust. “Your horse has to trust you

implicitly because you’re asking him to do something he’d never
choose to do. If he were a wild horse on the badlands, his instincts
would be to go around the jump rather than over it.”
Despite the fancy boots, britches and riding jackets, the sport
is definitely not for sissies.
Rules call for an ambulance, paramedics and a veterinarian to
be on hand for every event. During the cross-country phase, rid-
ers are required to wear a protective vest, helmet and an armband
containing medical information in case they’re knocked uncon-
scious. Unlike the stadium jumps, cross-country obstacles are built
of solid timber or rock. So when the irresistible four-legged force
meets the immovable object, the smart money is always on the
immovable object. Riders can be ejected and their mounts become
flying, 1,200-pound sledgehammers.
Fortunately, in Moonrock’s 10-year history, the most severe
casualty has been a broken leg.
“Horses have big hearts and small brains,” says Shane Foote,
a longtime Moonrock volunteer. “Eventing exposes both. But a
horse with a big heart can also bail out a rider with a small brain.
“There’s an adrenaline rush,” Foote adds. “I think bungee
jumpers and higher-level riders can definitely party together and
speak the same language.”
There are six different levels in eventing, and each level
increases in complexity and the height of the fences. Even
though the three events take only a combined 15 minutes, riders
and horses must train for weeks beforehand.
“Three very different styles of riding are required,” says Bar-
bara Chase, who serves as secretary for Moonrock. “You have to
be able to manage a horse well for their endurance. And it can be
a very humbling sport because you can be first after dressage and
find yourself sitting in a water jump. A lot of things can happen in
the two days of competition.”
Stardust lives in a trailer on the cross-country course the week
before the event. She busies herself making gifts for volunteers
and chasing away pronghorn fond of eating the flags marking the
course.
She can be seen motoring about Moonrock in her dilapidated
1959 Chevy school bus, empty brake fluid cans rattling around her
feet. In town, her ride of choice is a Yamaha 650 motorcycle.
What’s the difference between riding a motorcycle and a
horse?
“Bike riders can be more sociable,” she replies.
“Yeah, especially when you’re a good looking, tall blonde!” a
friend calls out from the grandstand.
The day before the competition, an official from Cheyenne
takes a tape measure and level to each jump to make sure it meets
requirements.
In 2006, heavy spring rains caused several to be out of kilter.
Stardust had less than 24 hours to fix the problem or her event
wouldn’t be sanctioned.
How would she move several 1,000-pound obstacles?
No problem.
She fired up her 50-year-old John Deere tractor, which

A
promptly caught on fire. “A critter had built a nest in the engine,” she fter the horse trailers depart Worland, Stardust’s routine contin-
explains. A few hours and second-degree burns later, tractor, artist ues at a full gallop. “I’m going through transition in my life big
and cross-country course all passed with flying colors. time,” she admits. A few years ago she went through a painful
During the competition, Stardust keeps a walkie-talkie pressed divorce and quit teaching to become a full-time artist.
to her ear. Surrounded by horses and riders, she’s like a cop directing “When I was at DU, my name was Terri Plum. When I got
traffic at a busy intersection. Meanwhile, she does everything from married, I was Terri Thurman. Now I’m really trying hard to be ‘t.’
replace rails on the jumps to check horses’ bits to make sure they Stardust.”
comply with the rules. Occasionally she lapses into “schoolmarm Why ‘t’ for a leggy biker who refuses to live her life in lower
mode,” but her easy smile usually gets the job done. case?
“When I started Moonrock, I really wanted this place to be on She pauses for a moment.
the map,” she says. “I wanted to be someone who everybody gave a “I don’t know,” she says. “I just want to do stuff differently. Lots
tip of the hat to. But that’s not important to me now. I want Moon- of things just occur to me. I guess I can just claim artist and leave it
rock to be a place where people enjoy the environment and the expe- at that.
rience. And, most of all, to have fun.” “I’m 41 years old now, and it’s nice to be doing the things
Pam Burke, a competitor from Montana, describes that experi- I wanted to be doing for a long time and for whatever reason, I
ence this way: “I can feel my horse hesitate, but I keep asking with haven’t. I’m at that stage in my life where I can do whatever I want.
my legs for her to continue. I feel her relax to the jump and sail con- It’s a neat thing. Not too many people get to say that.”
fidently over it. I want to throw my hands in the air and shout, but And whether it’s astride her mare or motorcycle, if obstacles get
can’t pause to celebrate as we plummet over the bank galloping and in her way, you get the feeling Stardust will find a way to leap over
sliding toward our next jump. them.
“It is this moment though, this perfect moment, that defines the Or wait until winter for the river to freeze.
allure of eventing. It is the mastering of body, mind and emotion. It is
knowing that your horse is also doing this in sync with you to reach
the same goal—beating this course.” To see examples of Stardust’s artwork, visit www.stardustcopperdesign.com.

An authentic Western
character himself,
bestselling novelist
C.J. Box (BA ’81) knows
how to turn a tale.
Mystery Man
C
By Tamara Chapman
Photo illustrations by Wayne Armstrong
Charles James Box (Chuck to those who meet him face-to-face; C.J. to the legions of crime fiction fans who snap
up his every release) often wears a black hat and black leather jacket. In the iconography of the wild and woolly West,
that would make him one of the bad guys.
Box (BA mass communications ’81) is far from that, but he can rustle up an evildoer and depict an evil deed with
the best of them. Some eight years and 10 additional novels after the publication of his first page-turner, Open Season,
he is hailed for his fast-moving plots, likable protagonists and surreal showdowns. He’s also heralded as one of the
literary world’s foremost chroniclers of a modern-day West, one where avaricious individualists and deadly earnest
do-gooders ride into town on their high horses.
“A crime novel peels away the culture,” Box says, explaining why he works within the genre. “It exposes the
culture in a way that other books don’t.”
In Box’s disrobed West, readers encounter what he calls “a cutting-edge culture”—cutting edge because it’s
shaped, and sometimes distorted, by the passions of so many advocates and oppositionists. Think fans and foes of
the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Think proponents and
opponents of oil shale development, green energy, hunting, fishing, cattle grazing, development, the reintroduction of
wolves, you name it. Think larger-than-life characters with outsized carbon footprints or inflexible agendas.
In his celebrated Joe Pickett series, which follows the exploits of a Wyoming fish and game warden, the protago-
nist is often caught between clashing interests. Like so many archetypal heroes in this genre, Pickett is an accidental
sleuth, an honest man forced to fall back on his principles to negotiate venality, sanctimony and many forms of felony.
“It’s very much a classic Western point of view—the corrupting forces of civilization versus the individual with a code,”
Box explains.

A lifelong Westerner, C.J. Box (pictured) sets his
novels in the landscape he knows best.
University of Denver Magazine Winter 2008 37

A
“A crime novel peels away the culture. I
A native of Casper, Wyo., the 50-year-old Box finds literary January 2009 offering, Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, spent three weeks
inspiration in the day’s news. The Pickett novels always focus on on the New York Times extended bestseller list. His latest Joe Pickett
an issue that has captured Box’s imagination, if only because it has book, Below Zero, due in bookstores on June 16, 2009, has fans who
ignited acute passions and moved people to take radical measures. frequent his online forum salivating in anticipation. “Just waiting
“I’m interested in those kind of ethical, resource-based things,” ’til June for Below Zero, but not waiting well,” one devotee posted in
Box says. “Most of the time I try to be really balanced in the por- early spring.
trayal of an issue. There’s extremism on both sides, and I try to have There’s more. Blue Heaven, Box’s first stand-alone, was recently
someone who portrays that extremism.” After that, it’s a question of optioned for film. Its honors have ranged from the impressive—it
strategic plotting—“How do I pull a reader through this issue in an received the coveted Edgar—to the esoteric. “Blue Heaven was
interesting way?” the No. 1 book in Berlin last year,” Box notes. Across the border
His gift for plotting and for portraying controversy have made in France, he has become a cult figure, capturing the Prix Calibre 38.
the Pickett novels—and Box’s two “stand-alone books”—immensely Why has he fared so well in the land of Coco Channel and café au
popular with readers from both sides of the political spectrum and lait? “Don’t ask me to analyze the French,” he says.
with critics. His first novel, which took about four years to meander At lunch in a downtown Cheyenne pub, over red chili and iced
into print, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2001. Since tea, Box learns via PDA that his books will finally be introduced to
then, his books have garnered an Anthony Award, a Macavity Award, readers in the United Kingdom. The novels have been translated
a Gumshoe Award, a Barry Award and the granddaddy of them all, an into 21 languages, but until now, British publishers have worried that
Edgar Award. He has been an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist, his short their readers would reject any novel with so many hunters.
stories have been featured in America’s Best Mystery Stories 2006, and in Ah yes, opinionated readers. Box has them by the score. And
2007, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers named him Writer of the Year. many of them seem to seek validation of their views within his
With each book, Box’s audiences and accolades grow. His plotlines. At one book signing, Box found himself flanked by

