Elevations – UW College of Arts and Sciences – Fall 2023

FALL 2023

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

NELTJE CENTER INSPIRES A NEW ERA IN THE ARTS

STUDENT MUSICIANS SHINE IN JACOBY COMPETITION LARSH BRISTOL FELLOWSHIP SHOWCASES HUMAN-BEAR INTERACTIONS DEBATE TEAM REACHES HISTORIC HEIGHTS

The College of Arts & Sciences offers a diverse and well-rounded education in Fine Arts, the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Programs. Whether you're interested in pursuing a degree in A&S or looking for ways to unlock your creativity, nationally-ranked degree programs and courses with A&S provide an opportunity to gain valuable education and skills. Our programs involve work in the creative fields, using data, learning new languages, understanding the world around you, and much more.

Courses, programs and degrees offered in:

The NELTJE CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS FINE ARTS Music Theatre and Dance Visual Arts

SOCIAL SCIENCES Anthropology Communication and Journalism Criminal Justice and Sociology Psychology

INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies

Humanities English Modern and Classical Languages Philosophy and Religious Studies History

Discover Our Departments Degree Programs and Courses!

CONTENTS

FEATURES 8 • The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts Opens Doors in 2023 The innovative center becomes a crucial part of the university’s offerings in the arts and sciences.

14

12 • Honors Students Recognized at Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation Over 1,600 honor roll students celebrated at this exciting event.

14 • Human and Bear Interactions Featured in 2022 Larsh Bristol Fellowship Presentation Julia Cook captures her passion for wildlife through photography as part of the 2022 Larsh Bristol Fellowship.

17 • 2023 Dorothy Jacoby Competition Five student soloists gave excellent performances to decide who would take the top prize in the Jacoby Competition.

20 • UW Debate Achieves Historic Highs in 2022-23 Season The UW Speech and Debate Team honors a legacy of success while building a bright future.

26 • 2023 A&S Awards Banquet Awards banquet returns for the first time since 2019, honoring outstanding former faculty, alumni and extraordinary merit.

DEPARTMENTS 02 • Message from the Dean 04 • Faculty Accolades

12

23 • Outstanding Graduates 24 • Student Spotlight 28 • Faculty Spotlight

ON THE COVER

20

Neltje taking a moment to relax at home with her beloved dogs. For her painting palette, Neltje combined brilliant colors. She enriched her life with an ever-changing palette for her home and gardens.

Photo by David Schreiber

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 1

University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences Elevations 2023 Volume 9 1000 E. University Ave, Dept. 3254 Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-4106 asdean@uwyo.edu Dean J. Scott Turpen Associate Dean Susan Aronstein Associate Dean Karen Bartsch Estes Associate Dean Adrienne Freng Editor Robert Brent All articles written by Robert Brent unless indicated.

Contributing Editor Micaela Myers Graphic Design Michelle Eberle, Emily Edgar and Brittny Wroblewski Photography All photos by Ted Brummond and Andrew Wee unless otherwise noted.

Elevations Magazine is published once a year for College of Arts and Sciences alumni, friends, and constituents.

Mailing addresses are provided by the University of Wyoming Foundation. To change your mailing address and/or contact information, please send email to foundation@ uwyo.edu.

The University is committed to equal opportunity for all persons in all facets of the University’s operations. All qualified applicants for employment and educational programs, benefits, and services will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law and University policy.

FROM THE DEAN

Dear Friends of the College of Arts and Sciences: Reading through the many accomplishments of our students, staff, and faculty in the 2023 edition of the College of Arts and Sciences Elevations magazine is inspiring. Our newly structured college focusing on the social sciences, arts, and humanities had a wonderfully productive year. In the following pages, you will see some of our highlights, including student activities, faculty awards and a selection of significant events throughout our year. Our college remains central to the University of Wyoming’s mission, and we continue fulfilling our land-grant mission to the state of Wyoming.

We are particularly excited about the new Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts, which resides within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Neltje, for whom the center is named, was a well-known Wyoming artist and philanthropist who bequeathed an estate gift to UW to help establish the new center. The Neltje Center is multifaceted and serves students, faculty and Wyoming residents with educational programming and guest artist visits.

Beyond this, the Neltje Center will focus on entrepreneurship in the arts and help contribute to Wyoming’s creative economy and cultural tourism.

You will enjoy learning about our award-winning faculty, who excel in the classroom, laboratory, studio and performance stage. And in turn, they impart their knowledge and experience to our undergraduate and graduate students to ensure they are well-positioned to develop their own careers. Students from the College of Arts and Sciences graduate with many skills that will serve them well in their future. Among these, they develop sought-after skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication and teamwork, among others. These are skills many employers covet for their employees.

The College of Arts and Sciences is here to educate and prepare our students for the next chapter in their lives. Your generosity and support help us to achieve our goals and mission. I invite you to learn more about our college and the many opportunities your support can enhance.

Sincerely,

J. Scott Turpen Dean College of Arts and Sciences

2 • Elevations 2023

2022 GIVING DAY IS A HISTORIC DAY OF SUPPORT FOR UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES LANDS THREE TOP 10 CAMPAIGNS UW Giving Day is an annual UW tradition spearheaded by the UW Foundation that raises thousands of dollars in a single day for students and programs across campus.

“The response that we received from Giving Day this year was inspiring, and the momentum for this UW celebration of philanthropy continues to grow with each successive year,” says John Stark, UW Foundation president and CEO. “What a tremendous effort by our campus partners, our UW Foundation staff and all of the contributors who made this year’s event so successful. We are very grateful.”

Total Donations: $201,041 Total Donors: 1,238

t h aNk you t o our 2022 support ers!

48 states gave to the campaign

2022 CampaigNs In 2022, the College of Arts and Sciences featured three campaigns that were among the top 10 most-supported campaigns during Giving Day. Congratulations to the following three initiatives.

Along with several campaigns related to the departments of A&S, the college also ran initiatives for the overall vision and direction for arts and sciences.

Debate/Forensics Excellence Fund: The Wyoming Speech and Debate Team is a co-curricular activity sponsored by the Department of Communication and Journalism and the College of Arts and Sciences. UW has been a dominant national presence in intercollegiate debate for the past eight decades. They raised $67,263 with 607 donors.

A&S Visioning Fund: UW is being reorganized, retaining what’s working but reorganizing colleges and departments when necessary. With that, the College of Arts and Sciences is literally being re-envisioned.

This fund allows the dean to proactively and nimbly support the college as it makes this transition. The fund supports faculty, student and staff projects that aim to improve the college in all kinds of ways.

Western Thunder Marching Band – Hat Club: The Western Thunder Marching Band is comprised of students involved in almost every academic major offered on campus. The band performs at all home football games and occasionally at away games. They also provide entertainment at other sporting contests and campus events. They raised $57,509 from 341 donors.

Arts and Sciences: The College of Arts and Sciences offers a broad education that combines cultural and disciplinary depth to ensure students gain a critical understanding of the visual and performing arts, humanities, social sciences, the world and its languages. Many A&S departments ran successful Giving Day campaigns to support this mission.

Malcolm Wallop Excellence Fund in Civic Engagement: The Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program works in conjunction with university, community college, and K-12 partners to host projects and meaningful dialogue on local, state, national and international issues of significant interest to Wyoming students and communities. They raised $33,756 from 133 donors.

