Looking Toward the New Power Generation
July 29, 2008 | 
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If you intend to keep pace with Richard Skorman, prepare yourself with a good pair of speed skates and a large amount of Vitamin “V” (vision).
Beneath his calm exterior lies the heart of a warrior and the soul of a visionary. Richard has been labeled Colorado’s Best Old Hippie, Best Tree Hugger, and Best Leftist Radical, but these tags are just the tip of Richard’s biographical iceberg. His life to date has been a virtual tower of experiential learning that has made a difference to communities across the United States. His work has created innovative, intellectual “green space” for us in Colorado Springs.
Richard’s Colorado story began as a student at Colorado College. Colorado seemed a far cry from his Ohio home, and with a natural affinity for literature and film, his university major, “Art Studio”, provided him the tools to begin exploring the world through the camera lens. With virtually no experience as a restaurateur, Richard opened “Poor Richard’s Feed & Read” armed with $8,000 and a dream.
The restaurant+book business in 1977 required a 24-hour work schedule for Richard. His daily drive to Denver for fresh bagels at New York Bagel Boys, his yummy 75-cent egg salad sandwiches, and his aromatic espresso concoctions saved many a CC student from hunger pangs and created an ambiance similar to cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Richard was chief cook, dishwasher, and delivery man seven days a week for three years. Ed, who mans Richard’s Book Store to this day, began working with Richard and is part of the Poor Richard’s family of experts.
Across the street from Poor Richard’s Read and Feed Richard provided additional food for thought. Customers interested in the latest avant-garde films could stop in to enjoy a film, sit back and read, and discuss the latest tidbits concerning the arts.
“I wanted to provide natural access to the arts,” Richard said. “I was able to grow the restaurant and book store combination with a movie in the middle to active the intellect for our customers.”
When the opportunity came to expand the business by adding increased space to the restaurant, Richard did not hesitate. As his business grew physically, he also spearheaded another “growth opportunity” for Colorado Springs. The Kerouac Conference with poets Alan Ginsberg, Peter Orlofsky, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and William S. Burroughs provided a venue for these artists to read their works to enthusiastic Colorado Springs audiences .
“Colorado Springs had never experienced anything like it,” Skorman said. “We were able to provide ‘food and community’ to people of all kinds who wanted to hear what these artists
had to say.”
All was not a walk in the park for Richard in his growing business. In 1982, a crazed arsonist set fire to his establishment, leaving Richard and his employees a three-month span with no income, and herculean work to reconstruct his place.
“We raised money by the dollar bills people gave us,” Richard explained. “My employees still received a salary, and we worked to reconstruct the place one stick at a time.”
Needing a change, Richard sold the business, went to New York, met and married his beloved Patricia. After seven years of work in the New York cinema and book industry, with a life-altering internship in Yonkers where he learned (from Frank and Frankie, owners of Pizza Emporium) the art of creating the ultimate pizza, he returned to Colorado Springs, repurchased the business, and ventured yet again into another phase of what he describes as “a political voice for reason”.
Since his return to Colorado Springs, Richard has found his voice as a spokesperson for issues of social justice and community involvement. With all these events to his credit, Richard “was humbled by what he didn’t know” and moved from business man to city-council member for Colorado Springs. In his capacity of “lone liberal”, his position of advocate of the disenfranchised has grown in direct proportion to the catastrophic events of the last five years.
As if serving on City Council were not enough, Richard served on the Board of the Gill
Foundation. In this capacity he has supported programs that work to empower all members of society no matter their economic status, national or racial origin, or sexual orientation.
To understand the political side of civic involvement, Richard worked with Senator Ken Salazar’s office here in Colorado Springs.
After hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast, Richard recruited more than 300 Colorado Springs volunteers to assist displaced Gulf Coast families, “adopting people”, finding lodging, locating lost family members, providing medicine, attending births, and collecting $100,000 in cash which he gave to families in need. He enlisted Chuck Murphy of the Grey Line bus company to bring disaster victims from the Astrodome to Colorado Springs.
“The busses went down there empty and returned full,” Skorman told us. The “Rocky Mountain Relocation” project assisted 2,000 people to find lodging in Colorado Springs in the short span of three to five days.
“We collected 749 pairs of eye glasses for people who went without because they had to get out fast,” Skorman said. “We collected airline miles to fly people around the country, and we wired people money so they could connect with their families. The Attorney General of the State of Louisiana visited us personally to say thank you for this work.”
Richard continues to speak and do for those who cannot.
“I’m working on a new project,” he said. “New Power Generation by 2016.” Richard, Patricia, and assistant Sarah are presently working to develop a “multibulb campaign”, to develop a no-cost to the patron energy-efficient light bulb distribution center plus general resources for energy conservation and workshop model for teaching people to conserve energy.
“We don’t want to exist in a few years”, Richard added. “We want to share what we learn about the fifth fuel source”, a way to conserve energy and save money for the average person.
Richard’s project, let’stwist.org, is planned to begin operation shortly, and the public will receive more information about it through various media publications.
Richard’s participation in the Conservation Corps has provided him greater understanding of the divide that exists between conservation and income. If the process as we know it is “unconsumer friendly” he views his role as facilitator through letstwist.org to inform the public how to minimize our proverbial footprint in our community.
Colorado Springs Record+ suggests that you visit Poor Richard’s and Rico’s Café and Wine Bar this summer. We guarantee that you will find the book shop, Rico’s, the toy emporium, and the restaurant very special places to energize your spirit and nourish your soul. Richard Skorman is, after all, a household word, in Colorado Springs. We believe you should put his name in your to-know list.
Poor Richard’s Restaurant and Wine Bar
324 ½ North Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
719-632-7721, 719-630-7723
Poor Richard’s Discount Bookstore
320 North Tejon Street
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
578-0012
-M
Secrets of a Master Scholar
July 29, 2008 | Email This Post
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Paul Harvey is Professor of History at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. A nationally known scholar of Southern history and religion, he is also an acclaimed teacher who brings his profound knowledge to the classroom. Dr. Harvey has authored three books, edited three volumes, and is a co-editor of “Themes in American Culture and Religion”. Colorado Springs Record+ presents an interview with Dr. Harvey in the month of America’s birth.
CSR+: Congratulations on being awarded Teacher of the Year at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 2007-08. It is a great honor that recognizes you an academic leader at UCCS and in the community. What has contributed to the quality of your teaching excellence?
I have compared teaching history classes to my favorite musical form: jazz. Teaching is taking a theme, making sure that theme is explored, but allowing plenty of room for improvisation, and most especially for those moments when a student conversation or insight “takes flight”, and something totally unexpected emerges. Being rigorously trained in the discipline, being clear and firm on the standards expected in the classroom, but also being open “to the moment”—all of these combined are required, I believe, for the best teaching. It requires a careful blend of discipline, structure, and spontaneity which never stays the same from one class to another. One also has to have a lot of patience and forgiveness, both for students, but also for one’s own self; every day is not going to be a shining moment of teaching brilliance, and sometimes your most valued and ostensibly impressive teaching experiments will just flat-out fail. That’s fine, as long as one always learns from the experience.
CSR+: Your area of expertise is American history, Southern history in particular. What has attracted you to the South and its history?