members of the Sierra Club and the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides hundreds of miles away. Just as important, for the purposes of mayhem,
Association, two groups typically positioned on opposing sides of any “almost every person they encounter is armed.”
given environmental issue. What tickled Box—a hunter, fly fisherman, With Joe Pickett, he continues, “I created an archetypal game war-
skier, avid reader, rodeo aficionado and wry observer of human foi- den. Most of the game wardens I meet in the field are very much like
bles—is that each of these readers greeted his remarks with a knowing Joe Pickett, but I created Pickett first.”
wink, suggesting that his sympathies were allied appropriately. That’s Pickett’s characteristics? He’s law-abiding, nature-loving, honest,
OK with Box, but he doesn’t cotton to enforced allegiance. earnest, family oriented and given, occasionally, to bumbling. Unlike so
“I have had readers who have written and said, ‘I want to know many crime-novel protagonists, he’s neither cynical nor world-weary.
where you come down on this before I read anything else,’” he says, Much of the time, in fact, Pickett has a lot to learn.
B
the look on his face flickering between amusement and exasperation. Box’s newspaper experience provided much more than the charac-
ter of his series. It also refined his prose, developing his sense of how to
reel in a reader and propel a tale. “I work hard on the first page, on the
Box knew he wanted to write fiction even as a high school first line. And I do it throughout the whole book; I keep going back,”
student. A voracious reader, he devoured many of the novels set in he says, describing his writing process.
the West but wondered why so few of them were written by native Take the first page of Three Weeks to Say Goodbye, a thriller set pri-
Westerners. The outsider’s perspective was interesting, but where marily in Denver:
was the insider’s insight? It was Saturday morning, November 3, and the first thing I noticed
Providing that insight became his goal, but he wasn’t sure how when I entered my office was that my telephone message light was blinking.
to craft and pace a story. Over the years, he took some creative writing Since I’d left the building late the night before, it meant someone had called
classes, but to his disappointment, they failed to provide the instruc- my extension during the night. Odd.
tion he wanted. “While there are creative writing programs and MFA Not just odd, the reader soon discovers, but sinister. By page 2,
degrees, rarely are there classes in writing commercial fiction,” he says. the story is in full swing. Notice, Box says, that the reader doesn’t get
“I wasn’t interested in journaling, in getting in touch with my feelings. detoured by lots of “description.” He doesn’t do description, not by the
I’m still not.” paragraph anyway.
Box had better luck in his DU mass communications classes, Box tries to write five days a week, descending to the basement of
where he learned how to write crisp prose with strong verbs. At DU his home, located about eight miles north of Cheyenne. There, with a
on a journalism scholarship (his high school newspaper had a knack for window well for scenery, he crafts about a thousand words each day. He
investigative reporting), Box dreamed of following in the footsteps of also devotes a fair amount of time to tending to his fans, monitoring
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two Washington Post reporters his Web site for their comments. He posts responses to many of them.
responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal. He pictured himself, Where other writers complain about fan zealotry, Box can’t wait to con-
by day, uncovering corruption and exposing hypocrisy in the pages of a nect with his readers.
. It exposes the culture in a way that other books don’t.”

hard-hitting daily. By night, he’d write those insightful novels. And who are his readers? They’re too numerous to conform to
The “by day” part of the story departed a bit from the plan. generalizations, of course, but Box knows this about his American fans:
Degree in hand, Box began his first reporting job at Wyoming’s Saratoga Many of them come from rural ZIP codes, many of them love the out-
Sun, a weekly where he took on every task in the newsroom, from cov- doors, and many of them hunt and fish. Some of them can’t find much
ering city council meetings to laying out pages. else that they like to read.
“It was pretty humbling because I thought I was a hot-shot That Box delivers something they do like to read makes him
investigative journalist, and there I was taking pictures of the 4-H cow,” happy. That his readers include a fair number of teenage boys, notori-
he recalls. If that scenario didn’t conform to his romantic career ambi- ous nonreaders, makes him proud. At a book signing in Helena, Mont.,
tions, he was, at least, able to churn out a few short stories when the an entire football team showed up to meet him. “They were all huge
paper was put to bed. They were rough, he acknowledges, but they fans,” he says. “Everyone talks a lot about how people don’t read, but a
were a start. lot of people can’t find something that relates to them.”
It was at the Saratoga Sun that Box first began “ride alongs” with For those readers, the prolific Box is the gift that keeps giving.
the area’s game warden. They’d patrol the backcountry, the warden Another Joe Pickett novel is already in the works, and Box claims he
monitoring wildlife while Box searched for news. has a lifetime of ideas simmering on the back burner. What he can’t
“That is when everything started to click for the protagonist of the dream up, the newspapers will undoubtedly provide. He’s already scan-
first novel,” he says. “In the first couple of drafts of the novel that became ning Washington’s economic stimulus package for literary fodder. More
Open Season, the protagonist was a journalist—because that’s what I was. money for green technology? Wind farms? Just who owns the wind?
And then a sheriff, because I needed someone who could draw a gun.” And how sloppily will all those wind farms be developed?
But neither character offered a satisfactory hook. A game warden, Trust Joe Pickett to find out. Box likes riding shotgun with his
however, provided intriguing possibilities. After all, Box says, “a game fictional game warden and plans to keep Pickett on the scene “until
warden is autonomous.” He rides by himself, and the nearest authority the series kind of wears itself out. As long as it feels right and it’s fresh,”
figure is typically miles away—in the case of Wyoming, perhaps even he says, “I’ll keep doing it.”

At Home on

National Western Stock Show CEO
Pat Grant (MBA ’73) is working to
sustain and preserve a piece of
Western heritage for future generations.
n the Range
I
By Richard Chapman
Photographs by Marc Piscotty
It’s a chilly January morning five days into the 2009 stock show, and the president and CEO
of the National Western is pausing to chat with a hobo.
The man called “Hobo”—“mostly from Utah and Idaho,” he says—is between the Hall of
Education and the Events Center. He’s trying to keep a tangle of tractors, hay haulers, mounted
cowboys and Texas longhorns from running anyone over.
Hobo has been part of the annual Denver stock show since 1994, when he hopped off a
freight train from Chicago to find a few hours of work.
“I been ridin’ freights since I was 12,” the 60-year-old spits through riverstone teeth. “I’m
gonna ride ’til I cain’t.”
As he directs traffic, Hobo updates the head wrangler—president and CEO Pat Grant (MBA
’73). For 18 years, Grant has been the executive ramrod behind the 103-year-old National
Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show. It’s his job to see that exhibitors feel welcome,
cowboys are treated well and hundreds of thousands of visitors have a good time.
Today, Grant is walking the grounds, carefully observing, checking, thanking volunteers and
communing with the free spirits who help make the show hum. Like Hobo.
“I see you got yourself a nice new cowboy hat,” Grant says with approval, a disarming smile
shining from under the brim of his own Stetson.
Hobo just grins.
Grant moves on.

T The National Western, crammed under Interstate 70 near the
Denver Coliseum, is the last working cattleman’s market in North
America. It’s consistently among the top five indoor rodeos in the
nation, and has a reputation as the “seed stock producer of the
world.” It boasts Olympic-caliber horsemanship and oozes Wild West
tradition, rural values and cowboy culture.
Cattlemen from 45 countries, ranchers from throughout the
West, rodeo hands, farmers and herds of exhibitors drop by every
year. They compete, show, perform, buy, sell and swap informa-
tion and animals. They bring with them more than 10,000 head of
livestock and nearly 4,000 horses. Tens of millions of dollars change
hands in a few days.
It’s a calico-and-plaid, down-home style commodity exchange
that entices more than 600,000 city slickers a year to holster their
Blackberries, slide into blue jeans and gingerly step into the world
outside the suburbs.
It’s business, it’s entertainment, it’s cornpone—and it’s a hoot.
Kids ride sheep, wrestle calves, ogle rabbits, pet goats, nuzzle calves
and cluck at exotic hens. Vendors barbecue beef, roast turkey legs,
and deep fry corn dogs and Twinkies. Exhibitors hawk trucks, trailers,
mobile homes, feeders, fencing, hats, buckles, belts, salt licks, alfalfa
bales and kitchen gadgets. And everyone gets to feel like a cowboy for
a while.
In the livestock arena, Grant checks in with veteran announcer
Larry Handy, who is announcing a beauty pageant of 800-pound
Hereford heifers. The huge animals waddle past the judge, hauled by
teenagers who look barely 90 pounds.
The judge picks a winner then explains his choice. The crowd of Pick and Hall credit Grant’s leadership.
several thousand soaks in tips on bovine body structure, balance and “He’s a very visible, very approachable, very good CEO,” Hall
leg movement. Heads nod at the honesty. Too bad Olympic judges says. “You know where you stand and what he expects from you.”
don’t come that clean, one woman quips. “We all know he’s an important man in the community,” adds
Grant moves on. Pick. “And it means something to us that he takes the time to come
He passes the sheep-shearing platform and heads to the goat down and say thank you.”
area, where Boers bleat and the aroma could curl paint. All is well, Without volunteers, about 1,000 seasonal workers and a full-
announcer Richard Maxcy says. time staff of 40, the National Western can’t be a quality show, Grant
The report is welcome news after a morning of headaches: a explains. Without quality, all the marketing in the world won’t bring
sticky parking agreement with the city of Denver, which owns the people in the door. It’s a key principle, the application of an idea
buildings but not the 90 acres of stock show grounds; a manure Grant learned at DU.
hauler who’s a little behind gathering the tons of animal waste that “You’ve got to have a quality product, then you can consider
end up as compost; a leak in the Expo Hall roof that’s dousing a how to promote it. People reverse that and get into trouble,” Grant
buckle vendor with snowmelt. says. “I’ve never forgotten that.”
On the ground floor of the Hall of Education, animals are being The veteran executive credits his MBA courses at DU with
carefully groomed for exhibition. Electric clippers buzz; blow dryers developing the business sense he brings to the National Western.
howl. Immobilized in metal frames, the animals don’t seem to care. They blended beautifully, he says. As did his agricultural roots,
But their owners do. Winning can mean big bucks. service in Vietnam, history degree from Colgate, law degree from
Grant quizzes Laurie Hall and Brent Pick, two of the show’s 500 Drake, four terms in the Colorado General Assembly, and a family
volunteers. Hall takes off from her job during the month of January legacy of civic involvement stretching back to the 1870s.
so she can donate time to the stock show. It’s her 16th year. She’s “My great, great uncle was the first Democrat governor of the
especially looking forward to “Wine and Swine,” an unadvertised state of Colorado, Gov. James B. Grant. My grandfather, W.W. ‘Pop’
spectacle that occurs the day the pigs are unloaded. Grant Jr. (honorary LLD ’53), ran for mayor of Denver in the ’30s
“The men wear tuxedoes and the ladies wear ball gowns and the against Ben Stapleton. He got whumped. My Uncle Bill (W.W. Grant
pigs are runnin’ this way and that,” Pick laughs. “Some of them get III) ran for mayor of Denver as a Democrat; he was beaten by Tom
loose and it gets pretty wild.” Currigan in ’63.”