THIS YEAR’S UW GIVING DAY WILL BE OCT. 25-26, 2023, FROM NOON TO NOON. MATCHES AND CHALLENGES WILL BE AVAILABLE TO DOUBLE THE IMPACT OR UNLOCK CHALLENGE FUNDS.

» VISIT UWYO.EDU/GIVINGDAY

FACULTY ACCOLADES

College of Arts and Sciences faculty achieve groundbreaking research, awards and more over the past year The University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences strives to offer a broad education that matches cultural breadth and disciplinary depth to ensure students gain critical understanding of the sciences, humanities, visual and performing arts, social sciences, and the world and its languages. This mission would not be possible without the dedicated faculty within A&S. The following list is a spotlight on some, but not all, of the vital work accomplished by our faculty in 2022-2023.

Communication and Journalism

Briana Doering, assistant professor in anthropology, has won the Tübingen Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology Prize for her thesis, entitled “Evaluating the Social and Environmental Processes of the Athabascan Migration.” The thesis examines the circumstances surrounding the migration of Dene/ Athabascan populations from Alaska and the Yukon as far south as Arizona, some 1,500 years ago.

Communication and Journalism Department Head Cindy Price Schultz has been given the UW Foundation’s Stewardship Award.

According to the UW Foundation, the Stewardship Award recognizes the leadership of a UW faculty member who has excelled in relationship building and stewardship of alumni and donors through receipt of private gifts, engaging former students in the activities of UW, and a commitment to strong external relationships for the betterment of the university.

ADRIENNE FRENG

Criminal Justice and Sociology

4 • Elevations 2023

Last September Adrienne Freng, a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, was named an inaugural UW Presidential Fellow. She will work with the Office of the President on strategic alignment, helping implement ideas generated in joint sessions between administrators and Faculty Senate representatives earlier this year.

SUSAN ARONSTEIN

Anthropology

English Esteemed faculty member and associate dean, Professor Susan Aronstein, was recently named the recipient of the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award. The Humphrey Award is among the most prestigious honors faculty can receive from the university.

This recognition is given to a faculty member who, in addition to acclaim as a teacher, has achieved distinction as a scholar in research or other creative activity and has given distinguished service.

Assistant lecturer Allison Gernant and philosophy student Caden Garland from Jackson, Wyo.

Extraordinary Merit Award

Extraordinary Merit in Research

Extraordinary Merit in Teaching

Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences recognizes outstanding faculty with awards for extraordinary merit in the areas of research and teaching. The award encompasses all departments of the college and represents excellence for those chosen.

Chelsea Escalante, Modern and Classical Languages Julia Obert, English Shelby Shadwell, Visual Arts Todd Surovell, Anthropology

Katelyn Golladay, Criminal Justice and Sociology Sonia Rodriguez-Hicks, Modern and Classical Languages Kasey Stanton, Psychology Seth Swanner, English Jennifer Turpen, Music

Beatrice Gallatin Beuf Golden Apple Award Allison Gernant, English

RENEE LAEGREID

History Renee Laegreid, a UW professor of history, was recently named the Andrew Allen Excellence Fellow in Western History.

Laegreid received the honor recently from John Stark, president and CEO of the UW Foundation, and UW President Ed Seidel.

“On a personal level, the fellowship represents recognition of the work

I have done in the field of Western history so far in my career, and I truly appreciate that recognition,” Laegreid says. “The benefits of the fellowship will provide not only financial support for my research projects, but that precious commodity, time, as well.

On a broader level, I also appreciate that the Excellence Fellowship, the first in our department, recognizes the importance of Western history — to our state, region, country and globally.”

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 5

Chelsea Escalante, an assistant professor of Spanish and applied linguistics in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, was named an inaugural UW Presidential Fellow. She will work with the Office of the President on international partnerships and continue her work on dual language immersion programs in K-12 schools across the state.

Music A new album by Ben Markley, a UW associate professor and the director of jazz studies for the Department of Music, was recently honored by DownBeat magazine as one of the best recordings of 2022.

The album, “Ari’s Fun-House,” was recorded in July 2021 and released in 2022. The recording features Markley, a jazz pianist, his 17-piece big band and Ari Hoenig, a New York-based jazz drummer and composer.

“Ari’s Fun-House” is composed of the work of Hoenig reworked into a big band format with Markley’s band.

Markley says this format of working with another artist’s music and with the artist himself was particularly inspiring for his latest release.

6 • Elevations 2023

Philosophy and Religious Studies UW philosophy and religious studies Professor Jeff Lockwood was the spring semester Faculty Senate Speaker Series award recipient. The Faculty Senate Speaker Series is an award established by the Faculty Senate and funded by Academic Affairs.

The award carries an honorarium and requires a public lecture on UW campus in Laramie.

Two faculty members in the Department of Psychology, Scott Freng and Alison Looby, were awarded with PIE (Promoting Intellectual Engagement in the First Year) awards.

The PIE Awards recognize and honor instructors who inspire excitement, inquiry and autonomy in firstyear courses. Recipients of the PIE Award are nominated by freshmen and sophomore students in an online survey, and then selected by a committee based on thoughtfulness and volume of student nominations.

Student’s descriptions of nominees reveal the heart of excellence in lowerdivision instruction, courses that comprise the foundation of students' college experience and the crucial seed of intellectual self-awareness.

BEN MARKLEY

JEFF LOCKWOOD

Modern & Classical Languages

Psychology

UW vertical dancers perform “Dancing Between the Earth and Sky” at Vedauwoo.

The School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice hosted many vital events for UW this year, perhaps most notably a conversation with Jackie Joyner-Kersee to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Jacquelyn Bridgeman, director of UW’s School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice says, “In addition to her unparalleled career as an athlete, Jackie Joyner-Kersee is an inspiring motivational speaker who speaks with authority on topics including business success, medical issues, nutrition, women’s issues and youth advocacy.”

School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies Stephanie Anderson, professor and head of the School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies, was recently named as a recipient of the Arts & Sciences Seibold Professorship Award. The Seibold award is given annually to UW College of Arts and Sciences faculty members who are focused on teaching and allows them a year’s leave to pursue in-depth projects and research opportunities that will enrich their teaching as well as advance their professional lives.

SHELBY SHADWELL

School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice

COURTESY IMAGE

Theatre and Dance

Visual Arts

Margaret Wilson, professor and head of the UW Department of Theatre and Dance, was second author on an important paper with the finding that inverted dancers have more acute visuomotor perception. Previous studies have determined that astronauts can judge inverted movements better than people on Earth due to the astronauts’ unique visuomotor experience with inverted movements in space. Now, the new study, in which UW researchers including Wilson played key lead roles, shows that people on Earth with extended visuomotor experience with inverted movements, such as vertical dancers, can overcome the inversion effect in perceiving biological motion.

Shelby Shadwell, associate professor in the UW Department of Visual Arts, received The Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award in March 2023 for his artistic work over the last year. The Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award is open to Fine Arts graduates from Washington University, where Shadwell graduated from in 2003. The winners are chosen by a jury made up of faculty and alumni from the university, and receive a $25,000 prize to advance their artistic practice.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 7

Beth Venn took the reins as executive director of the Neltje Center in June.

PHOTO

BY LUCAS WATSON 8 • Elevations 2023

The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts Opens its Doors in 2023 The innovative center becomes a crucial part of the university’s offerings in the arts and sciences.

