impact UCCS DONOR AND ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2019
HIGHLIGHT
NEW DEANS FEATURE
HYBL CENTER FOR SPORTS MEDICINE HIGHLIGHT
12 THINGS YOU’LL LOVE FEATURE
ALUMNI PROFILES
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Dear friends, A common thread at UCCS connecting us all in extraordinary ways is our desire to see students succeed. This desire is felt across campus and extends to the community. We have a commitment to develop tomorrow’s leaders and innovators, and we are doing just that thanks to you. UCCS students come from unique backgrounds. Some face immense personal struggles and never envisioned themselves attending college and going on to graduate. This community has embraced students and provides the support that changes their lives for the better. I know personally the impact of a donor’s contribution helping dreams become a reality. As you flip the pages, you’ll feel what we feel – a sense of pride and accomplishment. UCCS is an institution fueling passion and purpose for many. And our community plays an essential role in our success. Read more about UCCS on page four. – Venkat Reddy, Ph.D., UCCS Chancellor
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UCCS Convocation. First-year and transfer students are welcomed to campus and walk the Pedestrian Spine.
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Contents 03 Katherine Latona Pikes Peak Club 04 UCCS Priorities UCCS by the Numbers
APRIL, 2019
10 F E ATU RE
05 Be One of the 10 06 Mike Fryt Bridge Forward 07 Anna Cordova 08 New Carnegie Classification 09 New Deans 10 Hybl Center 11 Twelve Things You’ll Love 12 James Proby
Hybl Center This new state-of-theart facility will support whole human health
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Mike Fryt
Anna Cordova
Paving a path for student success
Discovers the past through artifacts
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James Proby
Chris Roth
Empowering others to succeed
5 questions with alumnus Chris Roth
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have a “We commitment to develop tomorrow’s leaders and innovators.
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This magazine is published by the UCCS Office of University Development and the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, for alumni, friends, donors, faculty and staff of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Send questions, comments, or contact information updates to University Development, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO 80918. Or send an email to development@uccs.edu. For more information on how your gift can make an impact, visit uccs.edu/give.
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KATHERINE LATONA Class of 2018 Karen Possehl Women’s Endowment & Reisher Scholarship recipient
“
UCCS is just home. I couldn’t imagine my time here without Reisher and KPWE – it’s such a strong support system and knowing that somebody else cares is huge. A great part of it for me was the guest speakers. Hearing the Chancellor talk about how he went through his whole college career up to Ph.D. without paying anything, just relying on scholarships, is important to me because it shows it’s possible – if he did it then maybe I can do it too.
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Katherine Latona ’18
PIKES PEAK CLUB: ENSURING STUDENT SUCCESS Charted May 24, 1946 in Colorado Springs Pikes Peak Club Building Bridges Student Fund Endowment The Pikes Peak Club members have contributed an immeasurable number of hours to serving the Colorado Springs community through volunteering and funding to meet the needs of the community.
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We’ve offered scholarships to students for many years and began our partnership Pikes Peak Club Members with UCCS in 2014,” said Rod Wells, Pikes Peak Club Treasurer. “Each year we’ve helped provide for a unique need – helping students weather a financial road bump on their path to finish a college education. This scholarship makes a difference for students in financial crisis for decades to come.
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CHANCELLOR VENKAT REDDY ON UCCS
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he future success of this university will depend on those who collectively demonstrate their support. And that is why we’ve launched the UCCS philanthropic campaign to expand opportunities for students and increase access to higher education today and for generations. You may be asking yourself why a campaign now? This campaign is an extension of our existing efforts to elevate priorities true to our mission, priorities we have focused on for years. Talent, opportunity and community. These are our areas of focus because we know they are driving forces of excellence. We know raising support for students through our campaign sends a strong message – we are invested in our people and with support from many, we will see our greatest impact.
