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Students are digging into Auraria Campus history this semester — literally.

Archaeologists and students from Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Colorado Denver and Community College of Denver have launched an excavation project that aims to uncover more about those who once inhabited campus.

Team leaders hope to unearth new insights about the community of Aurarians who were displaced prior to construction of the campus in the 1970s and

perhaps even find Native American habitual remnants. The long-term goal is to house artifacts in a museum dedicated to the legacy of these groups. Mildred Saenz, an Anthropology minor at MSU Denver, looks forward to learning from the excavation process. As a Mexican immigrant, she’s particularly interested in the culture of the displaced Aurarians, who were primarily Latinos. MORE PHOTOS: See students in action. “I’d like to see what kind of lives they lived, what they did,” she said. “Seeing what’s here is very important for the people who lived here before.”

NEWS

A nationwide recall of baby formula in February sent parents into crisis mode, frantically searching stores and the internet to find food for their babies.

As the shortage dragged on, some argued that mothers who were struggling to find formula should “just breastfeed.” But it’s not that simple, said Jennifer Bolton, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Nutrition at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

“You could make the same analogy that if you have a car available and you need to get somewhere, ‘just drive,’” said Bolton, a registered dietitian and board-certified lactation consultant. “Well, if you don’t know how to drive, you can’t ‘just drive.’ You need somebody to teach you.”

Preparing more health professionals to provide that support to nursing mothers is the goal of a new lactation training program launched this fall in MSU Denver’s Department of Nutrition. It is the only program in the state that prepares students to become international board-certified lactation consultants.

Bolton and Amanda Ogden, R.N., an affiliate faculty member and fellow certified lactation consultant, have been dreaming up a lactation certification program for well over a decade. Their vision was to create a curriculum that guides students toward being patient-support professionals and working in health care settings to support infant feeding throughout the first several years of life.

Amanda Ogden, R.N., MSU Denver affiliate faculty member and Mama’hood co-founder, gives Gentry Rice, 2 months, an oral assessment.

That vision has now become a reality, with students getting hands-on experience at local health care facilities as part of their undergraduate- and graduate-level coursework. Students are required to complete 500 hours of a clinical lactation internship to qualify for the licensing exam.

Ogden is also the co-founder of Denver’s Mama’hood, a supportive community space for moms and families. Her main goal is to make breastfeeding support more accessible. “Our bodies make food for babies, and anybody who wants to breast- or chest-feed should be able to access help,” she said.

LEARN MORE about the program: msudenver.edu/nutrition.

The City of Denver says it needs upward of 40,000 construction workers to complete major projects. And businesses are struggling to fill those contracts. To help address worker shortages, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in July introduced legislation to invest in apprenticeship programs in higher education.

The Student Apprenticeship Act would provide funds for higher education and employers to create apprenticeship opportunities for students. It also allows apprenticeship programs to qualify as workstudy, so eligible students can earn money to pay their tuition.

The legislation aligns with students’ need to work while taking classes, said Maluwa Behringer, executive director of industry partnerships at Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Classroom to Career Hub.

“About 80% of our students work while going to school, but in a recent survey of Construction Project Management and Civil Engineering Technology students, only 20% of students were working in their career field,” she said. “If we can transition those students into construction apprenticeships, where they could earn while learning, that would be a big win for students and for the construction industry.”

Anthony Miller, a senior at MSU Denver studying Construction Project Management, worked toward his journeyman license in heating, ventilation and air conditioning while taking classes. He earned that license in 2020 and is now a full-time journeyman at Denver-based contractor RK Mechanical.

“My license has helped me to become a lead person and get the ball rolling on a promotion to foreman,” Miller said. “And MSU Denver was accommodating while I was getting my license — I could take classes online, at night and on the weekend and not miss out on work.”

MSU Denver President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., believes the legislation would make a huge impact.

“Apprenticeships provide relevant, enriching experiences for college students, and at MSU Denver, we’ve seen firsthand how these work-based learning opportunities kick-start our students’ careers,” she said. “I am proud to support Sen. Bennet’s bill to create more apprenticeship programs, which will connect credentials to careers through valuable hands-on training for students.”

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Anthony Miller, a senior at MSU Denver studying Construction Project Management, works at a job site at Denver International Airport.

THE STUDENT APPRENTICESHIP ACT

Number of construction workers the City of Denver says it needs to complete major projects. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet introduced legislation to invest in apprenticeship programs in higher education.

LEARN MORE about the Construction Project Management program.

NEWS

In fall 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association jointly declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health due to “soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality” caused by Covid-19 and other factors.

To address the challenges facing today’s children, Metropolitan State University of Denver’s School of Education integrates trauma-informed practices, known as TIP, into its curriculum, said Christine Muldoon, Ed.D., founding executive director of the Office of Education Solutions. “We incorporated TIP and put an equity lens to it. We wanted to ensure that we were also being culturally responsive.”