In December 2022, the University of Wyoming announced the launch of an innovative program that will provide a platform to link higher education with the arts and humanities in the state, the Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts.

The Neltje Center, which is housed in UW’s College of Arts and Sciences, is named after the famed Wyoming artist and philanthropist Neltje, who established the Jentel Artist Residency in 2001. The Jentel Artist Residency, located in the Piney Creek Valley near the Bighorn Mountains, has awarded fellowships to 835 visual artists and 418 writers. This residency will be a centerpiece of an expanded offering of programs under the Neltje Center banner. Neltje, who passed away in 2021, bequeathed an estate gift to UW to help establish the new center.

Diverse and Innovative Programming The new center is comprised of two main focus areas: the previously detailed Jentel Artist Residency and a variety of educational opportunities open to students, faculty and the regional community.

The educational opportunities will include programming, various events, collaborations with world-class artists, workshops at the UW campus in

Laramie and in the Sheridan region, in conjunction with the Jentel Artist Residency. This partnership will further position UW as a leader in the education and development of visual, literary and performing artists and as a catalyst for Wyoming’s creative economy.

Together, the Jentel Artist Residency and Neltje Center programming will provide UW students and faculty, as well as Wyoming community members, an environment to develop their artistic disciplines, be creative and further advance their entrepreneurial skills. This opportunity will be open to the fields of art, creative writing, music and more.

UW announced the Neltje Center near the end of 2022, but mini-student residencies and workshops have been underway for some time. In the fall of 2022, five residencies established the initiative and gave dozens of students

an early look at the center’s numerous offerings.

“Having the opportunity to visit this extraordinary location was amazing. I am forever thankful to UW for allowing the arts and sciences students to have such an unforgettable experience,” says student Amanda Chism from Thermopolis, one of the students who participated in one of the five fall residencies. “As a studio artist and a future art educator, I believe the Neltje home embodies why living with art is a human need. Being able to soak in this environment allows creativity and new ideas to form.”

In addition to offerings for students, the Neltje Center will allow faculty to advance their creative activities and research, develop ambitious crossdisciplinary projects, and build creative connections with Sheridan and other Wyoming communities. Faculty engagement with Sheridan College

Since its creation in 2001, the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Sheridan County has hosted hundreds of writers and visual artists.

PHOTO BY MARY JANE EDWARDS

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 9

PHOTO BY DAVID SCHREIBER

Left: Neltje lost in the flow of creativity with one of four canvases of the “Morocco Suite” for her 2013 solo exhibition at the UW Art Museum.

Neltje’s “Sounds of Sorcery” (above) and “Follies and Foolishness” (right) on display in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts.

About Neltje Neltje was born in New York City and raised in Long Island. In 1980, she took a few classes at the New York Studio School of Drawing, and from 19791980, she took a few classes at the Art Students League in New York. She was essentially self-taught.

In 2005, she was recognized as one of Wyoming’s preeminent artists with the Governor’s Arts Award. UW bestowed an honorary Doctor of Arts degree in 2018 to the renowned artist.

She also served on the board of the Wyoming Arts Council from 1985-88.

Neltje’s work has been featured in collections across the United States, including at the Smithsonian, the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., and the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, among others.

10 • Elevations 2023

will build long-lasting connections intended to foster the region’s creative economy.

The Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts will be a centerpiece for UW’s land-grant mission to provide a well-rounded education to the regional community.

UW and the College of Arts and Sciences is an ideal home for the center’s offerings. This is an exciting opportunity for UW and the Wyoming community alike.

“Although we were sad to say goodbye to Neltje, we are grateful for her gift and the possibility of a new beginning that permits the growth of the creative arts at UW and connection to the state’s creative economy,” UW President Ed Seidel says. “The Neltje Center will enhance the education of our students in the visual arts, creative writing, music and other fields; enhance opportunities for our faculty in creative activity, research and collaboration; and provide an extraordinary lift to UW’s reputation.”

In May of 2023, the Neltje Center kicked off its programming with a master class with famed writer Gretel

Ehrlich. Ehrlich, the author of more than 15 books as well as narrative essays, poetry, novels and stories, hosted the master class at the Neltje Center, which is 20 miles southeast of Sheridan, Wyo. Ehrlich is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, four Expedition grants from National Geographic, the Henry David Thoreau Award from PEN, the award for nonfiction from PEN West, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for distinguished prose. She recently was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

She travels widely and divides her time between ranches in Wyoming and Montana and a farm in Hawaii.

The master class accepted seven writers from across the country, who arrived in Sheridan on Sunday, May 14, and departed Saturday, May 20.

While in Banner, the selected writers joined Ehrlich for a week of writing, discussion, workshops and readings.

Using “place” as a starting point, the class explored how landscape shapes people’s bodies, cultures and psyches.

This excellent master class was representative of the vital and innovative programming the Neltje Center will provide in the future.

and beyond,” Seidel says. “Beth’s deep and wide experiences in the arts are just what UW needs to enhance its contributions to the arts through the Neltje Center.”

Venn’s career also includes service as a senior curator at the Newark Museum of Art, and she has held curatorial positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has consulted for museums, performing art centers and public libraries on strategic planning and program development, and she advises community-based arts nonprofit organizations.

“We are so pleased to have Beth Venn

join us in this new position. She brings a wealth of experience and ideas needed to bring the Neltje Center to the next level,” says Scott Turpen, College of Arts and Sciences dean. “Beth has a deep understanding of working closely with communities and will be a real asset to the arts and humanities in Wyoming.”

A native of northern Illinois, Venn received her bachelor’s degree in art history at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. After relocating to the Northeast, she completed a master’s degree in art history at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. She has lived and worked in the New York City region for the past 25 years.

Corinne Whaley and other UW students were inspired to paint abstractly during a visit to Neltje’s studio in 2022. Whaley’s piece is titled “Fallen.”

PHOTO BY RICKI KLAGES

Beth Venn Appointed Executive Director In April 2023, the Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts announced the hiring of its first executive director, Beth Venn. Her role involves developing the Neltje Center into an innovative arts and humanities program. Most recently, she served as the founding executive director of KinoSaito, a multidisciplinary art center and artist residency program in the lower Hudson Valley, N.Y. Venn began her work as executive director of UW’s Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts June 1.

“I am thrilled to lead this new initiative that will expand creative opportunities for students and faculty, build strong partnerships across communities and disciplines, and advance Neltje’s legacy of providing time and space for artists of all types to thrive,” Venn says. “The potential of the Neltje Center to foster a robust creative ecosystem is great, and I look forward to ensuring its success.”

UW administrators are excited to see Venn bring her expertise to the Neltje Center and believe she is the perfect person to bring the vision of the project to life.

“The Neltje Center is poised to contribute to and advance the arts and creative economy in Wyoming

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 11

Honors Students Recognized at

Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation On Oct. 21, 2022, the UW College of Arts and Sciences honored over 1,600 students during the Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation at the A&S Auditorium. The annual event, established through the support of the Thomson family, celebrates the academic achievements of undergraduate students.

The 1,600-plus honorees were all undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences who earned a place on UW’s various 2021-22 school year honor rolls due to excellent and outstanding academic achievement.

After being held yearly for over two decades, the Keith and Thyra Thomson Honors Convocation has become an integral event in the celebration of both UW and the achievements of its many students. The attendees began the event by listening to an opening keynote speech from UW President Ed Seidel. Seidel spoke about his connection to the arts and sciences and the college’s value.

