University of Denver Fall 2022

Fall 2022

Checking in on the Kids

DU Brand Update

Art With a DU Signature

DU Sustainability

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts, the Newman Center Presents performing arts series brought the vertical dance company BANDALOOP to campus for a celebration of the human spirit. The free performance was centered around the Anna and John J. Sie International Relations Complex and the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science building.

For more photos of the event, visit magazine.du.edu.

Contents Fall 2022 FEATURES 20 Checking in on the Kids How are the youngest among us faring as COVID-19 becomes endemic? 24 DU Introduces a Refreshed Brand To ensure relevancy, every brand needs the occasional update and refreshed look. 28 Art With a DU Signature No matter where you turn in downtown Denver, you’re sure to encounter creative works with DU DNA.

magazine.du.edu du-magazine@du.edu 303.871.2776 Volume 23, Issue 1

Executive Editor Renea Morris

Managing Editor Tamara Chapman

Art Director René Moffatt Senior Editor Heather Hein

Contributing Writers Emma Atkinson Janette Ballard Matt Meyer Connor Mokrzycki Jon Stone Designers Kari Burns Brooke Harman Production Designer Todd Fisher Photographer Wayne Armstrong

DEPARTMENTS 10 Research 12 Arts 14 Athletics

16 Sustainability 18 Books 33 Alumni Connections

Cover Photograph Janko Ferlič, Unsplash.com

DIGITAL EXCLUSIVES @magazine.du.edu Don’t miss: High inflation brings financial and mental health challenges. DU experts share tips for managing the strain. With a double major in mathematics and computer science, junior Ashley Sanchez is one to watch. Denver 101: A Denver Public Library branch is named after the late activist Corky Gonzales. His life journey included time in University of Denver classrooms. Plus many more!

The University of Denver Magazine is published four times a year (fall, winter, spring and summer) by the University of Denver, Division of Marketing and Communications, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. The University of Denver (Colorado Seminary) is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

Printed on 10% PCW recycled paper

Photo by Wayne Armstrong

FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 1

A new tradition helps first-year students reflect about their DU journey LETTER FROM THE CHANCELLOR By Jeremy Haefner

4D Experience—particularly in well-being. There, students experience a unique setting to make the social connections we know are critical to ensuring they thrive at DU. I was particularly moved by one student who told me that when she later spotted fellow “First-Ascentians” on the Denver campus, it made DU feel more like home. That is a special kind of magic. Over the course of our time at the KMC, Maurin and I watched the students enjoy meditation, creative arts, and testing their leadership skills and courage on the high ropes course and rock wall. We also observed focused 4D learning sessions, led by our skilled staff, where students reflected on what they want out of their education and experiences at DU. It was fascinating to listen to the conversations and gratifying to hear that they were appreciative of the opportunity to “think ahead.” These students, the first cohort for the 4D Experience at KMC, are off to a great start. Here in Colorado, we know the great outdoors and the Rocky Mountains nourish and challenge, excite and inspire. Many students choose DU because we offer an exceptional education, engaged and passionate professors, and a truly holistic 4D Experience where students grow and learn across all their dimensions—all so they can leave DU with a valuable degree and so much more. Our students are incredibly hardworking, creative and passionate. They come to DU ready to build their knowledge and skills. They come ready to discover how their interests, values and dreams can help them thrive and serve the public good. As I saw over the weekends I spent with them at First Ascent, the Kennedy Mountain Campus is an incredible way for students to discover just how the 4D Experience prepares them for the meaningful careers and lives of purpose they desire—and how it helps them find a place for themselves in the DU community. I look forward to all the ways First Ascent will evolve into a beloved tradition, drawing students from all walks of life to DU because they know that, here, we are thinking big about what students need in the classroom and beyond. I’m already looking forward to “ascending” again next fall.

Photo by Wayne Armstrong

It’s not every year we get to celebrate the start of a new University of Denver tradition. But this fall, our first year and incoming transfer students are the inaugural cohort to take their First Ascent to the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus (KMC). Over the course of two nights and three days, these students are immersed in four dimensional learning and experiences. They meet new friends, engage with a 4D peer mentor and enjoy outdoor adventures. First Ascent also gives students dedicated time and space to reconnect with themselves after a busy start to the year and reflect on all they want to get from their DU journey. My wife, Maurin, and I took our own First Ascent to get to know the newest members of our community. I can report firsthand that this experience is proving to be as meaningful and memorable as we hoped. As soon as students get off the bus and head to the dining hall, the crisp mountain air is filled with laughter and giddy excitement. And it’s hard not to be inspired. The Kennedy Mountain Campus at this time of year is stunning and full of autumnal color. During dinner, students sit in groups with many meeting for the first time. Witnessing friendships being made in real time affirmed for me the central role the Kennedy Mountain Campus plays in the

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Support Student Scholarships at DU

A donor’s gift can make someone’s education. I would not be able to attend college the way I have if I hadn’t had the nancial support that I’m getting.

