PACES original content

Announcing the Spring 2025 Tier 1 and 2 Grantees

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:32:03 +0000

Announcing the Spring 2025 Tier 1 and 2 Grantees Arielle Wiedenbeck Tue, 03/18/2025 - 13:32

Arielle Wiedenbeck

From an AI literacy platform to a community short film, 13 total projects received over $50,000 in funding. See the full list of grantees below.

Tier 2 (formerly Community Impact Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients

Colorado Climate Seal & Resilient Futures Teacher Workshop
Tory Nau, Program Manager for the We Are Water Project
CIRES Center for Education, Engagement, and Evaluation (CEEE)

Community-Driven LGBTQ+ Creative Technology Workshops
Shaz Zamore, Assistant Teaching Professor
The ATLAS Institute

Co-designing Compassion & Dignity Professional Learning for PK-12 Educators
Ashley Potvin, Research Associate
Renée Crown Wellness Institute

Toward Community-Informed Science Teaching & :earning
Erin Marie Furtak, Professor
School of Education

Building a Tangible Platform for AI Literacy
Krithik Ranjan, PhD Student
The ATLAS Institute

Cognitive Health and Aging: A Multi-generational, Community-based Study
Analicia Howard, Predoctoral Trainee
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Mentoring Indigenous Students in Wolf Conservation Research
Alma Rose Sanchez, PhD Student
Department of Environmental Studies

Building Community Capacity to Reduce Heat & Smoke Risks
Valentina Serrano Salomon, PhD Student
Department of Sociology

Tier 1 (formerly Micro Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients

Cherry Yogurt: An integrated community short film
Francesca Hiatt, Undergraduate Student
Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts

Community Roundtable on Indigenous Reparations and Restoration
Christina Stanton, Clinical Associate Professor
School of Law

Evaluating water lead risks in transitional housing communities
Riley Mulhern, Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Studies, Institute for Arctic & Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Public Art Event at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Hanna Shell, Professor
Department of Art & Art History

Rendered Embodiment of Social Interaction (RESI)
Cass Bliss, Undergraduate Student
Creative Technology & Design

From an AI literacy platform to a community short film, 13 total projects received over $50,000 in funding.

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Spring on Campus

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Application Process: Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 20:17:01 +0000

Application Process: Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 02/24/2025 - 13:17

Gretchen Minekime

At Chancellor Schwartz’s request, the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and the Research and Innovation Office are co-leading ��’s first application for the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.

The application committee appreciates the deans, chairs, and directors who are currently responding to the survey request sent on Feb. 11 by the Chancellor’s Office. As a reminder, survey responses are due on Feb. 28.

Applying is a significant milestone, as the Carnegie classification is the national standard by which higher education community engagement is assessed and recognized. Campuses that receive the classification are nationally recognized leaders in community engagement and exemplars of higher education’s mission of contributing to the public good.

Please direct questions to Co-chairs Katie.Kleinhesselink@colorado.edu and Alicia.Adelman@colorado.edu.

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Graduate Students Benefit as Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholars

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 20:20:59 +0000

Graduate Students Benefit as Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholars Arielle Wiedenbeck Fri, 02/21/2025 - 13:20

Alexandra Wilson

Since its launch in 2018, the Engaged Arts and Humanities (EAH) Graduate Student Scholars Program at CU has given 40 students the opportunity and resources to combine their academic disciplines, the tools of the arts and humanities, and their unique individual interests and apply them to public and community-engaged scholarship projects.

“I believe the program’s focus on lived experience, equity-oriented partnerships and mutually beneficial community-engaged scholarship has been key in creating an inclusive community of learners,” said Lisa Schwartz, Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Program Manager and EAH founder.

The two-year fellowship, now co-administered by the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) and the Center for the Humanities & the Arts (CHA), encourages students to work collaboratively with communities to create meaningful, lasting change and allows students to broaden their networks on and off campus. Students co-design mutually beneficial projects with community partners, receiving a $5,000 stipend over two years and up to $1,000 in project funding.