“My first job was hoeing weeds for $1 a day.
G
It was the beginning of the work ethic to which I was exposed,
and it really is an important part of who I am.”
Grant’s love of politics might have been in his blood, but his long it took Stinkin’ Water to send him flying, but it was quick.
connection with agriculture was in his roots on Grant Farm, a corn, “I got kicked as I was thrown off the horse and limped around
barley, wheat and livestock operation that his father, Edwin “Ned” for a couple months. I decided there had to be a better way to make
Grant, ran west of Littleton. The farm stretched from about Sheridan a living.”
Boulevard to Simms Street and Bowles south to Belleview, and it Like studying business at DU. So he enrolled, commuting to
previously belonged to Gov. James Grant, writes Thomas Noel (BA campus from the farm in Littleton and earning an MBA in 1973.
history ’67, MA librarianship ’68) in Riding High: Colorado Ranchers and “I have always felt a fondness for the education I got at DU, and
100 years of the National Western Stock Show. that was one of the reasons my wife, Carla, and I started the Grant
“My first job was hoeing weeds for $1 a day. I was 9, 10, 11,” Family Scholarship Fund,” a need-based scholarship to aid undergrad-
Grant chuckles. “It was the beginning of the work ethic to which I was uates from rural Colorado.
exposed, and it really is an important part of who I am.” After DU came a law degree from Drake in 1976, then a spot in
Part of the farm became the community of Grant Ranch, but the Pop Grant’s law firm after clerking for an appeals court judge for a
heart of it is the Raccoon Creek Golf Course, which the Grant fam- year.
ily still owns and operates. Barns that once held milk cows and horses Law was interesting but politics more compelling. In 1984 Grant
now house golf carts and grooming gear. The two-story home where won a seat in the state House of Representatives representing the tony
Grant and his siblings grew up is the golf course clubhouse and Grove Denver neighborhoods of Belcaro, Hilltop, Bonnie Brae, Country
restaurant. Photos of the family hang with homey familiarity, and a Club and part of Capitol Hill.
plaque marks the spot where brother Newell Grant blasted a hole “He was a lawyer from metro Denver, but he looked more com-
through the wall with a hunting rifle. fortable in jeans and a cowboy hat,” recalls legislative colleague and
“[He] blew a book to smithereens,” Pat Grant recalls with a former Gov. Bill Owens, now affiliated with DU’s Institute for Public
prankster’s smile. “We opened the window, aired it out and took the Policy Studies.
book out to the back yard and buried it.” Grant waded into the most difficult issues he could find.
Most days in his youth were less explosive, spent learning to ride, “I carried the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD)
raise animals, tend crops. Swimming and fishing in Bowles Lake with bill with Ted Strickland. I carried the bill to annex Adams County land
Newell and sisters Susan, Cecily and Anne. Working on the farm, for Denver International Airport. I carried tort reform legislation with
going to Denver Country Day School and attending the National fellow Rep. Bill Owens. I was asked by Gov. [Dick] Lamm to head up
Western with his dad, who served on the executive committee. the effort to get ethanol-based fuel to help clean up our air. I carried
“My brother and sisters and I used to tag along behind him at the historical preservation tax credit bill.”
every show whenever we could get out of school,” Grant recalls fondly. Grant pauses, afraid the list will appear boastful. A warm smile
“I have great memories.” and down-home sincerity mask the tenacity it took to ram the bills
Ned Grant was an avid horseman and once owned Granville, through the legislature. But the results speak for themselves. The
winner of the 1936 Belmont Stakes. He was also a committed rancher, SCFD bill has become a national model. The 1985 package of tort
who in 1967 bought a sprawl of prime property south of Steamboat reforms that he and Owens hammered through in response to a crisis
Springs, where U.S. 40 meets State Road 131. in medical malpractice costs is still working.
He died unexpectedly six months later, and the family struggled Owens can remember the fight.
to keep the Yampa Valley Land and Cattle Co. running. They hung on “I’m defending the [tort] bill in front of the House. There were
until the late 1990s, when most of the ranch was sold to the Trust for maybe 20 or 30 amendments; you have to think on your feet. The
Public Lands so it wouldn’t be developed. Today, the property is some Democrats came down with a tough amendment. I was thinking,
of the breathtaking open space on the doorstep to Steamboat. ‘Damn, I know I don’t like this, but I’m not sure how to argue it.’ All
“It was a cattle ranch,” Grant recalls of those early days. “You’d get of a sudden I see Pat Grant walking up. He very effectively took over
up and feed the cattle, then break ice so they can water in the Yampa the microphone, argued and saved the day.”
River, then shovel snow off haystacks.” Grant wanted more.
The work bred an understanding of the ranching life. A July 4 “From the early ’70s my goal in life was to be governor,” he says.
ride on a bareback bronc in a 1971 Steamboat rodeo bred a healthy His first chance was in 1988. But Democratic incumbent Roy
regard for cowboys. Romer had sewn up much of the Republican business community.
“This college friend and I had a bet, after about three whiskies, of Grant feared the race would be tough and unsuccessful, so he passed
who would last longest.” on running.
A successful bareback ride is eight seconds. Grant won’t say how Two years before the 1998 election, he geared up again and was in

“We are a symbol of Western heritage.
That’s what the rodeo is all about and what the stock show
and horse show are all about—dimensions of the West.”
not sustain National Western for the next 100 years,” he says flatly.
Putting on a good show isn’t enough.
“What we do is terribly important. But we have to have some
major relationships and alliances with corporations or organizations
with whom we can share assets and costs.
“It’s painful,” he adds. “The only reason we get people to come
back is because they love the show. They’re willing to overlook the
inconveniences of the muddy lots or the snow or the cold or the diffi-
culty of figuring where to go. But over time, they’re not going to do it.”
For now, Grant is trying to keep rickety facilities patched, cattle-
men confident, exhibitors satisfied and performers pleased. Mostly,
though, he tries to figure how to persuade urbanized Coloradans to
put a foot in the stirrup at least once a year.
It’s a tall order. Attendance in 2009 was about 30,000 fewer than
the year before, even though it was the 12th consecutive year that the
16-day show has drawn more than 600,000. By comparison, the Den-
ver Zoo, the top Denver-area attraction in attendance, is open every
the thick of it when family issues surfaced and forced him to quit. He day of the year and draws about 1.5 million visitors.
endorsed his friend Owens, which helped the then-state treasurer fight Certainly the economy was a factor this year, Grant acknowledges,
his way through a crowded GOP field. In the general election, Owens but ticket prices were modest. There were only 23 criminal offenses,
narrowly defeated Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler and served two terms. mostly for thefts and shoplifting, says security director Tim Leary, and
More than a decade later, supporters still urge Grant to run for all of the 59 kids who got lost were reunited with their families in an
governor, but he declines. He feels a commitment, he says, to help “lay average of six minutes.
a foundation” for the National Western’s next 100 years. “It’s a very safe environment,” says Leary, a retired Denver Police
That may be harder than running the state. Over the years the captain and former SWAT commander. “It goes very smoothly.”
stock show has faced everything from steer-doping and lamb-cheating Which leaves the simple fact that fewer Coloradans feel quite as
scandals to animal rights threats, rodeo injuries, E. coli scares and wor- much at home on the range as they once did. Many have never ridden
ries about mad-cow disease. Mostly, though, it’s had to cope with dete- a horse, Grant points out, petted a sheep or touched the wet nose of a
riorating facilities and lack of space. steer. How can the National Western connect Old West traditions to
In 1989, taxpayers ponied up $30 million in bonds to expand and the iPod-enchanted, hip-hop world of Generations X, Y, Z?
improve the stock show grounds, which helped. But being stuck under Tough question, says Grant, the show’s ninth president. He
Interstate 70 near the Denver Coliseum continues to be a problem. doesn’t have all the answers. What he does have is confidence in his
“The Colorado Department of Transportation has announced leadership, an unwavering belief in the importance of the stock show
that they want to rebuild and realign and reconstruct I-70. One of to Denver and Colorado, and an unbridled passion to succeed.
the four alternative routes is going right through these buildings,” “We are an icon,” he says. “We are a symbol of Western heritage …
Grant says. “RTD and FasTracks are going to do something along and people want that Western heritage sustained and preserved. That’s
the Burlington Northern railroad corridor, so they will take land. what the rodeo is all about and what the stock show and horse show
Our future is challenged.” are all about—dimensions of the West.
A task force that included former DU Chancellor Dan Ritchie “If I have a frustration, it is that people take us for granted.”
spent months agonizing over the mess. Its conclusion, Grant says, was They shouldn’t, he insists. The National Western works hard to
that the National Western couldn’t survive in its present location. But remain significant to stockmen and exhibitors and entertaining to the
the panel didn’t say what to do, where to go or how to pay for it. thousands who attend.
A possible answer roared into view when International Speedway “We will not rest on our laurels,” he says with conviction. “We are
Corp. decided Denver was ripe for stock-car racing and proposed a always looking to do better and be better.”
75,000-seat facility in Adams County. The company owns 13 major Some days the job is overwhelming. That’s when Grant climbs on
tracks, including Daytona, and promotes NASCAR events. Its inter- his horse, Easy Jet, and ventures into scenic solitude near Fort Collins
est in sharing the site with the National Western was “significant,” but or his ranch on the Wyoming border. It’s welcome relief from stress
the drive hit the brakes when priorities shifted gears and the economy and “a great, great way to get away.”
soured. Then it’s back to holding the reins of tradition and driving the
“It’s not off the table,” Grant says. “It’s just quiet.” National Western to the future.
Lines of concern etch the CEO’s face when he speaks of the stock “I work hard. I’m committed. I’m focused, and I believe strongly
show’s future. “The business model under which we now operate will in what I’m doing,” he says proudly. “It’s been a huge honor.”