Although I grew up in Oklahoma, sort of the western edge of the South, I attended graduate school in Berkeley, in part to get as far away from the South as I could. But my professor there, Leon Litwack, taught me that questions of southern history are in many ways the most fundamentally important and profound of American history. Southern history is really about this question: what is the meaning of freedom? And that question took on a particularly powerful edge in the context of the southern history of slavery and racial oppression. Thus, it seems to me the most fundamentally important questions that Humanities scholars explore take on heightened significance in the study of the U.S. South, and that is what constantly draws my attention there.
CSR+: Your particular interest lies in the impact of religion on American culture and society. How would you characterize the profound impact religion has had or has on American culture? Is it different from the impact of religion other societies around the world?
The impact of religion in America presents a fundamental paradox. On the one hand, the United States was founded with the principle of the separation of church and state, without any established church or religious tests for office. Some of the founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, believed that this would lead to a society based on rationalism rather than (as Jefferson saw them) biblical myths and religious superstitions. But then, as it turned out, history worked out very differently, and the United States became a place where religion exerted more influence than perhaps any other society in the western world. That influence was deeply pervasive and cultural, rather than strictly political, and this dates, I believe, from the antebellum era of American history (about the 1820s forward), with what is called the “Second Great Awakening.” That is when evangelicalism became a dominant form of religious expression. It’s hard to compare America’s experience with religion’s influence to anywhere else, for in this regard the United States is sui generis, unlike anywhere else.
CSR+: In the book “Redeeming the South”, you talk about two different and divergent Baptist societies that evolved in the South over two centuries, resulting in a reshaping the history and growth of the South. How different were these two societies? Did they work at cross-purposes, or was there any collaboration and co-operation of any kind? Are these societies coming together in the 21st Century?
My argument there is that white and black Baptists were on different sides of the race divide in the South, and of course whites held all the political and social power. But white and black Baptists held many commonalities as well. After the Civil War, one of those interesting points of intersection was the idea of “respectability,” as both white and black Baptist leaders believed that their historically poor and marginalized folk needed to learn the ways of uplift, social mobility, and proper public behavior; they needed to be made into good bourgeois citizens. So, they worked at cross-purposes politically, but not necessarily culturally. Today, religion remains a major source of cultural divide; the shock of many whites towards the comments of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, for example, came because few whites understood the historical context in which Pastor Wright was speaking, while black Americans, regardless of whether they agreed with the specific assertions in those comments, well understood the legacy from which Pastor Wright emerged. So, no, “these societies,” as you put it, are not really coming together.
CSR+: Your book “Freedom’s Coming” talks about an inter-racial Christian “evangelical counterculture” that challenged the world of Jim Crow and brought it to its end. Please elaborate.
I suggest in “Freedom’s Coming” that black evangelicals and a few white countercultural “prophets” took the historic language of evangelicalism, which for centuries had justified racial oppression, and completely transformed the meaning of that religious legacy, so that a small minority of civil rights activists together with brave people, mostly black but some white, successfully demolished the system of American apartheid. This still represents, to me, one of the most astounding social revolutions of all of American history.
CSR+: You are working on two books presently: “Jesus in Red, White and Black” and “Religion, Race and American Ideas of Freedom”. What are the main hypotheses of these two books? When are they going to be published?
I am co-authoring Jesus in Red, White, and Black with the historian Ed Blum of San Diego State University; we should complete the manuscript early next year (2009) and hopefully the book will be published in 2010. In that book, we suggest that the figure of Jesus in American history became a de facto white man, but African Americans and Native Americans took the “white Jesus” they were given and transformed him into a figure of liberatory power.
The second book, “Religion, Race, and American Ideas of Freedom”, is a much longer-term project, one that I anticipate will carry me through the next five years or so; I intend to make it sort of my career scholarly contribution to my field of American religious history. Essentially, this book will explore the most fundamental dialectic of American religious history: the tension between the universalist promises of freedom (including religious freedom) in the nation’s founding documents, and the de facto culture of white Protestantism which for much of American history delimited and marked out the real meaning of “freedom.” But through that history, African Americans, Latinos, Native peoples, and white radicals over centuries of time challenged and eventually cracked the de facto culture of white Protestant thought and culture, and compelled new definitions of American freedom. In short, this book is really a social history of religious freedom. I don’t know when it will be done. It’s a big project and has me deeply immersed in fields (especially Native American religious history) which I’ve never really studied before.
CSR+: What role does religion play in current American society? Is it healthy or unhealthy? How do you see the role of religion on American society evolving as our country’s population becomes more diversified?
That’s a hard question to answer, because in the field of religious studies, no one really agrees on what the term “religion” means, and certainly the impact of religion in public life, and whether that is “healthy” or “unhealthy,” is deeply disputed – just think of the arguments about groups such as Focus on the Family, for example. Religion is deeply ingrained, for better or worse, in our national identity, in our political dialogues, and even in the most basic metaphors that we use to understand America as a country. That’s why a 17th-century Puritan phrase, “city upon a hill,” has had such a long life in American politics. That kind of American idealism, derived ultimately from religious ideas, has inspired much of what is best in our country’s history (including the ideals of religious freedom, however imperfectly practiced, that I mentioned above), as well as much of what is worst in our history (including the legacies of slavery, racism, intolerance, and religiously motivated violence). Nowadays, as Americans learn pretty much for the first time in our history what “pluralism” truly means – i.e., not just different varieties of Christians, or even different varieties of Jews and Christians, but multitudes of different faiths living together in close proximity – our religious heritage of de facto Protestantism continues to lag behind the reality of religious pluralism. That explains the tortured debate about whether America is a “Christian nation.” Yet the U.S. has the promise to show what a truly religious pluralistic society looks like. We’re a long ways from that, but we’re a far sight better than we used to be.
CSR+: Some people say that two of the major religions of the world, Christianity and Islam, are at odds in many ways, thereby leading to great conflicts. What are your thoughts in this regard?
There is no such thing as “Christianity” or “Islam” per se; there are only historic expressions of those general religious terminologies, and of course “Christianity” and “Islam” comes in a nearly infinite variety of expression. Historically, those who defined themselves as “Christians” and those who defined themselves as “Muslims” have lived in peace and harmony in many times and places, and in war and bloodshed at other times. The vast majority of people want peace and tend to be tolerant and understanding of other people’s faiths. Politically, however, the terms “Christendom” or “the Islamic world” have become political slogans, terribly oversimplified and exaggerated in media representations, and the result presently has tended towards disaster.
CSR+: You are an international scholar. You are a great teacher as well. How do you balance your teaching and research? Would you be willing to share your secrets of success with our readers?
Work your butt off, don’t sleep . . . wait, that’s not very helpful. The key, I think, is always integrating teaching with research, so that when I’m preparing for class I’m also preparing my research, and when I think about my research I’m also in effect preparing for class. For example, the idea for my book “Religion, Race, and American Ideas of Freedom” came from my teaching – I saw again and again how the expansive ideas of religious freedom in American arose at precisely the same time as the huge explosion of slavery, racism, and genocide practiced against Native Americans, and I began to question why that was. Likewise, when I began writing my part of the book Jesus in Red, White, and Black, I constructed a course in part to help me think through ideas for the book, and also to present those ideas to students. The result was one of the most successful classes I’ve ever taught. So, I never teach classes the same way twice; I always try to bring in new ideas from my research, and that makes me more excited about research and keeps my classes fresher and more engaging, or at least I hope so.
CSR+ Thank you so much for taking time from your intense schedule to share your thoughts with us. All the best to you with your upcoming projects.