Professor Jennifer Ho, CHA’s faculty director, works with the CHA team and Schwartz to oversee and implement the program. “I’m thrilled that the CHA is partnering with PACES on this program. When Lisa Schwartz first told me about the program, I could see the vitality and mutual intellectual and creative aims of having graduate students use their expertise in service to community-engaged projects. Lisa’s leadership of the program is part of the secret sauce to its success, as is the passion of the EAH scholars for work outside the traditional walls of academia.”

EAH Fellow Amy Hoagland’s 2021-22 project with CU Science Discovery and Cal-Wood Education Center serves as a prime example of the program’s impact on the surrounding community and her future as an artist and advocate for environmental justice. Combining her passions for art and science, Hoagland initiated a series of outdoor events with youth and families, providing opportunities for the “mourning, celebration and collective recognition of the impact of climate change.”

Hoagland creates artwork to “provoke thought and change in people’s relationship with the surrounding landscape.” While continuing her work inspired by EAH Scholars, Hoagland received a 2022 Windgate Fellowship for sustainable art presented by Honoring the Future.

“I cannot express my gratitude for EAH Scholars and Lisa Schwartz’s mentorship. It has all been incredibly impactful on my practice. It will positively impact my future projects, too,” said Hoagland.

A key aspect of EAH Scholars is the experience of selecting, interviewing and developing a relationship with a mentor who is a community-engaged scholar within the university or broader community (Read the EAH scholar mentor interviews here). PhD student Idowu Odeyemi shared his experience working with Professor Briana Toole, founder and director of the Corrupt the Youth program.

“Professor Toole’s community greatly intersects with mine; it was very easy to form a connection with her. She was helpful in terms of how I can develop my ideas for the sort of community work that I want my project to be about,” said Idowu.

A number of scholars have incorporated their work with EAH into their MFA thesis and PhD research. Brenda Aguirre Ortega is one such student. Through sharing and developing her ideas with members of the EAH cohort, as well as securing additional funding, Aguirre-Ortega’s multitude of interests evolved into her establishing and co-facilitating an after-school program at Columbine Elementary School, combining her passions of teaching, music composition and mathematics. In an interview discussing her experience with community-engaged scholarship, Aguirre-Ortega emphasized the program’s impact on her.

“At first, I only knew that I wanted to create a project in a school and that it would have something to do with music production,” said Aguirre-Ortega. “The idea became more tangible when I started sharing it with the EAH cohort. We were all beginning projects, and we helped each other develop ideas.”

EAH Scholars is now welcoming new graduate students for the 2025-2027 cohort. Visit the program’s webpage to learn more about deadlines, eligibility and the application process.

Since 2018, the Engaged Arts and Humanities Graduate Student Scholars program has given 40 students the opportunity and resources to apply tools of the arts and humanities to public and community-engaged scholarship projects.

The program is now welcoming new graduate students for the 2025-2027 cohort. Visit the program webpage.

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Harveen Gill leads a group meditation during a presentation on her work as an Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholar at Research and Innovation Week.

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Harveen Gill leads a group meditation during a presentation on her work as an Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholar at Research and Innovation Week. (Photo Credit: Arielle Wiedenbeck)

Announcing the Data + Art + Science for Youth Fellow Teams

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 20:24:20 +0000

Announcing the Data + Art + Science for Youth Fellow Teams Arielle Wiedenbeck Tue, 01/28/2025 - 13:24

Gretchen Minekime

The Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and CU Science Discovery are pleased to announce the 2024-25 cohort of Data + Art + Science for Youth Fellows.

The fellows consist of teams of K-12 art and STEM teachers and university scientists. Teachers will lead teams to develop data-driven art and science activities for K-12 classrooms and for the public in partnership with museums or libraries.

Learn more about the program and teams of fellows here.

