Metropolitan Denver Magazine - Winter 2019

>TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER >CREATIVE SOLUTIONS ENHANCE LIVES >CYBER SUCCESS

WINTER 2019

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RECENT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDALS HIGHLIGHT THE MONEYED NATURE OF ACCEPTANCE – AND MSU DENVER’S POSITION OF STRENGTH AS AN OPEN-ACCESS INSTITUTION.

FirstLook PRECISION POSSIBLE When it comes to aviation safety, precision counts – in the air and on the ground. “The more precise of a pilot of Denver’s Precision Flight Team. Aviation and Aerospace students put their skills to the test when they hosted the National Intercollegiate Flying Association’s Region 1 SAFECON competition Oct. 21-25 at Broomfield’s Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. To prepare for competition, members of the flight team, above, practice landing and other flight skills at Erie Municipal Airport.

PHOTO AMANDA SCHWENGEL

you are, the better pilot you can be,” said Dagmar Kress, affiliate faculty coach of Metropolitan State University

WINTER 2019 VOL. 7 NO.3 RED.MSUDENVER.EDU

METROPOLITAN DENVER MAGAZINE

PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

WEATHER SEGMENT Matt Meister, right, and other graduates of MSU Denver’s meteorology program focus on helping viewers understand the impact of weather on their daily lives. See the forecast for careers in TV meteorology on Page 16.

08 12 16 F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

IS ‘ELITE’ A BAD WORD?

THE RUN OF HIS LIFE

A college admissions scandal sparks a national conversation about the moneyed nature of acceptance – and MSU Denver’s position of strength as an open-access institution.

MSU Denver’s well-established meteorology program has been churning out successful TV meteorologists for decades. Here’s how those forecasters are adapting to a rapidly changing media climate.

22 CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

28 NARRATIVE PRESERVATION

03 IN YOUR WORDS

24 OPPORTUNITIES IN STORE

30 PEOPLE

Roadrunners define success.

04 NEWS

ILLUSTRATION CRAIG KORN AND AMANDA SCHWENGEL

TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER

Cross-country/track star Yonatan Kefle excels at MSU Denver after escaping an oppressive regime in Eritrea.

02 THE FIRST WORD

As states continue to disinvest in public colleges and universities, President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., asks us to reimagine what’s possible in higher education.

ON THE COVER Recent college admissions scandals highlight the divide between those who have access to higher education as a socioeconomic vehicle of transformation and those who don’t.

F E AT U R E

Colorado’s new poet laureate, a prescription for beating the odds, a $1.5 million hospitality gift and other stories that will make you “Rowdy and Proud.”

ENHANCE LIVES Damon McLeese’s creative thinking helps people living with disabilities express themselves, gain job skills and earn an income by making art.

A scholarship for displaced Aurarians helps Michelle Baros pursue her dream of business ownership with 7-Eleven.

26 CYBER SUCCESS

Navy veteran Malcolm Young finds his passion – and a job at Lockheed Martin – in the highdemand field of cybersecurity.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is a finalist for the National Book Award. Here’s what you need to know about the Denver author and her short story collection, “Sabrina & Corina.”

Alumni share news and notes.

31 PEOPLE IN MEMORY

We remember those who are no longer with us.

32 THE FINAL WORD

Former NCIS Director Andrew Traver is opening doors and minds for his criminal justice students.

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the

FIRSTWORD PHOTO SARA HERTWIG

Reimagining higher education

Is college worth it?

That’s a question I posed in September at TEDx MSU Denver, a daylong event featuring thoughtful and provocative presentations on a variety of subjects, including free speech, anarchy and space exploration.

My TED talk was focused on a topic that hits close to home for all of us at Metropolitan State University of Denver – the idea that while higher education is the foundation of the American dream, states have for decades been disinvesting in public colleges and universities. In Colorado, for example, the state paid about 63% of tuition at state schools in 1980 with just over 36% paid by the student. Last year, the state paid just 29% of tuition, while students were left with more than 70% of the cost.

This chronic disinvestment is eroding opportunities for young people and making the United States less competitive in the global economy. To be sure, states need to reverse the funding trends of the past 40 years and reinvest in our future. But we also need to push back on the narrative that college doesn’t matter. Our country needs an educated workforce to remain competitive. Our young people need higher education to advance their lives and communities.

We also need to reimagine how higher education works for students shouldering a larger share of the costs of college. We need to stop trying to force them into an outdated four-year model that too often burdens them with debt and can set them up for failure. At MSU Denver, more than 80% of our students work full or part time. So, let’s meet them where they are by providing flexible pathways to degrees. Let’s have them work in their field of interest while going to school, so they can pay their way and get work experience. That will set them up better for the future, even if it takes them more than four years to graduate.

For higher education to be a vehicle for upward economic and social mobility, students need access to it.

Operation Varsity Blues, the largest college admissions scam in U.S. history, in which wealthy parents paid bribes to get their kids into “elite” universities, highlights the role money and legacy play in who gets access to higher education. The scandal has prompted colleges and universities across the country to reexamine their admissions policies.

The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies and opinions of Metropolitan State University of Denver nor imply endorsement by its officers or by the MSU Denver Alumni Association. Metropolitan State University of Denver does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability in admissions or access to, or treatment or employment in, its educational programs or activities.

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Our cover story, “Is ‘elite’ a bad word?” takes a deep dive into these important issues and the future of higher education.

The other stories in this issue show what’s possible when we give students an opportunity to reach their potential. From a National Book Award finalist to a smallbusiness owner, Roadrunner alumni are the best evidence for the importance of our work at MSU Denver.

Let’s continue to shine a light on the truth about the value of a college degree and reimagine higher education, so that our American dream isn’t just a dream for today’s students.

Sincerely,

Janine Davidson, Ph.D. President

They can look to MSU Denver as a model. As an open-access institution, we’ve long understood the importance and value of accepting students based on potential,

Metropolitan Denver Magazine is published three times a year by the Metropolitan State University of Denver Office of Strategy, Marketing and Communications. © 2019 Metropolitan State University of Denver. All rights reserved. Address correspondence to: Metropolitan Denver Magazine, MSU Denver, Office of Strategy, Marketing and Communications, Campus Box 86, PO Box 173362, Denver, CO 80217-3362. Email: magazine@msudenver.edu.

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regardless of their socioeconomic or family background. In fact, more than half of our students are the first in their families to attend college.

PUBLISHER CATHY LUCAS | EDITOR JOHN ARNOLD | ART DIRECTOR SCOTT SURINE | PUBLICATION DESIGNER CRAIG KORN | EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SIET MILNE-WRIGHT | CONTRIBUTORS MARCUS CHAMBERLAND | LINDSEY COULTER | CLIFF FOSTER | DARRAL FREUND | IAN GASSMAN | SARA HERTWIG | SARAH HUNSINGER | ELIZABETH MORENO-ROSALES | ALYSON MCCLARAN | DAVE NELIGH | ALEX PASQUARIELLO | CORY PHARE | JOSEPH RIOS | OLGA SAGO | AMANDA SCHWENGEL | JULIE STRASHEIM | JESSICA TAVES | DAN VACCARO | MATT WATSON | ROB WHITE | LYNNE WINTER | MARK WOOLCOTT | EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: DEBORA GILLIARD, PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT | JAMIE HURST, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT | TRACI MCBEE ROWE, DIRECTOR OF DONOR RELATIONS AND ADVANCEMENT SPECIAL EVENTS | SAM NG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF METEOROLOGY | KIP WOTKYNS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM

Your WORDS In

We asked you this question on social media:

How do you define success?

Haley Kline | biology, ’14

When I was a student, success was balancing multiple jobs with full-time enrollment – especially when I was in chemistry classes! Now, in my career at MSU Denver, success means improving our students’ lives for the better. Whether it’s building new partnerships in our community, improving processes in our office or empowering students to navigate investing in their education, I feel a little bit better about the state of our world when I can help someone take another step forward on their path toward defining success for themselves.

Collin Caffrey | aviation management, ’13

I believe success is having the platform to better the people and world around us on a daily basis.

Josh Adkins | chemistry,

Vanessa Jones | speech communications, ’08

Letting a path be made for you, not you making one. Things happen for a reason, and you have to let it happen.

Justin Boggess | marketing, ’11

Providing for my family like my father did for me.

Jan Marie | hospitality, ’92

Having a job waiting for you after graduation – exactly where you want to work and live.