“We think about the problems in our world. The technical problems are the easy ones to fix. The ones that are very important to solve are the social ones,” Seidel said. “We understand the importance of this college and the work that our faculty and students do.”

During the proceedings, attendees were also treated to outstanding performances — from the UW Western Thunder Marching Band’s many talented musicians to a production from their fellow students from the UW Department of Theatre and Dance.

Stellar Performances The event opened with a performance of “Sixth Breath” from the Department of Theatre and Dance. The piece’s choreography was done by UW faculty alum Lawrence Jackson alongside six other UW students and featured music composed by Ezio Bosso. This year’s Honors Convocation performers were Katie Currier, Rachel Golledge, Ruby Homer-Wambeam, Claire Rhein, Jessie Standley and Sidney Thomas.

After UW recognized the honorees for their academic achievement and excellence, the Western Thunder Marching Band closed the proceedings with a spirited performance of “Cowboy Joe.” The band was initially founded in 1913 as an ROTC and remained associated with the campus military science area until the end of WWII. Professors Edgar Lewis and Charles Seitenrich eventually merged the band with UW’s Department of Music. They perform at all home games and occasionally travel to perform on the road.

While the event had speeches from administration and performances from Theatre and Dance and the band, it was also a chance to shine the spotlight on A&S students. This year, Irelynn Holland and Blake Watson gave From the top: speakers Bruce Thomson, Irelynn Holland, Blake Watson.

Dean J. Scott Turpen congratulates an A&S honors student.

CONVOCATION IMAGES BY MATTHEW IDLER

presentations on projects that were essential to their being recognized for honors during the academic year.

Originally from Reno, Nev., McNair Scholar Irelynn Holland double majored in sociology and communication during her time at UW after completing her senior year of high school in Cheyenne.

Her current research focuses on the marketing and consumption of popular music. Her research internship focused on the music and cultural impact of the Beatles, and she presented her findings at the McNair Scholars Symposium in 2021. After continuing her research into the Beatles, she presented “All Together Now: Creating Art Out of Discord” at the Southwest Popular Culture Conference in Albuquerque. After graduation, Holland plans to continue her research by attending the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom to obtain a master’s degree with an emphasis in Beatles studies.

Bozeman, Mont., native Blake Watson is part of the UW Department of Theatre and Dance, concentrating on theater. While completing his education at UW, Watson worked as a freelance theater artist, carpenter, actor and director. He also served three years as an assistant coach on a debate and speech team at Belgrade

About Keith and Thyra Thomson UW Graduates Keith and Thyra Thomson, the family behind the event, were married in 1939 and quickly became one of the most recognizable couples in Wyoming. After the pair were recognized for their exemplary service and commitment to UW, Keith and Thyra Thompson wanted to give back to UW and their home state of Wyoming.

Keith was the first UW graduate elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1960, Keith won the election to the U.S. Senate but unfortunately passed away of a heart attack before he could assume office.

Thyra also pursued a political career, becoming the first woman ever elected to serve as Wyoming’s secretary of state.

She was so popular among Wyoming voters, she was elected to that office six times. When Thyra retired, she had served as secretary of state for 24 years — the longest tenure of any statehouse official in the history of Wyoming. In 1997, Thyra, the Thomson family and her friends established an endowment fund to be sure that academic successes within the College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate population be recognized for their exemplary achievements. Thyra passed away in June 2013.

Left to right: Bruce Thomson, J. Scott Turpen, Irelynn Holland, Jennifer Thomson.

The Department of Theatre and Dance performed “Sixth Breath” during the convocation.

High School in Montana. Following a temporary break in higher education, Watson began to attend UW in the fall of 2021, where he quickly found success and recognition on the national level. His work as a dramaturg for “These Shining Lives,” a UW Theatre and Dance production, earned him many accolades, including from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, where he attended workshops. Watson also won the Region 7 undergraduate scholarly paper competition for his paper, “The Essex Rebellion: The Myths We Tell About Essex, Shakespeare, and Richard II.” He graduated in May of 2023 and plans on pursuing an MFA in directing.

Please join us at this year’s 2023 Honors Convocation to be held on Friday, Sept. 29th from 3:00–4:00 p.m., in the A&S Auditorium. For more details, please visit www.uwyo.edu/as/ honors-convocation. This event is open and free to the public.

The Thomson family have long been patrons of the College of Arts and Sciences and continue to support the college to this day. Bruce Thomson, a member of the A&S Board of Visitors and a crucial supporter of the College of Arts and Sciences, attended and gave a short speech at the event regarding how important the college has been for his family.

The College of Arts and Sciences is grateful of the generosity of the Thomson family.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 13

Julia Cook, a UW natural resources and history major from Cody, Wyo., is the recipient of the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship. Cook spent the summer and fall of 2022 photographing grizzly bears in Alaska and Wyoming to document their unique connection to humans and the civilized world.

Human and Bear Interactions

Featured in 2022 Larsh Bristol Fellowship Presentation JULIA COOK CAPTURES HER PASSION FOR WILDLIFE THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY AS PART OF THE 2022 LARSH BRISTOL FELLOWSHIP. Bears capture the imagination of people all around the world. Throughout history, cultures have revered bears as a cultural symbol, used them as characters in stories, or portrayed them as ferocious predators in various forms of media. The connection between humans and nature — and bears’ place in nature — draws countless people to wildlife preserves and parks each year. One University of Wyoming student had the opportunity to explore this connection further through the lens of a camera last year in Wyoming and Alaska.

Julia Cook, a UW history and environment and natural resources major, and the recipient of the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship, spent summer and fall 2022 photographing grizzly bears to document their unique connection to humans and the civilized world.

Finding Inspiration from Wyoming to Alaska Julia Cook grew up in Cody, Wyo., just a short distance from Yellowstone National Park — a place that she believes inspired her love for nature

and wildlife. When she was young, Cook enjoyed taking pictures on family trips but didn’t consider photography seriously as a hobby or career goal. That is, not until she picked it up in 2020 and fell in love with nature photography.

“I’ve always been the kid with the camera on family vacations, but I didn’t take photography seriously at first,” Cook says. “I always loved wildlife and nature, and I think having a camera was a way to give me a deeper connection.”

While Cook loves all wildlife and nature, she discovered that photographing grizzly bears uniquely inspires her, and the bears have become her favorite animal to take pictures of.

“Bears are so expressive. When you look at them, you feel like you can see their emotions and reactions,” she says.

“Something about them draws me to them.”

Before the fellowship, Cook photographed grizzly bears as a hobby but edited out aspects of human society such as roads, street signs and people. However, Cook says that many people do not realize just how close grizzly bears are to human life. Her work documents how people and bears interact. Applying for the fellowship allowed Cook to spend even more time honing her craft.

“I applied for the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship and thought it was a shot in the dark,” she says. “I got into photography and journalism kind of late, and getting it allowed me to spend even more time taking pictures.”

While working on her fellowship, Cook spent four days a week in Yellowstone National Park from May to October, photographing nature and wildlife. To tell her full story, Cook also traveled to Alaska for roughly a month in August 2022 to access the grizzly bear population outside of Wyoming. While there, she visited Juneau and Katmai National Park in search of bears. Her goal was to document the differences between Wyoming and Alaskan bears.