K-12 Teacher and Scientist Fellows

Byers

Natalia Chavez
PhD Student
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico

Tiffeny O’Dell
High School Teacher, CTE Health Science Coordinator
Byers Jr/Sr High School

Emily Reynebeau
PhD Student
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico

Shatzie Wardall
Family and Consumer Science, Digital Photographer
Byers Jr/Sr High School

Carbondale

Tayla Dornbush
Art Teacher
Carbondale Community School

Ben Livneh
Associate Professor
Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

Cyndy Miller
Math & Science Teacher
Carbondale Community School

Colorado Springs

Cathy Banoczi
Art Teacher
Bristol Elementary School

Jared Collins
PhD Student
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Michael Gooseff
Professor
Department of Civil Environmental and Architectural Engineering

Cherie Lane
Teacher
Bristol Elementary School

Anna Wright
PhD Student
Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Gunnison

Rain Bodine
1-5th STEAM Teacher
Gunnison Community School

Noah Molotch
Associate Professor
Geography Department

Sarah Strong
Teacher
Gunnison Elementary School

Longmont

Amanda Aves-Linder
Photography Teacher
New Meridian High School

Brandon Grossman
Science Teacher
New Meridian High School

Keith Musselman
Assistant Professor
Geography Department

Lyons

Bryan Gager
Undergraduate Student
Geography Department

Adeline Kelly
Professional Research Assistant
Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Baiba Lennard
Media Tech, Blended Library
Lyons Elementary School

Isabelle A. Oleksy
Assistant Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Abby Ross
PhD Student
Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Sarah Wegert
STEM Coordinator/Teacher
Lyons Elementary School

Northglenn

Brittany Brewer
5th Grade Teacher
North Mor Elementary

Edgart Flores
Post-Doctoral Student
Department of Geological Sciences

Danielle Scotland
K-5 Visual Arts Teacher
North Mor Elementary

Julio Sepúlveda
Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences

Salida

Holly Barnard
Professor
Geography Department

John Callen
Educator
The Crest Academy

Samantha Lane Bahn
Educator
The Crest Academy

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Applications Now Open for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Grants, Tiers 1-4

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 19:13:32 +0000

Applications Now Open for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Grants, Tiers 1-4 Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 01/13/2025 - 12:13

Gretchen Minekime

Applications open on Mon., Jan. 13 for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) Grants, Tiers 1-4.

PACES funds public and community-engaged scholarship that connects �� research, teaching and creative work with partners in Colorado communities and beyond.

Tier 1 grants are for public outreach events and partnership development and will be awarded on a rolling basis until funds have been expended this semester. Faculty, staff and all students are eligible to apply.

Tier 2 grants are for seeding or extending public and community-engaged scholarship. Faculty, staff and graduate students are eligible to apply. Applications will be due Sun., Feb. 16.

Tier 3 and 4 grants are for faculty-led public and community-engaged scholarship and support individual or group projects. Applications will be due Fri., April 18.

See our website for more information and application deadlines.

PACES funds public and community-engaged scholarship that connects �� research, teaching and creative work with partners in Colorado communities and beyond.

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PACES Reading Group Kicks Off Jan. 30

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:18:32 +0000

PACES Reading Group Kicks Off Jan. 30 Arielle Wiedenbeck Tue, 12/17/2024 - 12:18

Gretchen Minekime

Start off the new year by joining the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) for the inaugural meeting of our monthly reading group.

Connect with colleagues for an in-person kick-off with food, drink and good company.

Our first article will be “Re(building) Trust with Indigenous Communities: Reflections From Cultural Brokers” (Riley & Kaneakua), from The Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement (JHEOE), Special Issue – Volume 28, Number 3, 2024. We will discuss how boundary spanner identity and intersectionality impact research collaborations with community partners. Our own Associate Director Jeanne McDonald was among the guest editors for this special edition of JHEOE.

Subsequent readings related to the themes of boundary spanning, reciprocity and mutual benefit—key concepts in community-engaged scholarship—will be selected by group members.

We’ll meet from noon to 1 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month.

Please respond before Jan. 23.

Start off the new year by joining the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) for the inaugural meeting of our monthly reading group.

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Higher Education and Democracy Fellows Lead Election Education Efforts

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 19:22:58 +0000

Higher Education and Democracy Fellows Lead Election Education Efforts Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 11/20/2024 - 12:22

Gretchen Minekime

This month special recognition goes out to the PACES Higher Education and Democracy Fellows for their phenomenal work leading up to and following the election.

Current fellows Janet Donavan, Leah Sprain and Christina Stanton, and former fellows Doug Spencer and Matt Burgess, dedicated many hours each to help inform students, faculty, staff and members of the public about election-related issues and to encourage voting. Here are some of their accomplishments within ��’s election engagement efforts.