Nicole Rice | human services

Megan Reyes |

For me, success means having raised my three now-grown kids as a single mother, going back to school in my late 30s to get my associate degree, earning my Bachelor of Science, currently working on my master’s degree and eventually pursuing a doctorate. I also have a dream job where I get to do things I never imagined – including leading others!

Striking a balance between personal fulfillment, professional satisfaction and authentic community involvement (service, board participation, giving).

Litmus test: Do you wake with a smile on your face?

professions, ’17

David Crumbaker | political Happiness. :-)

Living life on your own terms, based on your own values, principles and standards – not to impress, please or be recognized by others.

Jam Clock | social work, ’14; master of social work, ’15

management, ’12

Note: Some responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

SHARE YOUR STORY

science, ’12

Desiré McGarvey |

political science, ’95

Everyone has a story to tell, and we want to hear yours! Email us: magazine@msudenver.edu.

Overcoming tragedy, pushing through hardships and not giving up when I most wanted to.

Brian Macias | Spanish, ’05

No student loans to pay because I was able to pay for school on my own – no GoFundMe needed!

biology, ’95

Success is helping make the world a better place and being paid to do it.

shopmsudenver.com

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News

MSU Denver continues to have an impact on and off campus.

Growing up in north Denver, Bobby LeFebre was inspired by conscious hip-hop artists such as Tupac Shakur, N.W.A. and Public Enemy.

‘NORTHSIDE’ STORY: MSU DENVER ALUM NAMED COLORADO POET LAUREATE

Their beats, rhymes and lives helped shape his love for and understanding of the power of words from a young age, he said.

Today, the 37-year-old poet, writer and performer is shaping the worldview of generations young and old though his poetry and hit play “Northside.” And his words will now be amplified even louder with his appointment by Gov. Jared Polis as Colorado’s new poet laureate.

LeFebre – a 2004 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver – is the state’s eighth poet laureate and the first person of color and Latino person to hold the nearly century-old position. He’s also believed to be the youngest ever to hold the title. The Colorado poet laureate’s duties include advocating for poetry, literacy and literature, and the honorary position includes a modest $2,000 honorarium for each of the four years of the term.

“Bobby LeFebre has an amazing ability to empower and connect communities through the wisdom of his words; that is why we are confident he will make a fantastic poet laureate,” Polis said in a statement announcing LeFebre’s appointment. “He embodies the spirit of a ‘Colorado for All’ where everyone is included. I know he will be a strong advocate for the arts and art education as a way to bring us together.”

The poet-laureate title is only the latest feather in LeFebre’s cap: He’s a two-time Grand Slam champion, a National Poetry Slam finalist, an Individual World Poetry Slam finalist and a two-time TEDx speaker.

PHOTO MARK WOOLCOTT

“I always credit (MSU Denver) with me finding my voice. It was the first time I found a social conscience, reconnecting with my roots, power, privilege and learning about the ways systems and institutions are set up not for our benefit,” he said. “The way I see the world was really formed and shaped by the time I spent at MSU Denver.”

HIGH-FLYING FEATS

PHOTO JOHN ARNOLD

Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Aerobatics and Glider Club is flying high again after strong showings at the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships in September and July’s collegiate aerobatics competition at AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 in Wisconsin, the largest air show in the world.

Roadrunners Roger Belleau, Landon Diedrich and Jose Garzon Gonzalez swept the top three individual spots in the Primary Power category at the national championships, while MSU Denver finished second overall at Oshkosh.

Dagmar Kress, affiliate faculty coach of MSU Denver’s aerobatics club team and Precision Flight Team, also brought home hardware from Oshkosh, where she was awarded the 2018 Frank Price Cup by the International Aerobatic Club in July.

“The award to me means that I am contributing valuable work to the sport of aerobatics by introducing, coaching and teaching this art to as many students as I can,” Kress said.

At competitions, team pilots perform loops, spins and rolls that judges rate on a scale from zero to 10. Scores are tallied, and the team with the highest total wins. Those numbers are tracked throughout the year, and the group with the highest overall score is crowned national champion.

A WINNING RECIPE FOR FUTURE HOSPITALITY LEADERS

Vibeke Gaard, a founding member of the MSU Denver Aerobatics and Glider Club, practices aerobatics maneuvers near Fort Morgan, Colorado, as her coach, Dagmar Kress (right) observes.

MSU Denver won the national championship in 2017, the team’s first year of competition. It’s in the running for the 2019 championship, with one more competition to go in November.

“Our students are learning challenging and hands-on flight skills in aircraft that are extremely demanding to fly,” said Jeffrey Forrest, Ph.D., chair of the Aviation and Aerospace Science Department. “This prepares our graduates to be top contenders for jobs in the commercial world of aviation and air transportation.”

The chances are good you’ve dined with Frank Day. He built a hot dog stand into an empire that included Old Chicago, ChopHouse and Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery. Today, his company, Concept Restaurants Inc., merges hospitality and food across the country; among its Colorado stalwarts are Denver’s Humboldt Farm Fish Wine, Ignite Kitchen + Cocktails, Stout Street Social and Boulder’s Spruce Farm & Fish, License No. 1 and The Corner Bar. “Colorado’s hospitality industry has been formed by Day’s leadership,” said Christian Hardigree, J.D., founding dean of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s School of Hospitality.

But Day didn’t just build an empire, Hardigree said. He changed countless lives by nurturing the next generation of hospitality leaders.

“It’s not just about hiring someone and when they leave getting somebody else in,” she said. “It’s really about mentoring them and taking them to the next level in their careers.”

PHOTO LINSDAY PIERCE MARTIN

Now, a $1.54 million gift by Gina and Frank Day to MSU Denver will infuse everything in its School of Hospitality with that brand of leadership, Hardigree said. It will establish the Day Leadership Endowment and the Gina and Frank Day Leadership Academy, which will create a 360-degree mentoring program incorporating leaders from Concept Restaurants, Sage Hospitality and Stonebridge Cos. It will also launch an Industry Professional Hospitality Online Leadership Certificate.

“People learn how to be effective leaders through the experience they gain from years on the job,” Frank Day said. “My goal is to give students a shortcut to that information by teaching them the mechanics of leadership while they are still in school, with the hope they will be better-equipped when they go into the field after graduation.”

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News

ROWDY AND PROUD: HOMECOMING 2019 PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

PROVOST GOLICH ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT A longtime faculty advocate and champion at Metropolitan State University of Denver will be stepping down from her leadership post after the 2019-20 academic year.

Provost Vicki Golich, Ph.D., announced her retirement after a decade of service as MSU Denver’s chief academic officer.

Golich has spent 45 years in academia and joined the MSU Denver leadership team in 2009 after 17 years at California State University San Marcos.

During her tenure at MSU Denver, Golich has made innumerable contributions to the Roadrunner community, including a steadfast commitment to the support, development and recognition of faculty.

But organizers worked hard to make sure the weeklong celebration was anything but typical – with a focus on much more than sports.

“We tried to figure out this summer how to make it unique to us because we are so unique as an institution,” said Brandi Rideout, director of alumni relations. “I think the thing we kept coming back to was, ‘How can we bring everyone together to celebrate that Roadrunner pride?’ And that’s not just students, not just alumni, but faculty, staff, our donors – everyone who is part of our community.”

MSU Denver Homecoming 2019 kicked off Sept. 30 with events that included keynote speakers Chris Mosier and Gina Garcia, Ph.D. Mosier is a trailblazing transgender athlete – the first to make a U.S. National Team and a six-time member of Team USA in duathlon and triathlon. Garcia is an expert on equity and justice in higher education focusing on HispanicServing Institutions. Female leaders on the University’s Board of Trustees also participated in a panel discussion about their respective paths to success in business.

Other highlights included a kickoff pancake breakfast, a celebration of Rowdy through the decades and a celebration of Tivoli beer, with the on-campus brewery hosting a special MSU Denver Mug Club happy hour.

Oh, yeah – Roadrunnners flexed their athletic prowess, too, with an alumna softball game, men’s and women’s soccer matches and women’s volleyball.

PHOTO OLGA SAGO

A notable example is her work to increase the number of faculty sabbaticals. Her advocacy in 2013 led to the University setting aside $500,000 to support a sabbatical for every faculty member over a seven-year period.

Metropolitan State University of Denver this year moved Homecoming from winter to a more traditional time slot in the fall.

Golich has also been a strong advocate for diversifying the University’s faculty. She collaborated with the Faculty Senate Diversity Committee to develop the Wilton Flemon Postdoctoral Fellowship, which creates a pipeline from graduate work to the classroom at MSU Denver for faculty from historically underrepresented populations.