“In Yellowstone, I will most likely photograph one bear at a time, but, in Alaska, I can look out to about 19 different bears in my field of view,” Cook says. “Alaskan bears can get very close to you and remain unaggressive due to how much food they have.”

Wildlife Photography Featured in Presentation As part of the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship, students must also give a presentation on the work completed over the experience.

Cook gave her Bristol fellowship presentation titled “This is Grizzly Bear Country: Human-Bear Interactions from Wyoming to Alaska” Feb. 24, in Coe Library.

The program was followed by a question-and-answer session regarding the fall 2023 Bristol fellowship application process and a viewing of her photographs in Coe Library’s third-floor gallery.

“When I started this as a hobby, I did not imagine that I’d be presenting UW College of Arts and Sciences • 15

my photos in public displays.” Cook says, “It was cool to see all my pictures hung up. I enjoyed being able to share my passion with others.”

Cook hopes her presentation will inspire others to go outside and appreciate nature, whether that be an appreciation for bears specifically or the appreciation of the coexistence of nature and society.

“Many people see bears in a negative light, but I want to show that they are not only a little misunderstood but also can be very beneficial to the state of Wyoming,” Cook says. “The Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship gave me a purpose to go to Alaska and Yellowstone. I was relieved to go there knowing that I had the personal and financial support of others.”

Communication and Journalism Department Head Cindy Price Schultz says Cook’s gallery was a unique presentation that she hopes will motivate other students to pursue a photojournalism fellowship.

“Because of her connection with the Cody area, Julia had an interesting vision to showcase human and bear interaction, especially in Yellowstone,” Price Schultz says. “Her presentation will not only show us the visual aspects of this interaction, but it also will be a great opportunity for students to

“I always loved wildlife and nature, and I think having a camera was a way to give me a deeper connection.” − Julia Cook learn about how to apply for next year’s Larsh Bristol fellowship.”

Finding a Future in Nature As a double major in history and environment and natural resources, Cook did not always plan on taking the path she’s currently on. She says picking up photography in 2020 significantly altered her plans.

“When I started studying at UW, I thought I wanted to do wildlife biology and research, but I’ve also always enjoyed creative arts.” Cook

About the Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship The Larsh Bristol Photojournalism Fellowship was started in 2008 to provide a stipend for UW students to showcase strong visual storytelling. Having supported young Wyoming photojournalists for over a decade, the fellowship is still strong.

Larsh Bristol, for whom the fellowship is named, was born and raised in Waukon, Iowa, and received his journalism degree from UW in 1974.

He worked at a number of Wyoming newspapers after graduation as a daily newspaper photojournalist. Bristol also opened a photography studio and gallery in Sheridan before finally settling in his home area of Northeast Iowa. He was an award-winning photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature, agriculture and commercial fishing on the Upper Mississippi River.

16 • Elevations 2023

says, “It wasn’t until 2020 when all my classes went online, and I had all this free time. I started going to Yellowstone again and picked up a camera as a creative outlet. Since then, I’ve decided to pursue this after graduation.”

Cook’s plans now include continuing her photography business as well as finding ways to share her passion with others. She even hopes to work for park services at some point so she is able to live in Yellowstone, as she considers even the hour-long trip from Cody to be too far.

“I’m planning on spending a year doing freelance photography full time,” she says. “In the next couple of years, I want to start my own guiding business in Cody and take people into Yellowstone. I want to share the amazing experience of seeing wildlife with others.”

Cook already has a bright future in photography ahead of her, with a popular Instagram profile that features her work. Fans of her work, featured on her site Little Lightning Nature, can buy prints of her photographs featuring a myriad of wildlife and nature shots across Wyoming and the United States.

Dorothy

2023

Jacoby Competition

Five student soloists gave excellent performances to decide who would take the top prize in the Jacoby Competition.

The worlds of competition and classical music met head-on March 2, as the University of Wyoming’s finest student musicians were chosen at the biennial and much-anticipated Jacoby Competition.

The concert was held in the Buchanan Center Concert Hall, with five performances by students.

The students treated the crowd to outstanding performances across various programs with two string performances, a singer and two pianists. UW Symphony Orchestra Conductor Michael Griffith was on hand to conduct the performances.

A Night of Musical Excellence The Jacoby Competition is a two-stage event where student musicians audition to make it to the final round. Last fall, 24 UW music students performed their selected solo pieces in the audition round before a panel of distinguished musicians.

The judges selected the top five musicians for the competition’s concert. At the event’s final stage, the concert, another set of judges decided the best

two performances of the evening, with the winners receiving significant cash awards and the title of Jacoby Competition winner.

The concert is named after Dorothy Jacoby, a founding member of the UW Symphony Association and a longtime supporter of classical music in Laramie. Her sons, Peter and Michael Jacoby, generously contributed to honor their late mother. That gift and contributions from many of Dorothy Jacoby’s friends created the endowment for the prize awarded at the performance. UW has long held a competition among the most skilled musicians at the university, but the event in its current form has existed for roughly 20 years.

Griffith has pin-pointed the event as a unique and vital occasion for students to compete and showcase their art.

“Musicians don’t often live in the same world as athletes live in,” Griffith says. “I think we would like to have situations where musicians are always wellreceived whether they are a winner or not a winner.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 17

Student Henrique Rabelo, a pianist, competes in the Jacoby Competition.

But I think human nature does like to witness competition, and a fine artist is also a human being that wants to achieve and wants that achievement acknowledged.”

The competition this year had a variety of finalists from different places, and they performed a diverse selection of music for the judges. Two were from the United States (one a Laramie High School graduate), while the other three came to UW from South America. The contestants for this year’s competition, and their repertoire, are listed below:

Michael Griffith believes a strong faculty and culture within the Department of Music can be credited for the program’s ability to bring in talented musicians from across the world, as well as from the U.S. “We have a powerful music faculty who can recruit extraordinarily talented musicians. Some of them have contacts across the world. We have had students in this competition from places like China, Armenia, Brazil, Japan, all over the United States, and I’m sure there are others,” Griffith says. “And we have talented musicians here as well. One year the winner was a Jaxon Cox, cello, a sophomore from Laramie, Wyo. freshman pianist from Powell, who the judges 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Shostakovich, Cello Concerto No. 1, movement 1 thought was better than any of the graduate students. It’s extraordinary and gratifying to Brittany Kubiak, violin, a graduate student from Cleveland, Ohio know that such good musicians are choosing to 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Vaughan Williams, “The Lark Ascending” come here, wherever they may be coming from.”

Henrique Rabelo, piano, a graduate student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1, movement 1 Winners Announced At the end of the competition, judges Amanda Silva, mezzo-soprano, a graduate student from São Paulo, Brazil deliberated who would be named first 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Bizet, “Habanera” from “Carmen” place and runner up Jacoby Competition Andrés Úsuga, piano, a graduate student from Medellín, Colombia 𝅘𝅥𝅯 Schumann, Piano Concerto, movement 1

UW music students take part in the biennial Jacoby Competition. Clockwise from left: Jaxon Cox, Amanda Silva, Brittany Kubiak and Andrés Úsuga.

winners. While the judges decided, the symphony orchestra performed for the audience one final time. After a performance of Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” UW Provost Kevin Carman was on hand to announce the winners.

Henrique Rabelo took the first place prize, while Jaxon Cox was awarded as the runner up competitor. Rabelo was awarded $2,000, and Cox was awarded $1,000 for their intense and masterful showings.