Donavan and Sprain organized watch parties for the presidential and vice-presidential debates, including a pre-vice-presidential-debate panel, which was coordinated with the Chancellor’s Office, student government, the College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI), the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Conference on World Affairs. The panel and the debate were livestreamed and available to the public. Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction and Fort Lewis College in Durango organized watch parties on their campuses for the panels and vice-presidential debate.

Under Stanton’s leadership, Colorado Law’s American Indian Law Clinic traveled to South Dakota to conduct voter protection activities. Donovan, Stanton, and Sprain also served on ��’s All-in Challenge Committee and organized public events, in multiple Colorado locations, about voting rights and Constitutional Law.

Back on campus, Stanton recruited student volunteers who conducted voter education classroom visits, with an emphasis on first-year students and others who have historically registered and voted at lower rates than our campus average. These visits, alongside the efforts of non-profit partner New Era Colorado, ultimately reached more than 12,000 students.

Past fellow Doug Spencer joined county clerks from Boulder and Weld Counties for a special filming of the PBS program Colorado Inside Out at Mackey Auditorium.

Past fellow Matt Burgess, who has since moved to the University of Wyoming, continues to coordinate a monthly polarization dialogue series, which includes �� representatives along with others from colleges, universities and communities around the Rocky Mountain West.

During an election year filled with particularly strong emotions, a sense that civil discourse is more challenging than ever and a lack of confidence in media and information, the fellows’ leadership was indispensable.

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Higher Education and Democracy Fellows 2024

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Community-Engaged Scholarship: A Pillar of the School of Education

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 19:26:38 +0000

Community-Engaged Scholarship: A Pillar of the School of Education Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 11/14/2024 - 12:26

Alexandra Wilson

On the afternoon of Oct. 4, ��’s School of Education’s building dedication and open house brought together over 300 people to honor the school’s research, student work, donor support and community impact. Alumni, donors and K-12 partners joined university faculty, staff and students to celebrate the achievements and future goals of the school with an afternoon of dedications, building tours, activities and a showcase displaying the school’s community-engaged research.

“In an applied field like education, we can’t build knowledge in the abstract or in an isolated ivory tower,” said Joseph Polman, associate dean for research at the School of Education. “We need to be working with and in communities and sites where powerful educational practices and policies are being developed, tested and refined, to serve the needs of actual people.”

Faculty and students present their projects at the community engagement showcase in the new Ofelia Miramontes and Leonard Baca Education Building, Oct. 4, 2024.

Patrick Campbell Photography

The school’s devotion to supporting its students, and its commitment to advancing public understanding of education, shone through at the open house poster session where faculty members and graduate students showed their community-engaged research. The showcase highlighted how community-engaged scholarship not only enriches the educational experience of �� students but also bridges the gap between the university’s academic research and community education needs.

“Throughout history and even to the present day, far too much research based out of universities has been extractive, and only of benefit to the academic researchers. To work toward a more just and humane world, university-based scholars must seek to build equitable partnerships with stakeholders that serve the needs of communities, not the needs of researchers,” said Polman.

The faculty and students’ commitment to social justice is evident throughout their research, which strongly reflects the school’s values in promoting and facilitating equal opportunity for all students throughout the country. Their research explores and confronts a range of systematic issues present in the education system, such as language barriers within classrooms, ethnic and racial discrimination within school systems, economic disparities leading to a lesser quality of education, and the rights of LGBTQ+ students.

The research of faculty members and graduate students continues to lead to an array of impressive project outcomes, including a documentary by A Queer Endeavor, ��’s nationally recognized center for gender and sexual diversity in education. Created in partnership with Denver Public Schools, Reclaiming the Narrative focuses on LGBTQ+ students’ intersectional experiences within schools, giving queer students a platform upon which to share their experiences and thus promote social change. You can discover more about their work.