As part of her commitment to hands-on, immersive learning experiences, Golich had a hand in creating the University’s Applied Learning Center, Service Learning Program and Civic Engagement Program, and has played a crucial role in developing international learning experiences for students.

“My wish for MSU Denver is that we truly become known as the model university that we are, for delivering high-quality education for all,” Golich said. “I want people to know this place for how great it really is.”

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Chris Mosier, left, speaks about his experience as the first out transgender athlete to make a U.S. National Team and a six-time member of Team USA in duathlon and triathlon.

PHOTO ELIZABETH MORENO ROSALES

PHOTO ELIZABETH MORENO ROSALES

More than 60 University community members and civic leaders who turned out for a daylong Strategic Planning Vision Conference in September took another step forward in shaping Metropolitan State University of Denver’s “preferred future.”

Conference participants collaborated on the critical next step in MSU Denver’s strategic planning process – an effort to craft the goals and objectives that will serve as a road map for the University’s future.

“We’ve been saying that students can bring their zigzaggy lives here,” MSU Denver President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., said at the conference.

“Now, we need to operationalize that.”

Davidson also noted that higher education is at a critical moment and that the plan would need to be fluid enough to adapt to changes in the field.

MSU Denver is in the middle of the strategic planning process, a sixphase effort to craft the University’s Strategic Plan 2025, which will launch July 1.

BUILDING MSU DENVER’S ‘PREFERRED FUTURE’

Participants at the September conference reviewed four concept papers prepared by the Strategic Planning Team. Those papers were based on feedback gathered over the last eight months from more than 1,500 campus and community constituents and are available to read on the Strategic Plan 2025 website: msudenver.edu/strategic-plan-2025.

TEDX MSU DENVER BRINGS BIG IDEAS TO CAMPUS PHOTO AMANDA SCHWENGEL

Community thought leaders – including many faculty, staff and students of Metropolitan State University of Denver – took the stage Sept. 12 to share a variety of thought-provoking presentations during TEDx MSU Denver 2019. The sold-out event, themed “Reimagining Possibilities,” was held on the Auraria Campus and organized by the University and TEDx Cherry Creek.

Philosophy major

Among the 19 presenters was MSU Denver Colton Lee. President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., who discussed the value of a college degree and how students are affected by state disinvestment in higher education.

professor of management in MSU Denver’s College of Business and a member of the board of directors at Colorado’s Blue Star Recyclers, reimagined traditional business models to put purpose at the forefront to create societal value and reap market rewards.

MSU Denver students also got in on the action. Philosophy major Colton Lee and English major Matthew Candelaria delved into principles of anarchy and how they view it as a tool to critique social and political hierarchies.

Other highlights included Travis Heath, Ph.D., an MSU Denver associate professor of psychology, who pondered a model of community care wherein people don’t have to self-care their way out of social inequities.

“TEDx MSU Denver was a resounding success and an amazing showcase for our talented faculty, students and alumni,” Davidson said.

“We had a packed house, with guests from across Colorado who now know more about the impressive work happening here.”

Veteran nurse Katrina Little, an MSU Denver Department of Nursing lecturer, presented solutions to high maternal mortality rates in the U.S. for African American women. And David Bechtold, an associate

LEARN MORE about the presenters and watch their TED talks at tedxmsudenver.com.

WANT MORE? Keep up to date with MSU Denver news at red.msudenver.edu.

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RECENT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDALS HIGHLIGHT THE MONEYED NATURE OF ACCEPTANCE – AND MSU DENVER’S POSITION OF STRENGTH AS AN OPENACCESS INSTITUTION.

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STORY CORY PHARE

Fans of the seminal ’90s sitcom “Full House” are finding it hard to believe Aunt Becky is charged with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering in the largest college admissions scam in U.S. history.

Reclaiming the American dream

Actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have pleaded not guilty to allegations that they paid $500,000 in bribes to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California.

Rocha is the founder and CEO of Bondadosa (Spanish for “kindly”), which combats food insecurity by delivering groceries to lowincome neighborhoods in Denver. The company is one of only a handful of grocery-delivery services in the nation to serve people of advanced age and those with disabilities who use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman was also caught up in the scandal, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues by federal investigators. In May, she pleaded guilty to federal charges, admitting that she paid an SAT proctor to correct wrong answers on her daughter’s exam. She was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a fine and community service – for a felony.

The cases highlight a rapidly spreading fissure between those who have access to higher education as a socioeconomic vehicle of transformation and those who don’t.

“One of the biggest implications of the recent high-profile admissions scandal is that it has shined a spotlight on the very serious issue of wealth and privilege inequity in our country,” said Katia Campbell, Ph.D., president of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Faculty Senate and professor of Communication Studies.

As the charges stemming from Operation Varsity Blues indicate, too many institutions are listening to money rather than students and employers. Now, higher education, long viewed as a means to advance one’s station in life, may be having its day of reckoning.

MSU Denver President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., sounded the alarm in September at TEDx MSU Denver 2019: “When it comes to achieving the American dream, we’ve basically pulled the ladder up behind us on our own kids,” she said. “Then we turn around and tell them they have to do it the same way we did.”

What happens when we reimagine access to higher education?

Success stories such as Ricardo Rocha’s.

Entrepreneurial success – let alone a college diploma – wasn’t a given for Rocha, an undocumented immigrant who faced systemic challenges along a rocky route through Adams City High School.

He credits MSU Denver student support programs that later became a part of the University’s Center for Equity and Student Achievement for helping him get a second chance at academic success. He also got support from the College Assistance Migrant Program, which offers a one-year scholarship that helps students transition into college life.

The University gave him the opportunity to start over, he said.

“I felt like I could walk around campus here and see someone like me,” Rocha said. “I felt at home. At other places, I didn’t.”

Rocha’s shot at college and a successful career were possible thanks not only to MSU Denver’s focus on high-quality academic programs and student support services, but to the University’s status as a regional, modified open-access institution.

“If you grew up poor or went to one of those high schools that wasn’t exactly ‘college prep;’ if your parents didn’t have the money to send you to those Gucci SAT classes so you could get into those so-called elite universities, you can still come to MSU Denver,” Davidson said. “By passion, by purpose – and by law, as it happens – we will take you.”

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But that access doesn’t mean compromising on the quality of education, according to Michael Benitez, the University’s vice president for Diversity and Inclusion. It means opening up MSU Denver’s world-class faculty and innovative academic programs to students, regardless of their socioeconomic background or how prepared they were for college.

“We’re eliminating barriers and starting where students are to support them throughout the college journey,” he said. “Some folks may come into the classroom more prepared than others; that doesn’t mean they’re smarter.”

And ensuring that everybody has access to a college education is more important today than ever. Research from the Social Security Administration shows that over a lifetime, individuals with a bachelor’s degree are expected to earn approximately $1 million more than those with just a high school diploma. A 2019 report from the Colorado Department of Higher Education found that those who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from a Colorado institution see their income grow on average by 62% in the decade after graduation, while the projected portion of jobs in the state that require postsecondary education in 2020 is anticipated to be 74% – tied for tops in the nation.

“It is just a fact that in today’s highly globalized, information-oriented complex economy and society, you need a higher degree to make it,” Davidson said.

Less money, more problems Up until the passage of the G.I. Bill in 1944, higher education had largely been the domain of wealthy white men. The landmark legislation passed in the wake of World War II opened the doors of those institutions to the masses, transforming college into a positive socioeconomic vehicle and catalyzing an economic boom that lasted decades.

Over the years, though, the investment began to erode – specifically at the state level. In 1980, the State of Colorado paid 63.4% of tuition at state schools, with 36.6% paid by the student. In 2018, the state paid 29.1% of tuition, while students shouldered 70.9% of the cost.

“In Colorado, it’s flipped,” Davidson said. “That’s the reason college is so expensive today – the systematic disinvestment that we have made in our society.”

There’s another problem with the current business model of higher education in the U.S., Davidson said. The system of college rankings, which place substantial weight on an institution’s selectivity, creates an incentive to drive applications higher and acceptance rates lower.

Higher education is also facing what some college administrators call a “demographic apocalypse” – a dwindling number of high school graduates to fill the college recruitment pipeline.

PHOTO JESSICA TAVES

PHOTO MARK STAHL

Katia Campbell, Ph.D., is a professor of Communication Studies at MSU Denver.

Ricardo Rocha is founder and CEO of Bondadosa, an organization dedicated to combating food insecurity by delivering groceries to low-income neighborhoods.

