News

What is 鈥榳oke鈥�? Who knows?

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 19 May 2025 13:30:00 +0000

What is 鈥榳oke鈥�? Who knows? Rachel Sauer Mon, 05/19/2025 - 07:30

Bradley Worrell

麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew鈥檚 search for an answer to that question finds that Barbie is, book banning isn鈥檛, and that female Democrats are more likely than male Democrats to be seen as 鈥榳oke鈥�

Is Chick-fil-A 鈥渨oke鈥�?

Seeing that question posted on Twitter (now X.com) back in 2023 made Benjamin VanDreew ponder: Who decides what qualifies as 鈥渨oke鈥�?

鈥淚 was on Twitter, and for whatever reason, trending that day was the question: Had Chick-fil-A gone woke?鈥� says VanDreew, then an undergraduate at Utah Valley University and now a 麻豆免费版下载 PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science studying American politics. 鈥淪eeing that post made me question: Is there a cohesive definition for woke? Or is it just kind of an anything-and-everything term?

麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew was inspired to research wokeness after seeing a post on X and wondering, "Is there a cohesive definition for woke? Or is it just kind of an anything-and-everything term?"

鈥淚 really wanted to put the term to the test, because I think having specific definitions鈥攅specially in politics, when people are throwing around buzzwords鈥攊s incredibly important,鈥� he adds.

鈥淭he term woke seems like it鈥檚 taken on a life of its own, so I don鈥檛 think anybody has felt the need to elaborate on it or explain it themselves. And if everything can just be tossed onto the pile of what the word means (definitionally), to me it makes the word have less meaning.鈥�

In the absence of any widely recognized definition for woke, VanDreew says he was inspired to investigate how average Americans determine what constitutes 鈥渨oke.鈥� To do so, he and his coauthors commissioned a polling firm to query a demographic sampling of people nationwide about their own definitions of woke by asking them to choose between a series of two lists, with each list containing one political party, one sexual orientation, one gender group, one religious group, one political figure, one historical event, one profession, one higher education institution, one political movement and one political policy.

Those responses were then coded by whether the respondents self-identified as Republican, Democrat or independent and conservative, moderate or progressive.

The authors detailed their findings in the article 鈥�What鈥檚 woke? Ordinary Americans鈥� understandings of wokeness,鈥� recently published in the journal Research and Politics.

Who (and what) made the 鈥榳oke鈥� list

Politicians who appeared on the selection lists for survey respondents to consider included President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, former congressman Matt Gaetz, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Specific groups included Antifa, Black Lives Matter, the Ku Klux Klan, Moms for Liberty and the Proud Boys, while specific policies included affirmative action, book bans, pro-life, pro-choice, aid for Ukraine, aid for Israel and admitting fewer immigrants.

鈥淲e tried to pick people and things that our survey respondents would be aware of by keeping choices as modern as possible,鈥� VanDreew explains of the survey list selections.

He says forced choices resulted in some interesting decisions when survey respondents had to decide what constituted woke. For example, Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi were deemed woke by respondents, while Biden and Schumer were not鈥攅ven though all four are Democrats who share similar politics. That鈥檚 likely because Republicans, in particular, tend to associate gender (particularly female) with wokeness, he adds.

Meanwhile, survey respondents placed Trump firmly in the anti-woke camp, but not Desantis鈥攅ven though he made crusading against woke a part of his failed presidential campaign (famously stating that his home state of Florida is 鈥渨here woke goes to die.鈥�) VanDreew says while it鈥檚 not clear why Desantis did not score higher as anti-woke, it may be that part of his messaging did not resonate with survey respondents.

Left: Protestors at a Jan. 20, 2018, march in Calgary, Canada (Photo: Joslyn MacPherson/Wikimedia Commons); right: President Donald Trump speaks during the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference. (Photo: Hermann Tertsch and Victor Gonzalez/Wikimedia Commons)

When it came to evaluating groups and policies, respondents deemed the Civil Rights movement, Black Lives Matter, lesbians and being pro-choice as being woke, while Republicans, Proud Boys, the KKK, book bans, aid to Israel and admitting fewer immigrants were judged as being anti-woke.

鈥淲e were able to see that partisanship does show up across a lot of these things as far as, if something more associated with the Democratic Party, it鈥檚 more likely to be viewed as woke, and if it was Republican-associated it would be viewed as less woke. Also, things that are associated with feminism or LGBTQ are more likely to be considered woke, and things that are conservative related to gender and race were seen more as anti-woke,鈥� VanDreew says.

Reviewing the survey results, VanDreew says there was actually a fair amount of agreement between Republicans and Democrats on specific areas of what was deemed woke, as Democrats joined Republicans and independents in identifying certain individuals, groups and causes as woke.

鈥淲hat was different was the connotation as to whether they viewed woke as a negative or a positive. It鈥檚 an interesting thing that they agreed but also completely disagreed on certain subjects,鈥� he says.

Meanwhile, independents as a whole had much less consistent views, tracking more closely with Democrats when it comes to some considerations, while more closely aligning with Republicans on others, he adds. In particular, independents were generally in agreement with Republicans regarding gender issues, which suggests that the political right has been especially successful in reframing gender progressivism as woke, the authors state in their paper.

Other survey responses showed that those polled generally don鈥檛 generally consider the religions, careers or products/companies listed in the survey as especially woke or anti-woke鈥攚ith one major exception: Barbie.

In late 2023, around the same time respondents were surveyed, the movie Barbie debuted and was recognized for addressing gender and stereotyping issues, which may account for the fact that Barbie placed in the woke category, VanDreew says.

Today鈥檚鈥榳oke鈥� is different than yesterday鈥檚鈥榳oke鈥�

"For the sake of voters, we need politicians on both sides to do a better job about transparency when it comes to woke or other buzzwords, and what they鈥檙e platforming."

Based upon the survey results, VanDreew says there are some conclusions that can be drawn about woke. First, the term has undergone a radical transformation in recent years.

鈥淲oke is typically attributed to coming about during the Civil Rights movement, as kind of a discrete way for people to show support for the struggle. It may not have been just the word woke by itself, but it could be terms like 鈥榮tay woke,鈥欌€� he says.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where it started, and I would say that definition stuck until more modern times, when we鈥檝e seen it take on a completely different context, which is a confusing and not well-organized context.鈥�

Second, research suggests some on the political right have co-opted the term and used it to include anything deemed politically correct, liberal or 鈥渁nti-American,鈥� VanDreew says. Despite this conceptual stretching, however, the term remains linked to social justice, he adds.

At the same time, research shows that how ordinary Americans view woke as a whole remains unclear. Given that the research paper determined there are implied meanings and associations with woke鈥攂ut not a clearly spelled-out definition鈥擵anDreew says it reinforces his belief that politicians on either side of the woke issue owe it to their constituents to explain exactly what they mean when they use the word.

鈥淔or the sake of voters, we need politicians on both sides to do a better job about transparency when it comes to woke or other buzzwords, and what they鈥檙e platforming,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think a better understanding of the word (woke) as it鈥檚 used by people in power would only help us as a country. That was my only intention here. I didn鈥檛 come at this (topic) trying to be polarizing in any direction; I just came at it with a question and the data led to the published results.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about political science? Show your support.

麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD candidate Benjamin VanDreew鈥檚 search for an answer to that question finds that Barbie is, book banning isn鈥檛, and that female Democrats are more likely than male Democrats to be seen as 鈥榳oke.'

Traditional

White

India and Pakistan once again step back from the brink

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 16 May 2025 16:44:25 +0000

India and Pakistan once again step back from the brink Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/16/2025 - 10:44

Rachel Sauer

麻豆免费版下载Boulder historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent tensions between the two nations, incited by the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir, are the latest in an ongoing cycle

When a gunman opened fire April 22 on domestic tourists in Pahalgam, a scenic Himalayan hill station in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing 26 people, the attack ignited days of deadly drone attacks, airstrikes and shelling between India and Pakistan that escalated to a perilous brink last weekend.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire Saturday evening diffused the mounting violence between the two nuclear-armed nations that increasingly seemed on a trajectory toward war. It was the latest in a string of escalations spanning many decades between India and Pakistan, which invariably led to the question: Why does this keep happening?