Designer Plus
July 29, 2008 | Email This Post
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“I’m just a designer” are the words with which Craig Decker began our interview for Colorado Springs Record+. Our readers need to know that Craig Decker, web designer extraordinaire for the Web Services Division of IT at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, has the unique ability to create images from “seeing” other people’s words. And he does it with ease and speed.
Craig and his cracker-jack team of IT designers have a unique mission within the Web Services Division of UCCS. They create a visual space within which the colleges, departments, labs, and specific divisions of the university become uniquely visible to the public. They bring the essence of these entities to life through the design of each organization’s web page.
Craig’s background in fine arts, sculpture, painting, clay, and papermaking adds a unique dimension to the quality of his designs. He agrees that his degree in computer graphics with a fine arts component has allowed him to mastermind several unique concepts for UCCS. (See illustrations with this review.)
Craig likes “to make things look cool”. His most concentrated project at this time is one that involves multi-layers of technology immersion. Thanks to Craig’s talent, the up-and-coming UCCS radio website will allow the listener and reader the ability “to do it all” from accessing program archives, emailing specific DJs, posting comments, linking to Face Book, exploring archived podcasts after the shows, and always, experiencing a dynamic visual that captures the essence of what each program is about. When UCCS Radio.edu debuts on the UCCS website, it will be due to Craig’s masterful ability with technology, graphic technique, and creative insight.
When Craig and his soccer buddy Luis (you may call him “Playah” if you say it with respect), agreed to become UCCS Internet radio reporters, their excitement level rose dramatically in proportion to the responses they received from their listeners. From the first program on, there was no stopping Craig and “Playah” as they commented on international games, critiqued local ones, and shared ideas about how soccer should soon become a credible sport among elementary and high-school sportistas. Both Craig and Luis coach local Colorado Springs teams, ranging from the UCCS Women’s Soccer Team, to elementary and high schools throughout the city.
Craig’s passion for developing an outstanding design has metamorphosed into a passion for teaching young soccer enthusiasts. He has shepherded the “U6” (under six years of age) as they learn to kick, pass and move the ball. With the “U12” students (included here is his daughter) the under12-year-olds begin more competitive technical strategies. Craig shared his enthusiasm about the primary group of three-year olds who simply “run after the ball”. Craig stressed that there is always room for one more member, either in the learner ranks or the sponsor ranks. Any persons interested in becoming part of the team should visit his website for further details.
This having been said, Craig’s crack IT graphic design team and his dynamic home team with wife Christy, children Remy (3), Gaboric (5) and Mazzy (11), allow him to express his love of family, his joy in his work, and his dynamic connection people development. The Decker family’s family St. Bernard and Mastiff help to keep things hopping as well. If CSR+ readers want to learn more about Craig Decker’s talent with the visual, check out his UCCS website configurations or, even better, ask him in person when you see him at a soccer game. Part of his legacy is sharing what he knows with that special Decker verve.
ibsoccer.com uccs.edu
- M
The Voyage of a Scholar
June 29, 2008 | Email This Post
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Dr. Steve Staley has distinguished himself as a Renaissance scholar in Colorado Springs and beyond. His academic prowess encompasses aviation, political science, literature, epistemology (the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge) strategic planning, and world cultures. Presently he serves as Professor of Management and Humanities at Colorado Technical University, Colorado Springs, but his present assignment is only the latest in a series of strategic posts he has maintained as an academic, a military strategist, and a firebrand for his students.
Steve’s journey to academe began after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. He served as a pilot instructor and soon found that his academic passion had grown exponentially to include political science, psychology and literature. As a USAFA faculty member, he excelled in teaching literature-based composition to cadets, preparing them to “think on their feet” as they honed their skills in writing cum logic and persuasion.
1979 initiated another career boon for Steve when he earned his doctorate at the University of Colorado Boulder in 18th Century literature. His thesis explored Jonathan Swift’s “A Tale of a Tub”, focusing upon the elements of satire within the sanctum sanctorum of elitist scholarship. From there he developed capstone courses in professional writing, spending ten years at the United States Air Force Academy creating scientific approaches to literature in order to design a series of value added courses for cadets whose primary focus was engineering and aviation.
Steve was invited to teach at the Naval War College at Annapolis. It was here that he developed a course that he describes as “a world view” of war as a national phenomenon. Beginning with Thucydides (Peloponnesian War), and the Carthaginian campaign, Polybius (The Histories or The Rise of the Roman Empire), he and his students proceeded to an investigation of the Napoleonic Wars and explored strategies and policies that virtually changed the modern concept of warfare. Steve’s course examined military planning, governmental operations, and the will of the people, all existing in tandem to create a delicate balance to exert control in times of conflict.
Yet another change occurred when Steve was invited to serve as Director of Recruiting and Retention at UCCS. He came in on the ground floor of an innovational program, “Freshman Seminar” whose mission was to empower entering freshmen with tools to ensure success in the university setting. Since its inception, the Freshman Seminar has become a cornerstone for student success at UCCS and beyond.
In 1995 Steve received a Fulbright fellowship to teach for one year at the Kyrgyz State National University in Bishkek, where he developed courses in business communication and American literature. He and his wife, Professor Connie Staley, have maintained communications with their Kyrgyz students to this day.
Steve admits to thriving within challenging educational environments. His work at Colorado Tech allows him to do what his 9th grade teacher, Mrs. Kirsher, once suggested that he maintain as his mantra, “be able to determine when somebody wants to go further” and encourage that dream.
“Colorado Tech students maintain a variety of life goals simultaneously,” Steve said. “They are non-traditional students, they are often in mid life, married, in a job, and have significant responsibilities.” His courses are geared to allow them access to world literature as a means to open doors of understanding to the world and establish a sense of academic professionalism while exploring the literature.
“I don’t see an end to teaching in my career,” Steve told us. As education venues change, he envisions himself orchestrating portal educational forums and continuing to interact with students as they develop their management and humanities skills one tome at a time. “Students are the reason I come to work every day.”
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers” (Locksley Hall, Line 141). Our best hope is that Steve continue to inspire his students and energize his colleagues with the intensity of his wisdom, and the integrity of his intellect. He is, after all, a unique Renaissance man.
- M.
Professor Martin Carlisle Shines at USAFA
June 29, 2008 | Email This Post
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Dr. Martin C. Carlisle is Professor of Computer Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has been teaching at the Academy since 1996. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware. He received his MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Princeton University. He was recently awarded the Arthur S. Flemming Award for exceptional service to the Federal Government. Established in 1948, the Flemming Award honors outstanding public servants chosen from all areas of federal service.
CSR+: Dr. Carlisle, we would like to congratulate you on your receiving the Flemming Award. Out of hundreds of thousands of US Federal employees around the globe, you were chosen for this prestigious award. Can you tell us a little bit more about the award? When did you come to know that you had won it? How did you feel after having won it? Please share your thoughts about the award dinner on June 2, 2008 in Washington DC?
MCC: The Flemming Award is named for Arthur S. Flemming, who had a long and distinguished career in civil service from 1939 to 1996. This award is given to career federal employees or military members with three to fifteen years of service. Flemming initially persuaded the Jaycees to create such an award because he believed that the Federal Government did not adequately recognize the accomplishments of its younger employees. The award is now sponsored by the George Washington School of Public Policy.