Chancellor meeting with Chancellor’s Leadership Class Scholars
I like to think about impact through our driven students. Students like Madison Harris who inspire me to want to do more for the university. Madison is a Chancellor’s Leadership Class Scholar and has been dedicated to her studies, she will graduate in 2021 with a dual major in Biomedical Science and History along with a minor in Leadership Communication Studies. After graduation she wants to pursue a career in Military Medicine on a dual M.D. - Ph.D. track. She has been given the tools to thrive today and in her future. UCCS is an essential southern Colorado institution shaping students like Madison into leaders. And we hope you’ll continue to join us on this evolving journey as we fuel success. To learn more about our campaign, visit uccs.edu/campaign.
UCCS BY THE NUMBERS
65%
12,500+
OF UCCS GRADUATES LIVE IN COLORADO
STUDENTS STUDYING AT UCCS
19%
STUDENTS WITH MILITARY AFFILIATION
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16:1
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO MEANS SMALLER CLASS SIZES AND MORE PERSONAL ATTENTION 5
Be
ONE
10
of the
= I MPACT COLLECTIVE
WHEN 10 PEOPLE GIVE $21 PER MONTH TO UCCS, IT HELPS FUND A SCHOLARSHIP FOR A STUDENT.
“UCCS helped me realize how much potential I had and pushed me to become and accomplish more than I thought possible of myself.”
–
Zaynib, UCCS alumna, Reach Your Peak and Reisher Scholarship recipient
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ALUMNUS FEATURE
PAVING A PATH FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
G
iving back for UCCS alumnus Mike Fryt means helping students discover potential within themselves, which is just what UCCS did for him.
“Of all the places I went to school, from grade school through law school, I think UCCS had the biggest impact on me, particularly in terms of self-confidence and overall development,” Fryt said. As a boy growing up in Manitou Springs, Colorado, Fryt dreamed about attending college away from his home town. Little did he know the local university would develop him into a leader. He went on to become corporate vice president of tax at FedEx, a senior tax counsel at TRW Inc. and held various positions with Exxon Corp. Fryt strongly believes in the concept, “lift as you climb,” and supports student success BRIDGE FORWARD SCHOLARSHIP: in various ways, INSPIRING THE POSSIBLE including as a guest lecturer in the UCCS Scholarships help pave the way for College of Business. student success. Financial burden “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that our society needs strong future Mike Fryt ’77 leaders to meet or exceed the potential we see in them,” he said. “I don’t have another 50 years to personally contribute, but I can invest in these students so they can.” Today, Fryt’s passion for UCCS is apparent in his involvement. His commitment toward student success helped bring a new scholarship to campus – the Bridge Forward Scholarship. “If we want to survive and thrive as a society, we must not only continue to provide higher education, we must expand it so that more and more people can take advantage of it. The more we can do it, the more possibilities we provide to people and the more we all benefit.”
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is reduced, and ambitions are within reach. That is just what the Bridge Forward scholarship aims to provide – access, affordability and success for UCCS families. Through the Bridge Forward Scholarship, driven middleincome UCCS undergraduates can apply for additional aid toward college. Bridge Forward •
Renewable $2,500 award
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This scholarship equates to 246 more hours a student can commit to academic studies
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The majority of these students will stay and work in our community
To learn more about the Bridge Forward Scholarship, visit uccs.edu/give/bridge-forward
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ALUMNA FEATURE
Anna Cordova ’16
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nna Cordova meanders through a field in Colorado Springs, searching for the past. She pulls broken porcelain from a creek bed and snaps a photo, documenting yet another artifact here, where she’s made the biggest discovery of her career.
As an archaeologist, she learns how people lived long ago by examining the manmade items they used and then left behind. “We study the material culture of humans. Basically, we look at trash,” Cordova said. “And you can tell an awful lot about people’s trash.”
Cordova, the archaeologist for Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services and a UCCS alumna, has linked thousands of these artifacts to the city’s early history—and to whom they are connected is why they’re important.
At UCCS, Cordova became hooked, taking juniorlevel anthropology classes as a freshman. She unearthed her first artifact that summer.
had the passion right from “theShestart, said Minette Church, ” who taught Cordova’s first anthropology classes and became her mentor. This community means a lot to her, and she gives back to it in so many ways.