Kaylin Walters

To learn about how your gift in support of scholarships can make a di erence in the lives of students like Kaylin, contact ScholarshipGiving@DU.edu or visit: bit.ly/3L2Wv7k. Her involvement in DU’s Black Student Alliance, Women of Color Alliance, and Feminist Student Alliance has given her a sense of community and an opportunity to be a leader among her peers. Forensic psychology is a longstanding passion for third-year DU student Kaylin Walters. Inspired by her father’s career in law enforcement and intrigued by the intersection of politics, police reform, and the question of why people commit certain crimes, she is majoring in psychology and plans to attend law school after she graduates from DU.

FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 3

DU’s creativity and influence extend everywhere you look LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE EDITOR By Renea Morris

of the most iconic pieces—an incredibly large blue bear in front of the Colorado Convention Center— was created by a former professor at DU’s School of Art and Art History. Be sure to take a look at the photo essay (page 28) to see how DU’s talent pool has shaped—and in many cases created—Denver’s visual arts scene. This issue of the magazine also showcases the talents of two inspiring innovators with a passion for sustainability—DU alums Daniel Craig (BA ’99) and Audrey Ng (BA ’17). Craig’s work on DU’s Burwell Center for Career Achievement proves that architecture is not only about designing beautiful buildings but also about using materials and resources wisely to create spaces for the spirit to grow. Ng, meanwhile, has been part of a massive effort to upgrade 125 Boston Public School buildings, making them energy efficient and hospitable to learning (pages 36–37). That’s certainly a priority on our campus. To see that, you need look no further than the remarkable green roof atop the University’s Community Commons (page 16). I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the biggest transitions happening at DU right now: the move to a refreshed brand—demonstrated in a new message platform and visual identity. “DU Introduces a Refreshed Brand” (page 24) walks you through a three-year, and counting, process aimed at increasing top-of-mind aware ness and perception of DU’s value and relevance. With an ever-challenging and crowded competitive marketplace, it was necessary to review the University’s strengths and opportunity areas and find ways to build more affinity and preference for the brand. Some of the ways we will double down on what is distinctly DU is to incorporate more vibrant storytelling through multimedia and social media, as well as ensuring that our messaging is more impact- and data-driven. In addition to all of the changes underway, we’re looking at how to transform the magazine and would like to get some insight from our readers. We want to make sure we’re producing a magazine that will truly resonate. Hearing about your preferences will help shape the publication into something we can continue to be proud of. I invite you to take some time, likely no more than 10 minutes, to complete the online survey. You’ll find an invitation to that survey on page 5. Here’s to a fantastic fall! Photo by Wayne Armstrong

I usually struggle with transitions—especially as the seasons change. Over the last few years, however, adjusting has been the mandate of the day. The fall of 2019 was my first in Denver and the last one that felt ordinary. I’m grateful that this fall feels typical in many ways. Sports and arts events are in person, and much of the angst over the pandemic has subsided. My hope is that a renewed feeling of calm will enable us to recover from the impact of the recent past. In particular, I’m concerned about the fate and well-being of youth across the country. “Checking in on the Kids” (please see page 20) explores one of the vestiges of the pandemic—the toll on young people’s mental health—that necessitated the declaration of a national state of emergency last fall. What’s more, because of disruptions in education, many students did not thrive academically in the remote classrooms adopted because of COVID-19. Despite current problems, I was brightened after reading about some of the groundbreaking work DU scholars in psychology, social work and education are conducting to foster more positive student outcomes. All of this work is a testament to DU’s care for the public good. As I began to explore Denver during the latter part of 2019, one of the first things I noticed was the great number of sculptures all over the city. Little did I know that one

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Share Your Insights With Us

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Want more from your DU magazine? du.edu/reader-survey

Celebrating 25 years of developing the next generation of transportation and supply chain leaders.

Thank you to the board members, alumni, business partners, and industry community that made this milestone possible. We look forward to many more successful years supporting the leaders who transform the industry!

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FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 5

On the last day of September, student fans overlooked cloudy skies and the prospect of rain to pitch their tents outside the Ritchie Center for Sports & Wellness—all in hopes of securing much-coveted season tickets for the Pioneers hockey team, defending NCAA national champions. Their overnight vigil paid off the next morning, with donuts, coffee, prizes and a visit from head coach David Carle. All eyes are on the ultimate prize—a repeat victory at the Frozen Four and setting the record for the most national championships in college hockey.