Undergraduate members of Puksta Scholars, a scholarship program focused on civic engagement and facilitating positive change on campus and within external communities, presented their community-engaged project that tackles systematic barriers in education. Through a partnership with the Longmont Latino Chamber of Commerce, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) K-12 students, along with their guardians, are invited to participate in workshops that provide the necessary tools to assist them in their journey to college. Puksta Scholars intend to provide a ‘first-generation scholar guide’ to help high school students reach their potential and fulfill their dreams of a high-quality college education. Visit their website for more details on this project and the continuing work of the Puksta Scholars.

The School of Education and University Hill Elementary School presented the outcome of their five-year-old weekly after-school mentoring program. The Cultural Mentoring Program joins together Education and Ethnic Studies majors with 5^th graders belonging to the Latinx community. The program strengthens cultural identity among underrepresented students and fosters relationships between �� and University Hill students.

These projects are just a few examples of the School of Education’s collective humanitarian approach towards community engagement. Through striving to build equitable partnerships that prioritize the needs of the community, and with the help of funding from the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship, the School of Education continues to raise awareness and inspire change on a national level.

“The School of Education has a shared commitment to democracy, diversity, equity and justice. To live this out, we absolutely need to be doing community-engaged scholarship,” said Polman.

��’s School of Education’s building dedication and open house brought together over 300 people to honor the school’s research, student work, donor support and community impact.

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Hannah Brenkert-Smith Part of Team Receiving the 2024 Governor’s Pathfinding Partnerships Award

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:06:25 +0000

Hannah Brenkert-Smith Part of Team Receiving the 2024 Governor’s Pathfinding Partnerships Award Arielle Wiedenbeck Fri, 10/18/2024 - 15:06

Gretchen Minekime

Associate Research Professor Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Institute of Behavioral Science, is a member of the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team that will receive the Pathfinding Partnerships Award through the 2024 Governor’s Awards for High Impact Research on Nov. 20.

The award honors research that engages four or more distinct research entities in Colorado whose results leverage the resources and strengths among partnering organizations—and demonstrate the power of collaboration. Brenkert-Smith received a Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Grant to support WiRē’s work in Chaffee and Lake Counties.

WiRē collaborates with local wildfire education practitioners to develop evidence-based community wildfire education programs at the invitation of local communities. Social science and community-engagement practices make it possible to tailor information for communities.

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Jota Samper Receives Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:01:06 +0000

Jota Samper Receives Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Arielle Wiedenbeck Fri, 10/18/2024 - 15:01

Gretchen Minekime

Associate Professor Jota Samper, Program in Environmental Design, is the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). This national award is one of the most prestigious of its kind.

Samper’s research concentrates on sustainable urban growth, focusing on the intersection between urban informality and violent conflict. ��’s Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship nominated Samper for 15 years of connecting his scholarship and study abroad programs (at ��, Duke University, Emerson College and MIT) with multiple unplanned settlements near Medellin, Colombia. Violence prompted Medellin residents to flee and set up informal dwellings outside the city limits.

Settlements in the region face issues such as landslides and access to potable water, healthcare, public spaces and education. Samper’s Colombian Displaced Communities: Planning and Urban Design Seminar students collaborate with residents to create community development plans and infrastructure designs and help build physical interventions. Communities decide which ideas make it to the building phase. Examples include a rain collection system, paving roads, reconditioning a community kitchen that serves more than 200 youth, and building sewers and potable water lines.

The seventh to win the faculty award nationally and the first from ��, Samper joined other Awards for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship recipients in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 10 at the annual ESC conference.

The grant selection committee for public and community-engaged scholarship has funded Samper’s work eight times since 2018.

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Jota Samper receives his award

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PACES original content

Announcing the Spring 2025 Tier 1 and 2 Grantees

Tier 2 (formerly Community Impact Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients

Tier 1 (formerly Micro Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients

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Application Process: Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement

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Graduate Students Benefit as Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholars

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PACES original content

Announcing the Spring 2025 Tier 1 and 2 Grantees

Tier 2 (formerly Community Impact Grants)Spring 2025 Recipients

Tier 1 (formerly Micro Grants)Spring 2025 Recipients

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Announcing the Data + Art + Science for Youth Fellow Teams

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Tier 2 (formerly Community Impact Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients

Tier 1 (formerly Micro Grants)
Spring 2025 Recipients