麻豆免费版下载Boulder historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent conflict between India and Pakistan is part of a broader history that includes not only religion, but water, maps and territorial integrity.

Lucy Chester, an associate professor in the 麻豆免费版下载 Department of History and the International Affairs Program, has studied the region and relations between the two nations for many years; her first book, Borders and Conflict in South Asia, explores the drawing of the boundary between India and Pakistan in 1947.

Despite President Donald Trump鈥檚 assertion that the origins of the conflict date back a thousand years, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not the case,鈥� Chester says. 鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 mainly about Kashmir, with some additional issues at play this time around that changed the dynamics a bit.鈥�

When more than a century of British colonial rule of India ended in August 1947, the Indian subcontinent was divided into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan鈥攁 bloody, devastating event known as Partition. An estimated 15 million people were displaced and an estimated 1 to 2 million died as a result of violence, hunger, suicide or disease.

The first Indo-Pakistani war ignited two months after Partition, in October 1947, over the newly formed Pakistan鈥檚 fear that the Hindu maharaja of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu would align with India. The Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971 and the the Kargil War of 1999 followed, as well as other conflicts, standoffs and skirmishes.

Chester addressed these and other issues in a recent conversation with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.

Question: These decades of conflict are often framed as Hindu-Muslim conflict; is that not the case?

Chester: There鈥檚 an older dynamic of Hindu-Muslim tension that definitely plays a role in this, but a significant aspect of the conflict over Kashmir is a conflict over water, which is really important. It has to do specifically with Kashmir鈥檚 geopolitical position and how a lot of the water that is important to India, that flows through India into Pakistan, originates in Kashmir.

It was a lot about popular pressure this time鈥擧indu nationalist pressure鈥攐n (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, which is a dynamic that he has very much contributed to. So, in that sense, it could be framed as Hindu-Muslim tension.

But it鈥檚 also about territorial integrity鈥攖hat鈥檚 a phrase that kept coming up鈥攁nd it鈥檚 a very loaded phrase that does go back to 1947 and the kinds of nations that India and Pakistan were conceived of in the 1940s and the kinds of national concerns they鈥檝e developed in the years since.

Question: What role did Hindu nationalism, which has been very much in the news since Modi鈥檚 re-election last year, play in this recent conflict?

Chester: Hindu nationalism has been important in South Asia since the late 19th century, certainly, and it鈥檚 become more important since the 1930s. It鈥檚 one strand of the larger Indian nationalist movement鈥擨ndian nationalism was behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. So, it鈥檚 always been there, but Modi, of course, has really ramped it up. For a while he distanced himself from the BJP (the Bharatiya Janata Party political party associated with Hindu nationalism), but he鈥檚 since made it very clear that he is very much in line with Hindu nationalist ideals and played on those symbols and those dynamics centered to what Hindu nationalist voters wanted.

Colonel Sofiya Qureshi addresses the media about Operation Sindoor at the National Media Centre in New Delhi May 7, 2025. (Photo: Government of India Ministry of Defence)

This whole idea of Hinduness gets back to the various ways both India and Pakistan are conceived of as nations. Hindutva (a political ideology justifying a Hindu hegemony in India) conceives India as a fundamentally Hindu nation, and that idea has gotten so much more reinforcement from Modi and the national government over last 10 years. So, part of what happened with this awful terrorist massacre two weeks ago is that it created a lot of pressure on Modi to respond in a way that previous Indian administrations haven鈥檛 felt they had to respond.

Question: In the recent conflict, India accused Pakistan of perpetrating the attack, which Pakistan denied, and framed the response as a defense of 鈥楳other India.鈥� What does that mean?

Chester: Sumathi Ramaswamy explained it best in her book (The Goddess and the Nation: Mapping Mother India), where she talks about Mother India as this cartographed divine female figure who鈥檚 very much identified with the cartographic body of the nation. So, any attack on the territorial integrity (of India) is an attack on this woman, this mother figure.

The (recent) Indian Operation was called Operation Sindoor鈥攕indoor is the red coloring that married Hindu woman put in the part of their hair鈥攁 call-out to this idea of Mother India and a call to the nation鈥檚 sons to be willing to die for her or to kill for her in this case.

In 1947, with the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan, the conception for many in India was a really tragic carving up of the body of the nation, and for a number of Hindu nationalists, that was a specifically female body. For a lot of people in India to this day, the 1947 Partition is this massive failure and an amputation of key elements of the national body. On the other side in Pakistan, for many it鈥檚 this great narrative of victory, but on the Indian side there鈥檚 this recurring existential fear that further parts of the country could be carved off this way. I think a big part of why conflict keeps happening is that both sides feel very strongly about defending the national territory because it was torn apart in such a violent way, and I think that fear is just most vividly present in Kashmir.

Question: How does the history of Kashmir in terms of British rule and Partition come into play?

Chester: In terms of British India, there were areas that were directly ruled and areas that were indirectly ruled. The indirectly ruled areas were princely ruled, and this is important because Kashmir was a princely state with a Hindu maharaja and a majority-Muslim population. With princely states, in theory they could decide for themselves whether to accede to India or Pakistan, and the maharaja of Kashmir, most would say he was angling for some kind of autonomy or independence and delayed the decision on whether to accede to India or Pakistan.

In October of 1947, militia groups鈥攁lmost certainly supported by Pakistan鈥攊nvaded Kashmir and the maharaja appealed to India for help. India airlifted troops in, because there was no all-weather road efficient for deploying troops, which gives you a sense for both how remote Kashmir was and parts of it still are, and also that there weren鈥檛 a lot of infrastructure connections.

So, the first Indo-Pakistan war was in 1947 to 1948, then a second war in 1965 and a third in 1971. This reinforces that fear of the country fragmenting and losing parts of the national body, because it was after the 1971 war that Bangladesh became independent (from Pakistan).

In 1949, India and Pakistan established a Ceasefire Line that became the Line of Control in 1972 with the Simla Agreement. The Line of Control is significant because it鈥檚 treated as an international boundary鈥攏ot de jure (existing by law or officially recognized), but de facto. In 1972, officials came up with a textual description for the Line of Control and they define it up to NJ9842, which is the northernmost point on the map where it ends. The text of treaty says something like, 鈥淧roceed thence north to the glaciers.鈥� This territory is so remote, so geopolitically useless, that no one at the time thought spending time to define where boundary line ran was important.

In the mid-1980s, both India and Pakistan sent troops to the Siachen Glacier, creating one of the highest more-or-less permanent military bases at about 22,000 feet. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

So, north of NJ9842 is this really undefined area鈥攜ou鈥檝e got Pakistan-controlled territory, India-controlled territory, China is right there, the Karakoram Pass is right there. What happened in the late 1970s, and possibly earlier even into the late 1960s, was Pakistan began issuing permits to international climbing expeditions, and in the early 1980s Indian troops discovered evidence of these international climbing expeditions. India realized that Pakistan had been exercising a certain form of administrative control over this undefined territory, and that鈥檚 what triggered the mid-1980s sending of troops from India and Pakistan to the Siachen Glacier. It includes what I think is the highest more-or-less permanent military base at something like 22,000 feet.

As a map geek, I find it really interesting that maps have contributed in pretty direct ways to these conflicts. One of the really tragic elements is that we know that on the Indian side, 97% of conflict casualties in that area are due to terrain and weather, and we can assume similar numbers on the Pakistani side. You鈥檝e got these two countries fighting this battle, but they鈥檙e also fighting Mother Nature. In fact, the 1999 Kargil War happened because Pakistan tried to move some of its troops to a higher altitude where they could overlook an Indian road that supplied these high-altitude posts.

Question: What role did water play in the recent conflict?

Chester: All of the water that feeds the rivers that run downstream into western India and Pakistan originates in that region, which gives it real geopolitical value. One of the things that had me particularly concerned this time was India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty from 1960, which was a really landmark agreement governing the sharing of these waters. Some of these rivers flow through India before they get to Pakistan, and at this point India doesn鈥檛 have the infrastructure to turn off the water. But Pakistan has said if India starts building that infrastructure, they will consider it an act of war.

Question: Is there anything that makes you feel even slightly hopeful amid these ongoing tensions?