PHOTO DAVE NELIGH

on t h ig lic l don’t b u ed p arents that h s ally lthy p e and a n fi a has of we eptanc access l a d s .” can udent ge acc ollege others s s c t sion ome s to colle make an for s i adm that s r way s that em th e h “T e fact hei factor for th t n r th s ear t of easie o l y a t alw e are a of a lo r the heck

Despite these systemic challenges, MSU Denver educates the greatest total number of resident undergraduate students in Colorado (18,031 in the 2019-20 academic year, or more than 95% of the University’s undergraduate population) while staying among the lowest tuition rates for four-year institutions.

According to Will Simpkins, Ed.D., MSU Denver vice president of Student Affairs, the Operation Varsity Blues scandal highlights three key areas of inequity: legacy admissions, athletics scholarships and donor admissions.

“MSU Denver is different, though – our status quo is responding to the needs of our community,” Simpkins said. “Because of our statutory mission, we’re always thinking about how we provide access to everyone.

“That’s what makes us unique.”

Reimagining merit Employers routinely laud the work ethic of MSU Denver graduates.

And for good reason: The majority of MSU Denver students work full or part time while enrolled in classes. Because if you work hard, you get ahead, right?

Popular rhetoric tends to focus on words such as “hard work” and “merit” as concepts that theoretically lead to success, said MSU Denver Professor Campbell. The bootstrap narrative is foundational to the idea of using higher education to climb the socioeconomic ladder.

“The underlying and insidious message with ‘merit’ talk when it comes to college access is the implication that certain groups of students, namely students of color or working-class students regardless of race, lack merit and don’t truly earn admission,” she said.

– Katia Campbell, Ph.D., president of the MSU Denver Faculty Senate and professor of Communication Studies

The reality, according to Campbell, is that the system is simply designed to give certain demographics a significant advantage when it comes to getting ahead.

Whether it comes down to wealthy parents “donating” significant money to a university or investing in “specialists” to help their children get into the university of their choice, the bottom line is that wealth significantly smooths the path to college.

“The admissions scandal has finally shed public light on the fact that some students of wealthy parents don’t always earn their way to college acceptance and that there are a lot of factors that make college access a heck of a lot easier for them than for others,” Campbell said.

According to Benitez, the University’s vice president for Diversity and Inclusion, higher education needs to take a historical look at itself to understand how we got to where we are – and how MSU Denver’s mission is a competitive advantage, setting up the school for tomorrow’s success.

“Given the economic landscape combined with unnecessary and ongoing cost inflation across higher education, schools are becoming more and more expensive,” he said. “That unaffordability means we can be the place of preeminence for both quality and where students can come regardless of their preparatory background.”

Aunt Becky’s legal troubles notwithstanding, Operation Varsity Blues has cast a light on the high-stakes moneyed nature of college as the vehicle for socioeconomic transformation. And though the scandal has forced some institutions to start looking into their practices – or at least pay lip service to doing so – access has been at the heart of MSU Denver’s mission since Day One. “It’s going to take all of us to toss that ladder back down for the next generation; it’s going to take all of us to ensure that the American dream isn’t just a dream but a possibility,” Davidson said.

“That’s worth fighting for.”

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PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

STORY ROB WHITE

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STORY ROB WHITE

The third time Yonatan Kefle tried to escape Eritrea, the then-14-year-old climbed a mountain at night, starting out when it was as dark as possible.

“If the moon comes out, the Eritrean (border guards) can see you, and they’re crazy and they’ll shoot you,” Kefle recalled.

On his first escape attempt at age 12, he wound up in prison. He was forced to turn back from his second try when a fellow escapee was shot. On his third attempt, he successfully made the harrowing eight-hour journey to an Ethiopian refugee camp.

Today, 20-year-old Kefle is a mechanical engineering technology major and an emerging cross-country star at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

At last October’s Roadrunner Invitational – nearly four years since he immigrated to Denver – he finished third, second among Division II competitors, while leading MSU Denver to its first team meet championship in two years.

But no matter where his path takes him in higher education and sports, his family’s journey out of the Horn of Africa will always light the way.

CROSS-COUNTRY/TRACK STAR YONATAN KEFLE EXCELS AT MSU DENVER AFTER ESCAPING AN OPPRESSIVE REGIME IN ERITREA.

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ESCAPING ERITREA More than two decades have passed since Eritrea and Ethiopia launched the African continent’s deadliest border war. The initial conflict between 1998 and 2000 left as many as 120,000 dead, according to reports compiled by nongovernmental organizations. A peace treaty was signed in December 2000, but the two sides remained hostile until September 2018, when a historic peace deal was signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.

Set in the Horn of Africa along a stretch of the Red Sea’s southwestern shore and bordered by Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia, Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a decades-long war of independence. However, according to Human Rights Watch, it remains to this day a one-party state ruled by Afwerki with no legislature, no independent civil society organizations or media outlets and no independent judiciary.

Freedom House calls Eritrea a “militarized authoritarian state” and consistently gives it the worst possible score in its seven-point grading system considering political rights and civil liberties. Human Rights Watch considers the Eritrean government’s humanrights record among the worst in the world.

In the years following the failed 2000 peace agreement, Afwerki maintained a war posture to justify indeterminate compulsory national army service, forced labor, the quashing of political dissent and a ban on the free press, causing nearly 500,000 Eritreans, including Kefle’s family, to flee for their lives.

The good-natured Kefle is philosophical about his youth in the small Eritrean town of Segheneyti. Even as a child, he understood that “a smart person” could be arrested or killed for crossing Afwerki and his party, he said.

“It doesn’t really affect kids,” he recalled. “And when you’re young, you don’t know any better. That’s the way you see it from the beginning.

“But when I came out and got to Ethiopia and I saw the world, I was like, ‘Wow, what did I just leave?’”

Kefle first tried to escape with his entire family when he was 12 or 13, he recalled. They were all caught.

“My mom and my oldest sister had to pay money (to be released). I was 12 or 13, and I was in prison for two weeks.”

While adults in Eritrean prisons are often tortured, Kefle said he wasn’t harmed because he was still young.

On his second escape attempt, Kefle traveled with a group.

As they approached the border, another would-be refugee told them a member of his group had just been shot ahead near the border; they all turned back.

His third attempt, which was made with his sister Yodit in 2013, was successful. The children feigned going to church, which allowed them to move from the city to a local village before nightfall, Kefle said.

The move allowed them to avoid border guards who patrol cities.

“Right when it gets dark, when people are in their houses eating dinner,” the escape began, he recalled.

The siblings moved south, climbing a remote mountain on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border; they crossed into Ethiopia around midnight but were still far from safe.

“It’s super-steep,” he said. “When we got to the Ethiopian side, we couldn’t find the way down. We’d climb down, and it’d be too steep, so we would go back and try another way.”

Eventually, with the moon now out, Ethiopian border guards spotted the group and began shouting directions to help guide them down. It was 4 a.m. by the time their journey finished.

PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

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When Kefle was 10, his father, Fiseha, was faced with mandatory military service and fled to Ethiopia with hopes that his family would soon follow. It would take four years for his family – wife, Hadas; son, Yonatan; and three daughters, Yodit, Ksanet and Semhar – to escape Eritrea and two more for the entire clan to be reunited in Denver.

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Kefle and his sister spent two months in a refugee camp and then moved into their uncle’s home in the capital city of Addis Ababa. A year after Kefle and his sister made their escape, sisters Ksanet and Semhar escaped to Ethiopia, followed by the family matriarch, Hadas. The family was still not reunited, however, as by the time his family escaped Eritrea, father Fiseha had immigrated to Denver, where he had relatives.

“I started (applying for refugee status) a year before them,” Kefle said, laughing. “It’s not fair.”

Finally, after two years in Ethiopia, Kefle was allowed to immigrate to Denver in fall 2015; Oct. 28 marks his fourth anniversary since arriving in the United States. His mother joined the family in Denver in November 2015, reuniting the Kefle family for the first time in more than six years.

“It was so nice,” Kefle said. “My dad left when I was really young. I don’t really remember it being all of us. So, it was a new experience.”

THE JOY OF RUNNING His family’s native tongue is Tigrinya, the most popular language in Eritrea, and Kefle was excited to discover in 2016 that several of his new classmates at Denver’s South High School also spoke the language.

Those Eritrean students were runners on the school’s track and cross-country teams. So Kefle started running too.

“They were running, running,” Kefle said. “Then they said, ‘We have a race today.’ And I said, ‘A race? What is this?’

So I tried running.”

His friends took him to talk to the high school coach, and Kefle told him he wanted to run.

“And the coach said, ‘OK,’” Kefle recalled. “And then he said, ‘I like Eritreans.’”