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Sure, winning a national hockey championship is a major accomplishment. But it’s certainly not DU’s sole claim to Numero Uno status. In fact, according to the Princeton Review’s annual Best 388 Colleges list, the Anderson Academic Commons is tops in the nation. So say, with no shortage of enthusiasm, the students responding to the publication’s surveys, fromwhich the rankings are derived. Whether they’re pulling an all-nighter ahead of midterms, diving deep into the archives or stopping by the Front Porch Café for some sushi and a coffee to-go, students treasure their library. And it’s no wonder. After all, says Michael Levine-Clark, dean of University Libraries, “The entire enterprise is designed with the community’s needs—learning, research and making connections—in mind.” POINT OF PRIDE Students’ verdict: DU’s library ranks as the nation’s best

RadioEd returns for its third season GOOD LISTENING

When a favorite podcast goes on hiatus, listeners often experience information withdrawal. After all, nothing combines context, convenience and longform narrative quite like a podcast. Fans of RadioEd, the University of Denver’s biweekly podcast, need suffer deprivation no longer. The podcast has returned with a new set of hosts and a renewed commitment to bringing DU expertise to bear on current events and persisting concerns—everything from climate change and Supreme Court rulings to political division and the rise of misinformation. The podcast’s new hosts—Emma Atkinson and Matt Meyer, both members of the DU Newsroom staff—bring a mix of daily newspaper and public radio experience to the recording studio. “As former journalists, we have a focus on narratively driven storytelling while maintaining the topical, newsy format that’s made this podcast so relevant,” Meyer says. “So far, we’ve covered the Colorado River crisis, the uprising in Iran, and there’s so much more on the horizon.” RadioEd’s third season launched on Sept. 20 with “The Colorado River: A Political Climate Crisis.” Featuring Sturm College of Law professor Kevin Lynch, who teaches in the school’s Environmental Law Clinic, the episode examined the legal and environmental challenges facing states dependent on the Colorado River for water. With the river drying and downstream reservoirs running low, these states will need to curb their water use and devise new strategies for maximizing their allotments—all while sustaining farming communities and growing urban areas. As Lynch points out, policymakers and the public at large have some tough decisions to make.

Photo by Wayne Armstrong

The Princeton Review survey responses give DU strong ratings across the board, with athletic facilities, health services and the campus all earning spots in the top 25 nationwide. Students also commend the University for its commitment to sustainability and the academic experience. Faculty and staff are “extremely dedicated to ensuring that the students receive a high-quality, worthwhile education,” one student reports. Another notes how DU has “basically every resource on campus for advising, coun seling, health, and assistance with schoolwork.” A third student gives a says-it-all review of the Anderson Academic Commons: “Awesome.”

Photo by Wayne Armstrong

The most recent RadioEd episodes, as well as the podcast’s archive, can be found at www.du.edu/ news/podcast.

Photo by Connor Mokrzycki

FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 7

PASSION PROJECT Professor’s work at internment camp rewarded as Amache designated a National Historic Site

Clark, a professor of anthropology, began researching Amache just before the site received state-protected status as a historic landmark in 2005. At the time, the camp remained in its postwar state of de-constructed housing and living facilities. In the years since then, Clark and her team of archaeologists, many of them students, have discovered much more lying just below the surface. Amache is one of several internment camps in the U.S., which Clark calls “a reminder of what happens when a nation forgets its values.” Torn from their homes and livelihoods, Japanese-Americans along the West Coast were forcibly moved to and kept at these relocation camps. Over the years, Clark’s work at Amache revealed that it contained a productive, beautiful garden community created from the minimal resources then at hand. These are the subject of her recent book, “Finding Solace in the Soil: An Archaeology of Gardens and Gardeners at Amache” (University Press of Colorado, 2020). Clark’s fascination with Amache’s gardens was rewarded over the summer, when a rose bush planted by an Amache resident experienced its first bloom in nearly 80 years. Up until the bloom, there was no way of knowing what color the buds, a vibrant pink, would be.

Amache, a World War II internment camp that incarcer ated over 10,000 Americans of Japanese descent, has been designated a National Historic Site within the National Park Service. President Joe Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act into law in March, thanks in large part to the work of DU’s own Bonnie Clark. This move means greater protections for the historically important site and the resources needed to maintain Amache.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Liniger Center on Franchising to foster industry leaders

center’s research focuses on issues facing franchisees and franchisors today. The launch of the Liniger Center comes at a propitious time. The growing franchise industry is projected to do more than $826 billion in business in 2022. The industry employs more than 8 million people, a number expected to rise. The center is made possible by a $3 million gift from Dave and Gail Liniger, co-founders of RE/MAX, an international real estate