47 Alumni relations news
49 Class notes challenge
51 Career corner
54 Pioneer pics
56 Death notices
58 Announcements
DU Archives
On May 6, 1970, students at DU—distressed by President Richard Nixon’s April 30 order to invade Cambodia
and the May 4 shooting deaths of four Kent State students by members of the National Guard—went on strike
against the University. “Woodstock West” was founded two days later in the area bounded by Margery Reed,
Carnegie Hall and the Science Building as students gathered, constructing shelters and memorials. To end the
protest, Colorado Gov. John Love (BA ’39, LLB ’41) called in National Guardsmen, who arrived on May 13.
Woodstock West was dismantled that day without incident. Read more at www.du.edu/magazine.
University of Denver Magazine Connections 45

The classes Pioneer
1949
Elaine Puls (BA ’49) of Pueblo, Colo.,
1959
Dennis Garrett
generations
received the lifetime achievement award (BSCE ’59) worked Roger Henn (BA ’40) moved from Ouray,
from the Colorado Library Association in in engineering and Colo., to Denver with his mother and three
recognition of her long career. Elaine worked administration for 40
siblings following the death of his father in 1921.
as the director of the Loveland, Colo., public years, serving as the
library for 21 years. She has been married first director of public Roger’s
to Gerald Puls (BS ’51) for 58 years. The works for Overland older sister,
couple—they have two children and three Park, Kan., where he Bernice
grandchildren—has traveled to 43 states and resides. In May 2007 (Henn) Swift
around the world. the city named a public works maintenance (BA ’34),
facility in his honor. Since retiring, Dennis
was the first
spends time enjoying golf and managing a
1955 family farming operation.
member of
their family to
Philip Caine (BA ’55) published The RAF
Eagle Squadrons (Fulcrum, 2008) about Don Lozow (LLB ’59) of Denver practices earn a college
American volunteers who flew with the law with his son Brad Lozow (JD ’82) of degree. She
British Royal Air Force from October 1940 Englewood, Colo., and daughter Susan received
through September 1942. The book provides Lozow (JD ’91) of Denver. The Lozow a small
an introductory history of each unit as well & Lozow law firm specializes in criminal,
scholarship
as a biographical sketch and picture of all 245 divorce and personal injury law in addition
to DU after
American volunteers. Philip, a retired U.S. to trial defense. Brad and his wife of 26
Air Force brigadier general, taught military years, Karen, have a daughter, Emily, who is graduating from East High School. While Bernice
history at the U.S. Air Force Academy and a sophomore at the University of Colorado attended classes, her brothers supplemented her
is the author of American Pilots in the RAF at Boulder, and a son, Jake, who is a high scholarship with contributions from their paper
(Brassey’s Inc., 1993) and Aircraft Down! school sophomore. In her spare time, Susan routes. After graduation Bernice moved to Holly,
Evading Capture in WWII Europe (Brassey’s volunteers with the Junior League of Denver Colo., where she worked as a teacher.
Inc., 1997). He and his wife, Doris, live in and hangs out with friends and her dog,
Richard Henn (BSche ’36) became the
Monument, Colo. Moose.
second DU graduate in his family, financing his
education with money from an assistantship and
Roger’s paper route. Upon graduation Richard
Class notes challenge

found a job with the Eastman Kodak Co. and
moved to Rochester, N.Y.
Roger spent a year out of school earning
a dollar a day at a school supply store before
Class of 1959: A lot can happen in 50
receiving financial aid to attend DU. After
years, and we want to catch up with as
surviving the Great Depression and four years
many of you as we can. Your classmates
of Army Air Corps service during World War II,
want to hear from you, too!
Roger focused his ambitions on fighting
What have you been up to? Share
for better government in Chicago, a calling
photos and family news, discuss your
influenced by Roy Brown, one of his political
travels and hobbies, or reminisce about science professors.
your time at DU. Roger retired as executive director of
You can post your note online the Union League Club of Chicago in 1979
at www.alumni.du.edu, e-mail and moved back to Ouray, where he served as
du-magazine@du.edu or mail in the form president of the Ouray Historical Society and
on page 54. Class of ’59 notes will appear headed the retired citizens program.
in the winter issue. We’ll randomly select When winter comes to Colorado and
a prize winner from all entries received temperatures dip, Roger often reaches for his
by Aug. 1. crimson-and-gold sweater, which he says reminds
1959 Kynewisbok
him of DU and his wrestling coach, Granville

Johnson, who Roger says taught him to never
give up.
—Samantha Stewart

Donald Shirk (BFA
’59) has lived in Kailua
1969 1973
Hawley Chester (BA ’69) of Atlanta was James Morgese (BA ’73, MA ’79) of
Kona, Hawaii, with his
named vice president of Canadian sales Denver left his job as general manager
wife, JoAnn, for 21 years.
and marketing for SPEED, a Charlotte, of Rocky Mountain PBS to start Instinct
He spends his free time
N.C., based motor sports and automotive Media Solutions. James says he made the
enjoying Hawaiian culture,
lifestyle network. Hawley has served as the career change because he wanted to get into
swimming, tracing his
director of Canadian sales and marketing the field of new media.
family genealogy and
since 2001. He is now responsible for the
reading. Donald has
distribution of SPEED on cable and satellite Mary Ann Van
more than 20 years of experience as a tennis
systems in Canada and managing marketing Buskirk (BA ’73)
instructor and says he will always consider his
opportunities. works as a marriage
DU tennis coach, the late Robert Richards,
and pastoral counselor
his mentor.
Charles “Chuck” Socha (BA ’69, JD ’71) for Life Dimensions.
joined the Tucker Ellis & West law firm as She has been a
Rodney Stark (BA ’59) of Corrales, N.M.,
partner, bringing his experience in products counselor, trainer and
was appointed honorary professor of
liability, medical device and drug liability, clinical supervisor for
sociology at Beijing University on Oct. 8,
toxic torts, and multi-district litigation. 18 years. Mary Ann
2008. Of Rodney’s 30 published books, three
Chuck has served as a national and regional lives in Denver with
have been translated into Chinese. He is a
counsel for manufacturers involved in her husband; they have been married for 37
professor of social sciences and co-director of
multi-district mass tort litigation or as the years. The couple has three children.
the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor
science lawyer on the defense team. Chuck
University in Waco, Texas.
lives in Greenwood Village, Colo.
1962
Irvin Jones (BA ’62) retired from the
Department of Education’s Office of Indian
Education in 1991. Irvin and his wife of 50
Alumni relations reorganized
years, Norma Jean, reside in Gallup, N.M. DU is taking a new approach to alumni relations and fundraising. Starting in July, the Office
They have three grown children—Ralph, of Alumni Relations will become independent of University Advancement and will report directly
Donna and Vonda—and five grandchildren. to the chancellor.
“We’re about being a university, which means we are about our students and our alumni.
1966 We really felt that alumni relations needed the tone and the focus of being on its own,” says
DU Trustee Pat Hamill (BSBA ’81), chair of the Board of Trustees Student and Alumni Affairs
Cecil Bykerk (BA ’66) was named president
of the Society of Actuaries in October 2008. Committee.
Prior, he served as president of CDBykerk Although most institutions adhere to a model in which alumni relations is part of a
Consulting, providing actuarial consulting. larger campus department, a December 2008 Student and Alumni Affairs Committee retreat
Cecil is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries
determined that DU should develop a model that better suits the University’s needs, according
and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries
and was named an honorary fellow of the to Ed Harris, vice chancellor for University Advancement.
Institute of Actuaries of the United Kingdom. “We want to demonstrate that alumni relations at DU is not exclusively about fundraising,”
He resides in Omaha, Neb. says Harris, who believes the change will not hurt DU’s fundraising ability.
“People make investments because they are inspired by an institution’s mission,” he says.
Ralph Kruger (MSW ’66) and June Kruger
“Our commitment to carrying out DU’s mission is unwavering.”
(MSW ’66) have retired in Kimberling City,
Mo. Both were employed by school districts Both Harris and Jeff Howard, executive director of Alumni Relations, believe the change
in Colorado Springs, Colo., for 32 years, and will give their departments the opportunity to concentrate on their respective goals.
Ralph practiced psychotherapy until 2001. He Alumni Relations has already begun working on several initiatives aimed at increasing
published the book Losing Everything While alumni engagement, including building a new Web site, growing the alumni mentoring program,
Losing Nothing: Christian Martyrs of the Third supporting alumni chapters and taking the successful Alumni Symposium on the road with the
Reich (Publish America, 2008).
first stop in Chicago.
“Our alums are energized and excited about the direction the University is going,”
Howard says. “What we’re finding is that they just want to be asked to be included. The more
opportunities we give, the more our alums will be engaged.”
—Samantha Stewart