His high school coach’s instincts were correct. Kefle in 2017 ran on a 4x800-meter relay team that ranked seventh

“Cold is not my weather,” he said, laughing. “I’m from Africa.

My junior year in cross country, I was supposed to get in the top 10, on the podium. With a mile and a half to go, I was like in fifth place. But my quad got frozen.”

PHOTO DARRAL FREUND

Kefle’s three sisters immigrated to Denver to be with their father soon after they made it to Ethiopia. In hindsight, Kefle can laugh about it now.

nationally. He finished 21st in the Class 5A state crosscountry meet in 2016 and 14th in 2017. He would have finished higher in the state cross-country meets, he said, if not for the cold.

“THEY WERE RUNNING, RUNNING. THEN THEY SAID, ‘WE HAVE A RACE TODAY.’ AND I SAID, ‘A RACE? WHAT IS THIS?’ SO I TRIED RUNNING.”

MSU Denver cross-country coach Nicholas Lara, a seventime national champion and 13-time All-American during his days competing at Adams State, sees a bright future for Kefle.

“His potential is as much as he wants it to be,” Lara said.

Last October’s Roadrunner Invitational was the first time Lara saw Kefle compete at his highest potential. For much of his high school career, he was a dominant force, he explained.

But in college competitions, he would sometimes sulk when he got passed because he wasn’t used to it.

Kefle worked on his mental game and adjusted to the increased level of competition. “Running is crazy,” he said.

“Sometimes you get beat. But I’m going to try to not get beat by those people anymore.”

With MSU Denver competing in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, arguably the best league in NCAA Division II for cross country, the sky is the limit for Kefle, Lara said.

“Moving forward, he could be top 10 in the RMAC, easily, if he wants to be,” he said. “He’s starting to trend that way.

(Kefle) is figuring it out.”

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Talk about the weather

STORY JOHN ARNOLD

TV meteorologists do more than alert us to tomorrow’s chance of showers; they show how the forecast affects our daily lives and communicate important climate science. Here’s how MSU Denver churns out successful meteorologists and prepares current students for careers in the growing field.

PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Alex O’Brien is a 2016 MSU Denver graduate and a meteorologist at KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs.

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When the Weather Channel launched in 1982, Chris Spears was 4 years old and spending a lot of time with his grandparents, who were “absolutely hooked” on the nascent cable network.

Soon, Spears was hooked too. The hours he spent watching weather reports with his grandparents sparked a lifelong passion for meteorology and forecast his own education and career path.

“I stood in front of the TV, pretending to do the weather,” recalls Spears, a 2005 meteorology graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver and an on-air meteorologist with CBS4 in Denver. “I’ve been doing the weather since.”

It’s a familiar story for many meteorologists whose fascination with the weather began early in childhood and, in the case of Spears, eventually led to MSU Denver’s meteorology program. The program produced its first graduate in 1976 and has been churning out successful weather researchers, forecasters, educators and private-sector meteorologists ever since.

But few of those graduates are as well-known to the public as those who appear in our living rooms every morning, afternoon and evening preparing us for the next day’s sunny skies or storm threats.

“We are preparing students for all types of weather jobs, as well as grad school and research,” said Sam Ng, Ph.D., a meteorology professor in MSU Denver’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “But TV is just as important. People who go into television (meteorology) are scientists who have to be able to communicate their work to the public simply and clearly.”

TRUST ACROSS PLATFORMS The ability to build trust with viewers has always been a key to success for TV meteorologists, who, thanks to advances in forecasting, technology and computer modeling, can be timelier and more accurate than ever with forecasts.

But meteorologists say those advances also present challenges, as more viewers turn to social media and other online apps for weather information.

“Anyone can get a forecast in seconds on their phone,” said Matt Meister, chief meteorologist at Fox 21 in Colorado Springs. “But that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole weather story or the impacts – what the forecast means to daily life. So that’s what I’m focused on.”

Meister, a 2001 MSU Denver graduate, often engages with his viewers on social media, answering questions and even offering advice to help them plan for vacations. Ultimately, meteorologists say they want to help people prepare for the weather and earn their trust, regardless of the platform.

“This is a changing field,” said Dann Cianca, chief meteorologist at KION-TV in Salinas, California. “People are not always tuned in to traditional TV. With people continuing to move away, I try to use social media to reach people and pull them back to TV.” Cianca, a Montana native and 2008 MSU Denver graduate, became fascinated with maps and the Weather Channel at an early age and

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soon after developed the passion he would pursue years later at MSU Denver. As he moved through his coursework, he got “a deeper appreciation of the science” and spent time “chasing storms” between classes. After his first job testing weather software for MeteoStar in the Denver area, Cianca took his science skills to the television studio, accepting his first on-air job in Grand Junction.

“For a lot of people, TV meteorologists are the scientists they engage with the most. These are the scientists they see on a daily basis,” said Richard Wagner, Ph.D., a longtime climatologist, atmospheric physicist and meteorology professor in MSU Denver’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “They know a lot more than they can communicate to their audiences. Just having that scientific knowledge makes them better forecasters.”

The role of scientist – not television personality – motivates Alex O’Brien, a 2016 MSU Denver graduate and weekend meteorologist at KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs.

“It was really the science that brought me to meteorology,” she said.

“Being on TV comes second.”

Growing up in Greeley, O’Brien took an early interest in storm observation and environmental science. She enrolled at MSU Denver for its undergraduate meteorology program, one of the few in the state that fulfills all the U.S. federal government civilservice requirements for classification as a meteorologist and the American Meteorological Society‘s recommendations for undergraduate meteorology programs.

O’Brien said the MSU Denver program – which includes a stateof-the-art computer weather laboratory and access to real-time weather data – prepared her for myriad jobs in meteorology or atmospheric science.

“I’d love to stay in broadcasting for as long as I can, but broadcasting and media are changing,” O’Brien said. “So, if I ever wanted to move on to something else in meteorology, based on my degree, I could.

I have the credentials and knowledge to go into any sector.”

“In every weather segment, I’m a teacher.

I’m trying to drop some sort of nugget that will help the audience better understand what’s happening. If you just rattle off technical terms, you’ve lost the audience.”

—CHRIS SPEARS

PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Chris Spears delivers a weather forecast for CBS4 in Denver.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KARISSA KLOS

PHOTO COURTESY OF DANN CIANCA

Karissa Klos is an on-air meteorologist for Coloradobased WeatherNation.

Dann Cianca is chief meteorologist for KION-TV in Salinas, California.

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PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Matt Meister is chief meteorologist at Fox 21 in Colorado Springs.

Anyone can get a forecast in seconds on their phone. But that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole weather story or the impacts – what the forecast means to daily life. So that’s what I’m focused on.”

PHOTO SAM NG

— MATT MEISTER

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JOBS IN THE FORECAST That’s good news for graduates entering a growing industry.

Opportunities for atmospheric scientists, including meteorologists, are expected to increase by 8% over the next 10 years, with the best prospects coming in private industry, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many MSU Denver meteorology students work on weathercasts for the student-run television station Met TV, while others intern for weather departments at local network affiliates, the National Weather Service, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and other Colorado-based weather organizations.

But the opportunity to explain and discuss complex meteorology in a way that will help their neighbors prepare for their daily lives is what inspires many who choose the broadcast path.

“Because I knew I wanted to go into broadcasting, the ability to intern in a top-20 television market was invaluable,” said Klos, who transferred to MSU Denver from a community college in Illinois. She landed back at WeatherNation after on-air stints in Iowa and Illinois.

“I am a communicator and a nurturer by nature,” said Karissa Klos, a 2008 MSU Denver graduate and an on-air meteorologist at WeatherNation, a national weather outlet based in Centennial. “As much as I love the science, I knew sitting behind a desk for research or forecasting wasn’t ideal. I needed the human element.”

WeatherNation has also been an important stop along O’Brien’s career path. She interned and was eventually hired as a producer there before landing her first on-air job in Lubbock, Texas.

For Spears, that human element has expanded from the studio to the classroom. The CBS4 meteorologist is an affiliate faculty member at MSU Denver teaching weather and climate courses. Whether on campus or in front of a camera, his approach is the same.

“In every weather segment, I’m a teacher,” he said. “I’m trying to drop some sort of nugget that will help the audience better understand what’s happening. If you just rattle off technical terms, you’ve lost the audience.”

ON-AIR LEARNING Spears and other MSU Denver graduates working in television markets big and small across the country say that in addition to completing an undergraduate meteorology program, internships are key to gaining important skills that will lead to on-air jobs.