The first of its kind west of the Mississippi, DU’s new Liniger Center on Franchising will provide non-credit coursework, networking and research opportunities for students interested in the possibilities of franchising. Frommarketing and finance to real estate and franchising law, the center will provide students the experience and knowledge necessary to be a successful franchisor or fran chisee. Additional courses will build students’ conflict-man agement, negotiation and leadership skills. The center also will provide students an in-depth understanding of what it takes to succeed and lead in the industry while preparing them for the Certified Franchise Executive Exam. Beyond classroom experiences, the Liniger Center will host workshops on current trends and serve as a site for peer-to-peer networking. Franchisees and franchisors will be able to collaborate and develop innovative solutions to problems challenging the industry. Housed within the Daniels College of Business, the center aims to facilitate timely research through collaboration with the Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management and the Reiman School of Finance. Additional partnerships with industry leaders will ensure that the

company. The couple launched their company in Denver in 1973. Since then, RE/MAX has grown to nearly 7,000 offices and more than 125,000 agents across the world.

“We’ve spent 50 years seeing amazing things happen when entrepreneurs come together, share their experiences and support each other,” Dave Liniger says. “The center will be a hub of learning and growing in that same spirit.”

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SELF-HELP Research finds that attending festivals can make us better people

specifically, that they were transformed by feelings of uni versal connectedness and seeing people in a new light. We also found that the longer people were at the gatherings, the more they reported feeling transformed, and they reported still feeling that it was a transformative experience up to six months later. People were also more generous and willing to spend time doing a favor for people they didn’t know well— something psychologists often call moral expansion— [which] got stronger the longer they were there. What should readers take away from these findings? I think, especially after COVID-19 has prevented us from gathering with large numbers of people and traveling outside of our homes for so long, it’s timely to recognize that sometimes our lives are punctuated by experiences that transform us. These sorts of mass gatherings are one place where those sorts of transformations happen. And knowing that, recognizing a universal human experience—[like] including those we don’t know in our circle of [people] we’d be willing to do favors for—are just some of the ways that these gatherings might change us for the better.

When was the last time you attended a mass gathering? Lollapalooza perhaps, or Burning Man? Did you come away from the event feeling more connected to other humans, or perhaps more willing to do good deeds? Kateri McRae, associate professor and head of DU’s Affective, Social and Cognitive (ASC) program in the Department of Psychology, contributed to a recent study that found attending such festivals can make us better people. She fielded some questions from the University of Denver Magazine about this research. How did you conduct the research? The research was done mostly in person at mass gather ings like Burning Man, as well as some smaller ones called Latitude and Dirty Bird. Some of the research was done after the fact with online questionnaires, but while at the festival, people responded to questions—and some of them played some “games” that were actually mini-experiments to test for things like moral expansion and generosity. Could you summarize the findings? We showed, first of all, that people reported that attend ing these festivals was a transformative experience—more

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FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 9

A scholar’s family legacy colors his work on peace and sustainability RESEARCH By Matt Meyer

years later, the boy’s father exhumed his body and those of his two siblings to give them a proper burial in a cemetery. The tricycle was donated to the Hiroshima Peace Museum, where it is on display to this day. On a 2019 trip to Hiroshima, University of Denver professor Cullen Hendrix, then a relatively new father, encountered that tricycle and learned the story behind it. “That was the point where academic understanding became inextricably intertwined with my broader expe rience as a person and a father,” Hendrix recalls. “It was a very full and visceral type of experience.” Roughly three years later, in the summer of 2022, Hendrix again journeyed to Hiroshima, this time to serve

Aug. 6, 1945, Hiroshima, Japan. For 3-year-old Shinichi Tetsutani, the day dawned with promise. It was a perfect day to enjoy his beloved hand-me down tricycle. Until, that is, an American B29 rumbled over Hiroshima, Japan, and dropped what would become the first live deployment of an atomic bomb in history. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Estimates put the death toll from the bombings at between 129,000 and 226,000 people, including the toddler who loved his tricycle. In the aftermath of the bombings, Shinichi was found trapped under rubble, barely alive and still gripping the handlebars of the trike. He died later that evening. Forty

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Korbel School of International Studies. Over the years, he has completed a predoctoral fellowship at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, and he’s co-authored and co edited books on the dynamics of violence and how resource rich countries are often burdened by authoritarianism, mismanagement, corruption and poverty. At the Korbel School, Hendrix heads the Environment, Food and Conflict (ENFOCO) Lab, which “leverages col laborations between physical and social scientists and policymakers to produce scholarship and analysis on issues at the intersection of the environment, food security and conflict.” Whatever his project, he draws on vivid memories for motivation. He grew up in the 1980s at the height of