Rabelo is an ascending pianist originally from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Rabelo is a master’s degree student in piano performance at UW under the guidance of Theresa Bogard.

Besides studying, he is also a graduate assistant, collaborating with many singers, instrumentalists and ensembles.

Rabelo has performed regularly across Brazil in prestigious concert halls and has been awarded several prizes in piano competitions. His main interests comprise a wide variety of repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary, chamber music and historical performance practices.

For Rabelo, his choice to play Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1, movement 1, was incredibly personal.

“Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1, movement 1, has

PERFORMANCE IMAGES BY ROBERT BRENT

been one of my favorite works since I was 12 years old. It made me realize how perfect the combination of piano and orchestra can be,” Rabelo says. “I can trace it back to a period when I started to realize how the piano would be an incredibly important part of my life, and I was taking my music studies more seriously.”

Cox is a music performance major, studying with Beth Vanderborgh to become a professional cellist. He started his academic career at UW in 2021 and is working towards earning a bachelor’s degree and then will begin a master’s and doctorate in music. Cox plays with the university’s chamber and symphony orchestra. During his free time, he teaches cello lessons and arranges and records music for his cellobased YouTube channel.

While winners were chosen and awarded, all five of the student contestants performed excellently, drawing rave reactions from the audience. The Dorothy Jacoby Competition is a biennial showcase of some of the finest musicians at UW. This year’s event was another chapter in a long history of spotlighting the excellent artists the UW Department of Music and the Symphony Orchestra presents.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 19

UW DEBATE

The UW Speech and Debate Team honors a legacy of success while building a bright future.

20 • Elevations 2023

ACHIEVES HISTORIC HIGHS IN 2022-23 SEASON

The University of Wyoming Speech and Debate Team, or UW Debate, is a co-curricular activity sponsored by the Department of Communication and Journalism and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Participation is open to any undergraduate student. Each academic year, the team travels nationally to 15-20 intercollegiate tournaments.

The program has been a point of pride for the college in years past and was no different this year. UW Debate is a program with a storied legacy and is still reaching new heights today.

Speech and Debate Team coach Matthew Liu with team members Jaden Campbell, Paula Medina, Lorelei Lassen, Kaitlyn Campbell and Rylan Knopp.

A Legacy of Success UW’s Speech and Debate tradition began around 1912 with the formulation of a triangular debate league with teams in Colorado. The Cowboys were the first regional team to successfully demand the inclusion of women in debate competition, and UW has been a dominant national presence in intercollegiate debate for the past eight decades. Current Head Coach Matthew Liu hopes to reach the high watermark set by the previous excellence of the group, but specifically singled out the era headed by Coach B. Wayne Calloway in the 1970s.

Calloway, a UW Debate Hall of Fame inductee, coached his teams in a debate with the Soviet Union in Canada during the Vietnam War. He also served in nearly every national and regional leadership position in debate and forensics. He coached his teams to countless tournament victories and the upper echelons of the prestigious National Debate Tournament (NDT), producing several first-round at-large bids and elimination-round qualifiers there.

The debate team has a strong success history but hopes to build on that and bring the program to new heights — heights they’ve started to achieve over the last several years.

The UW debate program was among seven universities nationwide to qualify three teams for the NDT in April 2022 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. UW’s top team placed 34th overall among the nation’s top 78 teams. UW joined

Emory University, Harvard University, Liberty University, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota and Wake Forest University as the only schools to qualify three teams for the national tournament.

“This year was the first year in the UW program’s history we have qualified three teams, so it also was a historic accomplishment for us,” Liu said after the tournament. “UW students competed against the best debate teams in the country after qualifying earlier this semester through a hard-fought district tournament.”

This impressive result was the foundation for further success over the last year.

Debate Team Puts Together Historic Year UW Debate competes in many yearly tournaments, including district, conference and national tournaments.

The team performed well in all of them this year, and while it’s challenging to go into detail about each one, it cannot be understated that the program had a hugely successful season.

According to Liu, this run of success is a strong indicator that the program is moving in the right direction: “We are rebuilding to surpass that high watermark of success. And the best evidence for that is that the team is currently successful but also really young. If you hear me talk about our most successful debaters, we have multiple freshman and sophomore students competing at the highest level.”

Among these successes is qualifying two teams for the NDT, which the team has consistently achieved over the last few years. Liu talks about the NDT as the most important event of the 25-student team’s season.

“We qualified two teams to the National Debate Tournament,” he says. “It’s the most prestigious event that we attend and functions as our national championship. We not only qualified two teams but also as the first and second out of our district, encompassing universities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and Colorado.”

While UW Debate put together an impressive run of results in 2022-23, the team is still comparatively small to other universities that achieve the same results. Lorilei Lassen, one of the team’s top performers and winner of the 2023 Becky Galentine Top Individual Debater in District 2, believes the team takes pride in this.

“I think one of the things that is pretty amazing is that we compete against many teams from Ivy League schools,” she says. “A lot of people don’t expect us to have strong results in those competitions because of our size compared to those teams. When we do well, it’s great. We’re always wellprepared; getting those results has been a wonderful experience.”

Lassen is one of the young competitors that Liu credits as being a driving force behind the debate team’s success. As just a sophomore, Lassen has captured the award as the top individual debater in the district in both years she’s been with the team.

She and her partner, EC Powers, were among the two teams to qualify for the NDT, along with the team of sophomore Kaitlyn Campbell and freshman Jaden Campbell. The team of Lassen and Powers finished in the elimination round, giving UW debate its first NDT elimination round appearance since 2016.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 21

Members of the UW Speech and Debate team hold a mock debate at their weekly meeting.

This year was the first year in the UW program’s history we have qualified three teams, so it also was a historic accomplishment for us.

— Matthew Liu

22 • Elevations 2023

Building A Winning Culture While an impressive run of results is always a good thing, Liu believes it is important to build a foundation for the future that will have the team consistently competing with the top debate universities in the country, a lofty goal that the coach believes is attainable.

“We currently trail behind some of the perennial super competitors of the sport, but not so much that we don’t occasionally take them down,” he says.

“We are moving on a trajectory to get up to that level and consistently play the same ballgame as them. I want Wyoming to be on that list. When other people list those programs, I want the University of Wyoming to be one of the ones that they list.”

Liu envisions a long-term project of continuous improvement that will involve raising the team’s budget, recruiting the best debaters across the

state and the country, and continuing to achieve strong results in competitions.

“That’s a long-term project,” he says.

“It’s a project that involves making the team better every generation, and the administrative and fundraising aspect where we’ve been doing our best to privately bolster the team’s budget.”

One of the ways they’ve gone about raising funds is an increased focus on UW Giving Day. During 2022 Giving Day, the UW Debate Team was one of the university’s top performers, raising $67,263 with 607 donors. Lassen believes this is a vital endeavor for the team’s success.

“Getting all of that support was fantastic,” she says. “When you think of how much we raised, nearly $70,000, it’s hard for me to fathom that amount.

It was essential for us to achieve this fundraising amount to get the traveling experiences we do.”

OUTSTANDING GRADUATES

Twenty Students Honored in Annual Tradition of Academic Excellence Each year, the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences recognizes a group of students who represent academic excellence in the year’s class of graduates. These students are nominated by their departments and selected by the college based on scholarly achievement, commitment and contributions to their programs in and out of the classroom throughout their scholarly career. Please join us in recognizing and congratulating the outstanding graduates from the class of 2023.