1974 1978 acquisitions and dispositions of portfolio
Robert Ridolfi (JD ’74) of Pennington, N.J., John Ruppert (JD ’78) joined Ballard Spahr companies. He also advises the boards of
ran a successful land-use practice for 34 years. Andrews & Ingersoll as a partner in the directors and senior management about
Robert has now directed his energy starting firm’s Denver office. John represents private structuring deals and related tax, financing
and promoting a new community bank, the equity funds in fund formation, capital raises, and executive compensation arrangements.
Bank of Princeton, in New Jersey.
Joel Sheesley (MFA ’74) has his artwork

featured in the book Domestic Vision: Twenty-
Five Years of the Art of Joel Sheesley (Lutheran
University Press, 2008). Joel’s work has
been exhibited in galleries and museums
throughout the country and has won
Prosecutor Brenda Hollis
numerous prizes at juried competitions. His Brenda Hollis (JD ’77) calls Denver home, but she currently lives in The Hague,
work examines domestic life in suburban Netherlands, serving as principal trial attorney in the prosecution of Charles Ghankay
America. Joel has also published essays in Taylor, the ex-president of Liberia who is accused of crimes against humanity and war
Image Books and Culture and New Art Examiner. crimes for his involvement in the armed conflict in Sierra Leone.
Joel lives in Wheaton, Ill. Hollis’ employer is the Office of the Prosecutor in the Special Court for Sierra
Leone. She began working on the Taylor case in 2002 collecting evidence of crimes;
1975 she became lead prosecutor in February 2007. The trial began on Jan. 8, 2008, and the
prosecution, under Hollis’ leadership, has spent the last year building its case against
Richard Chapman (BSBA ’75) has lived in
Park City, Utah, since 1976. He works as a Taylor.
financial adviser at Morgan Stanley. “We will have called some 90 witnesses and sought to have introduced several
hundred documentary exhibits,” says Hollis, who rested her case this spring.
Taylor’s defense has begun building its case. Hollis doesn’t expect a judgment until
1976 2010.
Heraldo Muñoz (MA ’76, PhD ’79) of “I chose criminal litigation, in particular criminal prosecution, because I am com-
New York City wrote the book The Dictator’s mitted to ensuring those who commit crimes are held accountable for them,” Hollis
Shadow (Basic Books), named one of the best says. “I am also committed to ensuring that those accused of crimes are afforded all the
books of 2008 by the Washington Post. He is
rights the law provides.”
Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations.
In 1998 Hollis retired from the Air Force as a colonel. While in the Air Force,
In February 2009, UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon announced that Heraldo would Hollis was loaned to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal
lead an international commission of inquiry for the former Yugoslavia. She worked for three years as an investigative legal officer
into the 2007 murder of Benazir Bhutto, and as one of the prosecutors in the Dusko Tadic case—the first internationally litigated
Pakistan’s former prime minister. case since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunal cases in which a person was charged with
crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“My work took me on many missions into Bosnia when it was still a hot war,”
1977 Hollis says. “And it put me in contact with many victims of the most vicious and wide-
James Goldsmith (BSBA ’77) was included spread crimes, crimes which resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians,
in the annual statewide list of Ohio super rapes of at least that number, torture and other, unimaginable violence against the
lawyers. James works for Ulmer & Berne,
young, the old, males and females.
where he chairs the trusts and estates group
“These experiences strengthened my belief that only when perpetrators of such
and has experience with taxation, employee
benefits and corporate law. James lives in crimes are held accountable can there be a true peace, and that the victims of these
Shaker Heights, Ohio, with his wife, Nancy. crimes deserve such accountability.”
“[Hollis] always had a great deal of passion for international law and human
Douglas Moran (BME ’77) of Denver rights,” says DU Sturm College of Law Professor Ved Nanda. “Once you have that bug
became a certified public accountant in July bite—human rights and justice—you can’t ignore these very difficult and most signifi-
2008 and has been working for Mihoda and cant issues of the present time.
Co., located in Englewood, Colo., for more “She has been in the forefront of fighting that good battle.”
than a year. Douglas enjoys attending musical Hollis says she can’t imagine doing anything else.
performances at DU’s Newman Center, “We would not tolerate such crimes to go unpunished in our society, nor would
which he considers a vast improvement from
we tell the victims to just forget about it and move on,” says Hollis. “It is the height of
the facilities he used as student.
arrogance and insensitivity to deprive others in the world of such accountability, an
arrogance to which I cannot subscribe.”
—Janalee Card Chmel

Dennis Wolf (MBA ’78) of San Jose, Calif., to numerous local and national ballooning Council of Medical Librarians, Council of
was appointed executive vice president and races. John has taught several individuals Osteopathic Librarians and the American
CEO of Finjan, a producer of secure Web how to fly hot air balloons, including the late Academy of Religion, among others. He is
gateway products. Dennis has more than 25 Steve Fossett, who completed the first solo also a contributor to the New International
years of experience managing finances and flight around the world. Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and
operations for technology companies. Prior, Exegesis. Frank lives in Denver.
he served as co-CEO, CFO and COO for Diane Stahl (BA
several public companies, including Redback ’80) of Denver Michael Sutherland
Networks, Credence Systems, Centigram worked in the (BSBA ’81, JD ’84)
Communications and Omnicell. corporate world of Centennial, Colo.,
after graduating is an attorney and
from DU, shareholder at Inman
1980 raising money Flynn Biesterfeld &
William Carey (JD ’80) of Anchorage, for three Denver Brentlinger in Denver.
Alaska, was appointed superior court judge nonprofits. Michael focuses on wills,
for Ketchikan, Alaska, in December 2008. Upon turning 40, Diane decided to leverage trusts, and probate litigation and serves
Prior, William worked as an attorney in her passion for gardening into a career. In on the Centennial Planning and Zoning
private practice specializing in criminal 2002, she opened Urban Roots, a garden Commission. He and his wife, Kathy, enjoy
defense. store and landscape company dedicated to spending time with their three teenage
serving the needs of city dwellers who have children—Patrick, Daniel and Monica.
Harriet (Goodman) Grayson (MA ’80) limited space. Urban Roots has been featured
founded 5 Star Seminars, a company that in Sunset magazine and Colorado Homes &
conducts workshops. Harriet lives in Yonkers, Lifestyles. 1982
N.Y. David Gaouette (JD ’82) of Denver was
named acting U.S. attorney for Colorado in
John Kugler (BSBA ’80) of Highlands 1981 January 2009. David has worked as a federal
Ranch, Colo., was inducted into the Frank Ames (MA ’81) works as a professor prosecutor since 1984. Prior, he was a police
Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame on Jan. 29, and director of library services for Rocky officer in Lakewood for eight years.
2009. John began flying hot air balloons with Vista University and coordinates the
his father and brother more than 30 years clinical ethics curriculum for the College
ago. He competed in the International Coupe of Osteopathic Medicine. Frank is an 1983
Gordon Bennett gas balloon race in addition active member of the Academy of Health Kathleen “Kitty” DeLio (BSBA ’83) was
Information Professionals, Colorado selected to judge figure skating at the World
University Games in Harbin, China, in
February 2009. Kitty lives in Denver, where
Class Notes Challenge: 1979 she is the research director for KUSA/
KTVD.
Raymond “Lee” Edward Fields (BA ’83) of Los Gatos,

WINNER!
Mays (BA ’79) worked Calif., is the founder and CEO of
for Citicorp for five HotChalk. Sramana Mitra interviewed
years before leaving Edward for the book Entrepreneur Journeys
banking in 1989 to (BookSurge, 2008), which highlights and
work as a real estate analyzes a dozen successful technology
developer in Madrid entrepreneurs and their start-up stories.
and Barcelona, Spain.
In 2007, Lee returned
to banking, working as Melissa (Goldman) Turner (BA ’79, 1984
the managing director MBA ’83) met her husband, Jim Turner Kefalas Soteris (BSBA ’84) was inducted
of Westdeutsche (BSAcc ’80), as a student at DU. She still into the DU Athletic Hall of Fame
Immobilien Bank in treasures her years at DU, particularly her in October 2007 in recognition of his
Spain. He and his time as a resident of Johnson-MacFarlane outstanding soccer career at the University.
wife, Maria, have been married for 28 years Hall, and says her life came together at the Kefalas lives in Paralimni, Cyprus, where
and have two children, ages 18 and 11. The University. Melissa and Jim still live close to he is the assistant headmaster of the hotel
couple lives in Madrid, the city where they campus with their daughters, Genevieve and department at Paralimni Technical School.
first met as students studying abroad. Rebecca. Jim is a CFO for Employers Unity
and Melissa is a senior marketing manager
for RH Donnelley, publisher of Dex Yellow
Pages and DexKnows.com.

Quotable Douglas Towne (BA ’84) encountered a
catamaran flying a DU pennant while on a
1987
notes sailing vacation in the British Virgin Islands
in December 2008. After exchanging greetings,
he discovered that the crew was comprised of
Ron Fernandez (BSBA ’87, MBA ’92) and
Kathryn Fernandez welcomed a baby girl,
Mary, in October 2008. The family lives in
instructors and students of the Daniels College Denver.
Thank you to everyone who responded
of Business course Leadership, Teams and
to the winter 2008 issue’s question of the
Values. Douglas resides in Phoenix.
hour: What do you think is the biggest
issue facing higher education today?
1988
Jon Niermann (BSBA ’88) and Stacey
1985 (Strahs) Niermann (BSBA ’88) have been
living in Asia for almost 11 years, most
“Costs rising so far beyond inflation.” Scott Maierhofer (MBA ’85) joined McCarthy
Harriet (Goodman) Grayson (MA ’80) Capital as a partner after seven years with recently in Shanghai, China. Jon is the
Green Manning & Bunch, where he was president of Electronic Arts Asia and is doing
Yonkers, N.Y.
co-president. Prior, Scott was president and publicity for a David Letterman-style talk
managing principal of UniRock Management show that is launching across Asia.
“Lack of critical thinking and self- Corp., which he co-founded in 1988. At
reflection.” McCarthy Capital, his primary responsibilities
Mary Ann Van Buskirk (BA ’73) include evaluating, structuring and making
Denver investments and managing portfolio
companies. Scott resides in Centennial, Colo.
Tour Guide Paul Hintgen