Chester: Over the last two weeks, both sides have been very carefully walking this fine line between being very visibly seen to acknowledge popular pressure on them to stand up strongly to their adversary, but also making very carefully planned choices that as far as possible avoided uncontrollable escalation. Everyone is keenly aware these are both nuclear-armed powers. I was very concerned that it escalated as much as it did on both sides, particularly in the use of airstrikes, but I think both sides were doing their best to leave themselves and their adversaries an off-ramp.

Part of the significance of (the Kargil War in) 1999 was both sides had just come out of the nuclear closet, so everyone was watching that conflict very closely, but both sides were able to walk back from edge. That gives us a lot of reason to hope and to believe that there are very professional people on both sides鈥攊n addition to people who are whipping up popular frenzy鈥攚ho have a good sense for what the limits are, what signals they can send, and who are saying to the population, 鈥淲e listen to you, we respect your grievances,鈥� but they also know where the edge is and aren鈥檛 crossing it.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about history? Show your support.

麻豆免费版下载Boulder historian Lucy Chester notes that the recent tensions between the two nations, incited by the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir, are the latest in an ongoing cycle.

Traditional

White

When the homework is happiness

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 09 May 2025 13:30:00 +0000

When the homework is happiness Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/09/2025 - 07:30

Clint Talbott

June Gruber鈥檚 Science of Happiness course doesn鈥檛 map the way to unmitigated joy; on the contrary, the science of emotional wellness is more nuanced, and her students are sharing this message outside the classroom

The Declaration of Independence famously extols the 鈥減ursuit of happiness.鈥� But what, exactly, is happiness, and how should one pursue it? Also, should we even view it as something to be pursued?

Those questions underlie countless magazine articles, TV documentaries and self-help courses. More rigorously, they鈥檙e the focus of a popular Science of Happiness course taught by June Gruber, a professor of psychology at the 麻豆免费版下载.

Gruber鈥檚 course does not unfold a map to unmitigated delight. Rather, Gruber鈥檚 course pores over the developing research鈥攕ome of it Gruber鈥檚 own鈥攖hat reveals a more nuanced view and even a 鈥渄ark side to happiness.鈥� The course also asks students to summarize and share the science of happiness for 鈥渙utreach鈥� to general audiences.

June Gruber (front row left, checked blazer) and her Science of Happiness students pause for a class photo on the last day of the semester. (Photo: June Gruber)

As Gruber has shown in her peer-reviewed research, a TEDx talk and this 麻豆免费版下载Boulder course, it is not that happiness is bad. Rather, evidence suggests that happiness is one of several human emotions to which people should be open, and excesses of apparent happiness can signal problems such as mania (or bipolar disorder), excessive spending, problem gambling or high-risk sexual encounters.

Perhaps counterintuitively, Gruber cites a growing body of evidence that the act of pursuing happiness can leave the pursuers, paradoxically, less happy. They report being less able to be emotionally present in moments that could be happy, and they are more likely to experience mood difficulties and anxiety. That鈥檚 one 鈥渄ark side鈥� of happiness.

New evidence for old advice

As it happens, modern science reflects ancient wisdom. In the final class of her spring 2025 semester, Gruber showed her class a quotation from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, 鈥淭hose who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.鈥�

The English philosopher John Stuart Mill, whom Gruber quotes, said, 鈥淭hose only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness: on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.鈥�

And that 鈥減ursuit of happiness鈥� phrase from the Declaration of Independence was lifted from the philosopher John Locke, who said the 鈥渉ighest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty.鈥�

Locke himself was influenced by Aristotle and Epicurus, who viewed happiness as a laudable goal but who defined happiness as leading a purposeful and contemplative life. Happiness, Aristotle said, 鈥渋s the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.鈥�

Gruber discusses this older concept of happiness, sometimes called eudaimonic wellbeing, vs. hedonic wellbeing. Unlike purposeful and meaningful experiences, hedonic pleasures, which tend to be those people in Western societies equate with happiness, are peak experiences, like watching a stunning sunset or blissing out to the 鈥淥de to Joy.鈥�

Putting lessons into practice

In addition to reviewing researchers鈥� findings and ruminating on ancient wisdom, students in the Science of Happiness course (PSYC 4541) complete weekly 鈥渟cience-to-life鈥� exercises, which apply the theories and practices learned in class to everyday existence.

For instance, students kept gratitude journals, performed random acts of kindness and completed the UPenn Authentic Happiness Inventory. Students also took 鈥�awe walks,鈥� in which they visited novel, physically vast spaces and observed their surroundings mindfully.

Beyond the exercises and coursework, the students also have done outreach projects, the goal of which is to share the science of happiness outside the classroom and in the broader community.

One student, Franco Devecchi, produced a flyer highlighting research on the potential benefits of music therapy for those with autism. The flyer cites studies showing evidence that music therapy can strengthen autistic individuals鈥� sense of well-being, helping them feel more confident, accommodated and socially acceptable.

Devecchi conversed with people in campus buildings in which he distributed the flyers. In one case, Devecchi spoke with another person with autism, recalling, 鈥淲e bonded over how developmentally important music was for us growing up and discussed the gap in research when it comes to autistic adults!鈥�

Another student, Indiana Wagner, completed an outreach project on the intersection of awe, psychedelics and well-being. Wagner made a presentation to Naropa University鈥檚 Intro to Psychedelics Studies course.

Wagner noted that the transformational mechanisms of awe (which can foster happiness) 鈥渉ave a lot of crossover with the transformational mechanisms of the psychedelic experience.鈥�

Wagner added, 鈥淏oth awe-inducing experiences and psychedelic experiences have the ability to create a sense of 鈥榤ystical experience,鈥� which can be followed by these transformations; there's a lot of interesting literature, particularly within Johns Hopkins University, on the mystical experience from psilocybin being associated with positive changes.鈥�

Wagner said many of the Naropa students seemed very interested after the presentation and asked questions relating to the subject of awe, how to incorporate it, practice it and Wagner鈥檚 own experiences with it.

And student Kate Timothy produced an outreach project on the relationship between sleep, happiness and well-being. Timothy, who completed an honors thesis about sleep disruptions and their effect on Alzheimer鈥檚 biomarkers, wanted to further understand how sleep affects well-being and share that knowledge with others.

She developed a trivia event for college students in which the questions focused on how to improve sleep and thus happiness. Timothy is a dormitory worker, and her audience was the dormitory population. 鈥淚 just asked students as they went by some trivia questions and also passed out some chocolate prizes,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a fun and easy way to get important information about sleep to my peers!鈥�

Gruber has been recognized for her teaching. She is a President鈥檚 Teaching Scholar, has won the Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award, the UROP Outstanding Mentor Award and the Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction. The last award is named for and funded by Craig Cogswell, a three-time alumnus of 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, who says Gruber is an 鈥渁mazing educator and teacher.鈥�

Gruber also has developed a free online Coursera #TalkMentalIllness course to tackle stigma and mental health and has written articles for Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science about the importance of teaching students about the positive side of psychological disorders. She also shares career and professional advice for students in Science Careers. She is currently co-authoring a textbook on the science of happiness with Dacher Keltner and colleagues at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about psychology and neuroscience? Show your support.

Traditional

White

An apple a day? It鈥檚 the Boulder way

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 08 May 2025 17:18:27 +0000

An apple a day? It鈥檚 the Boulder way Rachel Sauer Thu, 05/08/2025 - 11:18

Rachel Sauer

Newly planted apple orchard on 麻豆免费版下载Boulder campus is a nexus of university and community partnerships and will be a living classroom for students and educators

For now, they are twiggy little things, all spindly adolescent limbs that nevertheless hint at future harvests. Saturday morning, one even wore a scattering of creamy white blossoms鈥攆lowers that, in years to come, once roots have gained hold and branches have stretched up and out, will grow into apples.

Is there anything more hopeful than planting a tree? Yes, planting a whole orchard of them.

On Saturday, years of planning, research and partnership-building bore fruit on an L-shaped plot in front of the 麻豆免费版下载 30th Street greenhouse, where more than two-dozen volunteers planted 30 apple trees in what had previously been a scrubby patch of turf.