Samuel Benton, Psychology Allison Brown, History, School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies Dakota Buhmann, Anthropology Kirsten Caskey, Music Kaycee Clark-Mellott, Communication and Journalism Nikayla Copenhaver, Criminal Justice and Sociology Rebecca DeCero, History and American Studies Chandra N. Frank, Modern and Classical Languages Tarje Grover, Music Susannah Heller, Geology and Geophysics Maeve Knepper, S chool of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies Emma Muller, Chemistry Fox Nelson, Anthropology Brock Parker, Physics and Astronomy Irja Smith Sandvik, Anthropology Kurtis Silvernale, Criminal Justice and Sociology Emily Smith, C ommunication and Journalism, Modern and Classical Languages Tedla Selassie Tyndall, English Johnathan Walker, Psychology Megan Wilson, Theatre and Dance

Along with the outstanding graduates selected by the college, the university also designates two undergraduates with the Tobin Memorial and Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri Outstanding Undergraduate Award as outstanding graduating students. The awards recognize students for exhibiting the finest leadership, academic integrity and citizenship qualities. This year, the university chose two College of Arts and Sciences students to be honored with this award.

Makalya Kocher, English, Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri Award Johnathan Walker, Psychology, Margaret Tobin Excellence Award

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 23

Stephanie Amaya poses with her mentor, Professor Matt Gray, at commencement.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATT GRAY

prestigious National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) in South Carolina as part of a postdoctoral fellowship. The fellowship will be the culmination of years of hard work for Amaya.

PH.D. STUDENT LANDS PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HEALTH POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP Stephanie Amaya will be conducting research at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center.

24 • Elevations 2023

Stephanie Amaya was a research coordinator for a women’s health clinic that served monolingual Spanishspeaking low-income patients when she became interested in working with survivors of sexual violence. Now, having just graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming’s clinical psychology program in the Department of Psychology, she will have the opportunity to do this at the

Finding Roots at UW Amaya is originally from Los Angeles, with her family being from El Salvador, but she’s felt at home at UW since the first time she was on campus.

“One of the things that brought me to UW is when I first came to the interview weekend. I got to meet faculty and existing students, and I got to see that they genuinely cared about each other,” she says. “In the moments when we weren’t interviewing, you could see them laughing and talking, and you could see a camaraderie like a friendship there. And that was something very unique to this program.”

Since deciding to come to UW that day, Amaya has not regretted her decision, continuing to feel support from faculty and the university. The first-generation student believes the faculty goes above and beyond to support students, whether emotionally or by supporting their careers by finding funding for graduate assistantships or helping them research.

Amaya specifically targeted her mentor, Matt Gray, a professor of psychology, as someone who has supported her throughout her career at UW. “Matt Gray has been the most important support system I’ve had at the university. I get a little emotional when I talk about it. I’m just so grateful to him and other faculty members in the clinical psychology program.

They give us the skill, the courage, the motivation to leave UW feeling prepared and confident as students.”

This support from the faculty and the clinical psychology program at

large is something Amaya credits as part of her success. Amaya looks back at her time at UW as a valuable experience to her as a student and in her life in general. Throughout undergrad, she worked fulltime to support her studies, something she did not have to do because of the graduate assistantships and hard work by the faculty to find funding for students.

“UW was kind of a do-over for me to get to be an actual grad student because I didn’t have to work full time so that I could get this education,” she says.

“They let me be a student and just learn.

And that’s what this funding means.

I don’t know that I could be going to a place like the National Crime Victims Center if I didn’t have this kind of support from them. I don’t know if it would be a possibility for me.”

Blazing Trails in Psychology Amaya began her fellowship at the NCVC in August, and the institution represents a perfect fit for her goals and research interests. The center is also one of the most prestigious in the nation. Established in 1977, the NCVC has garnered global recognition for pioneering research, educational programs and training initiatives. Additionally, the center has gained acclaim for its evidence-based mental health treatments, preventive services, collaborations with victim service agencies and consultations with policymakers.

At the heart of the NCVC’s mission is the undertaking of research endeavors that delve into the extent, characteristics and repercussions of criminal victimization and various traumatic incidents on individuals of all ages, including adults, children and their families.

This ethos by the treatment center aligns with Amaya’s goals. While she is excited to have the opportunity

to conduct work at a prestigious institution, she is still most looking forward to simply having the opportunity to help people.

“I’m not quite sure what specifically we’ll be working on yet, but the fascinating part will be that most of my focus will be on cultural factors and outcomes after sexual assault, domestic violence treatment and other things in the realm I’m interested in,” Amaya says. “We are doing research, but it is very much focused on helping and integrating ourselves within the community.”

Amaya will also be able to participate in community outreach, specifically with rural Latino communities. It is a community she is interested in working with and developing research for in the future.

She outlines one of her main interests as adapting existing and widely available treatments for specific cultures.

“Research-wise, my ideal goal would be to make cultural adaptations of existing treatments more widely accessible so that Latina LGBTQ

survivors have more specialized care that takes their cultural values into account and tailors that treatment so it can be effective for them.”

While her work at the NCVC represents a fantastic opportunity to conduct groundbreaking research at a distinguished institution, Amaya is also interested in joining the ranks of academia at some point, specifically to introduce psychology as an option to a more diverse population of students.

“Career-wise, I would love to work in academia, maybe be a professor and contribute to the diversity of our field, getting students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and diverse cultural identities to come into the field of psychology and just move it forward in any direction.”

Amaya is a credit to the clinical psychology program wherever she ends up. From her UW career to this new opportunity at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, she is a remarkable representative of UW and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Amaya presented at the annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice.

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 25

a r w d A s B S a & nquet A 3 2 0 2

Dale Skoric

Ramsey Avery

Cedric D. Reverand

Maggi Maier Murdock

Awards banquet returns for the first time since 2019, honoring outstanding former faculty, alumni and extraordinary merit.

For the first time since 2019, the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences gathered for the previously annual Awards Banquet in May of 2023. The event is held to honor the storied tradition and history of excellence in A&S and celebrate the current torchbearers for this achievement.

Before awards were given out, attendees were treated to a performance by a quartet of jazz musicians from the Department of Music. Trisha Cates, Sean Clark, Meade Stubson and Colby Turpen made up the quartet, who played to the crowd while they mingled, congratulated the award PHOTO BY MATTHEW IDLER

UW jazz student musicians Meade Stubson, Trisha Cates, Sean Clark and Colby Turpen perform during the banquet.

26 • Elevations 2023

winners and enjoyed a pleasant atmosphere. Several vital people from the college and around the state were all in attendance, including Provost Kevin Carman, A&S Board of Visitors members, former Wyoming State Rep. Pete Simpson and his wife, Lynne. The couple made the trip from Cody to participate in the exciting affairs.

After eating, mingling and enjoying the performance, everyone came together to honor the 2023 awardees in the categories of outstanding alumni and former faculty, and this year’s honorees for extraordinary merit in teaching and research. The outstanding former faculty and alumni had the opportunity to speak about their careers at UW and thank the people who helped them reach the heights they have throughout their life.

Maggi Maier Murdock, one of the outstanding former faculty winners, spoke about what the award and being part of the college have meant for her.