On April 14, I received a phone call from Mr. Peter Williams, President of the Flemming Awards Commission, informing me that I had been selected to receive one of ten awards for 2007. He told me a bit about the award, including some of the past recipients: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Paul Volcker, Jr., Neil Armstrong, Elizabeth Dole, and Robert Gates. It was a bit overwhelming, as I do not feel that my accomplishments measure up to those household names. I was not entirely sure there hadn’t been some mistake until I saw my name listed on their website a couple of weeks later.
The award dinner was a really nice ceremony at George Washington University. There were a couple of speakers. They presented each of us with medals as they read citations from our nomination packages. Following that was a dinner. Students from the public policy program were at each table as well as the judges. It was interesting to listen both to someone just getting ready to start a career as well as civil servants at the World Bank. I was also especially gratified that my parents, who live nearby in Annapolis, were able to attend.
CSR+: Obviously you were nominated by the Air Force Academy for the Flemming Award. What are some exceptional things you have done at this institution that merited this nomination and finally this extremely competitive award?
MCC: The citation noted three software packages I wrote during my time here: A#, AdaGIDE, and RAPTOR. Since my very first semester here, I’ve worked on writing software to make teaching computer science easier. I also share this software on my website. A# is an Ada compiler that targets the Microsoft .NET Framework. AdaGIDE is an integrated development environment for writing Ada code. Somewhat surprisingly, AdaGIDE ended up not only being used by over 100 universities in 9 countries, but also by companies that develop software for the F-22 and F-35. RAPTOR is a tool for teaching algorithmic thinking. It is based on flowcharts, which makes it easier for students to learn than traditional programming languages. RAPTOR is used at all three major U.S. service academies, as well as at numerous other universities, community colleges, and high schools in at least 13 countries around the world.
CSR+: Your contribution to the Federal Government for which you received this great recognition is primarily in the form of teaching Air Force Academy cadets. What is your philosophy about teaching these future leaders of this country?
MCC: I am convinced that, in general, one’s teaching is best measured by how much the students learn, and how much they enjoy the process of learning. My ideal is to teach classes where the students work hard, have reason to be proud of what they accomplished, and they would want to take a course with me again.
There are several things that I believe contribute to student learning. First, I do not believe class time should always be spent lecturing. At times the lecture is the most efficient way to communicate information to the audience. However, at other times students are not prepared to understand why they need to know the material, or how they would be better served by having an opportunity to struggle through something on their own, with expert assistance at hand. I usually try to have a mix of lecture and problem solving. This allows me to get immediate feedback on which topics they understand and which they don’t, as well as allowing me to give them problems that naturally lead them to the next concept I plan to present.
Second, I believe that professors should be approachable. I always give my students my phone number and encourage them to call. Also, rather than posting a limited number of office hours per week, I am in the office every day, and encourage people to schedule appointments when is convenient for them, or just pop by. I also try to get involved in student activities to get to know students and student life better.
Finally, I believe a university education is not always about what goes on in the classroom. I have a “take a professor to dinner” program (I always buy my own dinner), where I meet students in the dining hall or student center, talk about classes, where the discipline is going, and current news or life issues.
CSR+: You teach computer science. It is a difficult subject to teach, especially to students who are not mathematically or analytically oriented. At the Air Force Academy, you have to teach computer science to all students, irrespective of major. It must be a grand challenge. How do you overcome this challenge?
MCC: At the University of Delaware, I used to work in the Math Center. I encountered a lot of “math phobia”. People would just shut down when they encountered a math problem, because they believed they could not do it. I see the same sort of thing in computer science. Cadets will come in with the attitude that they aren’t good at computers. One of the most important things I do is to help them overcome this. A lot of my research has been developing software to make this task easier. In the classroom, I try to create a culture of success, both in how I talk about the course, but also how to break the material down into manageable steps. Especially early in the course, it is important to have some simpler tasks for them, so they start to think, “maybe I can do this after all.” Once they have that idea, they’re willing to spend longer time working on the harder things later.
CSR+: As a professor in the Air Force Academy, you are much more than just a lecturer in the classroom. What other activities have you participated in at the Academy? How do you present an example for the nation’s future military leaders to follow?
MCC: I have tried to be involved in as many activities at the Academy as possible. Not only do I find them interesting, but I think it helps me relate to cadets better. After my first year here, I was the first civil service faculty member to serve as an associate air officer for Basic Cadet Training. Since then, I have also helped with Global Engagement (a program which teaches cadets about deployment) and Recognition (where the fourth classmen, or freshmen, receive their prop and wings). I’ve been attached to cadet squadrons as an academic advisor and also doing leadership training. I also mentor cadets and lead Bible studies for the Cadet Chapel program.
I have never served as a uniformed military member, so I do not expect any of my students will follow a career path like mine; however, I do hope I model things like being concerned about and taking care of your people, seeking excellence, and maintaining a positive attitude.
CSR+: It is clear from your web site that you are involved in research in many aspects of computer-programming languages and computer science education. Tell us briefly in layman’s terms about the research you are performing.
MCC: The biggest project I am working on right now is adding object-orientation to RAPTOR. Object-oriented programming is a different way of thinking about programming. Instead of thinking, “I want the program to do this, then this, then this,” you think about the nouns (like customer, account, and so forth) and organize your program that way. Object-oriented programming is much more abstract and therefore harder for students to grasp. So, I am working on a more pictorial presentation.
CSR+: How do you see computer-programming languages changing in the near-term and long-term?
MCC: The computers that people are buying now generally have more than one processor or core in them. The programming languages most people use make it hard for programmers to take advantage of this parallelism. I expect programming language design to change to make it easier to utilize multiple processors.
CSR+: Computer technology is having great impact on our lives in general, and the U.S. military in particular. How do you teach your students to be life-long learners of an ever-changing field?
MCC: This is a hard task, especially given the many competing demands on cadet time. In our curriculum, though, we try to teach cadets a broad range of things, so they will learn how to learn and not just a particular programming language or technique. We also try to get cadets to learn how to use the Internet to find their own answers.
CSR+: What are your goals and aspirations in your life and career? What are you doing at this moment to journey toward your goals?
MCC: I am lucky to have my dream job. So, I’m not really looking toward the next position or promotion. I hope to continue making a difference each year, not only in the lives of individual cadets, but also helping other educators with the software I write.
CSR+: On your personal web site, I saw a quote: “My biggest fear is not that you’ll fail at life, but instead that you’ll succeed at things that don’t really matter.” Why is this quote dear and significant to you?
MCC: It seems in our society that a lot of people are chasing after money and fame, finding it, and yet it’s not making them happy. They have failed relationships and are not satisfied by what they have accomplished. A friend once offered me a position in his company and he said, “in a couple of years, you’ll have enough money that you can do whatever you want.” Although making lots of money was certainly appealing, I realized I already was doing what I wanted, and I’d be giving up more than I gained. My relationships with God and others are the things that really matter, not my bank balance or the number of medals on my wall.
-J-
Lisa Jesse - A Highly Successful Woman Entrepreneur
June 29, 2008 | Email This Post
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Lisa Jesse is a co-founder and Vice President of Advanced Technology in the tremendously successful Colorado Springs company, Intelligent Software Solutions. ISS currently employs about 275 people. Founded and headquartered in Colorado Springs, it has offices in Hampton (VA), Rome (NY) and Washington, DC. The company services customers throughout the United States as well many other places around the world. In 2007, according to Deloitte, the company had grown almost 1600% during the past five years and was the fifth fastest growing technology company in Colorado. ISS was also ranked the 110th fastest growing technology company in the nation in 2007, placing it in the elite Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list.