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The first artifact in this recent discovery was uncovered when city workers were doing flood mitigation. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime find,” 35-year-old Cordova said. “It’s very, very, very cool.”
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Cordova received a bachelor of arts in anthropology, with an emphasis in archaeology. Then she spent about six years in Hawaii cataloging artifacts and consulting with native communities on construction plans affecting their lands. She returned to UCCS for graduate school in 2016, and received a master of arts in applied geography and environmental studies, with an emphasis in archaeology and indigenous geographies. Today, Cordova remains heavily involved with UCCS, where her father, step-mother and fiancé work. She has taught an archaeology field school and visited another one, given guest lectures, invited students to intern with her, and consults with professors.
FOLLOW THE UCCS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION @UCCSAlumni
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NEWS
CARNEGIE PROMOTES UCCS TO RESEARCH UNIVERSITY IN NEW CLASSIFICATION
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n expanding doctoral program and increases in research activity led to a promotion for UCCS in the new Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UCCS is now among doctoral universities with high research activity, commonly referred to as “R2” by Carnegie. “Our faculty and students have earned this new designation for their development of research-focused degree programs and work that advances our understanding of the world,” said Provost Tom Christensen. “We are excited for what this means for the future with the development of new programs and the new opportunities for research.” The national Carnegie Classification recognized 259 “research one” and “research two” universities who graduated at least 20 doctoral students each year with at least $5 million in research activity. The research activity index
was used to determine the cutoff between R1 institutions with “very high research activity” and R2 schools with “high research activity.” “The growth and development of our doctoral programs have long been goals for UCCS, and we’re seeing the results of those efforts with our new classification,” said Kelli Klebe, dean of the graduate school. “I commend faculty for engaging graduate students in meaningful research activities which are crucial for classification as a research institution.”
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT Yanyan Zhuang, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science RESEARCH INTERESTS Computer networking, security and privacy, and software engineering. PUBLICATIONS Authored or co-authored more than 40 research papers in peer-reviewed conference proceedings and journals. Zhuang’s work has been cited more than 700 times. MOST RECENT WORK Software code comprehension and received an ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at the Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering. This award placed UCCS at the national rank of No. 53 for software engineering.
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NEW DEANS ON CAMPUS
KEVIN LAUDNER, DEAN OF THE HELEN AND ARTHUR E. JOHNSON BETH-EL COLLEGE OF NURSING AND HEALTH SCIENCES
DON RABERN, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE
A nationally-respected shoulder expert with a history of success in academic leadership will be the new dean for the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Kevin Laudner will begin July 16, 2019.
An accomplished research engineer with more than a decade of academic leadership experience will be the new dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Don Rabern will begin July 22, 2019.
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My priorities will be enhancing our academic programs and partnerships. It is exciting to be a part of a college with such an exceptional history of quality academics, scholarship and civic engagement, along with the potential for new programs, community partnerships and the construction of the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center.
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I am very excited to join the College of Engineering and Applied Science team. The college has a great reputation and has worked with local industry to create collaborative opportunities. The quality of the faculty, staff, and students along with a balance of undergraduate and graduate programs are great assets for UCCS and the region.
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FEATURE
HYBL SPORTS MEDICINE & PERFORMANCE CENTER
The first-of-itskind William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance center is part of the City for Champions initiative, which builds upon Colorado Springs’ history as a health destination, a training ground for service men and women, and an athletics hub by forging a future committed to whole human health for every person.
This is a story about revolution in health and human performance. A story to revolutionize care, perception and the delivery of educational and training opportunities. A story about partnership, teamwork and collaboration. The Hybl Center will house three preeminent Centers of Distinction, serving unique populations with extraordinary needs, integrating the expertise of UCCS and Centura to create a powerhouse partnership. The center is scheduled to open in 2020.
UCCS.EDU/HYBLCENTER
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Twelve Things You’ll Love...