“WeatherNation taught me the broadcast business while I continued to work on my on-air skills,” she said. “That’s not something that comes naturally.”

But it becomes easier with more experience, said O’Brien, who’s happy to be working in her home state at KOAA-TV. She and others who went through MSU Denver’s meteorology program say the University’s location on the Front Range is an ideal training ground for learning about severe weather.

“Colorado and the Front Range is one of the best places to forecast. It keeps us humble,” said Meister. “Other than hurricanes, we get everything else. It’s a great place to practice meteorology, and it’s a great place to learn meteorology.”

TAKEN BY STORM Metropolitan State University of Denver meteorology students learn all about mesocyclones and tornadoes in the weather lab run by Sam Ng, Ph.D. But to fully understand and respect the kind of severe weather they’ll be forecasting as meteorologists, the professor of meteorology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences wants them to see it for themselves. Not in textbooks but on the wind-swept plains of Colorado and surrounding states.

“So, our lab is actually outside, in the field,” said Ng. Every spring, with cameras, weather radar and instruments in hand, Ng and his students hit the road in search of the perfect storm. Students in this year’s course – Field Observation of Severe Weather – covered 3,750 miles in four states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Sam Ng, Ph.D.

ACCESS GALLERY’S DAMON MCLEESE IS THINKING CREATIVELY ABOUT CHANGING LIVES THROUGH ART. STORY IAN GASSMAN

| PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Creativity can change lives.

It’s a simple motto that has served Damon McLeese well during his 22 years as the executive director of Denver’s Access Gallery, an inclusive nonprofit that helps people living with disabilities express themselves, gain job skills and earn an income by making art.

Tucked inside a humble exhibit space at 909 Santa Fe Drive in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, Access Gallery is home to works by a rotating group of adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities, including blindness and deafness.

Lifting up Coloradans living with disabilities has been a lifelong passion for the 1988 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver. And thanks to McLeese’s creative 22

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thinking, Access Gallery isn’t just helping people with disabilities discover their creativity; it’s also helping them make money by selling their works.

“I realized that it’s great to teach someone with disabilities about Picasso, but if they can’t afford the bus fare to get here, it doesn’t matter,” McLeese said. “The light bulb went off: We can hire the students to make artwork.”

McLeese and his staff of four help Access Gallery’s artists learn how to create and sell their works, big and small. Their artists start by selling small pieces no bigger than a business card through a vintage cigarettemachine-turned-art-dispenser called the “Art-O-Mat.” Bigger pieces are curated by McLeese for sale and line the gallery’s walls.

Creative The gallery also helps artists earn money through corporate art commissions: Students create original works that support a company through their respective letterheads, logos and photographs of the company’s buildings.

Corporations get unique and original art, and their money goes right back to the gallery and its artists, McLeese explains.

McLeese estimates that the gallery sold $70,000 worth of art in 2018, with 70% of the proceeds from each work paid to the artist.

The remainder is put toward gallery overhead and materials.

Access Gallery’s history of helping people with disabilities through art dates to 1974, when Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith founded the national movement called Arts for the Handicapped; the organization

Damon McLeese, center, works with artists Nicole Vanston, left, and A.J. Kiel at Access Gallery in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe.

solutions enhance lives later morphed to Very Special Arts, then VSA and finally the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As the group reorganized, many VSA locations, including Denver’s, became their own entities. McLeese decided on the name “Access” because it’s a critical need.

It was a lack of accessibility that inspired McLeese to become an advocate for people with disabilities in the first place. Raised by an artistic single mother who didn’t have enough money to send him to summer camp, McLeese, then 13, volunteered for the Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp. There, he struck up a friendship with a boy in a wheelchair whom he also helped up and down the stairs. Back then, there was no Americans With Disabilities Act.

The experience sent McLeese down a path dedicated to providing disabled people with equal access to things such as buildings, employment and art programming. He credits MSU Denver with helping translate that passion into a career.

As a student in what was the precursor to the University’s Individualized Degree Program, he was able to create his own degree in Community Service Development, which he earned in 1988. McLeese worked for the Colorado AIDS Project and Special Olympics before landing at Access Gallery in 1997.

He’s also excited for Access Gallery’s next big exhibit, “I, Robot,” which will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Isaac Asimov’s acclaimed science fiction short story collection. The show will revolve around all things robotic, and he can’t wait to see his students get imaginative with the theme.

“It’s amazing to me how many people don’t think they’re creative,” McLeese said. He beseeches anyone, especially his students, to explore their inventive side. And for those who want to attend “I, Robot” or stop by to purchase a piece of art, Access Gallery is accessible to everybody.

Though he’s been at the gallery for nearly a quarter century, McLeese is constantly thinking of ways creativity can change lives.

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Opportunity in store

A DISPLACED AURARIAN SCHOLAR FULFILLS HER DREAM OF BUSINESS OWNERSHIP WITH 7-ELEVEN. STORY MATT WATSON

| PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Building community in a new neighborhood is no small task, but Michelle Baros – like her grandfather before her – is up to the challenge.

When Baros’ grandfather relocated from the historic Auraria neighborhood to make way for the Auraria Campus, he became the first of five generations to take up residence in Denver’s Athmar Park.

Her grandfather’s move from Auraria set in motion a chain of events that resulted in Baros going to college on a full scholarship while working toward her lifelong dream of becoming a business owner.

Finding her place Baros first enrolled at Metropolitan State University of Denver in 1986 at age 19 with dreams of owning her own business. However, at the time she was also working and raising her two stepchildren; she ultimately decided it was best to walk away from school to focus on her family.

She found a job at La-Z-Boy as an accounting clerk and over the next 30 years worked her way up to store manager. But even as she succeeded and earned promotions, the dream of finishing her degree and owning a business never waned.

Her close connection to her family and the Athmar Park neighborhood helped her to achieve both goals.

Baros learned about the Displaced Aurarian Scholarship from her father some 30 years after she first enrolled at MSU Denver, she said. The scholarship pays for the tuition and fees at any of the three higher education institutions on the Auraria Campus for those who were displaced during the creation of the campus and their children and grandchildren.

She began collecting her family’s historical documents, including paperwork from their former home at 8th and Champa streets, she said. When she put it all together, she jumped for joy.

“I probably would not have gone back to school without (the Displaced Aurarian Scholarship),” she said. “That was the incentive that really pushed me. It made it so that I could afford to quit working, go to school and concentrate on doing well.”

The Displaced Aurarian Scholarship has awarded almost $2 million in scholarships over the years, with close to 275 students using the funds to take classes at MSU Denver. Baros was one of 36 active scholars last year before she graduated in May with a management degree at age 52.

“My first semester, I was emotional walking around campus. I got a tear in my eye just thinking, ‘How lucky am I? How many people get a chance at this age to be here in this environment?’” she said. “When you’re given something this valuable, you better make the best of it.”

Convenient opportunities It is an opportunity Baros discovered while earning her degree that took her from her beloved Athmar Park home to Arvada, where she opened her new 7-Eleven franchise over the summer.

Baros’ pursuit of a 7-Eleven store started with her work in the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association when a member shared a tip about a local franchise opportunity. Though that didn’t pan out, Baros did connect with a 7-Eleven rep who encouraged her to enter the company’s franchise giveaway contest for women entrepreneurs, a program called W.E. Take the Lead. She applied, completed a financial disclosure, made a video pitch and twice flew to the company’s U.S. headquarters in Irving, Texas, to interview with a panel of executives.

“I felt honored to have made the top 25. When they called to tell me that I made the final four, you would’ve thought I won the lottery,” Baros said. “I didn’t win – I came in second – but 7-Eleven provided additional support to me and the other two finalists should we decide to franchise with the company.”

While she had the funds to pay the rest of the franchise fee – and locations in mind – she was committed to finishing her degree first. 7-Eleven supported that decision. Baros held her grand opening in July and hopes it’s the first of many: She hopes to own at least five stores.

“This is my retirement plan. I have bigger dreams and goals, and this is what I want to do,” Baros said. “The possibilities are endless.”

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NAVY VETERAN FINDS HIS PASSION – AND A JOB AT LOCKHEED MARTIN – IN THE HIGH-DEMAND FIELD OF CYBERSECURITY. STORY MATT WATSON

| PHOTO ALYSON MCCLARAN

Cyber success

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Malcolm Young discovered the demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals when he visited Lockheed Martin last fall for a software development position and instead walked out with a job in cybersecurity.