as a specially appointed research professor for Hiroshima University’s Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS). In a city once devasted by war, he joined a group of scholars focused on promoting long-term amity on a global scale. “What [NERPS is] really focused on is the peace and sustainability nexus,” Hendrix says. “That promotes tran sitions to more sustainable livelihoods, relationships with the environment, energy systems, … and the way, conversely, sustainability policies can cause more peaceful outcomes.” With children like Shinichi Tetsutani in mind, peaceful outcomes have long been of primary interest to Hendrix. In fact, much of his career has focused on how environmental change and breakdowns in peace affect a variety of on the impact climate change has had and will continue to have on marine ecosystems and fisheries,” he says. “It’s still a source of livelihood and security for people, primarily in the developing world. For the world’s poor, fish protein makes up a very, very, very large portion of their animal protein intake. To the extent that poor people are eating meat around the world, chances are they’re eating fish.” Climate change can make long-productive fisheries less so, perhaps causing fish to migrate to other waters. The loss of the food source and the industry can be devastating. “Changes in either of those systems can cause violent conflict,” Hendrix says. His time in Hiroshima was colored by his family’s history. Hendrix’s grandfather was a nuclear chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project, the research effort that led to production of the first nuclear weapons. In other words, his grandfather had a hand in developing the bombs that would, in the name of ending the war, be used against Japan. That connection to conflict has informed his study of peace and strife and his work examining the effects of armed conflict on food, famine and the poor at DU’s Josef systems. For his work with NERPS, he looked at marine fisheries and shared governance of the oceans. “I’m very focused

the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear war seeped into every aspect of life. And as a young child, he saw photographs of the Ethiopian famine that killed between 300,000 and 1.2 million people, displaced another 2.5 million and forced 400,000 to leave the country. As he got older, he learned how factors tied to famine can spiral into oppression and violent armed conflict. Hendrix plans yet another trip to Japan, potentially with his family, to explore the

country further. “Hopefully, when my daughter hears that story [about his grandfather], she’ll be able to link this place not only with her great-grandfather and his legacy and familial connections, but hopefully mine,” he says. “Hopefully that will create a little bit less of a one-sided picture about the future and the world she inhabits.” Ultimately, Hendrix says he hopes that his work and commitment to peace can provide some balance to his family legacy. “Obviously, this is a very small thing,” he says. “The scales don’t balance. But I can use what skills I have to help bring about a better future. My family’s legacy related to this place is mostly as an instrument of war. Hopefully I’ve come to this place as a small instrument of peace, promoting better understanding and a better future.”

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A performing arts series celebrates 20 years of creating community connections ARTS By Janette Ballard

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Photos courtesy of Newman Center Presents

For example, her team has revamped a K-12 education initiative at the request of Denver Public Schools. They’ve built a classroom curriculum to make arts available not only to music teachers but to classroom teachers, ensuring that the performing arts can be part of every student’s education. The initiative also puts world-class talent in front of Denver students. For example, artists coming through town who have a teaching background will be invited into the classroom to build workshops around civil rights freedom songs, say, or classical dance. The students will then go to a Newman Center Presents matinee and see the work they’ve been learning about illuminated on the stage. In addition, Ahmad-Post has had conversations with artists about the need to invest in the creative process, which can be very time- and money-intensive. “[We’re] thinking through how we can make our spaces available for the creative process to support the creation of new work, especially by people of color who are working within their own cultural processes and traditions,” she says. She is also thinking of ways to give DU students more opportunities to learn from visiting artists. Not just music students, but all students. Ahmad-Post sees many connec tions between performing arts and other disciplines across campus, such as science, lighting design, entrepreneurship, innovation technology and cultural diplomacy. “Artists are inherently absorbing and reflecting everything that they see in their surroundings, and that is not limited to the things within a music school or an art school,” she says. “And so, one of my missions at DU is to really make that as abundantly clear as possible, and to elevate and amplify those connections across disciplines.” With the right mix of programming, community engage ment and leadership, the next 20 years are sure to be bright for Newman Center Presents.

Two decades ago, Denver’s arts scene became a lot more vibrant when the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts launched Newman Center Presents, a series that introduces audiences to a diverse array of artists and performances rarely seen in Denver. The series brings an eclectic mix of talent to town, from award-winning composers to acclaimed vocalists, drum ensembles to jazz pianists, comedians to puppeteers. It is the one place in Denver where patrons can regularly enjoy nationally and internationally renowned work, work unlikely to be offered anywhere else in the Mile High City, says Aisha Ahmad-Post, executive director of the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. “We really have sort of built this niche for touring and presenting folks that [is] totally outside the realm of what is normally available in Denver,” she says. “I’m really proud of that.” Audiences have grown accustomed to surprises from the series, and the fall 2022 launch was no exception. To kick off its 20th season, Newman Center Presents invited BANDALOOP to perform at a campus-wide event in Sep tember. The vertical performance group used climbing technology to glide, dance and fly on the outside walls of the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Anna & John J. Sie International Relations Complex, all to the delight of a mesmerized audience. The event was free and open to the community, a nod to the Newman Center’s vision to keep the community engaged, inspired and connected through the performing arts. “We’re really leaning into our community-based mis sion, and also our artistic-vibrancy mission, and trying to find ways to expand the relevance of performing arts programming for a wider swath of our community,” Ahmad- Post says. Since launching in 2002, Newman Center Presents has hosted more than 400 performances tailored to a cross section of arts patrons: dance lovers, jazz aficionados, world music fans and musical theater buffs. Stephen Seifert, the former executive director who started the series, was looking to emulate this country’s long-standing collegiate tradition of providing cultural programming to the community. It’s a uniquely American way of engaging with the performing arts, says Ahmad-Post, who recently presented on this topic at a conference with 16 countries represented. “The reason it works is because so many colleges and universities like the University of Denver understand that the arts are critical to a well-lived [life] and a wide-ranging and comprehensive education for their students and for their communities,” she adds. Since joining the Newman Center in August 2020, Ahmad-Post and her team have been reimagining the future of DU’s performing arts series. This includes creating opportunities for engagement between the artists and the community.