Here is the transcript of an interview that CSR+ conducted with Lisa Jesse recently.
CSR+: How did the idea of start a company come to you? What were some initial hurdles you had to overcome?
LJ: My partners and I worked for several large government contractors over the course of our careers. We became frustrated with the lack of vision, innovation and flexibility needed to provide quality solutions to our customers. We wanted to “shake up” the community and feel that our efforts could make a difference.
ISS opened for business in February, 1998.
Overall, the initial start-up went very smoothly. Because we initially partnered with another company, we had contracts in place on day one. Some initial hurdles included ensuring adequate cash flow and putting contracts in place so that our customers could fund us directly.
CSR+: In a nutshell, what does your company do?
LJ: ISS researches and develops sophisticated analytical tools providing multi-source data access, visualization, fusion, pattern learning, and mission planning for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Intelligence organizations, and many others. In addition, we provide on-site support to many of the customers using our software.
CSR+: What are you doing differently from other companies in town or even nationally that has allowed you to grow so quickly? What makes your company stand out? What makes it so successful? What makes your company so innovative?
LJ: ISS provides great value for the dollar. We deliver solutions that exceed customer expectations, on-time and on-budget. We are unique for a small business in that our contracts support the gamut of the technology spectrum – from advanced research to operator support during war. This allows us to have the flexibility of a small business with the experience of a large contractor.
CSR+: How easy or hard is it to attract talented individuals to your company and keep them in Colorado Springs? As your company grows extremely rapidly, how are you finding the right people to fill your highly specialized needs?
LJ: ISS has been fairly successful in attracting and retaining top talent. We have a very low attrition rate. ISS offers a challenging work environment and a competitive compensation package that attracts highly qualified engineers who have the entrepreneurial spirit. Colorado Springs actually has quite a bit of depth in this type of talent.
Our recent hiring challenges have not been in finding personnel for the Colorado Springs area, but rather filling positions on the East Coast and overseas. Strategies we use include employee references, recruiting service personnel exiting the military and participating in job fairs.
CSR+: If you could do things all over again about your company, would you do anything differently? If so, what would it be?
LJ: Wow, that’s a tough question. Of course, all companies wish that they could revise some tactical decisions that given more recent information, they would have handled differently. But from a strategic perspective, I can’t think of anything. We have not experienced most of the difficulties that plague other small technology firms. I really credit my husband, Jay, the ISS president, for providing the business infrastructure needed to succeed.
CSR+: What is your advice to anyone who wants to start a tech company in town at this time?
LJ: Know your customers and your competition! Make sure you are providing a product or service that has a viable market and your company has significant discriminators that separate you from the competition. Have a good understanding of accounting practices and your company’s cash flow requirements.
CSR+: Tell us about your educational background. How do you think your educational background helped you achieve the success you have realized in your life so far?
LJ: I have BS and MS in Computer Science from UCCS.
My education provided much of the intellectual foundation I needed to succeed. This foundation is much more than technical skills such as mastering a specific programming language, algorithm or technology. It also includes problem solving, working within a team, and the instilling an intellectual curiosity to never stop learning.
CSR+: What’s your opinion of the state of the higher education environment in Colorado Springs or in Southern Colorado? Do you think the higher educational environment in the city or the area has any impact on your company?
LJ: Well, I’m probably biased, but I think that Colorado and in particular UCCS have a very good engineering college.
Absolutely. The local schools provide graduates with the required academic and life skills required by our company. However, for several reasons, the number of engineering students is decreasing both locally and at a national level. This decrease is of great concern.
CSR+: Does your company have any involvement with K-12 or the higher educational institutions in town or the region? How are you involved with the community? One lament frequently heard is that Colorado Springs does not have any large company headquartered here in town. As you grow bigger and become more successful as a company, what can you do to change this perception?
LJ: Many of our employees participate in mentoring activities such as science and math fairs. Though we promote the involvement in these types of events, we have not as yet established a formal corporate community plan with respect to K-12. It is a good idea. We tend to focus more on university settings but with fewer and fewer students electing to move into engineering, especially young women, more energy needs to be put into the pre-college mentoring.
CSR+: How do you see your company five years or ten years from now?
LJ: Within five or ten years, we plan to be much more diversified and substantially increase our presence in the Colorado Springs area. Currently, the vast majority of our business is with the US Government. We are working on several strategic initiatives for foreign sales as well as partnerships with commercial technology companies.
CSR+: Thank you, Lisa! Any final thoughts?
LJ: Thank you for the opportunity.
CSR+: It was really great talking to you.
- J
Drew Foster Goes East to Japan
May 31, 2008 | Email This Post
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Drew Foster, a senior at Colorado College, has been awarded a Fulbright to study in Japan. Foster will be conducting sociological research on the development of institutional identity within Japanese higher education.
The Fulbright Program for U.S. Students is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
According to Late Senator J. William Fulbright, who was instrumental in getting the program started, “Fostering leadership, learning and empathy between cultures was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program.” The Fulbright grants provide travel and living expenses during a year of research. Past recipients of Fulbright fellowships serve in leadership positions in government, academia, business, the arts, science, media, and other professional fields. Among past Fulbright scholars are the recipients of 37 Nobel Prizes, 65 Pulitzer Prizes, 23 MacArthur Foundation Genius Awards, and 15 U.S. Presidential Medals of Freedom.
CSR+: Congratulations to you, Drew Foster, on being a student recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship. How does it feel to be a Fulbright recipient?
DF: I was very pleased to get the fellowship. The Fulbright is a tremendous opportunity, so I certainly felt like I had lucked out in a big way.
CSR+: Please tell us about the research you are going to conduct in Japan.
DF: My project will explore the development of campus cultures at Japanese universities. Specifically, I’ll be investigating how a campus “speaks about itself” to the rest of the world—that is, how components of campus life become distilled and commodified and then articulated to society at large. The research design includes content analysis of university websites and advertising literature (which I will translate), interviews of administrators and current students, and survey distribution. I’ll be traveling to a handful of universities around the country to conduct the on-site research, which also includes attending campus tours and information sessions for prospective students.
CSR+: Tell us about the Japanese higher education system in brief. How does it compare with the higher education system in the US?
DF: Tertiary education in Japan is actually in a rather unique state of flux right now, and my interest in the development of campus culture there emerged from the confluence of a couple of interesting social and political forces that are transforming the way Japanese universities work. First, the birthrate in Japan has been declining rapidly for several years, and the effects of this “population crisis”—as some term it—are finally coming to bear upon the college-age population in Japan. The 18-year-old population reached its peak in 1992 at 2.05 million, and it is expected to fall to 1.2 million by 2010. Secondly, in April 2004, as a consequence of a new deregulation initiative laid out by Japan’s Ministry of Education to change public institutions into “independent administrative corporations,” the national government began to substantially reduce its direct financial support for higher education institutions. The universities are expected to use their newly granted independence to develop more marketable curricula and to compete for students and faculty. My project will investigate how Japanese universities are attempting to bolster their appeal to a dwindling consumer base by utilizing their newfound autonomy in marketing to put forth distinct institutional identities.
CSR+: What is the reason for your interest in studying institutional identity in higher education? Are you talking about students, alumni, faculty or staff, or a community identifying with an institution? Is such identification good or bad? What purpose does such identification serve? How does such identification form?
