Impact Report 2019-2020
Letter from the Dean
I am proud of all we have accomplished this year, as the DU and CAHSS family demonstrated our true strength, resiliency and core values.
In 2020, we quickly adapted and innovated to keep our community safe, while continuing to provide high-quality education for our students. Our sociology and criminology faculty updated their coursework to explore the impact of COVID-19 on DU students, while Associate Professor Renee Botta supported a team of nurses in Haiti on improving health outcomes through health promotion and communication during the pandemic.
Beyond the classroom, our alumni are proving that community, adaptability, learning and improving the future are what the liberal and creative arts are all about. Alumna Maram Abdelhamid (BA ’01) put inclusive excellence at the heart of her nonprofit Liberty and Access for All (L+A) to respond to race, gender and class prejudices and empower leaders in Washington, D.C.
Your support has allowed us to transform our students’ education by creating a multitude of experiential learning opportunities and by investing in faculty innovation through the John Madden Center for Innovation in the Liberal and Creative Arts.
Though this is my last year as dean, our work together is not done. This year provides many opportunities to continue to build for the future of the College and University, and I hope that you will connect with events and projects that support the Keystone Plan and our exciting vision for the College.
I look forward to the year ahead and all that we will achieve.
Daniel McIntosh, PhD
Dean, College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Table of Contents
CAHSS Infographic
Newsweek - June 10, 2020
Calling the Protests a 'City Problem' Is a Dangerous Dog Whistle | Opinion
Op-ed by Joshua Wilson, professor in the Political Science Department
The Denver Channel - May 4, 2020
'Pandemics Kill Just as Much as Nuclear Bombs': Historians Warn about Dangers of Reopening too Soon
Television interview with Susan Schulten, professor in the Department of History
Colorado Public Radio - April 24, 2020
Coronavirus Has Erased 1 in 10 Jobs in Colorado. What Does that Really Mean for the Unemployed?
Article cites research by Paula Cole, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Economics
CBS News - February 27, 2020
Denver Group Working to Preserve African American "Spirituals"
Interview with M. Roger Holland II, director of DU's Spirituals Project
The Hill - January 24, 2020
Harvey Weinstein's Trial and Understanding Sexual Assault
Article co-authored by Anne DePrince, professor in the Department of Psychology
The Colorado Independent - January 20, 2020
Colorado Is Projected to Gain a Seat in Congress. Here’s Why that’s a Huge Deal.
Article quotes Seth Masket, professor and director of the Center on American Politics
CBS Denver - December 13, 2019
Making History: First Ever Play by Inmates Performed Outside Prison Walls Takes Place in Denver
Television segment with Assistant Professor of Theatre and Co-Founder and Executive Director of the DU Prison Arts Initiative, Ashley Hamilton
See more news
The College is home to a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology to media, film & journalism studies. Learn about the exciting research and creative projects our faculty members have completed over the past year.
The Impact of Philanthropy
A Partnership and a Legacy
Michael Pulman, PhD, and Eric Lindstrom, MD, wanted to make an impact on the study of human sexuality in ways not possible in decades past. Now, through a gift of $3 million, they are making that difference at the University of Denver.
With their gift, the couple is creating an interdisciplinary chair in the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences to focus on human sexuality, and in particular, the cultural impact of homosexual individuals. As Pulman and Lindstrom say, many contributions by homosexual individuals throughout history have, until recently, gone unrecognized.
The chair will reside in the College, and the academic’s work could involve research and studies in history, arts, literatures and many other connected fields in the humanities and social sciences.
Haiti Women’s Soap Project
In some of the poorest neighborhoods in Haiti, a team of nurses train women as hygiene educators and as sellers of liquid soap. Liquid soap is considered a luxury item in Haiti, and the team’s ability to make and sell it cheaply helps break down the cost barriers that often prevent people from buying it. Their work heightens awareness about the importance of hygiene — along with its role in reducing disease, loss of work and loss of schooling.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, those nurses became part of the national team for COVID prevention in Haiti, training hospital staff on hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID. Renee Botta, associate professor of media, film and journalism studies, provides leadership to this team as an expert in improving health outcomes through health promotion and communication. The team’s work is supported, in part, through philanthropy at DU.
DU Artist Initiative
A new initiative from the University Art Collections (UAC) seeks to build the University’s holdings of important DU artists like Vance Kirkland, William Sanderson, Duane Michals and many others. Most recently, trustee and alumnus Craig Harrison (BSBA ‘03) gave an Allen Tupper True painting to the collection. True, a student at DU from 1899–1901, was an American illustrator, easel painter and muralist.
“We’re thrilled to have acquired this wonderful True painting through Craig’s generosity and look forward to working with other donors to expand this important part of the collection,” said UAC Curator Geoffrey Shamos.
The initiative will include exhibitions, publications, lectures and acquisitions. In addition to DU-affiliated artists, UAC is prioritizing works by Black, Indigenous, people of color and women artists.
September 5, 2019
Migrahack Event Reimagines Immigration through Storytelling
The University of Denver, in partnership with Colorado Media Project and several local groups, organized an event to enhance understandings of immigration in Colorado.