“I’m excited for the Newman Center to make its mark in Denver as really more of a collaborator, an incubator, an instigator for all things performing arts in this town,” Ahmad-Post says. “There’s a lot of different ways we can do that, but I think that’s where we’re headed.”

FALL 2022 • UNIVERSITY of DENVER MAGAZINE | 13

A new athletics director suits up to lead the Pioneers through challenges and changes ATHLETICS By Jon Stone

Since taking over for Karlton Creech this past summer, Berlo has made his No. 1 priority getting to know DU’s student-athletes, coaches and staff. He also says under standing the culture is important when taking over at a new program. “It’s incumbent upon me to really know what it means to be a DU student-athlete and the culture that they are a part of,” he says. “So, as I begin to make decisions, I’m doing them in a way that is fully informed as to the student athlete culture here.” One way he plans to support student-athletes is by emphasizing the fan experience at home games. Berlo made this a priority during his time at UMD, especially as their programs became more successful. The goal is to create an atmosphere across all DU programs that fans have been accustomed to experiencing while cheering for hockey, gymnastics and lacrosse. Berlo hopes to engage with students and make sure their voices are heard in shaping the future of what it’s like to attend DU sporting events. “Student-athletes love playing in front of an energetic, packed crowd,” Berlo says. “It will be a priority regardless of what the prevailing opinion [is] of what we have had, and it needs to be a priority in the current content-over loaded world we live in.” Berlo also knows that, as important as success on the field is, the athletes are students first. The combination of elite-level academics and competitive achievement attracted him to this position and reminded him of the values that characterized his time at Notre Dame. Last year, Pioneer student-athletes earned a combined 3.57 grade point average. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams were recognized for having the top GPAs in the country in their respective sports. As a program, 258 DU student-athletes earned academic honors from their respective conferences. “Sometimes you do have to recruit a little harder to find student-athletes that fit this institution. I really do believe that when you are excelling in all disciplines, you can fully reach your potential—and I think one often feeds the other,” Berlo says. “When you win with integrity and academic excellence, that’s a pretty powerful thing.”

The landscape of college athletics is changing. Dramati cally. The creation of superconferences and multibillion- dollar television deals has some schools scrambling to find a new home and to figure out how they fit into an ever- shifting scenario. Many of these changes are driven by institutions with football programs, and, for better or worse, it’s affecting other programs. For example, the University of Oklahoma’s decision to move to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) will have striking ramifications for the University of Denver’s women’s gymnastics team. Currently, DU competes in the Big 12 for gymnastics, and the departure of Oklahoma, which won the 2022 national title, means their spot will now be taken by Brigham Young University from the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference. Josh Berlo, DU’s new vice chancellor for athletics, is watching this seismic shift in college athletics very closely. “These changes impact us on varying levels,” he says. “We need to be paying close attention to what’s transpiring there and make sure that we are affiliated with the confer ences that empower our programs to chase national- level success.” “ When you win with integrity and academic excellence, that’s a pretty powerful thing. ” Berlo comes to DU after serving nearly 10 years as the athletic director at the University of Minnesota Duluth, known for its powerhouse hockey squad. However, it’s his 13-year prior experience at the University of Notre Dame that best prepared him for the shake-up in college ath letics. As a big football school whose legendary team has independent status and been an Atlantic Coast Conference affiliate, Notre Dame is constantly seeking to position its programs and student-athletes for optimum advantage. “We are in the right place right now, but we have to pay close attention to how those conferences are evolving,” Berlo says. “We’ve got 18 incredible programs that are well-positioned for short-term and long-term success. But we can’t be naive to think that’s enough and to not be really engaged in those conversations.”

