New! Teri Bokn, New Executive Assistant

It is our great pleasure to introduce to you the new Executive Assistant to the Dean, Teri Lynn Bokn, who started her duties on Tuesday. Teri has recently had a two year foray into police dispatch work at the Anschutz Medical Campus, but she feels she has now returned to her true calling in academic administrative work.

From 2001 to 2006 she served as the Executive Assistant to the President at Metro State College of Denver, as well as the Assistant Secretary to the Board of our sister institution; consequently, she brings a wealth of experience that is highly relevant to her new role here. Her undergraduate degree is in Criminal Justice and Criminology.

In addition to providing support to the Dean, Teri will be responsible for scheduling for the Dean, office and facilities management, internal communication and meeting planning. The next time you're in the Dean’s Office, please take a moment to introduce yourself.

Teri can be reached at 303-556-2624 or via email.

New! Dr. Mei-Chu Hsiao is Retiring

All CLAS Faculty and Staff are invited to celebrate 30 years of Professor Hsiao's outstanding scholarship, teaching and service at the University of Colorado Denver. The reception will be held on Friday, May 2 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm in the Zenith Room on the 6th floor of the Tivoli Student Union. For more information and to RSVP, please email Christine Lukvec. (invitation)

New! Payroll Advice Change

A reminder to faculty and staff that beginning April 1, PBS will no longer print and mail payroll advices to employees.  Instead, this information will be available online through the campus web portal.

Employees who would like to continue receiving payroll advices through the mail should submit a Payroll Advice Opt-in Request form to PBS prior to the W-4/Direct Deposit paperwork due date for the current payroll period.  Any paperwork received after the due date will be processed for the next pay period.

New! Extended Studies Course Proposals

Due June 1
The CLAS Extended Studies program is taking off.  The Task Force is drafting working policy to recommend to the Dean.  Please submit  your D3 course proposals for Fall 2008 by June 1 to be included in a centralized advertising effort. Contact Kuan-Yi Rose Chang for detailed information.

New! International College at Beijing Wants your Extra Books

The International College at Beijing would like our extra copies of textbooks, or desk copies, (2000 and newer editions) for their students. All books of all disciplines are welcome.  

Please send them to the attention of E.J. Yoder in the Office of International Education (Campus Box 185) and she will arrange for a shipment to ICB.

New! CLAS Research Innovation Seed Program (CRISP) Award Winners Announced

Congratulations go to the following faculty who were awarded CRISP Grants:

Dr. David Albeck, Psychology
"Loss of Negativity Bias in the Aged Brain: Hormonal Effects"

Dr. Elizabeth Allen, Psychology
"Sociocultural Determinants of Male Infidelity, Partner Knowledge, and Condom Use"

Dr. Paula Fomby, Sociology
"A Pilot Study: Children's Behavior in a Two-Way Immersion Program in Denver Public Schools"

Dr. Lisa Johansen, Biology
"Characterization of a Three-Gene Family: New Players in Arabidopsis Gene Regulation"

Dr. Hai Lin, Chemistry
"Ion Solvation and Transport in Aqueous Solutions for Combined QM/MM Simulations"

Dr. Jan Mandel, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
"Continued Funding for Wildland Fires Project"

Dr. Timberley Roane, Biology
"Genomic Elucidation of a New Species of Bacteria, Pseudomonas sp."

Dr. Ronica Rooks, Health and Behavioral Sciences
"The Role of Community Environment in Explaining Racial Disparities in Chronic Conditions in Black and White Older Adults in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study"

Dr. Barbara Walkosz, Communication
"Sun Safe Workplaces: A Campaign on Sun Protection Policies for Outdoor Workers"

Dr. Buhong Zheng, Economics
"Do Great Walls Lead to Greater House Values? An Impact Study of Residential Fence Replacement Programs in the Denver Metro Area."

New! CLAS Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Awardees Announced

Congratulations go to the following students:

Luke Bollwerk, Psychology
"Exploring the effect of goal priming on sensitive questions"
Faculty Sponsor: Elizabeth Allen

Jamie Carpio, Anthropology
"Determining bone utility and effectiveness as tools: termite extraction at Lake Manyara, Tanzania during the dry season in Tanzania"
Faculty Sponsor: Tiffany Terneny

Russell Deitrick, Physics
"Active Galactic Nuclei Survey at Optical Frequencies"
Faculty Sponsor: Alberto Sadun

Colby Fees and Helen Roh, Biology
"The Cancer Causing SRC Protein Binding to Lipid PA"
Faculty Sponsor: Brad Stith

Brittany Jones, English
"Nature, Nationalism and 'Sir Gawain & the Green Knight'"
Faculty Sponsor: Nancy Ciccone