DF: Institutional identity simply refers to the ostensible character, values, and practices of an “institution” in society, which includes entities like corporations, churches, and certainly universities. The basic theory is that individuals in society become affiliated with institutions and their own personal character, values, and practices (their “identity”) comes to be shaped by that of the institution. So, for instance, a student who becomes affiliated with a university whose identity includes high prestige is likely to take on high prestige as a part of her own identity. In short, identity—in the sociological sense of the word—comes to inform the manner in which one segments, orders, and acts upon the social world. We care about the development of an institution’s identity, then, because it tells us something about how its constituents operate in society.
CSR+: Why did you choose to conduct your research in Japan? Do you think your findings in Japan will have relevance elsewhere in the world?
DF: First and foremost, I’ve been fascinated with Japanese language and culture for several years now. I lived and studied in Tokyo for five months last year, and I’ve been itching to get back to the country for a longer period of time ever since. As for the relevance, I hope that my research will contribute to the academic community’s broader understanding of social identity in general. It’s difficult to gauge at this point where my findings will be applicable elsewhere, but I see academic research like this as the process of making small contributions to a fantastically noisy discussion about the human experience that’s been going on for centuries.
CSR+: You seem to have a lot of fascination for things Japanese, or things Asian. When did such fascination start? Why do you think you have such attraction to things Asian? Are you a fan of anime and Japanese computer games as well?
DF: The first course I took at CC was called “Japanese Language & Culture,” and I took the course largely on a whim. I’d had plenty of experience with video games from Japan up to that point but was otherwise a newbie to both the language and culture in every way. That class really changed my life, though, and I quickly found myself fascinated with the culture and inspired by the prospect of mastering the language.
CSR+: What is the application process for the Fulbright Fellowship for students like? What are the steps you had to go through?
DF: The Fulbright sends students to around 150 countries every year, so choosing the destination is one of the first steps. Some Fulbright Fellowships are for English teaching assistantships, and others, like mine, are research grants. In my case, I had to complete a lengthy application that included a personal statement and a proposal for my research project. The next step was being interviewed by a committee of CC faculty members who endorsed my application and project and sent it off for competition at the Institute of International Education’s offices in New York. A number of committees judge the applications, beginning with a group of academics from your discipline (sociology in my case) and then an admission committee in the country to which you apply. Finalists move on to the presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright committee for final selections. The whole application process lasts from October to April.
CSR+: If you had to coach or provide suggestions to a future Fulbright applicant, what would be your advice?
DF: Make sure that your project is logistically feasible. It’s easy to become fascinated by a topic and then bite off more than you can chew by designing a huge research project. Also, put a lot of thought into making a case for how you might be uniquely qualified to conduct the research. Demonstrating that you’re the “right person for the job” is key.
CSR+: You are about to graduate from Colorado College, a fine institution for higher education in the Rockies. Please tell us about some of your fond memories of Colorado Springs and Colorado College.
DF: My fondest memories are undoubtedly of the people at CC. Learning about myself in the context of friends and professors who have become something more like siblings and parents has been tremendously formative for me. Time with friends has been punctuated by activities that became rituals, from hikes through Waldo Canyon and snowboarding trips in Breckenridge to movies at the Dollar Theatre and lunches at Wooglin’s.
CSR+: A lot of Colorado College students are insulated from the surroundings. Did you have much connection with the city and the community at large?
DF: I grew up in Cañon City so have been in and out of Colorado Springs for my entire life. Southern Colorado has always been my home, so I probably came to CC with a much bigger pre-existing connection to the community than most of my peers.
CSR+: What do you like to do when you have free time?
DF: Video games are always at the top of my free time list. Hiking, running, and snowboarding are the ways that I get outside in Colorado, and reading (mostly non-fiction) and cooking (mostly non-edible) are what keep me indoors. Performance is a passion of mine, so I’ve spent the last few years performing with CC’s comedy improv team, acting in the occasional play, and making movies with my roommate. I also like keeping up with current events, so various news sites eat up much of my free time as well.
CSR+: You grew up in Cañon City. Then you moved to Colorado Springs to study at Colorado College. Now, you have a Fulbright to conduct research for a year in Japan. Many Fulbright recipients have gone on to achieve great things in life. What does the future hold for you, do you think?
DF: Hopefully as many more adventures as possible. At CC I discovered that my two favorite activities are thinking and writing, so I’m hoping to pursue a career that facilitates both of those things for me. After some time in Japan my plan is to attend graduate school in sociology.
CSR+: Good Bye!
DF: Thanks for the interview.
- J
Vivian Chow Goes East to Penn!
May 31, 2008 | Email This Post
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Vivian Chow is a senior at the Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs. Vivian has been accepted to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She was also accepted to Amherst College in Massachusetts and Pomona College in California. She is currently on the waiting list at Harvard University. Vivian is a student-reporter for the Colorado Springs Record+. CSR+ recently interviewed her so that other outstanding and ambitious students can learn to excel as well.
CSR+: Vivian, congratulations on being accepted to several of the most prestigious colleges in the nation and the world. How do you feel?
VC: I feel exhilarated! I opted for the e-mail notification as well as the traditional letter, so as soon as I saw the Congratulations Subject title on the email, I literally let out a yell. I probably said, “I can’t believe it!” so many times. After so many hours of work and so many drafts and proof-readings of essays, here was the reward—and it felt great.
CSR+: To shat do you attribute your success? What pushes you to excel in life?
VC: Definitely my parents—they’ve always encouraged me to do all that I can, but they also know my limits and remind me to undertake an appropriate amount of activities so that I can give whatever I do my all and fully commit to it. I’m also extremely competitive with myself; I always try to surpass anything I’ve done previously. I also constantly remind myself of how lucky I am to have all the opportunities that I do, how lucky I am to have the support system that I do. Because I do have a great foundation, I want to make the most of everything I have been given and give back to my community to those who have helped me and to those who need help.
CSR+: To how many colleges did you apply? What were those colleges?
VC: I applied to about 11 colleges: Stanford (EA), University of Denver, University of Colorado at Boulder, Tufts University, Yale, University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Pomona College, Amherst College, and Rice University.
CSR+: How much time did each application take to fill? What was the most difficult part in filling out the applications?
VC: Because nearly all my colleges were a part of the Common Application, I used that and it definitely saved some time. Nevertheless, it took me about 3-4 weeks (a month or so) to get a school’s package completely ready since in addition to the “common app” and each individual school’s supplement, I also opted to turn in music and art supplements. I had to make CDs of my piano pieces and slides of my artwork. However, I think the most difficult part of filling in the applications was definitely trying to convey my voice and individuality through the essays and questions. Constructing a thought-provoking and memorable essay in which my voice could be heard was painstaking.
CSR+: What are some essays you had to write?
VC: Well, I wrote on traditional topics such as “describe an event or happening that has really impacted your life” or “describe a person who has positively or negatively affected you and what you have learned.” I also responded to some quotes such as Amherst College’s “Stereotyped beliefs have the power to become self-fulfilling prophesies for behavior.” Others provided very original and creative prompts such as “write a short story based on the following phrase: ‘one-way ticket’.”
CSR+: What do you think is the way to write outstanding essays for admission applications?
VC: Cliché as it is, you have to write from your heart. Remember that your essay is the best way for the admission officers to get to know you and your passions and disposition; hence, you’re telling a story about yourself. Find an intriguing, unique, and bold way to present this story. Definitely start writing and exploring yourself early. I learned much about myself through this essay process.