When the hiring manager asked if his real passion was cybersecurity, Young responded, “Oh, no, this is Lockheed Martin. I can do anything you need – you need me to script, I’ll script. I’ll program; I can do Java. It doesn’t matter.”

Young, a 2019 computer information systems graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver, was one of many college students interviewing at Lockheed Martin for software positions in fall 2018. As the group walked through the facility, a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi hacking router caught Young’s eye. All the other students passed by oblivious, but when Young asked a few questions, he caught the attention of the hiring manager, who shuffled him off to introduce him to the head of a cybersecurity team.

But cybersecurity is an exploding field, and Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world, had an immediate need. Once Young proved he knew what he was talking about, he was a lock for the job.

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“We had a great interview. It didn’t even feel like an interview. I was just telling him the things I like to do,” Young said.

“I was ecstatic that I got the opportunity to do all the things that I enjoy doing.”

SEARCHING FOR CYBERSECURITY A 2019 report from labor market analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies found that the number of cybersecurity jobs increased by 94% in six years – triple the growth of the overall information-technology market. However, the talent pool for cybersecurity hasn’t grown at all.

The demand for cybersecurity experts stems from the increasing number of cyberattacks. Data gathered by the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse show major breaches increasing from 136 in 2005 to 668 last year – nearly a 400% increase.

Andrew Traver, former director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and a recent addition to the MSU Denver faculty, established a Cyber Directorate during his time at NCIS. The

Navy, he said, was more advanced in its cybersecurity efforts than other branches of the military because it employed civilians who came from diverse backgrounds. But that also presented a big challenge: retaining those experts who were also coveted by private industry.

“It’s one of the fastest-growing specialties in law enforcement,” Traver said. “We need people coming out of universities who know what’s going on.”

That need is a major reason MSU Denver launched a cybersecurity major in 2018 and a master’s in cybersecurity this fall.

LIFE AT LOCKHEED MARTIN Young was a valued cybersecurity recruit because he brought a military background to go along with his academic credentials. He was an

electronics technician on a Navy submarine before he ever took a college course. But his affinity for technology goes back to his youth, when he started opening up computers and other devices to see how they worked.

“I’ve always had that knack for tinkering with stuff. Then I found out you can make money doing it,” he said.

He worked at security company ADT Inc. after he left the Navy and later spent his final semester at MSU Denver taking two classes on campus while working 40 hours per week for Lockheed Martin in Colorado Springs. Even though he worked all through college, the cyberarchitecture, intelligence and analytics engineer at Lockheed Martin says it doesn’t feel like work when you love your job.

“Don’t get me wrong – there were times I was exhausted,” he said, “but it’s a different type of exhaustion when it’s something you like doing.”

Young can’t say exactly what it is that he does – that comes with the territory of top-secret clearance – but it includes a team of eight and a lot of IT buzzwords: servers and firewalls, routers and switches, machine language and artificial intelligence.

“Right now, I’m happy to be part of such an awesome team,” he said. “Long term, I’d like to move up in the company, but I’m happy where I am getting free rein to play with all the expensive toys.”

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Narrative preservation

KALI FAJARDO-ANSTINE’S DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION – A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD – PRESERVES THE PAST AND MAKES WAVES IN THE LITERARY WORLD. STORY CORY PHARE | PHOTO SARA HERTWIG

Kali Fajardo-Anstine considers her debut short story collection “an act of narrative preservation.” The National Book Foundation considers it one of the finest works of fiction in 2019.

“Storytelling is a way to retain history,” the 2009 Metropolitan State University of Denver graduate said of “Sabrina & Corina,” a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award, among the most prestigious literary prizes in the U.S. “It serves to keep memory alive by saying, ‘This is what happened. This is what we need to be aware of.’”

Set in Denver, Fajardo-Anstine’s characters reflect her multifaceted upbringing – along with the discordance she experienced in being labeled and placed in a box, she said. In examining the human condition through the lenses of Mexican, Philippine and indigenous heritage, she sees intersecting voices building on oral traditions to transcend a fixed point in time.

“My characters are obsessed with storytelling,” Fajardo-Anstine said.

“It’s a comfort and an instruction; stories teach us about our history and future while entertaining us.”

Denver collegians will find one setting in her collection quite familiar. In “Ghost Sickness,” character Ana is enrolled in a history course on the Auraria Campus and works at the library.

“All Her Names” also features a protagonist who graduated from the downtown location.

Those stories show how Fajardo-Anstine preserves the past by imposing it on the current reality, a process she describes as “walking along the 9th Street Historic District, having a hallucinatory daydream.”

The author, who majored in English and minored in Chicana/o Studies at MSU Denver before earning her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wyoming, doesn’t have to look far for inspiration, crediting her mother for instilling a passion for narrative.

“Storytelling creates layers and depth; it puts history into place, making it more vivid and alive,” said her mother, Renee Fajardo, coordinator of the MSU Denver-based Journey Through Our Heritage cultural-education program.

“It adds dimensions to where you are, even if the things you’re sharing are gone. Wherever you’re at has a life.”

Tapping into that historical perspective provided by her mother helped Fajardo-Anstine find her own road to success. She credited her MSU Denver Chicana/o Studies courses for laying a key theoretical foundation, introducing her to others with whom she shared similar life stories and helping her envision herself achieving her goals. Her next book, a novel about a mixed-race family migrating to Denver in the late-19th century, is slated for release in early 2021.

“Sabrina & Corina,” meanwhile, has received high praise since its debut in April. In addition to being named one of five finalists for the National Book Award, the book was lauded by literary luminary Sandra Cisneros, who said the stories “blaze like wildfires” with characters that “made me laugh and broke my heart.” Meanwhile, the collection landed on the top of BuzzFeed’s 37 Amazing New Books To Add To Your Spring Reading List and Westword dubbed the collection 2019’s “Best Debut by a Colorado Writer.”

With her career taking off, Fajardo-Anstine is poised to inspire the next generation to find their own voices by connecting with their truth, starting with the ground they stand upon.

“Think about where we’re at right now, and all the different parts of Colorado,” she said. “This is indigenous land; some of our state was colonized by New Spain, then Mexico, then the United States.

“Our storytelling and literature should reflect this complicated history and present-day reality.”

Editor’s note: This issue of Metropolitan Denver Magazine was published before National Book Award winners were announced on Nov. 20.

Visit red.msudenver.edu for award updates and more on Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s work.

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People Alumni News + Notes 1973

Kirk J. Raeber, Ph.D., (B.S. chemistry, ’73) is a retired doctor and first-time author living in Southern California. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree, he attended medical school and served in the U.S. Navy as an emergency-medicine physician for seven years. Postmilitary, Raeber worked as an emergency room doctor in San Diego until retiring in 2018.

1976

Claudine E. Paris (B.S. psychology, ’76) attended MSU Denver when it was a “sidewalk campus.” After owning a management consulting and training business for 25 years, she is retired and happily ensconced in Portland, Oregon.

1977

David M. Phipps (B.S. aerospace science, ’77) retired June 2018 in New Bern, North Carolina, after a 34-year career as an airline pilot. Shortly after graduating from MSU Denver, Phipps began flying as a first officer with Ports of Call Travel Club in Denver before moving on to Ozark Airlines in St. Louis, Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee and Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, where he flew on transpacific routes. Phipps held several management positions during his career, including check airman, designated examiner, fleet captain and senior director of flight standards and qualifications.

He credits his MSU Denver education for providing an excellent and solid foundation for success.

1978

Jack A. McCain (B.S. mechanical engineering technology, ’78) entered the U.S. Air Force as a space-systems officer after graduating with his bachelor’s degree. Later in his career, he worked in the private sector building coal and nuclear power plants.

McCain retired in 2014 after working for 20 years in the Colorado Department of Education and Department of Human Services.

1984

James B. Fraley, Ph.D., (B.S. computer and management science, ’84) is an assistant professor and the chair for information assurance within the College of Technology at Wilmington University. With over 30 years of experience as an educator and cybersecurity practitioner, he has managed projects in the private and public sectors, including for the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration. A retired U.S. Army signal officer with over 22 years of service, Fraley earned his M.S. from the University of Maryland in 1988 and his Ph.D. at Nova Southeastern University in 2015.

1991

Greg Buck (B.S. computer management systems, ’91) is a senior software engineer for a major insurance company and the author of the mystery/suspense series “The Milkman.”

1993

Jean J. Wilkins (B.A. speech communications, ’93) is a former MSU Denver employee who retired in 2017 after working for the University for a total of 12 years between 1984 and 2017. She counts her time as a student as one of the most wonderful times of her life. Since retiring, Wilkins spends her time taking care of her family, swimming, volunteering, singing in a local choir and attending alumni events.