Jonathan Levy, Chemistry
"Theoretical Modeling for Alcohol Binding to LUSH"
Faculty Sponsor: Hai Lin

Dustin Neel, Geography/Environmental Sciences
"Identification of the Cpx Cadmium-Resistance Mechanism in Bacteria from Metal-Contaminated Soils"
Faculty Sponsor: Timberley Roane

Sergei Prokopov, John Fox, Rachael Boice, David Ragsdale, Philosophy
"If I Could, I Would"
Faculty Sponsor: Candice Shelby

Angela Shultz, Biology
"Reproductive Biology in a Rare Colorado Endemic"
Faculty Sponsor: Leo Bruederle

Sara Sirivanchai, Biology
"Expression patterns of male germline specific promoters in Arabidopsis thaliana"
Faculty Sponsor: Michele Engel

CLAS in the Spotlight

Jana Everett, Chair and Professor of Political Science, was interviewed on KGNU Thursday, Apr. 3 regarding whether it is important for the US to have a female president now.

Mari Marsico, a psychology student who is graduating this spring, was highlighted on CBS Channel 4 News on April 8 for her undergraduate research project on “The Impact of Exercise on the Self-Esteem, Coping Skills and Wellness Choices of Single-Parent Females.”  She received an award last week at the Research and Creative Activities Symposium. 

Associate Dean Tammy Stone has been selected for the position of Commencement Faculty Marshal. Her appointment is an initial two-year term, beginning with the December 2008 commencement. The designation of Commencement Faculty Marshal is one of the highest honors to be given to a senior faculty member. (Read about it in Network)

Greg Cronin, Associate Professor of Biology, invited Steve Wilton, the Deputy Director of the Climate Group under Vice President Al Gore, to his BIOL 5445 Applied Environmental Biology class on April 8. Wilton spoke about “Global Warming” (aka ‘Global Weirding’) and changing attitudes and businesses to reduce carbon emissions.

Diana Tomback, Professor of Biology, was awarded a $5000 grant through the Rocky Mountain National Park Service Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit, in partnership with Yellowstone National Park. This grant partly funds a study of changes in seed dispersal activities of Clark's nutcracker across four Rocky Mountain national parks. Nutcrackers are the primary seed disperser for whitebark pine, which is declining rapidly from the blister rust pathogen and mountain pine beetle outbreaks.

Brad Stith, Professor of Biology, recently traveled to Northern Michigan University, where he gave a talk on his research program, emphasizing how small research labs can compete with those at larger institutions, as well as the value of an undergraduate research experience. He summarized studies showing improvement in student understanding of biological concepts and thinking skills. Brad also met with faculty and administrators to discuss how to establish successful undergraduate-based research programs.

A 2004 Denver Writing Project alum and Willow Creek Elementary teacher and writer Molly Toussant is one of four finalists for a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) in the Feature Article-Adult Learning category for an article published on the National Writing Project's (NWP) website last fall. The final winners will be announced at a banquet in Washington, D.C., on
Friday, June 6. NWP has awarded Molly an all-expenses-paid trip to D.C. to attend the banquet.

REMINDERS: Important College Due Dates

June 1 : Extended Studies Course Proposals for Fall 2008 are due to Kuan-yi Rose Chang.                                                                      

Events

Urban Sites Annual Conference:
Reading and Writing for Understanding and Social Change in the Urban Classroom
Friday and Saturday, Apr. 25-26
Sponsored by the Denver Writing Project
(More information)

CLAS Annual Dean's Awards Reception
Friday, Apr. 25
1:30 - 4:00 pm
Terrace Room, 2nd Floor, Lawrence Street Center
(Invitation)

Colorado History Day
Saturday, May 3
North Classroom
(More information)

Computational Mathematics Colloquium
Brad A. Bendiak, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine
Monday, May 5
11:00 - 12:00 pm
CU Building, Room 626
Title: "Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: conversion of multidimensional time-domain data to a correlated frequency"

IN THIS ISSUE:

New Executive Asst

Mei-Chu Hsiao Retires

Payroll Advice Change

Extended Studies

Book Donations for ICB

CRISP Awards Announced

UROP Awards Announced

CLAS in the Spotlight

Reminders

Events

ARCHIVES:

Past issues since Jan 21, 2007.

USEFUL LINKS:

CLAS Event Calendar

CLAS News

Faculty Resources

Staff Resources

Campus News

The CLAS Deans' Notes is a weekly newsletter
for college faculty and staff.

EDITOR:

Katy Brown
303.556.6663
Katy.Brown @cudenver.edu