Funded by a $90,000 Sustainable 麻豆免费版下载grant, the apple orchard will not only be a classroom and a living lab, but a nexus for community, a carbon sink and a vibrant example that sustainability can be delicious.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so exciting to see this happening,鈥� says Amy Dunbar-Wallis, who this semester completed her PhD in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and collaborated with 麻豆免费版下载Boulder faculty and students and community partners to bring the idea of the first orchard on 麻豆免费版下载Boulder campus to fruition.

鈥淚t represents how so many people on campus, so many people in the community, have come together to plant this orchard that will be a place to learn and a place to preserve a really neat part of Boulder鈥檚 history.鈥�

In search of old apple trees

The new apple orchard grew from the Boulder Apple Tree Project, an initiative that began almost 15 years ago with a simple observation: There seemed to be a lot of old apple trees in Boulder.

Katharine Suding, a professor of distinction in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, had recently moved to the area, 鈥渁nd I was really surprised to see so many old apple trees everywhere,鈥� she recalled during the 2022 Apple Symposium. 鈥淚 realized I had no idea about the histories and particularly the history of apples, so looking into it a little more, it was clear there are trees here that are remnants of past histories starting in the turn of (20th) century.

Amy Dunbar-Wallis (left) and Tiffany Willis (right, EBio'22) consult a chart designating where each tree would be planted in the new apple orchard in front of the 30th Street greenhouse Saturday morning. Willis, who lives in Boulder, took EBIO 1250 online during Covid lockdowns and was a lab assistant for the class in 2021.

鈥淭here are apple trees in Colorado and in Boulder that are remnants from old orchards that still exist. There are also remnants of trees that were planted when people came and built ranches or had farms here, and often they were bringing along apple trees from where they came from, whether it was Germany, whether it was the Midwest, whether it was Scandinavia.鈥�

In fall 2017, the Boulder Apple Tree Project (BATP) sprouted, combining historical sleuthing with cutting-edge genetic testing and grafting to not only locate and catalog Boulder鈥檚 historic apple trees, but also to revive its legacy of apple growing. In the ongoing project, researchers gather data on the age and health of the trees, as well as the type and flavor of the apples, and the genetic diversity that the trees offer to future populations.

Suding and BATP co-principal investigator Lisa Corwin, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, have worked with undergraduate and graduate students not only to gather data, but also to develop the EBIO 1250 course, during which students conduct research on Boulder鈥檚 apple trees; curricula and materials in partnership with the 麻豆免费版下载Museum of Natural History; a database and app in collaboration with computer science students; an interactive map of apple trees that have been tagged and studied; and the A Power of Place Learning Experience and Research Network (APPLE R Net), a multi-institution research network directed by Corwin that introduces students to field research by involving them in a project examining apple trees across the Rocky Mountain region.

BATP also is part of the Historic Fruit Tree Working Group, which connects Colorado researchers with other apple-exploring groups and researchers across North America.

Mia Williams (left) waters a newly planted apple tree Saturday morning. Williams, who will graduate this summer, is double majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and environmental studies.

鈥淭his project has grown so much since our initial community engaged Apple Blitz in 2018,鈥� says Dunbar-Wallis. 鈥淲e've tagged over 1,000 trees and created a database, taught multiple course-based undergraduate research experiences at 麻豆免费版下载and at colleges across Colorado and northern New Mexico, started a data-collection app and interactive map in collaboration with 麻豆免费版下载computer science capstone students and installed a demonstration orchard in collaboration with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.鈥�

The demonstration orchard, planted two years ago, functions as a teaching and research laboratory to explore how biodiversity affects the functioning of apple orchards and their services to human well-being, including efficient water use, pollinator habitat and structural complexity supporting natural pest control.

A part of the narrative

The idea for the 30th Street orchard was revived by a group of six undergraduate and two graduate students almost two years ago, who proposed resubmitting a grant application that hadn鈥檛 been accepted in 2019.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a group who really love what we do and love apple trees and working with the soil,鈥� says Katie Mikell, an ecology and evolutionary biology student who is graduating today and who was a member of the team that crafted and submitted the grant proposal.

鈥淏efore, (the orchard plot) was a lawn full of monoculture turf grass, so part of our argument was that if we put in an apple orchard, it would create a carbon sink (a system that absorbs more carbon than it releases), it would save the school money and anyone walking by could pick an apple. Plus, once the trees are producing, we can donate apples to the food pantry. Everyone can benefit from an apple orchard.鈥�

Deidre Jaeger (right, PhDEBio'22) and her sons Sage, 4 (left), and Cedar, 1 (center), plant apple trees at the 30th Street orchard Saturday morning. Jaeger was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and an advisor for the Center for Sustainable Landscapes and Communities and is a researcher with the Boulder Apple Tree Project.

Students prepared the 30th Street site during fall semester, working with departments and organizations across the university, as well as many community partners. The trees planted Saturday are about three years old and were obtained from Widespread Malus and Benevolence Orchard in Boulder.

鈥淥ur students are at the core of the university, and their passion and ingenuity are critical to our values around infusing sustainability throughout 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. This orchard exemplifies that pursuit in so many ways,鈥� says Vice Chancellor for Sustainability Andrew Mayock.

鈥淚t is not only helping to protect biodiversity in our community. It will help feed those in need on our campus and create a living-learning laboratory space where sustainability leaders of the future will learn and develop strategies for urban agriculture planning.鈥�

Fifteen varieties of apples are represented in the orchard, including locally grown historic cultivars like Wolf River and Colorado Orange. A beloved apple tree on the Bobolink Trail is even represented in a newly planted graft.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much learning that can happen in an orchard,鈥� says Manuela Mejia, an ecology and evolutionary biology PhD student who will conduct her doctoral research, which will include studying insect diversity, at the orchard. 鈥淪o many facets of science are represented here.鈥�

In addition to trees, the orchard will include an understory of native, drought-tolerant grasses and pollinator-friendly wildflowers, notes Mia Williams, who is majoring in environmental studies and ecology and evolutionary biology and will graduate this summer.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting that this orchard will become a part of the story of agriculture in this area,鈥� Dunbar-Wallis says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e tagged more than 1,000 trees (through BATP) and some of them are a hundred years old, so you think about everything they鈥檝e seen and been through, the history that they hold, their stories, and now these trees鈥攚hich are little now and probably won鈥檛 produce fruit for two or three years鈥攁re part of that narrative.鈥�

Sophie Small (left) and Amy Dunbar-Wallis (right) fill a wheelbarrow with compost Saturday morning to prepare for planting an apple orchard in front of the 30th Street greenhouse. Small, a freshman who is studying biomedical engineering, learned about the project through the 麻豆免费版下载Farm and Garden Club.

Sophie Small (left), Isaac Kou (center) and Kyrie MacArthur dig a hole Saturday morning before planting an apple tree in it. Small is studying biomedical engineering, Kou just graduated with a major in computer science and a minor in ecology and evolutionary biology and MacArthur is studying history and education.

Amy Dunbar-Wallis (PhDEBio'25) digs a hole for a young apple tree Saturday morning.

Amy Dunbar Wallis (left, black vest) educates student and community volunteers Saturday morning before they plant 30 apple trees in front of the 30th Street greenhouse.

The apple trees planted in the 30th Street orchard Saturday morning, one of which even bloomed, are three years old and should begin producing fruit in two or three years.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about ecology and evolutionary biology? Show your support.

Newly planted apple orchard on 麻豆免费版下载Boulder campus is a nexus of university and community partnerships and will be a living classroom for students and educators.

Traditional

White

Four Buffalo Bicycle Classic scholars earn Latin honors

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 07 May 2025 19:09:21 +0000

Four Buffalo Bicycle Classic scholars earn Latin honors Rachel Sauer Wed, 05/07/2025 - 13:09

Beneficiaries of the annual scholarship ride win high praise from faculty, set their sights on next academic ventures

The Buffalo Bicycle Classic boasts that it helps promising young scholars, which it identifies as 鈥渟ome of Colorado鈥檚 brightest.鈥� Four of its beneficiaries have emphatically underscored that point, winning top honors while conducting novel research on Alzheimer鈥檚, breast cancer and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Four recipients of the 麻豆免费版下载 Buff Bike Classic scholarships are graduating this month with Latin honors, and one of those four has earned two summa cum laude distinctions.