Some people spend their whole lives looking for their
Courtesy of Paul Hintgen

proverbial pot of gold. Others just buy a gold mine.
Meet Paul Hintgen (BSBA ’86), the owner of Country Boy
Mine in Breckenridge, Colo. It was established in 1887, and it’s
the only mine in Summit County with an underground tour. It’s
strictly a tourist attraction, no longer an operational mine.
It was the culmination of a search for a better life—much
like the pioneers who ventured west in the 1800s.
Hintgen, his wife, Cindy, and their 11-year-old son loved
the outdoors and skiing. So Hintgen began looking for a
business in the mountains. He soon stumbled across a classified
ad for a snowmobile business to be auctioned in Breckenridge.
During the auction, he and Cindy struck up a conversation
with a guy in the crowd. He turned out to be Country Boy’s
owner, and he was interested in selling.
“We went down, looked it over, talked about it, and by the end of the day I was sold,” Hintgen says.
He spent the next three months trying to come up with the $400,000 he needed. And by December 2006 he had the cash and closed
the deal.
“The learning curve is huge,” he says. “I learn something new every day.” He credits his double major in finance and marketing as a big
help. “I’m using that degree a lot today. Owning the mine is all about marketing and finance.”
Evidently he was a good student. While the rest of Breckenridge is feeling the pinpricks of the prickly economy, Hintgen’s 2008
business jumped 35 percent over 2007 with 25,000 visitors.
Carly Grimes, director of public relations for the Breckenridge Resort Chamber, calls the Hintgens “great ambassadors” not only for
their business, but also for Breckenridge and Colorado’s gold mining history.
Hintgen says he believes the mine serves as a good educational tool for visitors of all ages on the state’s history and its 19th century
economics.
Delving 1,000 feet into the side of the mountain at the south base of Barney Ford Hill, visitors learn the details of just how hard
miners worked.
“Most people come out thinking their jobs look pretty good compared to mining,” Hintgen says with a laugh.
>>www.countryboymine.com/
—Doug McPherson

Book bin Reunion recap
In Gall: Lakota Even after 28 years, these best
War Chief (University of friends continue to reconnect for
Oklahoma Press, 2007), their “every-eight-week-reunion.”
Robert Larson (BA eco- This particular gathering took place
nomics ’50, MA education on Valentine’s Day. From left: Diane
’53) provides the first-ever Stahl (BA ’80) of Denver; Lisa Shimel
scholarly biography of the (BA ’80, JD ’83) of Englewood, Colo.;
leader who fought along- Melissa (Goldman) Turner (BA ’79,
side Sitting Bull and Crazy MBA ’83) of Denver; Patty (Hill)
Horse in an effort to pre- Carter (BA ’80) of Aurora, Colo.
vent the U.S. government from annexing the Black
Hills in Wyoming and South Dakota.
Career corner
Although christened Little Cub Bear, the promi-
nent Lakota chief known most often as Gall was nick-
named “Fighting Cock of the Sioux” by U.S. soldiers.
Gall played a major part at the Battle of Little
Bighorn in 1876. Incensed by the deaths of his two Q: I was just laid off. What do I do now?
wives and three daughters—victims of a surprise
attack by U.S. forces—Gall led a charge across A: First, take time to recover from emotions such as shock, hurt, anger and disap-
pointment. Losing a job can result in a deep loss of identity in addition to a means
of financial support. People are best able to handle new situations when their emotions are
the Medicine Trail Ford to decimate Gen. George
Custer’s main forces grouped there. under control, so express and work through them.
Stay positive and focused, and move forward. Don’t hold a grudge against your boss or
According to Larson, the Lakota Sioux “were
former company, and don’t dwell on the past or try to recreate it. With shifting market con-
the most successful Indian tribe in resisting the settle-
ditions, it may be unlikely that you will find the same type of position again, so work toward
ment of their hunting grounds.”
setting aside the disappointment of the past and create a new image of what your future
The U.S. government, however, emerged vic- work could be.
torious from the Great Sioux Wars. Gall—believing Get your financial business in order. File for unemployment insurance right away, as
assimilation to be inevitable—broke with Sitting Bull, the process may take time before you see the first payment. Clear up debt and set up a bud-
his mentor, and worked to integrate his tribe into get to determine how long you can take to search for your next position. Consider whether
modern society. you need to seek temporary work immediately or are able to take time to evaluate your
Relying on six years of research, including inter- career path and hold out for the ideal new position.
views with Gall’s direct descendants, Larson traces Be prepared for a job search to take time. It can be too easy to jump into a new job out
the transformation of the The-Man-That-Goes-in- of fear. Recognize this “gap time” as an opportunity to take care of yourself, to step back and
the-Middle—Gall’s preferred nickname—from fierce reflect on what is meaningful to you in your work and in life, and to be refreshed through a
change of pace and (perhaps) lessened responsibilities, at least for a time.
warrior to pragmatic leader.
Establish a structure to your day and your job search. Schedule time to get up and
The retired history professor has earned several
begin your day, and progress in your job search each week. While it may be tempting to set
awards for Gall, including the Western Writers of
aside routines, they are essential in establishing and maintaining a job search. Once the rea-
America Spur Award for the best Western biography son to prepare yourself for the day is gone, it is easy to fall into patterns that distract from
of 2008, the Western History Association’s 2008 a disciplined job search instead of being prepared to meet with networking contacts and
Robert M. Utley Award and Westerner’s International potential employers at a moment’s notice.
Co-Founders Best Book Award for 2007. Finally, plan your job search as if it was a full-time job and you are the boss. Set daily
Larson, 82, lives in Denver. He also wrote and weekly goals that might include polishing your resumé, researching target companies,
Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux activating your network, tailoring cover letters to specific positions, and developing your
(University of Oklahoma Press, 1997) and plans a interviewing skills. Block out times to be in public interacting with professionals in person,
biography of Rain-in-the-Face, another important not simply sitting behind a computer surfing the Internet. Networking and referrals are the
Lakota leader. only way to discover untapped resources.
—Samantha Stewart
Wendy Winter-Searcy is a licensed professional counselor with a master’s degree in counseling. She is
This book is available at the DU Bookstore, assistant director at the University of Denver Career Center. She also serves on the leadership board of
www.dubookstore.com. the Colorado Career Development Association and teaches classes in career development and manage-
ment. Contact her at 303-871-2150 or wwinter@du.edu.

Matt Zuschlag (BSBA ’88) was promoted to
executive director of enterprise initiatives for
Filmmaker David Edwards SureWest Communications. A 20-year veteran

of the communications industry, Matt will
be responsible for reviewing and analyzing
Growing up in the Denver suburb acquisition opportunities and overseeing the
integration of potential acquisitions. He lives in
of Montbello, David Edwards (BA ’97),
Auburn, Calif.
president and CEO of EMotion Pictures
Productions, spent his adolescence
coveting cars and the freedom they
offered.
1990
Frank Conti (JD
Today, as the producer, writer ’90) was elected
and director of the documentary film Maricopa County
Sprawling From Grace: The Consequences of justice of the peace
Suburbanization, Edwards argues that the for the Dreamy
unchecked suburban expansion of the Draw Justice Court
past few decades has trapped Americans in northeast Phoenix
on Nov. 4, 2008.
behind the wheels of their automobiles.
Frank has been a
“Americans are not addicted to
licensed attorney in good standing since 1990,
oil,” he says. “Americans are addicted to is a former deputy public defender and has
unencumbered transportation.” served as a judge pro tempore for municipal
With contributions from numerous and justice courts throughout Maricopa
experts, Sprawling From Grace advocates County.
for a new, sustainable vision of the American dream. Rather than expanding
suburbia, the film argues that city governments should invest in mixed-use Ellie Schafer (BA ’90) of San Francisco
communities where nearby public transportation can take you anywhere that your was appointed director of the White House
own two feet can’t. Visitors Office by President Barack Obama’s
Such measures, the film argues, can assuage many of the unintended administration. Ellie worked on Obama’s
campaign advance team throughout his
consequences of suburban sprawl by reducing traffic congestion and gas emissions
candidacy and served on his transition team.
and providing individuals with a choice: continue to devote money toward car costs
Prior, she worked on campaigns for supervisors’
or channel those resources into other avenues. races and ballot measures in San Francisco.
The film has received letters of commendation from former President Bill
Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore and a Platinum Ava Award for best
documentary. Cinema Libre Studio will distribute the film on its Earth Now label. 1991
“It is my wish that through this film I can awake the stewards in all of us to Marck Beggs
kindle a vision of hope,” Edwards says. (PhD ’91) has
Edwards started EMotion Pictures in 1995 as a DU student while producing published his third
his first documentary, Witches Among Us, about alternative and pagan religions. collection of poetry,
Edwards’ comprehensive studies at DU—majoring in communications, Catastrophic Chords
(Salmon Poetry,
graphic design and digital media studies—have enabled him to run a company that
2009). He plans to
offers a multitude of services including film and video production, graphics and
travel to Ireland to
animation, postproduction, and Web and CD-ROM development. give readings in Galway and Dublin. Marck’s
“It’s made me a better producer because you really need to round yourself out folk-rock band, Dog Gods, self-released a debut
to have a clear vision of how things come together,” Edwards says of his education. album, I am large; I contain multitudes. He works
Although corporate projects have been the bread and butter of EMotion for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia,
Pictures, Edwards has retained his zeal for documentary film. Ark., as an English professor and dean of the
“I’m a political person and a passionate person about my ideas,” Edwards says. graduate school.
“Through documentary film we are able to open new avenues and make people
more inquisitive. I think I am doing something that has meaning.”
Edwards has two projects in the works, the documentary Justice in Uganda: 1993
Susan (Ammer) Helmerich (BA ’93) earned
Dancing Without Music, which examines the root causes of genocide and civil war
her LPGA Class A certification in spring 2008.
in Africa, and his debut feature film narrative, The Ship, which he describes as The
In December, she was named general manager
Sandlot meets ET. of Arrowhead Golf Club in Littleton, Colo.
—Samantha Stewart Susan resides in Centennial, Colo.