CSR+: What is your GPA at Cheyenne Mountain High School? How did you manage to maintain such a high GPA?
VC: I have a GPA of 4.24. As I said earlier, I am very competitive with myself and want to perform my very best. My parents have taught me the importance of a strong work ethic and self-discipline. I’ve spent many Fridays and Saturdays studying when needed rather than hang out with friends.
CSR+: Besides academics, a college application requires one to relate to people around oneself in an effective manner and be a leader in his or her own ways. What other activities were you involved in during your high school days?
VC: Community service is a huge part of my life—I’m the president of our school’s community service club, Students and Teachers Aiding Humanity (STAH). I volunteer at many places outside of school, namely Memorial Hospital and Colorado Spring Chinese Language School. I find it very rewarding and satisfying to help others who are less fortunate than me or who simply would like to chat with someone. I’ve always kept music and art in my life, especially playing piano. I’m a Yearbook Editor-in-Chief as well. I love playing tennis and was co-captain of the varsity team this year. I love a fast-paced schedule, so I kept myself pretty busy.
CSR+: Tell us about one or more memorable events in your life, either at school or outside.
VC: The first time I went to an Alzheimer’s nursing home was definitely what catapulted me into my passion for community service. It was with the STAH club, and as a freshman, I was already intimidated by the upperclassmen around me in addition to being extremely apprehensive of what I’d see at the nursing home. This feeling of dread stayed with me really until I summoned up the courage to go talk to one of the elderly ladies sitting in a wheelchair. It was her eyes and her resemblance in form and poise to my grandmother that caught my attention. Right then, I realized many things: that I am no different than she is, other than time’s destruction upon her outward appearance. I am so fortunate as to be able and to have the chance to help others that I should never take anything for granted (my health, my life), to name a few. My common application essay was about this epiphanic experience.
CSR+: If you want to give advice to an aspiring high school or middle school student in the community about getting accepted to prestigious colleges, what will your advice be?
VC: Definitely get involved with your community; not only does it allow yourself to grow, but it also provides experiences that you will be able to write passionately about in your essays. You’ll meet very passionate and interesting people and make memories that will last a lifetime. Finally, yes, it feels great to be accepted to prestigious colleges, but if you are not accepted into your college of choice, it is not the end of the world. What’s truly important is what you do to further your own education, as long as you reach out and utilize your college’s resources to the utmost.
CSR+: Thanks, Vivian! We wish you the best!!
VC: Thank you.
- J
Two Colorado College Student Scholars Win Watson Fellowships
April 30, 2008 | Email This Post
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Two Colorado College seniors, John Zirkle and Brian Hockaday, have been awarded Thomas J. Watson Fellowships., The Watson Fellowship is a one-year, $25,000 grant for independent study and travel outside the United States. A bright, articulate, and modest young man, John Zirkle met with CSR+ over a cup of coffee on the Colorado College campus. The interview with Brian Hockaday was conducted by email. They both talked about their academic passion, their experiences Colorado College as an undergraduate and their future plans in life.
CSR+: Congratulations on being awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowships. It is a great achievement. Can you tell us a little more about this fellowship?
JZ: The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is named after the founder of International Business Machines Corp. or IBM. It was founded in 1968. One of the foundation’s major activities is giving out the prestigious Watson Fellowships. Quoting from the foundation’s Web site “The mission of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program is to offer college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.”
CSR+: Did you have to apply for the fellowship or someone nominated you? Can you please tell us about what’s involved in being considered for the fellowship?
BH: Any graduating senior of good standing among the fifty participating universities is eligible to apply for a Watson, and no nomination is necessary. In fact, personal impetus and self-directedness are integral components of what make a good Fellow.
JZ: The Foundation has about fifty participating colleges. These are mostly liberal arts colleges with fewer than three thousand students. Each applicant has to write a project proposal and a personal statement. Then, the nominees are interviewed by representatives of the Foundation. The Foundation representatives fly around the country conducting hour-long interviews. The recipients are announced based on the quality and potential impact of the proposed projects on the life of the nominee. For 2008-2009, there are fifty awards. Watson Fellowships are investments in people, not projects.
CSR+: Can you tell us about the project you want to pursue as a part of the fellowship? Give us an overview of what you intend to do and what you expect to achieve through your research.
JZ: I am going to travel to Eastern Europe and study the primary passion of my life, which happens to be choral music. I will spend the first five months of my year abroad in the Czech Republic with children in famous choral schools throughout the country. These organizations put choral music first for children at an early age, and they have produced choirs that are unique, mature, and expressive. After Christmas, I will catch the train down to Sofia, Bulgaria, and delve into folk ensembles of Bulgaria during the winter months. Next, I will relocate to Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, to engage myself in one of the most steadfast choral societies the world has ever seen.
BH: I will be using my Watson year to study sexual identity and gay communities in six newly urban or developing nations in the context of globalization. Many in the West take for granted that the way we conceptualize of sex, gender, and sexual orientation are universal norms, that who one is attracted to can serve as the primary marker for their entire identity, and that this identity has various logical norms as perpetuated through common gay stereotypes. In the face of the massive rural-urban migration of the past few decades, newfound opportunities for same-sex persons to meet for sex and relationships are bringing to light new queer communities influenced by their cultural background, individual histories within the city, and the image of an increasingly homogenized global gay community. In my Watson year I hope to provide a face and a name to these otherwise obscured communities, to allow them to define themselves on their own terms, not merely as extensions of western images or as human rights victims, and to provide a litmus test for how well these groups are faring in defining their fates and achieving their goals in a global context.
CSR+: You are going to study choral music in Eastern Europe. Why choral music? And, why Eastern Europe? What are you actually going to study? What do you want to learn from your studies?
JZ: These three countries are from a region that has a very rich tradition in choral music, spanning several centuries. Choral music requires a group of musicians to work together to produce beautiful music. In choral music, there are no stars. It is a cooperative effort where everyone compromises but strives to perform the best as a group. That’s what attracts me to choral music. My ambition is to become a conductor of music. I am getting a BA in Music in a month. I have studied music theory and many aspects of music, including choral music in the United States, during my studies. Now, I want to study the technical aspects of choral music, as practiced in Eastern Europe, during my year abroad. I am hoping to be able to use what I learn in my evolution as a conductor of choral music.
CSR+: You have decided to visit the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Estonia for your study. Why did you choose these countries?
JZ: During the past several years, as my musical horizon has expanded, I have been listening to choral music from Eastern Europe. I have thoroughly impressed by the music I have heard; I have internalized them. I want to now go to these countries, sing in choirs of these countries, and totally immerse myself in the choral traditions of these countries.
CSR+: Are you involved in the music scenes in Colorado College, Colorado Springs, or your native Knoxville, Tennessee?
JZ: During my time at Colorado College, I have lived a life filled with singing. I have directed Room 46, a student a cappella group. I have performed with a professional choir, and interned with the Broadmoor Community Church Choir. I have worked with every choral ensemble at Colorado College. I have sung with bands, all-female groups, and friends on a daily basis. Most of my days are spent in the music building, and I am usually eating meals in between rehearsals. Outside of the classroom, I am almost always doing something related to choral music.
CSR+: In your writings, you have talked about a “post-gay” world. Can you elaborate on this idea?