Danya Al Nazal is graduating in neuroscience summa cum laude.

The Buffalo Bicycle Classic, which refers to itself the BBC and is not to be confused with the British broadcaster, is a multi-distance bicycle fundraiser for scholarships in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Paul Beale, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder physics professor and the BBC鈥檚 faculty director, said the BBC鈥檚 team is 鈥渆cstatic that four of our graduating seniors earned Latin honors this year, including a rare double summa cum laude by Danya Al Nazal.鈥�

He noted that the BBC partners with the Arts and Sciences Honors Program to select incoming first-year scholars. 鈥淭hat fact that nearly half of our graduating scholars completed honors research projects and successfully wrote and defended honors theses demonstrates the dedication and academic excellence of the students supported by the Buffalo Bicycle Classic Scholarship Fund,鈥� Beale said.

The four BBC scholars earning Latin honors are:

Danya Al Nazal, who is graduating in neuroscience summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淭he Effect of Sleep Disruption on Subclinical Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease.鈥� Al Nazal also earned summa cum laude honors for a second thesis, titled 鈥淪heltered but Still at Risk: Addressing Tuberculosis Prevention, Mitigation, and Treatment in a Homeless Shelter.鈥�
Kate Timothy, who is graduating with a degree in neuroscience summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淓ffects of Time-of-Day and Circadian Misalignment on Blood-based Alzheimer鈥檚 Biomarkers.鈥�
Maria Smolyar, who is graduating with a degree in international affairs summa cum laude and whose honors thesis is titled 鈥淭he Geopolitical Chessboard: The Russia-Ukraine War and the Logic and Consequences of Carrots and Sticks.鈥�
Stephanie Araiza Acuna, who is graduating with a degree in integrative physiology magna cum laude and whose thesis is titled 鈥淭he Effects of Zinc Availability on the Cell Cycle and Proliferation in MCF-7 and T-47D Breast Cancer Cells.鈥�

Acuna explained that her research finds evidence that zinc deficiency reduces the proliferation of two lines of breast-cancer cells. Her findings provide the foundation for using zinc as a means of enhancing the efficacy of standard cancer treatments.

Kate Timothy is graduating with a degree in neuroscience summa cum laude.

Acuna began working in the lab of Amy Palmer, professor of biochemistry, last summer. There, she said she became interested in looking at the quiescence-proliferation decision in the cell cycle via fluorescent reporters in cells.

鈥淎fter years of studying mitosis in textbooks, I found the images I took of MCF-7 (breast cancer cells) to be both scientifically fascinating and visually beautiful, with each phase of the cell cycle vividly displayed frame by frame,鈥� Acuna said.

She added that she appreciates the faculty who supported her during her undergraduate work. 鈥淵ou made me see science not only as a discipline, but as beautifully intricate art,鈥� she said, adding: 鈥淎 huge thank you to the Buffalo Bike Classic. Your generosity to students makes research like mine possible. Your support fuels learning, exploration and meaningful scientific progress.鈥�

Acuna plans to take a gap year after graduation to prepare for the medical school application cycle and hopes to earn a medical degree. She wants to become a cardiologist.

Smolyar noted that the Russia-Ukraine war is complicated. 鈥淚 spent months researching, talking to my professors and my dad (who is from Ukraine), and I still barely scratched the surface of what there is to learn and know about the war.鈥�

Smolyar said the war has undergone a 鈥渘uanced evolution鈥� to get to the point it is today. 鈥淐urrently, there needs to be changes in diplomatic dialogue at the government level if we want to see it end. And the rise of China and the alliance between Russia and China is scary for America.鈥�

Smolyar鈥檚 parents are from Ukraine, and she has family in both Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, she noted, her interest in Russia began in high school when she wrote an essay on Lenin. That interest grew as she took Russian studies and Russian history classes in college.

Maria Smolyar is graduating with a degree in international affairs summa cum laude.

After graduation, Smolyar hopes to attend law school and/or pursue a PhD in political science, although she hasn鈥檛 decided yet.

Al Nazal said attending 麻豆免费版下载Boulder has allowed her to conduct research that directly pertained to her interests: Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and tuberculosis among unhoused people.

Al Nazal said the BBC scholarship gave her the ability to 鈥渢ake time off of work so I can focus on research, which ultimately lead to me being able to pursue two honors theses.鈥�

She plans to take two gap years, during which she will focus on research and then apply to MD/PhD programs.

Timothy noted that her honors thesis found that potential blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease are affected by circadian misalignment and time-of-day. 鈥淭his means that the protein is changing depending on if an individual is circadian misaligned (their behaviors such as eating and sleeping are out of alignment with their circadian rhythm) versus in circadian alignment and time-of-day at which the protein is assessed (drawn from the blood),鈥� she said.

The overall implication is that future studies identifying a more robust blood biomarker for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease should account for time-of-day and circadian timing, she added.

After graduation, Timothy said she plans to attend graduate school to study clinical psychology with a focus on sleep. 鈥淭his project allowed me to bridge my two interests while developing skills that are going to support me throughout my entire career. Additionally, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other neurodegenerative diseases are becoming an increasing concern for the aging population,鈥� she said, adding:

鈥淚 am honored to have worked on a project that addresses the concern that we will all face one day.鈥�

Stephanie Araiza Acuna is graduating with a degree in integrative physiology magna cum laude.

Timothy offered advice for current students: seize every opportunity. 鈥淭his is your moment to make your mark and set yourself up for success in the long-term.鈥� She also thanked the supporters of the Buffalo Bicycle Classic and all those who supported her at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder:

鈥淚 wish I could eloquently describe how significant that support has been for me. The journey to graduate as a first-generation college student is difficult, but my success here is made possible by the generosity of this community.鈥�

The Elevations Credit Union Buffalo Bicycle Classic was founded in 2003 and, with contributions from volunteers, riders, sponsors and endowed funds, the event offers one-year scholarships of $4,000 to 30 students, renewable each year if they maintain full-time status and at least a 3.0 grade point average.

Additionally, endowed funds provide $10,000 annually to three junior or senior students in Arts & Sciences, also renewable under the same conditions. The BBC鈥檚 newest corporate sponsor, Zorbent, funds two additional $10,000 scholarships to top continuing BBC scholars.

The students served by the BBC are some of Colorado鈥檚 brightest, with each entering 麻豆免费版下载with over a 4.0 high school GPA.

鈥淥ur student scholars also demonstrate strong financial need, which makes this scholarship particularly important,鈥� the BBC states. 鈥淥ur scholarships for these promising students makes higher education attainable.鈥�

Since 2003, the event has raised more than $3.9 million, funding more than 450 scholarships for high-achieving, financially needy Colorado high school graduates.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about the Buffalo Bicycle Classic? Show your support.

Beneficiaries of the annual scholarship ride win high praise from faculty, set their sights on next academic ventures.

Traditional

White

Historian reflects on lessons learned 50 years after Vietnam

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 06 May 2025 13:30:00 +0000

Historian reflects on lessons learned 50 years after Vietnam Rachel Sauer Tue, 05/06/2025 - 07:30

Doug McPherson

The April 30, 1975, fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War; 麻豆免费版下载Boulder scholar Vilja Hulden discusses the war, its beginnings and what we鈥檝e learned

Of all that鈥檚 been said about the Vietnam War, perhaps it was this in 1964 from U.S. Sen. Wayne Morse that still stings, even today:

鈥淚 believe this resolution to be a historic mistake. I believe that within the next century, future generations will look with dismay and great disappointment upon a Congress which is now about to make such a historic mistake.鈥�

Vilja Hulden, a 麻豆免费版下载Boulder teaching associate professor of history, notes that a crucial misconception about the Vietnam War is that the conflict was pro-Western South Vietnam against Communist North Vietnam.

Morse was speaking about the Senate鈥檚 vote to adopt a resolution that authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to take "all necessary measures" to repel any armed attack against U.S. forces in Southeast Asia.

A few months later, on March 8, 1965, U.S. combat troops landed in Vietnam. By the end of the war, more than 58,200 U.S. soldiers would be dead. Some 25 years into the 鈥渘ext century,鈥� dismay and great disappointment abound.