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Photo by Wayne Armstrong

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A green roof brings beauty and eco benefits to the Community Commons SUSTAINABILITY By Emma Atkinson

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like Daniels’ green roofs are, you have to be thoughtful that those kinds of seeds could blow in and try to grow.” The Community Commons was constructed after Den ver voters passed a green roof law in 2017. That ordinance required all new buildings of a certain size to have green spaces—a rule that was later updated to include additional forms of sustainable construction, including solar panels. Rodgers says that when the green roof ordinance was passed, DU’s plans for the Community Commons building already included sustainable characteristics that met the city’s new requirements. “We did definitely pay attention to the green roof ordinance,” Rodgers says. “We also definitely applaud the effort of the city and citizens of Denver, both to vote it in, but also to work with it to make it an effective way to address the growing concerns about the urban environment.” When envisioning the green roof, Rodgers and his team considered other locations, among them the Burwell Center for Career Achievement and the Dimond Family Residential Village. The team landed on the Community Commons after determining that it would see the most use fromDU faculty, students and staff. “Then it could be a signature element that, actually, would programmatically enhance the program that [would be] on the fourth floor of that building,” Rodgers says. Given the Mile High City’s sometimes unforgiving climate, building and maintaining an urban green space presents formidable challenges. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most of Denver is classified as a “5b” on the department’s plant hardiness rankings. This means that, due to Denver’s erratic winters, characterized by 100-plus freeze-thaw cycles, it’s difficult to find plants that will thrive—and remain attractive—year-round. “We see dramatic temperature changes, where quite literally it will be 70 degrees out, and less than eight hours later, it’s below freezing for a length of time,” Rodgers says. “And a lot of non-native plants struggle with that.” With that in mind, Rodgers and his team worked hard to make sure the green space on the Community Commons roof featured a diverse array of native plant species that can evolve as seasons change and the years march on. “We wanted a beautiful pattern. And we wanted to express a lot of things with it and provide an educational opportunity,” Rodgers says. “But we also wanted to make sure folks realize that over time, some species may thrive in certain locations, and others may thrive in other areas, and that there will be a gentle and maybe purposeful migration of where different plant species end up doing their best.”

Green roofs—idyllic retreats located at the top of buildings—have become a popular way to beautify urban spaces and provide environmental benefits to structures and the spaces around them. Not to be left out, the Uni versity of Denver incorporated a green roof into the design of its new Community Commons building. The expansive green space on the fourth-floor exterior deck nods to the beauty of Colorado’s native plants and the University’s sustainability goals. The Community Commons’ green roof is an impressive feat of urban landscaping, featuring several garden beds that surround a floor-to-ceiling glass pavilion. Among the hardy plants in those beds: Tall native grasses that bend in the wind and provide a picturesque foreground for the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the west and the downtown Denver skyline to the north. This eye-popping view is intentional, says University architect Mark Rodgers, noting that the green space is meant to “cut out the foreground of the houses and built structures; and [one can] just see the tops of trees, and then the mountains beyond and hopefully the beautiful sunsets.” Aesthetics aside, the green roof complements the University’s plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Green roofs can help keep buildings cool, reduce building energy use and absorb rainwater. Just as important, any plants incorporated into the roof can capture and store carbon dioxide, considered one of the major contributors to climate change. The Community Commons’ green roof isn’t the first of its kind on campus. Technically, Rodgers says, DU has three green roof spaces; the other two are located at the Daniels College of Business and at Nelson Hall. “However, both of those roofs I would consider to be not anything close to the complexity, the ambition or the public natured showcasing that we’ve done at the Community Commons,” he says. The two other green roofs provided designers with valuable lessons related to long-term viability and ongoing maintenance. For one thing, green roofs with plantings require robust—and leak-proof—irrigation systems. The elements are tough on a rooftop, so plantings need to be watered accordingly. Another consideration, Rodgers says, involves the potential for invasive plant species to put down roots—quite literally—where they don’t belong. “One of the easiest examples is a cottonwood [tree],” he explains. “[The] tap root has a way of getting deep, quick, and can get its way through any minor flaw in the way that the [irrigation system’s] water membranes are applied to the roof’s surface. So, if you’re at ground level and exposed,

Photo by Lauren Cook

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New titles ponder pressing problems and life experiences BOOKS By Tamara Chapman