Rancher Brian Thompson
When Brian Thompson
Wayne Armstrong
(IMBA ’99) needs to unwind,
he drags a lawn chair out to the
middle of his paddock, kicks back,
pulls down his hat and enjoys the
peaceful milling of his herd of …
alpacas.
That’s right. Alpacas.
“They’re just magnificent
animals,” Thompson says. “They’re
so calming to be around.”
Thompson owns and
operates the Tres Amigos alpaca
ranch with his wife, Nancy. The
ranch—with a sweeping view of
Pikes Peak—occupies 37 acres
of rolling grassland speckled
with stands of Gambel oak and
ponderosa.
The 7,100-foot setting is
almost perfect for alpacas—a
domesticated animal from the
high Andes raised primarily for
their fiber, which is used for
knitted and woven items.
Thompson bought his ranch 10 years ago after finishing his master’s degree. He had been working full time and going to school
full time and suddenly had a lot less to do. He was restless.
So, he bought some ranchland 15 miles south of Franktown, Colo. On weekends, he would head to the ranch—just open space at
that point—and “whack at weeds with a sickle.”
The Thompsons eventually built a house, and, wanting to keep the land’s agricultural designation for tax purposes, looked into
adding livestock to their family of three people (including daughter Lindsey), three birds and three dogs.
First they considered buying calves. But, they were afraid they’d get too attached. Then they thought of llamas. They settled on
alpacas because, Thompson says, “alpacas are smaller, they’re cuter, and they’re easier to handle.” They bought their first three alpacas
in 2000 and Tres Amigos was born.
Today there are 57 alpacas at the ranch (including 20 boarded there by another owner), along with a couple of horses and a fat
barn cat—a favorite friend to curious baby alpacas. Thompson raises breeding stock and also sells the alpacas’ fiber after their annual
shearing.
The 90-year-old cattle rancher on the neighboring spread has taught Thompson the ranching ropes. “I’m his city slicker project,”
says Thompson, who grew up in Madison, Wis. Although alpacas are “fairly easy keepers,” Thompson spends at least two hours a day
caring for his land and livestock in addition to working full time from home as a program manager for Avaya, a global communications
technology company.
Before working in the private sector, Thompson was an Army language specialist stationed at a listening post in Cold War-era
Berlin. Although he doesn’t get to use his foreign language skills much in his current job, he practices on the alpacas, even giving some
of them Hungarian or Russian names: Laszlo, Voltan, Yuri and Dimitri. Then there’s Audrey—named after Audrey Hepburn—a cocoa-
colored, doe-eyed alpaca who follows Thompson around like a lovesick puppy. And there’s Cupid (born on Valentine’s Day), Satchmo,
Morgan, Sebastian, Cutty (for the whisky) and the rest of the gang, all with distinct personalities. Thompson can recognize each, and
he loves them all.
Alpacas, he says, are a “huggable investment.”
>>www.tresamigosranch.com
—Chelsey Baker-Hauck

Pioneer pics
Surgeon Ruth Nauts
Courtesy of Ruth Nauts

Paul Kuscher-Dapena (BSBA ’97) of
Rockville, Md., stands in front of the Perito Ruth Nauts (EMBA ’01) is optimistic about the future of
Moreno Glacier in El Calafate, Argentina. The health care in America. That’s rather comforting given that she
photo was taken while Paul was hiking through intimately knows the challenges ahead thanks to her dual roles as
Patagonia on a family vacation last year. an orthopedic surgeon and as a medical business administrator.
As you Nauts works for Kaiser Permanente and, in April, she
pioneer lands became the regional orthopedic department chief for Kaiser’s
far and wide, be Colorado practices. This is just the latest step in a journey that
sure to pack your has taken Nauts into both operating rooms and board rooms of
DU gear and various Colorado medical enterprises.
Nauts says she enjoys medicine because she likes “hands-on fixing things.” That instinct to
strike a pose in
fix things also inspired Nauts to pursue a business degree at the University of Denver.
front of a national
“The health care issues that Hillary Clinton was bringing to the fore made me realize that
monument, the
some of us in medicine needed to understand business language and processes,” she says, add-
fourth wonder of ing that the experience gave her a new perspective on health care.
the world or your “I thought health care should look like a not-for-profit, multi-specialty medical community
hometown hot big enough to support a technology infrastructure so that we could all communicate. I looked
spot. If we print around and said, ‘Wow, I just described Kaiser!’”
your submission, Not long after that epiphany, Nauts left private practice to join Kaiser. She also has worked
you’ll receive some new DU paraphernalia with other hospitals in the area to share her medical/business perspective, and she’s joined the
courtesy of the DU Bookstore. board of the Colorado Health Foundation.
Send your print or high-resolution digital “Ruth has continued to take on roles that look at medicine in a much broader view rather
image and a description of the location to: than the narrowly structured practice of medicine,” says Wagner Schorr, a retired nephrologist
who has known Nauts for 25 years. “With all her business background, she understands both
Pioneer Pics, University of Denver Magazine,
sides of the equation.”
2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208, or
Nauts is optimistic for the future of health care, but she also is realistic.
e-mail du-magazine@du.edu. Be sure to include
“We do have millions without any coverage and no way to afford what American health
your full name, address, degree(s) and year(s) of care can provide,” she says. “That part is very sad. There won’t be any easy answers.”
graduation. —Janalee Card Chmel
Contact us
Tell us about your Name (include maiden name)
career and personal DU degree(s) and graduation year(s)
accomplishments, awards, Address
births, life events or
City
whatever else is keeping
State ZIP code Country
you busy. Do you support
Phone Fax
a cause? Do you have
E-mail
any hobbies? Did you just
return from a vacation? Let Employer Occupation
us know! Don’t forget to What have you been up to? (Use a separate sheet if necessary.)
send a photo. (Include a
self-addressed, postage-paid
envelope if you would like Question of the hour: Which academic quarter was your favorite—fall, winter, spring or summer—and why?
your photo returned.)
Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail your note to: Class Notes,
University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816.
1995 Tracy Houston (MLA ’96, MLS ’96) was
honored during the annual Celebrate
as a partner. Kenneth specializes in advising
investment banks, broker-dealers and hedge
Melissa Reeves Women event on Nov. 14, 2008. Tracy and funds on legal issues related to the purchase
(MA ’95, PhD ’98) her fellow honorees were recognized for and sale of domestic and international par and
of Huntersville, their contributions to family, community distressed assets. He also advises clients on
S.C., co-authored and the workplace. She is the interim chair corporate and security matters.
her first book, for the nonprofit International Center for
Identifying, Assessing Appropriate and Sustainable Technology.
and Treating PTSD
at School (Springer,
Tracy lives in Lakewood, Colo. 1999
Heidi (Flammang) Ganahl (MHS ’99)
2008). Melissa is a Henry “Hank” Thiess (MBA ’96) is the gen- joined the advisory board of the University
school psychologist and adjunct lecturer at eral manager of Wintergreen Resort, located of Colorado Leeds School of Business.
Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. She in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Prior, he Heidi is the founder and CEO of Camp
also conducts workshops for school districts worked as the president and general manager Bow Wow, the largest dog day care and
and educational associations across the of Durango Mountain Resort in Durango, boarding franchise in North America. Prior
country. Colo., and as the vice president of resort to founding Camp Bow Wow in 2000, she
operations for Keystone Resort in Keystone, had a career in pharmaceutical sales. Heidi
1996 Colo. Hank lives in Charlottesville, Va.,

with his wife, Mary Ann, and his daughters,
lives in Boulder, Colo.
Donald Baldridge (MBA ’96) of Englewood, Mikaela and Madalyn. Aaron Huey (BFA ’99) of Seattle is a photog-
Colo., has been appointed vice president of rapher for National Geographic Adventure and
business development for DCP Midstream. National Geographic Traveler and works as a free-
He has more than 16 years of experience in
the energy industry, including commercial,
1998 lancer for dozens of other publications. The
Marcus Deitz (JD ’98) of Spring, Texas, was December 2008 issue of Smithsonian magazine
trading and business development activities. named partner in the Andrews Kurth law featured Aaron’s photographs documenting
Prior, Don served as vice president of firm. Marcus practices public law with a focus Pakistan’s Sufi culture. His next assignment
corporate development. in public finance. Kenneth Rothenberg will take him on an extended trip to Yemen.
(JD ’00) of New York City will join Marcus
St. Louis
Connect with your local DU alumni chapter.
minneapolis/St. Paul
Just moved to a new city and don’t know anyone?
Need to expand your professional network? Want
to attend fun events and make new friends, or phoenix
reconnect with old ones? Then we invite you to
get involved in your local alumni chapter!
Washington, D.C.
DU currently has chapters in 9 cities
across the country:
Atlanta, Ga. New York, N.Y. boston
Boston, Mass. Phoenix, Ariz.
Chicago, Ill. St. Louis, Mo.
Dallas, Texas Washington, D.C.
dallas
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
chicago
To find out how you can get involved with your local chapter, please call the
Office of Alumni Relations at 800-871-3822 or visit www.du.edu/alumni/
new york
chapters.