How could this happen鈥攚hy did the United States enter the conflict?

鈥淭his is probably the most hotly debated question regarding the war鈥攁nd there鈥檚 no simple answer,鈥� says Vilja Hulden, a teaching associate professor in the Department of History at the 麻豆免费版下载, who teaches a class called The Vietnam War in U.S. Culture and Politics.

鈥淭he broad background is, of course, the competition with the Soviet Union over the allegiance of developing countries, but why the U.S. decided to go all out to back South Vietnam and eventually to send large numbers of U.S. troops is far from clear.鈥�

Hulden鈥檚 theory: 鈥淭hat each decision was made in a sort of a fog of arrogance and wishful thinking; that is, 鈥業f we do this, then the problem will be off everyone's radar, and we won't have to do more.鈥� But every step took the U.S. further in, and once you have significant numbers of dead Americans, it鈥檚 hard to back out and say, 鈥極ops, those soldiers didn鈥檛 really need to die. We made a mistake.鈥欌€�

鈥業t鈥檚 Tuesday鈥�

Still, in the 50 years since the fall of Saigon, which marked the end of the war, the United States has learned many lessons. One, of course, is that having more troops or superior technology doesn鈥檛 guarantee victory. Another: Congressional oversight is important. In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Act to limit the president鈥檚 ability to commit U.S. forces without congressional approval. Hulden adds another key lesson: Avoid committing large numbers of American troops. Doing so, she says, will cause the American public to care about what happens.

A Vietnamese woman carries her sleeping son onboard the U.S.S. Hancock during Operation Frequent Wind, during which the U.S. military evacuated people from Saigon before it fell on April 30, 1975. (Photo: National Archives)

鈥淭he prime example of that lesson鈥攂esides moving to an all-volunteer military in 1973鈥攊s the first Gulf War in the early 1990s. Very deliberately, that war was fought using airpower almost exclusively and not 鈥� boots on the ground.鈥�

One crucial misconception about Vietnam, Hulden says, is that the conflict was 鈥減ro-Western South Vietnam against Communist North Vietnam.鈥� Instead, she says, it was a 鈥渃omplicated civil war鈥� with many South Vietnamese backing the communist side and conducting guerrilla warfare in the south.

鈥淟ots of South Vietnamese, and probably also lots of North Vietnamese, just wanted it to be over. Hence, the bombing of South Vietnam and the dropping of defoliants like Agent Orange to get rid of jungle cover the guerrillas found useful.鈥�

Repercussions of the war for American veterans鈥攅ven those without post-traumatic stress disorder (a term that Hulden notes many veterans hate because they figure a reaction to what they saw and did in Vietnam is not a disorder but a normal human response)鈥攎anifest in how they were affected by their experiences in many ways. 鈥淎s one veteran put it, 鈥楾he person who returns is not the same person who left.鈥欌€�

Hulden adds that the repercussions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been massive鈥攎ost concretely in terms of birth defects and other problems related to Agent Orange exposure and continuing injuries from unexploded ordnance.

鈥淎 not-so-fun-fact: More bomb tonnage was dropped on Indochina during the Vietnam War than the U.S. Air Force dropped during the entirety of World War II.鈥�

And finally, there was the repercussion of the American public losing trust in its government.

Hulden says that at the start of the war, people had 鈥渁 large amount of trust in the government, but 鈥� when 鈥� the government was not being straight with the American people, the shock effect was much larger. As one of my students noted, 鈥楾hese days, if we鈥檙e told the government lied to us, our reaction tends to be a shrug. 鈥業t鈥檚 Tuesday,鈥� was how she put it. But that was not how people thought back then; they expected the government to be honest and reasonably competent.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about history? Show your support.

The April 30, 1975, fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War; 麻豆免费版下载Boulder scholar Vilja Hulden discusses the war, its beginnings and what we鈥檝e learned.

Traditional

White

Top image: A CIA employee helps Vietnamese evacuees into a helicopter on the U.S. embassy in Saigon on April 29, 1975, a day before the fall of Saigon. (Photo: Hubert van Es/UPI)

Honoring the traditions of people and place

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 05 May 2025 15:59:33 +0000

Honoring the traditions of people and place Rachel Sauer Mon, 05/05/2025 - 09:59

Rachel Sauer

Newly opened exhibit at the University of Colorado Museum celebrates ceramic artist鈥檚 donation and the legacy of her family and community

A new piece of Acoma Pueblo pottery begins, in a way, with all the pottery that came before it.

Artisans finely grind shards of old pottery and mix it into clay gathered from Acoma Pueblo land, hand-forming the light yet strong vessels for which they are renowned. There are no precise measurements, no written recipes, for the clay or slip or mineral paints that come together in Acoma Pueblo pottery; 鈥測ou just know when it鈥檚 right,鈥� says artist Dolores Lewis Garcia.

Noted Acoma Pueblo ceramics artist Carmel Lewis Haskaya, a proud 麻豆免费版下载Boulder alumnus, ensured that her love for her community and its traditions would unite with her love for 麻豆免费版下载Boulder by donating one of her pieces to the University of Colorado Museum.

Lewis Garcia learned the art from her mother, Lucy M. Lewis, the famed New Mexico ceramics artist known for reviving traditional pottery techniques whose work is displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Most of Lewis鈥� nine children learned by watching her and also became ceramic artists, including her youngest, Carmel Lewis Haskaya.

Lewis Haskaya was not only a respected ceramic artist, but a proud 麻豆免费版下载 alumnus. Before her death in 2019, she ensured that her love for her community and its traditions would unite with her love for 麻豆免费版下载Boulder by donating one of her pieces to the University of Colorado Museum.

The vibrant cylindrical pot is a centerpiece of the new exhibit 鈥�A Family Tradition: Acoma pottery, 麻豆免费版下载and the Lewis family,鈥� which opened with a reception and ribbon cutting Tuesday evening.

鈥淲e are delighted to highlight and honor the important artworks that this family has shared with us,鈥� says Nancy J. Stevens, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder professor of anthropology and director of the Museum Institute. 鈥淚t represents a pivotal point for connecting communities and growing meaningful collaborations into the future.鈥�

The exhibit features pieces by Lucy Lewis and many of her children, including Forever Buff Carmel Lewis Haskaya.

鈥�(Lewis Haskaya鈥檚 cylinder jar) is not just an object or a gift,鈥� explains William Taylor, a 麻豆免费版下载Boulder assistant professor of anthropology and 麻豆免费版下载Museum curator of archaeology who partnered with the Lewis family to create the exhibit.

鈥�For many folks, creating pottery is a way to impart something of yourself in a permanent and lasting way. Having this pottery at 麻豆免费版下载means that a part of Carmel and her family will always be here in Boulder.鈥�

Learn by watching

Lewis Haskaya belonged to an artistic lineage that can be traced in centuries. For hundreds of years, Acoma Pueblo artists have gone to certain spots on their land to collect the clay, white slip, wild spinach and oxides that are the raw materials for their pottery.

鈥淏eing an Acoma potter, there鈥檚 a lot of work that goes into it,鈥� Lewis Garcia says.

鈥淓verything is gathered from the land and hand-processed,鈥� adds Claudia Mitchell, also a famed Acoma Pueblo artist and Lewis鈥� granddaughter. 鈥淚t teaches you to take your time and be present; you鈥檙e putting yourself into the work.鈥�

As a child, Lewis Haskaya learned these traditions and techniques watching her mother. When she came to 麻豆免费版下载Boulder through the American Indian Educational Opportunity Program and built a career with the Native American Rights Fund, she never forgot or outgrew her community, Mitchell says. Eventually, Lewis Haskaya returned to her community at Acoma, west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became an accomplished artist.

Lewis Haskaya was a student of history and art traditions from around the world and was known for creating cylinder vessels in the style of ones found at Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde and other ancient sites, adding her own touch to traditional designs.

The cylindrical vessel made by noted Acoma Pueblo artist Carmel Lewis Haskaya, which she donated to the University of Colorado Museum before her death in 2019.

鈥淪he had the hardest time grinding mineral paints,鈥� Lewis Garcia recalls with a laugh, adding that her sister eventually conquered the hurdle that many artisans using traditional techniques encounter.