The far-reaching effects of violence against women In the United States, a woman is sexually assaulted every minute and a half. Across the 50 states, that’s 960 sexual assaults every day, Sunday through Saturday, January through December. Just as shocking, every 16 hours, a woman is shot and killed by a former or current intimate partner. Those numbers galvanized trauma “With grace and power, this mesmerizing memoir swirls from continent to continent, decade to decade, through a journey of identity, memory, loyalty, and loss. Part map, part family tree, We Take Our Cities with Us provides an intimate glimpse into what it means to make a home in the global modern age. Sorayya Khan is an exquisite storyteller.” —ELEanor HEndErson “This extraordinary memoir traverses a deeply personal terrain dotted with questions of identity, culture, and belonging. Khan engrosses the reader with myriad journeys, histories, and piercing insights. Thoroughly gratifying.” —raza rumi E ven when we leave them, our cities never leave us. After her Dutch mother’s death, Sorayya Khan confronts her grief by revisiting their relationship, her parents’ lives, and her own Pakistani Dutch heritage in a multicultural memoir that unfolds over seven cities and three continents. We Take Our Cities with Us ushers us from Khan’s childhood independence forged at her grandparents’ home in Lahore; to her adolescence in Pakistan’s new capital, Islamabad; to Syracuse and Ithaca, New York, where Khan finds her footing as the mother of young, brown sons in post-9/11 America; to her birthplace, Vienna, where her parents die; and finally to Amsterdam and Maastricht, the cities of her mother’s conflicted youth. In Khan’s gripping telling of her immigrant experience, she shows us what it is to raise children and l se parents in worlds other than your own. Drawing on family history, geopolitics, and art in this stunning story of loss, identity, and rediscovery, Khan beautifully illuminates the complexities of our evolving global world and its most important constant: love. sorayya KHan is the author of the novels City of Spies , Five Queen’s Road , and Noor . The daughter of a Pakistani father and a Dutch mother, she was born in Europe, grew up in Pakistan, and now lives in Ithaca, New York, with her family. Machete J oy Ca tro, s e r i e s ed i tor Mad Creek Books, an imprint of ThE oh i o STaTE Un i vErS i Ty PrE S S Columbus ohiostatepress.org author photo Barbara Adams cover art skyline (Blue Planet Studio), river and sun (gina/Adobe), hydrangea (public domain, 1755) cover design adam b. bohannon “We Take Our Cities with Us is an exquisite memoir, a dazzling exploration of time, place, and self. I loved it.” —L i Ly King

A memoir explores the emotional landscapes of a peripatetic life Throughout her life, alumna Sorayya Khan (MA ’85), the daughter of a Dutch mother and Pakistani father, has been called on to adapt to different landscapes, cultures and contexts. Born in Vienna, Austria, she spent much of her childhood and adolescence in Pakistan. She moved to the U.S. for college and later met

“A memoir of uncommon delicacy and emotional force. . . . This is an intimate, beautiful, and lasting book.” —Claire Messud

A Memoir K h a n

A Memoir

S o r ay ya K h a n

MaD CrEEK BooKS

psychologist Anne DePrince into action. A Distinguished University Professor in DU’s Department of Psychology and an internationally recognized expert in violence against women, she’s the author of the newly released “ Every 90 Seconds: Our Common Cause Ending Violence against Women ” (Oxford University Press, 2022). In its fast-paced 172 pages, DePrince examines the ramifications of intimate violence—its staggering toll on families and children, on classrooms and workplaces, on the economy, on public health and safety. But she also ponders why, after extensive and heartfelt efforts by advocates and public officials, the problem persists. “Over fifty years,” she writes, “people have marched

her husband while a student at what is now DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Her two sons were raised in Syracuse and Ithaca, New York, in a post-9/11 world not always hospitable to brown boys with “suspect” heritage. And over the years, she traced her family’s story—and thus her story—through various geographic coordinates, from Amsterdam and Maastricht to Lahore and Islamabad. In “ We Take Our Cities With Us: A Memoir ” (Mad Creek Books, 2022), Khan reflects on the enduring presence of

the people and places that have shaped her life. The author of three novels, she is known for delicate prose and an eye for telling detail. This memoir has earned high praise from two of the literary world’s most respected denizens. Author Claire Messud

and made laws, created services and studied their impact, and fought over the legitimacy of violence against women as a problem. And still a woman is a victim of intimate violence every ninety seconds.”

called it “an intimate, beautiful, and lasting book,” while novelist Lily King labeled it “a dazzling exploration of time, place, and self.”

An alumna’s chapbook shares poems from a pandemic For the first unsettling months of the coronavirus pandemic, award winning poet and essayist Kathryn Winograd (PhD ’89) sought solace in nature and found peace in writing. She spent April of 2020 writing poems, many of which were recently published in a chapbook, “ Flying Beneath the Dog Star: Poems from

As discouraging as this can be, DePrince finds hope in the power of passion and collaboration. She invites readers to become advocates, to help solve the problem, noting that “the causes and consequences of violence against women are interconnected with the great public issues of our time … .” In other words, if readers want to see progress in any number of areas—immigration, perhaps, or education outcomes, gun crimes, economic security, you name it— addressing violence against women is a good place to start.

Learn more about DePrince’s work on violence against women at magazine.du.edu.

a Pandemic ” (Finishing Line Press, 2022). “I wrote the poems … during National Poetry Month during such a terrible time and found such peace in my

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