For these efforts, the school recently received the Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Trauma-informed care provides educators with a deeper awareness of key trauma-related concepts and a greater understanding of trauma’s effects on behavior. TIP also helps students learn de-escalation tactics.

Hayley Conley, a mathematics teacher at Alameda International Junior/Senior High School who received her Math degree with Secondary Education Licensure from MSU Denver in 2021, said TIPs are vital for Title 1 schools (those receiving federal funds because of their high percentage of students from lowincome backgrounds) because their student bodies have a wider breadth of experiences.

“(We have) kids who’ve emigrated from war-torn countries and kids who’ve lived in the dilapidated apartments down the street their whole lives,” she said. “TIP helps you better relate to all the kids — it’s about equity.”

For alumna Jocelyn DelRio, who graduated from MSU Denver in 2021 with a degree in Early Childhood Education, TIP is about compassion.

“Life is traumatic, and to ignore the things these students go through is to teach them not to confront difficult situations,” said DelRio, who teaches at the Colorado Sports Leadership Academy. “TIP helps us to meet students where they are and hopefully gives them better coping skills.”

MSU Denver alumna Hayley Conley was recently promoted to chair of the Mathematics Department at Alameda International Jr./Sr. High School in Lakewood after two years of teaching.

Political rhetoric has never seemed hotter. Which is why cooler heads at Metropolitan State University of Denver are reaffirming a commitment to freedom of speech, expression and inquiry, with a free-speech statement playing a central role in fostering respectful engagement.

Healthy dialogue with one another might just help us water the roots of a parched democracy, said MSU Denver President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., at a Sept. 15 panel discussion titled “Free Speech and the Art of Democracy.”

“Shutting down people’s ideas and speech is not OK,” she said. “The alternative is to bring your A-game and respectfully engage, maybe even with a little bit of humor. We’re an educational institution — that’s what we’re supposed to do.”

Davidson was joined by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat; former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican; Katia Campbell, Ph.D., professor and chair of Communication Studies; and David Fine, MSU Denver general counsel.

Panelists spoke broadly about philosophical constructs, including John Stuart Mills’ defense of the marketplace of ideas and the lack of a monopolization of truth; the impact of identity and demonizing “others”; and unlikely historical friendships among political rivals.

“Folks are so polarized, the very concept of working with someone you disagree with is not just foreign but wrong,” Williams said. “It’s our essence that we as civic leaders have to work with each other even when we disagree.”

To develop its free-speech statement, MSU Denver collaborated with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The University’s statement was specifically crafted to acknowledge MSU Denver’s diverse community.

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“On one hand, free Former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, expression and getting to left, and Colorado Attorney the truth (are) critically General Phil Weiser at the important at a university,” “Free Speech and the Art Fine said. “Yet we also of Democracy” panel. recognize that if someone is attacked by speech or otherwise, that’s contrary to our values and we should stand up on behalf of that person.” Davidson said MSU Denver’s leadership in the economy of thought will be a national model for divorcing the personal from the political, emphasizing how to attack ideas instead of individuals.

Metropolitan State University of Denver hosted a series of candidate forums this fall that aimed to better inform and engage voters who are weary, suspicious and frustrated with an election process that sees opposing candidates devote more energy to attacking each other than to offering real solutions.

The Solution Studio — presented by MSU Denver’s Institute for Public Service in collaboration with New Voices Strategies and the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy and Research Organization — invited candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate to participate individually in small, moderated panel-style sessions with students, answering questions on issues such as homelessness, inflation and climate action.

Participants included U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent Joe O’Dea, as well as incumbent Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl.

There was no audience at the sessions — just the candidate, four students and a moderator. Instead of candidates facing off against each other on stage, the Solution Studio’s intimate format allowed them to dedicate their attention to uninterrupted and authentic answers. Each session was recorded and produced by students in MSU Denver’s Department of Journalism and Media Production.

“The traditional debate format “The traditional debate format, where candidates are asked questions and take turns with timed responses, incentivizes a focus on sound bites,” incentivizes a focus said Robert Preuhs, Ph.D., professor and chair of on sound bites.” MSU Denver’s Department of Political Science. “So the outcome of a debate is less substantive. It’s geared to — ROBERT PREUHS, PH.D., the pithy, zinger response.” PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF MSU Denver, with its diverse student body, boasted

POLITICAL SCIENCE the strongest undergraduate student voter turnout of any college in the country in 2016. And the Solution Studio organizers used information gleaned from the University’s workingadult students to develop topics of discussion for the panels, said Tom Cosgrove, founder of New Voices Strategies, who conceived of the candidate forums. In a traditional debate format, “your candidate’s only there to create enough noise to get people talking,” Cosgrove said. “But government requires solutions, not slogans.”