Like her mother and siblings, and now her nieces and nephews, Lewis Haskaya walked Acoma land to specific spots for the gray and yellow clays, the minerals and the plants that are the foundation of traditional techniques. 鈥淭o get the white slip, it鈥檚 not in an easy place,鈥� Lewis Garcia says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 underground and there鈥檚 a big boulder on it. You have to use it sparingly.鈥�

Though it鈥檚 more common now to use kilns rather than dung fires, the process of thinning vessel walls, of burnishing with a stone, of applying the geometric patterns associated with Acoma Pueblo pottery hasn鈥檛 changed for centuries.

鈥楾he ties that bind us together鈥�

While pottery is revered as art, 鈥渋n our traditional ways, it鈥檚 a utility, it鈥檚 an item that we use,鈥� says Benny Shendo Jr., 麻豆免费版下载Boulder associate vice chancellor for Native American affairs and a member of the Jemez Pueblo Tribe. 鈥淎nd it plays a big role in our ceremonial life.鈥�

Mitchell notes that traditional pottery helps not only those who make it, but those who use it to 鈥済round ourselves to the place that we鈥檙e from; it鈥檚 that connection that we have to our land and to our people鈥攏ot only just for personal use, but for community use. It gives us that tie to one another. We鈥檙e keeping those traditions alive not only through our dance and song but through our pottery.

鈥淭hose are the ties that bind us together, that make us a people. It鈥檚 important to keep those ties, to make sure that those things鈥攖he pottery making, the dancing, the singing鈥攁ll of those are taught to our younger generations, because that helps them identify who they are and where they are. It helps give them a sense of place and sense of purpose.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 part of life,鈥� says Diana Lim Garry (Anth'71), Lucy Lewis鈥� granddaughter who lives in Boulder and helped bring the exhibit to life, loaning pieces from her own collection. 鈥淓verywhere we go鈥攜ou鈥檙e walking on a hike and you鈥檙e walking along the streambed, and you鈥檙e saying, 鈥榃ould that make a good polishing stone?鈥� You go along, even (in) roadcuts there鈥檚 all these pretty colors of the minerals in the rocks: 鈥榃ould that make good paint?鈥� It鈥檚 always on your mind that this is something that鈥檚 been done for a long time and will continue to be done thanks to my aunts and my cousins.鈥�

Mitchell adds that a pottery vessel made in traditional ways allows the Acoma Pueblo people to say 鈥淚 have my piece of the rock. That鈥檚 how we identify ourselves, by place and name, that鈥檚 our place in this world, and no matter where we go in this world, we can always go back to that one place, and that鈥檚 where we belong. For our people, that鈥檚 who we are, that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e from.鈥�

A Family Tradition: Acoma pottery, 麻豆免费版下载and the Lewis family鈥� is open to the public during regular museum hours, which are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Claudia Mitchell (left), Dolores Lewis Garcia (center) and Diana Lim Garry (right) with the vessel made by Carmel Lewis Haskaya, Lewis Garcia's sister and Mitchell's and Lim Garry's aunt; Lewis Haskaya donated the vessel to the University of Colorado Museum.

Pieces made by famed Acoma Pueblo artist Lucy M. Lewis are part of the new University of Colorado Museum exhibit "A Family Tradition: Acoma pottery, 麻豆免费版下载and the Lewis family."

Following in the footsteps of her grandmother, Lucy M. Lewis, Acoma Pueblo artist Claudia Mitchell made these pieces using traditional techniques and designs.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about the University of Colorado Museum? Show your support.

Newly opened exhibit at the University of Colorado Museum celebrates ceramic artist鈥檚 donation and the legacy of her family and community.

Traditional

White

Top image: Carmel Lewis Haskaya enjoying the Colorado outdoors while she was a 麻豆免费版下载Boulder student (Photo: Lewis family)

麻豆免费版下载Boulder scholars recognized for innovation in PhD research

Rachel Sauer — Mon, 05 May 2025 15:23:14 +0000

麻豆免费版下载Boulder scholars recognized for innovation in PhD research Rachel Sauer Mon, 05/05/2025 - 09:23

Patrick Das and Julia Shizuyo Popham have won 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships

Two 麻豆免费版下载 PhD students have won 2025 Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Dissertation Innovation Fellowships.

Patrick Das, a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics, and Julia Shizuyo Popham, who is pursuing her PhD in the Department of Ethnic Studies, are among 45 PhD students from across the country who are being recognized for their innovative approaches to their dissertation research in the humanities or social sciences.

麻豆免费版下载Boulder PhD students Patrick Das (left) and Julia Shizuyo Popham (right) recently won 2025 Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies Dissertation Innovation Fellowships.

The fellowships, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, recognize doctoral students 鈥渨ho show promise of leading their fields in important new directions,鈥� according to the ACLS. 鈥淭he fellowships are designed to intervene at the formative stage of dissertation development, before writing is advanced, and provide time and support for emerging scholars鈥� innovative approaches to dissertation research鈥攑ractical, trans- or interdisciplinary, collaborative, critical or methodological.

鈥淭he program seeks to expand the range of research methodologies, formats and areas of inquiry traditionally considered suitable for the dissertation, with a particular focus on supporting scholars who can build a more diverse, inclusive and equitable academy.鈥�

Das and Shizuyo Popham will receive an award of up to $52,000, consisting of a $42,000 stipend; up to $8,000 for project-related research, training, professional development and travel; and a $2,000 stipend to support external mentorship that offers new perspectives on their projects and expands their advising network.

Das is researching how geography and multilingualism shape language change in Tikhir, an endangered language of eastern Nagaland, India, near the border with Myanmar. Through spatial analysis, the project maps patterns of interaction between Tikhir and neighboring indigenous languages. Das鈥� findings offer new insights into how small languages evolve within complex multilingual ecologies.

Shizuyo Popham鈥檚 project, titled 鈥淯neasy Intimacies,鈥� interprets Japanese artist and migrant Fukunosuke Kusumi鈥檚 collection of visual art within contexts of racial disposability in the American West. By tracing Kusumi鈥檚 art through pre-World War II exclusion in Washington, interim detainment in California, indefinite incarceration in Colorado and afterlives of loss and healing, her work examines how seemingly innocuous images reveal marginalized histories, in which dispossessed subjects construct agency and even freedom via the very systems built to keep them down.

鈥淎CLS is proud to support these fellows, who are poised to conduct groundbreaking dissertation research and broaden the audience for humanistic scholarship,鈥� said Alison Chang, ACLS program officer in U.S. Programs. 鈥淭heir innovative projects not only produce new avenues of knowledge but also inspire the evolution of doctoral education across the humanities and social sciences.鈥�

鈥淭his fellowship will enable me to spend sustained time working with the Tikhir community to document their language on their terms,鈥� Das said. 鈥淚t supports a collaborative approach that values local knowledge and multilingual experience. By combining spatial methods with community insights, we can better understand how small languages like Tikhir are changing today.鈥�

Shizuyo Popham noted that last week, the ACLS joined the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association in filing a lawsuit to reverse devastating attacks on the National Endowment for the Humanities. 鈥淪o, beyond the fellowship itself, I鈥檓 proud to be joining a community that is courageously fighting for intellectual freedom,鈥� she said.

鈥淚鈥檓 also deeply grateful to have an entire year to focus on my dissertation, which is largely about a history intertwined with mass detentions and deportations today. I鈥檝e been studying Japanese American wartime incarceration for half a decade now, and never for me has this history felt so urgent. In these times of increasing terror, I am reminded of why the humanities matter and that to critically think and write is a freedom we must fight for every day.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about arts and sciences? Show your support.

Patrick Das and Julia Shizuyo Popham have won 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships.

Traditional

White

Grad鈥檚 body of work already changing courses

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:19:01 +0000

Grad鈥檚 body of work already changing courses Rachel Sauer Fri, 05/02/2025 - 16:19

Tim Grassley

Rachel Suter, who is earning her BA in neuroscience and arts practices, summa cum laude, is named the College of Arts and Science鈥檚 outstanding graduate for spring 2025

Fusing her artistic training and scientific understanding, Rachel Suter highlighted the questionable traditions of using cadavers while exploring anatomy through an artistic lens, and in doing so she has helped change how anatomy classes are taught.