BH: In societies in which homosexuality is becoming increasingly acceptable across social circles, young gay men and women have the opportunity to identify themselves more so with other social categories – race, nationality, region, religious beliefs, etc. – than with their being gay persons per se. This leads to a decreased reliance on a unified ‘gay culture’, causing some to worry that the broader social aims of the gay movement, to breakdown hegemonic constructions of sex and gender, misogyny and sex-negativism, are being undercut by the newly formed suburban gay bourgeoisie. It’s ironic that opponents of gay marriage are attempting to stall a process that could very well undermine those aspects of homosexuality they find most subversive!
CSR+: You have decided to visit South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil. The countries cover Asia, Africa and South America. Why did you choose these countries? Why didn’t you choose a country in Europe for your studies?
BH: I chose countries that have all undergone strong urbanization within the past twenty years and have witnessed the emergence of new queer communities within the last decade or so. I chose areas that were as disparate as possible in cultural and religious backgrounds and which have not traditionally been a part of the same evolving dialogue on sex and sexual politics as that of the United States and Western Europe – a dialogue that is now entering these areas with a presumed sense of authority. Does a western notion of gays in short shorts and disco balls make sense in a Muslim nation? Certainly not. But such is the latent assumption of globalized media, and no one is going into these areas asking them what does.
In a way, you could say a large part of my life has been involved in undertaking such a study in the United States and Latin America (I’m half-Chilean myself). My own internalization of these issues has been a significant part of my life story as I’ve transitioned out from my rural Texas community. Gay society isn’t like other cultures wherein there are a set norms and traditions passed down between generations – it a group that crosses all social boundaries and is continually seeking to redefine itself with each new generation. The newfound field of queer theory has been tackling these questions in the US and Western Europe for several decades now.
At best, as I said, I hope to provide a ‘snapshot’ of these communities at this time of such strong cultural flux and allow them to define themselves. I’m working through various social and academic networks as well as through international LGBT organizations to make contacts in each location now.
CSR+: As a whole, the population of the world is almost equally divided between urban and rural. Are you interested in the lives of gay people in rural communities as well?
BH: My study is focusing on the emergence of sexual communities as a product of urbanization. Such communities have often not existed in a visible sense in a rural setting for social or practical reasons. While sex factors into every society in myriad and complex ways, as has been shown though generations of anthropological research, the way in which we define these terms is now changing in an increasingly globalized context.
CSR+: You are about to graduate from Colorado College, a prestigious liberal arts college. What are some of your most memorable experiences in the city and at the college?
JZ: I didn’t come to Colorado College thinking I wanted to become a choral conductor. My studies and musical experiences at CC have led to the germination and the growth of this idea in me. My senior project, Playground, where I am preparing a concert of modern experimental choral music I have written and programmed, stands out as the highlight of my experience at CC. I really like the Block Plan at CC. For example, when I took a class in Buddhism, I was able to immerse myself for twenty-four hours a day for a month in Buddhist philosophy, thought, and practices; the experience transformed me as a person.
BH: My stay at CC and in Colorado Springs has been just fantastic. I’ve enjoyed every moment of getting out into the mountains and exploring the Rocky Mountains with my professors. I’ve learned a lot from them as well as from the friends I’ve made here in the arts community and downtown area. I suppose one of my most memorable experiences from the Springs has been the simple act of watching the seasons change – I’d never been exposed to that growing up in the South!
CSR+: Please tell us a little bit about your background before coming to Colorado College. What made you choose Colorado College for higher education?
JZ: I grew up in the Knoxville, Tennessee. My father is a well-known surgeon and my mother volunteers in community and church activities. I went to a private school in Knoxville. As a senior in high school, I really wanted to go to Stanford. When that dream did not materialize, I had to choose between Middlebury College in Vermont and Colorado College. I am an avid skier and outdoor person. I like rafting and mountain biking. I love the Rockies. I decided to go the best college in the Rocky Mountain area. On top of all this, the hand-written acceptance letter from CC was the deal clincher.
BH: I grew up in a small shrimping town in South Texas, and took a few years to live, work, and travel on my own before coming to college. I chose Colorado College because it was important to me to have a close relationship with my professors, I found it to be a college that resounded with a strong personal ethic, and has a real and practical concern for broader-scale social and environmental issues outside of the context of pure academia.
CSR+: What are your future plans? Where is life going to take you from now on?
JZ: My dream is to become a choral music conductor or a composer. I met Eric Whitacre, one of the biggest composers in choral music, last year. I want to do my best to follow the footsteps of someone like him. My family in Tennessee has created a name in medicine. My parents were apprehensive of my pursuits of choral music. But, my love of choral music, affirmed by the Watson Fellowship, has given me the hope that, maybe, a Zirkle will do well in music, particularly in choral music, as well.
BH: Hah! Isn’t that the million-dollar question? Well, like most graduating seniors, I’m not quite sure, but upon returning from my Watson year, I’m sure I’ll be ready to continue on with my post-graduate education in biology. I hope to integrate the issues facing a quickly urbanizing world with efforts for sustainable development.
CSR+: It was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much!
JZ: The pleasure is mine!
BH: I think that pretty well covers it. Thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed it.
- J
Moving to the top
April 30, 2008 | Email This Post
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Margie Teals-Davis, Executive Assistant to the Dean of Letters Arts and Sciences at UCCS, never thought she would be a major player in academe. As the Dean’s Executive Assistant + Director of National Student Exchange + Assistant to Interdepartmental Studies, she fills a role that few professionals would attempt. Margie is always on top of her game.
Margie’s story is special. A self-described “B student,” she confesses to non-stardom as a high-schooler. Her family advised her not to even try to go on to college since her strong points seemingly did not lie in that direction.
The daughter of a single mom, Margie married early, became a military wife, moved away as a and did “what women do best,” as she says. She took care of her family. However, with her husband’s intensive military obligations and disinterest in her pursuing another career, she decided that to pursue the dream that continued to nudge her forward.
“We don’t have a clue who we are as people are until we try,” Margie shared with this reporter. After working as an Executive Assistant to emergency-room physicians, she discovered that her talents lay in logistics and development. Not to be dissuaded from taking the crucial next steps, Margie applied for federal and state grants, Pell grants for single parents (her marriage did not survive the dilemma of two-pronged career objectives) and work study to support her decision to finish college.
Margie met and married her current husband, took classes while pregnant with her second child, and gave birth to a beautiful son the first year she resumed her college courses. In her senior year of college (December, 2005) she became the family bread winner when her husband was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. For most people life-changing events of this magnitude would signal the end of a dream, but for Margie it was the beginning of a significant journey. She came onboard the Letters Arts and Sciences team when her work-study colleagues urged her to apply.
In October 2005, Margie joined LAS as staff, and she acknowledges “this university took care of me when I needed it.” While she did not go to her own college graduation, she is presently attending graduate school with a major in history and plans to attend her graduate school celebration. She functions as an executive staff member who wears three hats and does them all justice continuing to wrestle with the many challenges that face the graduate student population.
“I am centered,” Margie said. “I enjoy different things, love the rural life, and treasure my husband and children. I also love UCCS for what it has given to me all this time. I just want to repay the university with good work because it has given me so much.”
The Colorado Springs Record+ agrees that Margie Teals-Davis is more than executive director of three major areas within Letters Arts and Sciences. She is proof positive that, indeed, “we don’t have a clue who we are as people are until we try.”
Margie, thanks for keeping us centered with in tune with what we can be.
- M