“It remains a privilege for so much of my life to have spent so much time with so many in the college. I’m pleased to have my mentor, Pete Simpson, here as well as so many others who helped me along the way,” Murdock said. “I wish I had even more opportunities to learn from them. My greatest privilege was always working with students. That’s the best thing about a university, and I’m honored to be recognized for my work with students.”

TOP IMAGES COURTESY OF THE AWARDEES

Outstanding Alumni

Outstanding Former Faculty

Dale Skoric, B.A. 1989, Political Science After graduating from UW in 1989, Dale Skoric volunteered with the Peace Corps in Kenya before embarking on a decorated political career. He worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), managing three teams and coordinating broad policy.

Skoric also held several senior positions in Africa and the Caucasus with the United Nations, including country director for WFP in the Republic of Macedonia and head of the Balkan Response Unit in Former Yugoslavia. Skoric is currently the USAID Senior Advisor to the Department of Defense (DoD). His primary role is to expand and sustain engagement between USAID and DoD at the highest levels to ensure leadership of both organizations understand each other’s role in support of U.S. national security objectives.

Cedric D. Reverand, B.A. 1963 Yale University; M.A. 1964 Columbia University; Ph.D. 1972 Cornell University Cedric D. Reverand spent his entire professorial career, beginning in 1971, at UW, except for stints as visiting fellow at UCLA, Yale and Clare Hall (Cambridge University), where he was appointed both fellow and “life member.” He published widely on literature, art, architecture and music, and taught highly popular courses on Dickens and on the fine arts; he long served as editor of Eighteenth-Century Life, one of the leading journals in the field. For 30 years, he directed UW’s Cultural Programs, one of the nation’s major concert series, for which he received the Western Arts Alliance Award for “Outstanding Contributions to the Performing Arts in the American West” and the Governor’s Arts Award.

He also received a Mortar Board “Top Prof” Award, the Ellbogen Award for Outstanding Classroom Teaching, the Pepsi Award for Excellence and the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award (UW’s highest honor).

Ramsey Avery, BFA 1985, Theatre and Dance Ramsey Avery began his career at UW as a physics major to become an astronomer. Avery’s interest in the creation of worlds and acting with UW theater led him to change his area of study. Avery would later receive an MFA in theater set design from CalArts. Upon graduating, Avery has worked on many major motion pictures, commercials, Disney Theme Parks and more. This work includes a Dodge commercial that was featured as a Super Bowl advertisement. Avery has been nominated for an Art Director’s Guild Award for his design of the live-action trailer for “The Bee Movie,” and won the award for the design of the Amazon TV series: “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” A previous design of his, the “Animation Pavilion,” also at DCA, won a THEA award, the themed entertainment equivalent of an Oscar. Along the way, he has kept a hand in theater, designing awardwinning regional theater sets from California to New York, as well as a national Christmas tour for Martina McBride.

Extraordinary Merit Awards Along with the outstanding former faculty and alumni awards, current faculty who had been nominated as the Extraordinary Merit in Research and Teaching awardees were also honored. The following list names those who were given the award for their contributions to the college and their students.

Maggi Maier Murdock, B.A. 1970 Creighton University; Ph.D. 1978 Tufts University Maggi Maier Murdock began her academic career at UW in 1975 and served as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science and adjunct faculty in the Department of Criminal Justice from 1975 to 2017. She served as dean of UW-Casper, dean of the UW Outreach School, UW associate vice president for Academic Affairs, and UW interim vice president for Academic Affairs. She retired from UW in August 2017 as professor emerita. Murdock served on the Wyoming Humanities Council from 1988– 1993, serving as president from 1991-92 and became a board member again in 2019. She also serves on the Wyoming Public Media Public Advisory Council and the Wyoming ReNEW Board. In 2020, Murdock joined with experienced colleagues to form Learning Corps, a teaching and learning consulting business that supports teaching and learning at all levels.

Beatrice Gallatin Beuf Golden Apple Award Allison Gernant, English Extraordinary Merit in Research Chelsea Escalante, M odern and Classical Languages Julia Obert, English Shelby Shadwell, Visual Arts Todd Surovell, Anthropology

Extraordinary Merit in Teaching Katelyn Golladay, Criminal Justice and Sociology Sonia Rodriguez-Hicks, Modern and

Classical Languages Kasey Stanton, Psychology Seth Swanner, English Jennifer Turpen, Music

UW College of Arts and Sciences • 27

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

UW ASSISTANT LECTURER RECEIVES TEACHER AWARD FROM STATE LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION

Adriana Noya’s passion for teaching drives her to excellence in the classroom.

Adriana Noya, a UW assistant lecturer, received the prestigious Teacher of the Year Award from the Wyoming Association of Language Teachers (WALT) for 2022.

Noya, in the UW Department of Modern and Classical Languages, received the award at the WALT Conference in Casper in October. WALT is a professional organization dedicated to supporting world language teachers and promoting linguistic and cultural competence among K-16 learners in Wyoming. The award is open to any teacher in Wyoming with five years of experience, with nominations by peers or students.

Noya teaches Spanish at UW and has been lecturing at the university since 2017. This award marks Noya’s second recognition from WALT; she also received the New Teacher of the Year Award in 2017.

Noya says her passion for languages led her to teaching, something she imagined herself doing for a long time.

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. When I was living in Madrid, Spain, I thought I would be teaching English to Spanish speakers, and life had other plans. Now, I teach Spanish to English speakers,” Noya says. “I have just always 28 • Elevations 2023

loved languages, so the content is a driving factor. I also had wonderful teachers growing up who positively impacted me, inspiring me to become a teacher myself.”

The positive impact that Noya’s teachers made in her own life did not just help inspire her career choice, but also continues to be an inspiration in her style and theory of teaching. She strives to be a positive, energetic and approachable teacher.

“It motivates me to make sure my students are having fun.

Students must be relaxed while learning; foreign languages are hard to learn and can make many anxious. I try to help that by being approachable and friendly,” Noya says. “It is OK to make mistakes; everyone will make mistakes. I just try to ensure they are having fun while doing it.”

This approach has proven successful for Noya, and her designation as WALT’s top teacher is proof of that. However, Noya’s main focus is to remain a positive role model for her students rather than seeking recognition.

“It is interesting, right? It combines pride and the feeling that I have done a great job,” she adds. “There are so many great teachers out there, and receiving something like this is humbling.”

PHOTO BY ROBERT BRENT

Name: Address: City:

State:

Phone Number:

Email:

Zip:

Update your information online at www.uwyo.edu/updateinfo

MY GIFT IS: ❏ $2,500

 $1,000 Steamboat Society

❏ $500

❏ $250

❏ $125

❏ Other:

MY GIFT IS FOR: ❏ Dean’s Visioning Fund (500003) ❏ Other (please specify)

WAYS TO GIVE: ONLINE: www.uwyo.edu/giveonline CALL:

(307) 766-6300 or (888) 831-7795

MAIL:

Fill out and return mail with your gift to the University of Wyoming Foundation, 222 South 22nd Street, Laramie, WY 82070 Make checks payable to the University of Wyoming Foundation.

N24A&S

College of Arts and Sciences 1000 E. University Ave, Dept. 3254 Laramie, WY 82071

Get Connected @uwartssciences

@uwyoartssciences

@UWyoArtsSciences

Follow the College of Arts and Sciences to keep up to date on events, news and tips or check out all the social media channels for the University of Wyoming at uwyo.edu/socialmedia