1996

Kristine S. Beisel (B.S. human services, ’96) is the director of Educational Alliances and Training for Destination Imagination Inc., an educational nonprofit engaging students around the world in project-based challenges designed to build confidence and develop extraordinary creativity, critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills. She was recently named one of Training Magazine’s 2019 Emerging Training Leaders.

2001

Brandy D. Bourdeaux (B.S. chemistry, ’01) completed her Ed.D. in leadership for educational equity, STEM education, at the University of Colorado Denver in 2019.

2002

Alecia D. Wellen (B.S. marketing, ’02) is the founder and CEO of Alecia Wellen LLC. She offers professional coaching with energy-work integration for students, teams and businesses that are looking to leverage their current situation to reach their highest potential.

MSU DENVER ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS Metropolitan State University of Denver recognized outstanding alumni during the University’s 2019 Alumni Awards Brunch on Oct. 5.

MSU Denver also honored 10 outstanding alumni who have graduated in the past 10 years. Those who earned “10 Under 10” recognition include: Front Row: Dacia Johnson (journalism, ’11), 9News journalist; Kelsey Asplin, N.D. (integrative health care, ’11), naturopathic doctor; Kristina Tinajero (criminal justice and criminology, ’15), probation officer, Colorado Courts Division of Probation Services 2nd District; Chantal Baca (speech communication studies, ’15), BOLD Student Success senior professional, University of Colorado Boulder.

Back Row: Collin Caffrey (aviation management, ’13), charter sales executive at Mayo Aviation and founder and president at Angel Hawk Drones; Devon Alper (aviation technology, ’11), captain, SkyWest Airlines; Joanna Cummings (human nutrition, ’12), director of clinical nutrition programming, Oregon Health & Science University.

Not pictured: Nick Kay (biology ’15) and Mitch McCarron (sport management, ’15), professional basketball players in the National Basketball League in Australia and New Zealand; and Amy Watanabe (physical education, ’11), assistant volleyball coach, MSU Denver.

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People In Memory 2007

Ethan K. Sahker (B.S. psychology, ’07) earned his M.A. in psychology from Chatham University in 2012, followed by his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Iowa in 2019. He was recently awarded a research fellowship through the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and moved to Japan this year to conduct research in mobile health technology and substance-use treatment at Kyoto University.

2008

Sydney J. Futrell (B.A. political science, ’08) works in development at Warren Village in Denver. After graduating with her B.A., she served with the Peace Corps in rural Zambia for three years before going on to earn an M.A. in liberal studies and an MBA from the University of Denver.

Over her career, Futrell has worked for the Denver Housing Authority in their Resident Services Department, the governor’s office on a health care-reform project and in the refugee-resettlement field. She aspires to earn her Ph.D. in public policy and take a job where she can make direct funding and policy decisions that affect basic human needs and rights. Futrell is a proud Roadrunner who believes none of her achievements would be possible without MSU Denver.

Mark L. Tilsher (B.S. accounting, ’08) manages the payroll department at Roseman University of Health Sciences in Henderson, Nevada.

2009

Tiffany Pendleton (B.A. behavioral science, ’09) is a case manager and executive assistant to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance at the University of Northern Colorado.

2010

Richard H. Lohaus (B.S. chemistry, ’10) graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Ph.D. in biochemistry in August.

2014

Karen D. Crews (B.A. women’s studies, ’14) is pursuing an M.A. in marriage and family therapy while seeking a practicum site and internship.

1970s

Robert E. Warner (B.S. professional pilot, ’70) passed away Dec. 18, 2018 after a nineyear battle with cancer. He was a strong and energetic person who will be missed by his family and friends.

Linda Gold (B.S. psychology, ’75) died peacefully July 29 in Greeley.

She and her late husband, Eddie, owned Classic Lanes Bowling Center for several years. Linda loved helping other people and later worked as a bus driver for the Greeley School District.

1990s

Richard E. League (B.S. computer and management science, ’92) passed away in July.

2010s

Reyna Hiller, a former MSU Denver student, passed away Aug. 20, surrounded by family and loved ones. She was a beloved wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend who cared deeply about other people. She will be profoundly missed.

Nathaniel Sherman, an MSU Denver dance major, passed away Aug. 5.

Faculty and Staff

David Beckwith, chef and former lecturer in the School of Hospitality, died Sept. 17 at age 66. Beckwith taught courses in baking and pastry, food science and fundamentals, and food and beer/wine pairing from 2013-19. The dedicated and energetic educator will be remembered for his passion for food and supporting students.

Ed Lyell, an emeritus professor of business and economics, who taught at several Colorado universities and colleges, including MSU Denver, died Aug. 27.

Support students through your legacy.

A planned gift enables you to preserve your assets during your lifetime and leave a valuable legacy.

Brad Kaplan (accounting, ’82), a former vice president at Comcast, was named Philanthropist of the Year.

Let us help you make the gift that’s right for you.

Mike McCasky (aviation, ’83),

managing director of United Airlines Flight Operations, was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.

How will you leave your legacy? Visit msudenverlegacy.org or contact Kyle Backlund at backlund@msudenver.edu

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the

FINALWORD Andrew Traver, former NCIS director, is opening doors and minds for his criminal justice students.

STORY LINDSEY COULTER | PHOTO SARA HERTWIG

A

ndrew Traver, executive in residence and professor of practice within the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, has spent his career fighting crime. Now, the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent and Naval Criminal Investigative Service director is bringing his real-world experiences to the classroom.

Traver’s “American Gangs” and “Federal Law Enforcement” courses are educating a new generation of criminal justice leaders, while also preparing them for the day-to-day realities of their future careers.

What brought you to MSU Denver?

I like to be engaged on a personal level. I could have ventured into the corporate world after retiring from NCIS, but I was more interested in finding a better quality of life, which I have found here. I also appreciate the chance to give something back. In the last 15 years, I’ve spoken to a lot of college classes. I actually spoke here at MSU Denver in October of 32

2017 and really enjoyed it. I couldn’t believe how diverse and engaging the student population is here at MSU Denver. A measure I always like to use when I speak in public is the number of people who linger behind after the formal address is over in order to speak with me one-on-one. At MSU Denver, this “after action” lasted well over an hour and likely involved 40-50 students. I took that as a sign that MSU Denver was the right place for me, and I haven’t been disappointed.

How are you adapting to the classroom and connecting with your students?

This is my first time teaching. It’s more work than I expected because I’m putting a lot into it. I know what I want to cover, but I’m very extemporaneous. Grades are essential, but it’s more important that students are engaged and learning. I’ve been to other universities where students are very casual about their education; they don’t have the same challenges or depth of experience.

When I had my students write their own autobiographies, I

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learned I have quite a few first-generation students and a number of veterans. It’s an interesting mix. A lot of them want to go into law enforcement, become attorneys or work with troubled youth.

How are you using your real-world experience to broaden students’ understanding of their future careers?

In addition to classroom discussion, I’ve had guest speakers share their perspectives. One was a canine handler for the U.S. Marshals Service; another spoke about the siege at the 1993 Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas; another was a former Special Agent in Charge of the ATF office here in Denver. I’ve had Drug Enforcement Administration recruiters visit this semester. A lot of students hadn’t thought about careers with these agencies, but a couple have already applied for internships.

I also try to give students an idea of what they can actually expect – what it’s like working with prosecutors, police, federal

agencies, coworkers. You have to have a certain personality to be successful. Kicking down doors and arresting people, that’s about 5% of your time. The other 95% is writing reports, doing interviews, sitting in a car at night on surveillance waiting for something to happen. It’s not a 9-to-5, Monday-through-Friday job. A lot of marriages don’t survive the stress, the crazy hours, having to miss birthdays, vacations, school events, etc.

We’ve moved nine times, eight times with kids in tow. My wife of 32 years has been a real trooper.

What are some of your career highlights?

In 2010, President Obama nominated me to be the director of ATF, where I had already served for 23 years. No other ATF agent had ever been nominated.

Eventually my nomination expired, which was fine because I got to become the director of NCIS. It was a job and a half, but I traveled all around the world and worked with some fantastic people.

Make an impact in 24 hours.

4th ANNUAL

DAY OF GIVING

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A HOLIDAY CONCERT CELEBRATING THE SEASON WITH THE MSU DENVER FESTIVAL CHOIR AND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA KING CENTER CONCERT HALL DEC. 6-7 AT 7:30 P.M. TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE KING CENTER BOX OFFICE AT 303-556-2296.