September 17, 2019
Art Students Curate Exhibition at Madden Museum of Art
The Madden Museum of Art's exhibition "In Motion" opened to the public on September 17. Collaboratively curated by University of Denver art graduate students and Madden Museum Program Director Nicole Parks, this exhibition included incredible artworks that explore the concept of movement through line, color and subject.
October 11-12, 2019
Indigenous Film & Arts Festival
DU’s Museum of Anthropology partnered with the Indigenous Film and Arts Festival for the exhibition “Selections from Voices from the Drum: An Osage Collection,” presented in conjunction with the Osage Nation Foundation.
October 29, 2019
Visual Artist and Co-Host of Hit Podcast Comes to DU
The 2019 Harper Distinguished Speaker, Nigel Poor, visited DU on November 14 and gave an on-stage interview with Associate Professor of Art Sarah Gjertson. Poor is the co-creator and co-host of the award-winning prison-based podcast, Ear Hustle.
January 16, 2020
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Through Music
In a musical celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, a group of students and one alumna from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music took the stage at Denver jazz club.
February 6, 2019
CAHSS Faculty + Community
A new annual event, CAHSS Faculty + Community featured lightning talks of faculty members within the College. Each faculty member gave a short presentation on the work they’ve been doing and the role it plays in the community at DU and beyond. The presenters for the inaugural event were Elizabeth Escobedo, M. Roger Holland II, Pilyoung Kim and Roddy MacInnes.
Discover upcoming events
See more of the College's (virtual) performances, exhibitions, concerts, lectures, readings, screenings, webinars and more, most of which are free and open to the public.
Center for Art Collection Ethics
Tracing an Object's Troubled History
DU Professor of History Elizabeth Campbell set out to create a DU center where graduate students and emerging professionals in the areas of anthropology, art history, library and information science, museum studies and more can get the training they need when it comes to conducting provenance research and other aspects of ethical stewardship.
Read more
Exploring the Ethics of Native American Collections
DU’s Center for Art Collection Ethics (ACE) is raising awareness of the legal and ethical dimensions of art collection stewardship. In February, Native artists and practitioners visited campus, offering insights on the ethics of creating, conserving and displaying contemporary Native American objects.
Read moreCenter for Judaic Studies
Q&A: Remembering the Liberation of Auschwitz 75 Years Later
Adam Rovner, an associate professor of English and Jewish literature and the director of the Center for Judaic Studies, shared his perspective on the Holocaust’s enduring significance.
Read more
3rd Annual Vinnik Evening of Jewish Culture
On February 18, 2020, the Center for Judaic Studies hosted a feature screening of the film Golda, followed by a discussion with the directors Sagi Bornstein and Udi Nir.
Learn moreCenter for Innovation in the Liberal and Creative Arts (CILCA)
CILCA Supports DU's Casa de Paz Learning Community
Elizabeth Escobedo, associate professor of history, launched a service-learning class that partners with Casa de Paz, an Aurora nonprofit that offers housing, meals, visits, and transportation to immigrants recently released from immigrant detention. This academic year, Casa de Paz has been a partner for four service-learning courses within the Center for Innovation in the Liberal and Creative Arts (CILCA).
Read more
Combining Art & Technology for the Public Good
For their residency this past September at DU’s Clinic for Open Source Arts (COSA), Luca Damasco and Zach Rispoli made improvements to Wick Editor, visited classes in the Emergent Digital Practices Department and held workshops at local high schools that reached over 300 students from first to ninth grade.
Read more
Class Spotlight
Contemporary Gospel Music: Religion, Culture and the Black Church with M. Roger Holland
"For those with white privilege like me, we must cherish the Black identity that we have celebrated in this class. We must recognize the resilience and power that Black folks have been expressing in their music for decades. We must educate ourselves and those around us. We must make room for diversity and agency. We must honor the protection of safe, sacred spaces." —Kaity Young, English & literary arts and communication studies student
Class Spotlight
Latin American Politics with Jesse Acevedo
“I went into my Latin American Politics course without knowing what to expect, but it has been one of the best courses I’ve ever taken at DU. Professor Acevedo found creative ways to keep the course engaging and interesting. My favorite part of the course was the different perspectives of race within Latin America and the United States. Did you know that Latin Americans have a different understanding of the Black and White races? Through this course, I've attained more knowledge about Latin American culture, mentality and economic progress.” —Lydia Agyemang, a junior majoring in political science and English literature
Class Spotlight
Power, Privilege and Oppression with Dawn Crosswhite
This course from the Department of Psychology examines the oppression of diverse populations and the effect on multicultural social-work practices. It's intended to increase awareness of multidimensional aspects of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status in social-work practices. Crosswhite’s teaching style encourages students to examine their own biases in order to better serve the populations with which they work.
Class Spotlight
Disease in Early America with David Korostyshevsky
“This course showed me that people’s reactions to the pandemic haven’t really changed that much. People do not believe scientists and experts about the spread of COVID-19, just as citizens did not believe John Snow and emerging germ theory back in the 19th century.” —Meghan Garrant, a senior majoring in criminology and German