Suter, who graduates this month summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the 麻豆免费版下载 College of Arts and Sciences. Her thesis is titled 鈥淐adaveric ethics in figurative art instruction: Developing a workshop for an anatomical approach.鈥�

In her thesis, Suter explores the history and ethics of body procurement in cadaver labs, as well as the consequential effects of primarily representing white male bodies in these figures. 鈥淚 was doing anatomy through an artistic lens,鈥� notes Suter.

Rachel Suter, who graduates next week summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the 麻豆免费版下载Boulder College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo: Kylie Clarke)

鈥淚 created a workshop for artists in the cadaver labs that taught them superficial anatomical structures relevant to figure drawing, and I simultaneously addressed the history of body procurement and dissection to advocate for a more ethical and equitable future.鈥�

Steven Hobbs, who is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, coordinates the anatomy lab and served as chair for Suter鈥檚 honors committee, notes that Suter鈥檚 project was excellent in its scope and caused him to reconsider his approach to teaching anatomy.

鈥淩achel鈥檚 honors thesis is the most original undergraduate undertaking I have witnessed in my 20-plus years at CU,鈥� says Hobbs. 鈥淗er work deftly combines history, art, anatomical sciences and advocacy. Any of these domains would be considered original, masterful and compelling. Together, they form a remarkable whole, born entirely from Rachel鈥檚 creative thinking, passion and hard work. Her thesis is the quintessential fusion of 鈥榓rts鈥� and 鈥榮ciences.鈥欌€�

While Suter鈥檚 bachelor鈥檚 degree studies in art practices and neuroscience helped her fuse research techniques and art-making workshops, the project鈥檚 interdisciplinarity also offered opportunity to initiate instructional practices that could be incorporated into anatomy labs and figure-drawing workshops right away.

鈥淭hat was my big goal with the thesis,鈥� says Suter. 鈥淚t was to put theory into practice and make a tangible change.鈥�

Exploring the ethics of how cadavers are procured, studied and illustrated

Suter began her research intending to learn about the history of how bodies are procured by cadaver labs and medical schools to better understand and critique unethical practices. As she charted the medical history, she discovered that labs commonly obtain 鈥渦nclaimed bodies,鈥� or cadavers that were not claimed by family or friends for burial or cremation and are then made available for medical education and research by the state.

In her thesis, she argues that knowing this background helps anatomy students see cadavers as more than educational objects鈥攖hey are people deserving of care and respect.

鈥淪ome medical schools still use unclaimed bodies today,鈥� says Suter, 鈥渁nd so my thesis promotes the use of consensually donated bodies in anatomy. I didn't know that my project would also turn into more advocacy and activism for working towards a better future.鈥�

While delving into a cursory history of body-procurement and medical ethics, Suter recognized a relationship between her anatomy classes and art classes. While anatomy is generally taught as a science course, it uses art as one of its primary means of communicating findings about the human body, and a stronger understanding of art-making places figures in context.

As an artist interested in figure drawing, Suter experienced first-hand that her stronger understanding of anatomy helped generate more reliable and variable representations of the human body鈥檚 structures.

鈥淚 was learning how to figure draw at the same time that I was taking the anatomy lab course, and then I continued to work on my figure drawing while I was simultaneously dissecting bodies in the labs,鈥� reflects Suter. 鈥淗aving an anatomical knowledge of the human body really supported my representation of bodies in art.鈥�

Rachel Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures. (Photo: Rachel Suter)

Suter noted a tendency for anatomy textbook images and illustrations to rely on white male bodies as representative of all human bodies. She found that this was a common practice historically among medical illustrators and could create misunderstanding among students analyzing these visual representations.

鈥淎natomy studies people,鈥� says Suter. 鈥淚n studying people, you want to ensure that you are representative of all of those groups.鈥�

Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures.

The workshops also covered ethical considerations when working with cadavers, the importance of wide representation and individuality in artistic anatomy and methods attendees could use to advocate for a more inclusive approach to dissection and figurative art.

While she plans to pursue graduate programs in medical illustration after a gap year that includes a 10-week intensive workshop in Florence, Italy, Suter鈥檚 thesis has a more immediate effect on how anatomy will be taught at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder in the future.

鈥淭he anatomy labs here have not previously taught an ethical dimension or historical dimension,鈥� says Suter. 鈥淭hroughout my thesis, I really tried to advocate for transparency and education in these topics in a cadaver lab setting, and I'm really excited because I'm now talking to Dr. Hobbs about adding some of this content into the anatomy lab curriculum for anatomy students.鈥�

The expansiveness of this project and its effect on teaching were the two characteristics of Suter鈥檚 nomination that drew the committee鈥檚 attention. Notes Hobbs, 鈥淎s an instructor of human anatomy for nearly 20 years, I was surprised and inspired by how much I learned from Rachel. Her lessons reshaped my perspective on the human form through the lens of illustration. Rachel鈥檚 workshops and honors thesis could be the blueprint for a fantastic interdisciplinary semester course at CU. Every anatomy program should be so lucky to have a Rachel Suter.鈥�

Suter not only feels honored to be the 2025 A&S outstanding graduate, she is also thrilled that her project leaves a legacy of change made possible through thoughtful, scholarly and artistic work.

鈥淚 don't think I've really found the words quite yet,鈥� reflects Suter. 鈥淚'm really proud that I was able to make an impact on campus and develop a new educational approach that filled some gaps.鈥�

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about arts and sciences? Show your support.

Rachel Suter, who is earning her BA in neuroscience and arts practices, summa cum laude, is named the College of Arts and Science鈥檚 outstanding graduate for spring 2025.

Traditional

White

Top photo: Kylie Clarke/College of Arts and Sciences

Amazing grads share advice and reflect on key lessons

Kylie Clarke — Fri, 02 May 2025 16:10:11 +0000

Amazing grads share advice and reflect on key lessons Kylie Clarke Fri, 05/02/2025 - 10:10

Earning high praise from faculty and staff, students offer words of wisdom and more

Each year, students leave their mark on the College of Arts and Sciences. Their choices, hard work and determination leave a legacy for the next generation.

As graduation approaches, the nostalgia of first days, the pride of achievement and the excitement of what is to come replays in the buzzing minds of almost-graduated students.

To celebrate amazing grads, we asked faculty and staff to nominate remarkable students.

Each nominee answered one of the following questions:

What is your best advice for other students?
What will you carry with you into the next chapter of life?
What does graduating represent for you?

Each nominator answered this question:

In your view, what makes this student amazing?

Q&A
Q: What does graduating represent for you?
Salom茅 Carrasco, EBIO 鈥�25: Graduating from college is a representation of the personal commitment and determination I have as a student from a diverse intercultural background, but also the community support and dedication my professors, peers and others have provided for me. This success also represents that students are capable of pursuing higher education despite financial, social and structural inequalities.

Q: What makes Salom茅 amazing?
Nominator: Salom茅 transferred to 麻豆免费版下载Boulder from community college during the fall of 2023. I had the good fortunate of having Salom茅 in my Art of Science Communication class that term. Since then, Salom茅 has been an incredibly engaged member of our lab group. She participated in a month-long sampling expedition to western Canada during the summer of 2024 and just defended her honors thesis! Her growth and progress have been outstanding on so many fronts! Our lab is in awe of her artistic and scientific skills. We feel so honored that she has been a part of our research community during her time at CU.

View more responses

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about the College of Arts and Sciences? Show your support.

Earning high praise from faculty and staff, students offer words of wisdom and more

Traditional

White

News

What is 鈥榳oke鈥�? Who knows?

Related Articles

India and Pakistan once again step back from the brink

Related Articles

When the homework is happiness

Related Articles

An apple a day? It鈥檚 the Boulder way

Related Articles

Four Buffalo Bicycle Classic scholars earn Latin honors

Related Articles

Historian reflects on lessons learned 50 years after Vietnam

Related Articles

Honoring the traditions of people and place

Related Articles

麻豆免费版下载Boulder scholars recognized for innovation in PhD research

Related Articles

Grad鈥檚 body of work already changing courses

Related Articles

Amazing grads share advice and reflect on key lessons

Related Articles