Catherine “Katie” (Blair) Noftsger (BSBA Aylene Quale (BA ’00) of Denver is a a country officer, Elshad opened a media
’99) married Benjamin Noftsger on July 9, transportation and special projects manager for center that offers journalistic training. Prior,
2008, in Eureka Springs, Ark. The couple the Downtown Denver Partnership. During Elshad worked as a media consultant for the
resides in Tulsa, Okla., where Katie works the Democratic National Convention in International Journalist Network.
as a production manager for PennWell and August 2008 she managed the Get Downtown
Benjamin works for Spirit Aerosystems. Unconventionally program, which focused on Michael Lavine (BA ’03) and Emily
getting individuals to use alternate forms of (Nystrom) Lavine (BSBA ’04) welcomed
Mark Willis (JD ’99) of Littleton, Colo., was transportation. their son William on Dec. 16, 2008. The
elected a partner in the firm Kutak Rock. Mark family resides in St. Paul, Minn.
conducts a commercial litigation practice with
an emphasis on real estate, lender and credi- 2001 Anne (Coshow) Weium (MT ’03) married
tors’ rights and construction, bad-faith and Kevin Robinson (BSBA ’01) is the general John Weium in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 18,
insurance coverage litigation. manager of the Elysian Hotel Chicago. Prior, 2008. The couple resides in Denver, where
Kevin worked for the Four Seasons Hotel Anne works for the Newmont Mining Corp.
Co. for four years, most recently as the hotel and John attends law school.
2000 manager of the Alexandria, Egypt, property.
Phil Anson (BA ’00) of Boulder, Colo., is the He is married and has three children.
founder of Phil’s Fresh Foods, which makes 2004
burritos. Phil started his company in 2002, Alysia Kline (MS ’04, MBA ’04) of Denver
selling his handmade burritos to rock climbers 2002 started the business Outdoor DIVAS, a
in Eldorado Canyon. Phil’s Fresh Foods James Dewhirst (BA ’02) of Santa Barbara, specialty retailer geared toward active women.
now sells its burritos to 1,500 food stores Calif., won the grand prize in the 2009 Photo Outdoor DIVAS has store locations in
nationwide and in the cafeterias of the Boulder Imaging Education Association International Boulder, Colo., on the Pearl Street Mall, and
Valley and Jefferson County school districts. Student-Teacher Photo Competition. James’s in the Cherry Creek North shopping district
entry won in the Best Computer Assisted of Denver.
Nancy Barraclough-Southcott (MSW ’00) Image by a University Student category. He
works as a manager for the United Kingdom’s is pursuing a master’s of fine arts degree from
National Health Service. Nancy is a mother the Brooks Institute. 2005
to 1-year-old Hope and 18-year-old Zach. She Lisa Bradley (MBA ’05) of Denver and
enjoys photography and traveling throughout her husband, John, are the proud parents of
Europe with her family. She resides in 2003 Noah. Their son was born on Sept. 10, 2008,
Portishead, United Kingdom. Elshad Farzaliyev (MA ’03) works for weighing 5 pounds, 4 ounces.
International Media Support as a country
officer in Baku, Azerbaijan. In his role as
Deaths 1960s
Tamra Tate (BA ’62, MA ’73), Denver, 11-14-08
F. “Morris” Johnson (EdD ’63), Loveland, Colo., 8-29-08
1930s Diana Whitfield (BA ’63), Fairfax Station, Va., 12-31-08
Edwyna (Richards) Rinne (BA ’37), Denver, 1-28-09 John Kershaw (BA ’65), Albion, Mich., 8-4-08
Harold Van Horn (MA ’65, PhD ’68), Mercer Island, Wash., 10-29-08
1940s Howard Dennis (MA ’67), Denver, 12-19-08
Clara (Lee) Lambrecht (BA ’40), Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 9-13-08
Henry Stanford (MS ’43), Americus, Ga., 1-1-09 1970s
Stanley Brown (BS ’47), Kansas City, Mo., 4-1-08 George Morrison (attd. 1967–70), Schenectady, N.Y., 11-12-08
Florence Goldhammer (BA ’47), Denver, 2-21-08 George Bassett (BA ’73), Coral Gables, Fla., 6-11-08
Gilbert “Gib” Frye (BS ’48), Centennial, Colo., 11-16-08 Michael O’Connell (BSBA ’78), Westminster, Colo., 10-2-08
Marion (Stearns) White (attd. 1947–48), Denver, 1-21-09
Eleanor Yelvington (MBA ’48), Clarendon Hills, Ill., 9-21-07 1980s
John Fritts (BS ’49), Allenspark, Colo., 10-1-08 Tamra Burgwardt (BA ’81), Buffalo, N.Y., 1-30-09
Gary Fukayama (MBA ’83), Fountain Hills, Ariz., 10-6-08
1950s Craig Chamness (attd. 1986–88), Escondido, Calif., 8-20-08
Thomas Quinn (BS ’50), Denver, 3-9-08 Robin Birky (BA ’89), Valparaiso, Ind., 8-29-08
Robert Johnson (JD ’51), Colorado Springs, Colo., 10-26-08
Barbara (Goldberg) Berry (BA ’52), Macungie, Pa., 9-29-08 1990s
Gunni Karrby (BA ’53), no date given, Goteborg, Sweden Patrick Jean-Pierre (MA ’98), Woodmere, N.Y., 12-12-08
Miroslav “Michael” Slama (MA ’54), Thousand Oaks, Calif., 11-30-08
Arlyce (Kjelbertson) Milburn (BS ’59), Bartlesville, Okla., 12-5-08 Students
Lauren Johnson, international studies graduate student, Vancouver, Wash.,
1-5-09
?
Terrance Carroll (JD ’05) of Denver was Keri Herman (BSBA ’05) placed fourth in
elected speaker of the Colorado House of the women’s slopestyle skiing competition
Representatives on Nov. 6, 2008. He is the at the 2009 Winter X Games. Keri lives and
first African-American to hold this position trains in Breckenridge, Colo.
in Colorado. Terrance served as the assistant
House majority leader during 2007. He is also
an attorney with Greenberg Traurig and is an 2007 Which alum is a retired Air Force
ordained minister. Matthias Edrich (IMBA ’07, JD ’07) joined
the Ohio-based law firm Peck, Shaffer & colonel who once worked in Bosnia?
Williams as an attorney in its Denver office.
He advises governmental, nonprofit and The answer can be found somewhere
corporate borrowers, issuers, underwriters
on pages 46–58 of this issue. Send your
and banks in all matters concerning bond
financings and public finance law. answer to du-magazine@du.edu or
University of Denver Magazine, 2199 S.
Christina Mengert (PhD ’07) of Stone University Blvd, Denver, CO 80208-4816.
Ridge, N.Y., compiled the book 12x12: Be sure to include your full name and
Jeff Grabner (BSBA ’05) of Chagrin Falls, Conversations in 21st Century Poetry and Poetics mailing address. We’ll select a winner
Ohio, operates his family business, Cardinal (University of Iowa Press, 2009) with Joshua
from the correct entries; the winning
Fastener, as the wind product manager. The Wilkinson. Christina’s poems and reviews
company is the largest supplier of fasteners have appeared in Web Conjunctions, the Denver entry will win a prize courtesy of the DU
used to transport, erect and stabilize wind Quarterly, Afugabe and the New Review of Bookstore.
turbines. Jeff credits his DU education with Literature. She teaches writing and literature at
helping him to succeed in the fast-paced wind the University of Colorado at Boulder and in Congratulations to Debbie Stapert
energy industry. Jeff (pictured on right) and UCLA’s writers’ extension program.
(BBA ’96) for winning the spring issue’s
his family had the pleasure of meeting Barack
Obama four days before his inauguration. Post your class note online at www.alumni.du.edu, pop quiz.
e-mail du-magazine@du.edu or mail in the form on
page 57.
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involved, call the Office of Alumni Relations at 800- (June 25–27) and Annie (July 16-18) in the Margery
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OLLI DU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a Denver Pridefest Alumni are invited to help
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learning in the company of like-minded peers. Center Park.
Members select the topics to be explored and share >>denverpridefest.org
their expertise and interests while serving as teach- >>www.du.edu/cme/lgbtiqa
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Alumni Symposium Take part in a weekend
learning experience on campus during the third
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send us your ideas. We would especially like to hear and friends.
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Miscellanea
Bulletproof art
Charles Perry of Helena,

Mont., designed this
sculpture, located next to
Penrose Library, in 1973
at the behest of Penrose
architect Gyo Obata,
who commissioned the
work. Perry titled this
classic piece of 1970s
geometric abstraction
Bullet Proof Campus Art as
a joke, purportedly because
someone, fearful of criticism
from the students, advised
Perry to design something
“bulletproof.”
Wayne Armstrong

2009 Summer: University of Denver Magazine

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Summer 2009

Our Wild West

— c hancelloR R obeRt c oombe

2 University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009

26 Colorado’s College War

40 At Home on the Range

of blue-ribbon biscuits baked for the county fair; Publisher

my dad during black powder season; waking up to Editors

Laura Hathaway (’10)

Printed on 10% PCW recycled paper

The University of Denver Magazine (USPS 022-177) is

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Four Corners able to relive, remi- I was delighted to see the

University of Denver Magazine Letters 5

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University of Denver Magazine Update 7

Peter Groff’s (JD ’92) final days as president of

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

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top 100 Joe Brown, mass comm and

University of Denver Magazine Update 9

DU has created a skiing dynasty.

continue the legacy is pretty sweet.”

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25,062 and dramatically increases during

University of Denver Magazine Update 11

Rock Albums is an annoyance. But for many students in Uganda,

around the world are helping.

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The course “made me realize just how

University of Denver Magazine Update 13

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University of Denver Magazine Update 15

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Illustration by Carl Dalio

Volleyball and women’s tennis teams recognized for

University of Denver Magazine Update 17

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University of Denver Magazine Update 19

for more information, ViSit reCreation.DU.eDU/YoUnGaLUm

09.Recreation_halfpage_Ad_Summer.v2.indd 1 3/27/2009 1:03:06 PM

Business students take top honors in national competition

University of Denver Magazine Update 21

Q What does your institute do to promote

A We address fundamental land use, transportation policy and

Q The history of the West is rich with stories of indepen-

A The history of the West actually is as much about compro-

Q It’s been said that Americans favor sustainable practices

A It’s true for many of us. We’re willing to do a few convenient

Q What are the three most important sustainable prac-

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University of Denver Magazine Update 23

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Colorado’s College War

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Denver Post, Nov. 6, 1919. Page 8

University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009 29

T. Stardust remembers the looks of disbelief.

University of Denver Magazine Summer 2009 31

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