AND WILL WANT TO SHARE AT YOUR NEXT DINNER CONVERSATION
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US Olympic Hopefuls Attended UCCS in 2017
$593+ Million
IN ANNUAL ECONOMIC IMPACT
UCCS RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE “GREAT COLLEGES TO WORK FOR” IN 2018 BY THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
David Packard with UCCS Engineering
3.0+ GPA
UCCS Downtown Opened September 2018
STUDENT-ATHLETE AVERAGE FOR 14 CONSECUTIVE YEARS
Named a Top-10 Public Institution in the West
168,351 VISITS TO THE ENT CENTER FOR THE ARTS IN SPRING 2018 12
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NATIONS REPRESENTED
Strong County and City Community Partnerships
262
DIFFERENT CAUSES SUPPORTED BY DONORS AT UCCS IN THE LAST ACADEMIC YEAR
NEW MOUNTAIN LION FIELDHOUSE, ONE OF FIVE ATHLETIC FACILITIES impact Magazine uccs.edu/give
ALUMNUS FEATURE
James Proby ’96
EMPOWERING OTHERS TO SUCCEED James Proby ’96 Bachelor of Arts in Communication
P
resented with the opportunity to continue life as a successful businessman or shake things up by helping the less fortunate, UCCS alumnus James Proby chose the latter.
I saw this need that “wasn’t being met in our community, and wanted to provide something brand new.
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Today, James is the founder of the Men’s Xchange, a men’s thrift boutique in Colorado Springs
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providing clean, pressed suits at $40 per person, along with a tailoring service. The idea for the Men’s Xchange came to him after seeking training to teach an entrepreneurial class. “I saw this need that wasn’t being met in our community, and we wanted to provide something brand new,” he said. “We’re pioneers stepping into a whole new space. It’s exciting and scary. You don’t have a blueprint for what to do.” He credits his path to UCCS, noting connections he made while pursuing his degree afforded him his first job offer.
But UCCS faculty provided more than just a start. James’ professors were compassionate, helping him build his confidence and ability to learn after being diagnosed with dyslexia. He graduated in 1996. “Everything I do is all about the interpersonal communication process,” he said. “Communication skills are the best thing I got out of UCCS. That, and the relationships I built there. I can now propel others in our community to success just as UCCS propelled me.”
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ALUMNUS FEATURE
FOUR QUESTIONS
with alumnus Chris Roth ’16, Charles Schwab Relationship Specialist WHAT WAS YOUR DEGREE AND WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT OCCUPATION? I graduated with two degrees – one in communication, the other in psychology. Currently, I work for Charles Schwab as a relationship specialist within our Advisor Services division. I have worked in this role since May of 2017. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE UCCS? I knew I wanted to stay in Colorado where I could be close to my family. I also wanted a great education at an affordable price. UCCS offered both. At UCCS it was easy to get involved with other students and different groups on campus, which made my transition from high school feel easier. I created fond memories during my time on campus. The ability to be deeply involved led to
I never thought I would end up in the “world of finance, but an education from UCCS allows you to do things you never thought you could.
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a collective experience that I don’t think I would have received had I gone anywhere else. My time at UCCS truly helped shape who I am today and prepared me for life after graduation. WHAT IS POSSIBLE WITH A UCCS DEGREE? A degree from UCCS provides you with tremendous opportunity. You feel confident as you Chris Roth enter the post-grad world. It isn’t easy, but with a little perseverance – you’re going to find what’s right for you. I never thought I would end up in the world of finance, but an education from UCCS allows you to do things you never thought you could. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG ALUMNI LIKE YOURSELF ABOUT MAKING AN IMPACT THROUGH GIVING? I truly believe that a collection of small actions can have a huge impact. The same can be said for giving. Making an impact doesn’t mean breaking the bank. Just know that whatever you give, whenever you give, is impactful.
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Alumni Everywhere More than 46,000 UCCS alumni span every state in the nation, with more than half living in Colorado. Over 6,000 UCCS alumni call California, Texas, Arizona, Washington and Virginia home, and several hundred
more live in foreign countries. Whether you are near or far, UCCS wants to stay connected. Our goal is to support, serve and engage with UCCS alumni. Learn how you can stay informed and involved at uccs.edu/alumni.
UCCS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION Stay Connected.
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