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Center for Faculty Development

University of Colorado at Denver

and Health Sciences Center

Downtown Denver

N e w s l e t t e r

Latitude: The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center’s downtown Denver campus faculty consistently reach for and attain new heights. The expanse of faculty and staff contributions to research and teaching enhancement go beyond the campus, encompassing, influencing and improving the globe. The Center for Faculty Development is a catalyst for inspiring and attaining this elevated level.

What if? What if you didn’t need expensive

tests, biopsies and long waits for lab results to detect cancer? What if there were a way to detect abnormal cells through a process that is thorough, accurate, fast and inexpensive? A Center for Faculty Development multidisciplinary project grant will enable Randall Tagg, physics professor at the downtown Denver campus, and Arlen Meyers, MD, otolaryngology at the School of Medicine to explore these and other possibilities.

The grant will fund eight short-term student projects

to develop new types of biomedical instrumentation as well as to expand the biomedical labs to the downtown Denver campus. Students involved include undergraduates, nondegree premeds, master’s and medical students in their research rotations. “The emphasis has been and will continue to be on exposing undergraduates to challenges in biomedical engineering,” Tagg says.

One of the undergraduate research projects involves creating an instrument to inject light into the edge of

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In Sight: Finding a Better Way

to Detect Cancer

Last fall, the downtown Denver campus embarked on a journey to create a more undergraduate-friendly campus and foster collaborations among faculty. Historically a commuter campus with primarily nontraditional students in graduate programs, the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center sees building its undergraduate class as essential to growth. The endeavor to enhance the undergraduate program kicked off in September with “The Undergraduate Experience: 2006 and Beyond,” a full-day seminar with Richard Light, Harvard professor and expert in student engagement and retention.

The seminar was followed by a multidisciplinary grant competition, “an extension of that seminar,” explains Ellen Stevens, center director. “We want to encourage faculty and staff collaboration on programs related to undergraduate education.”

Crossing new paths and building new bridges, seven projects and programs are now under way. Spanning the schools, colleges and campuses, grant winners are building new curricula, certificate programs and biomedical instruments, and exploring new fields of study. And this is just the start, Stevens says. “We’ve been very pleased by the creative initiatives generated by faculty and staff. The Center for Faculty Development hopes to continue to support these types of important multidisciplinary programs.”

The center, established in fall 2004, awarded $21,180 in the inaugural multidisciplinary grant competition and has managed the awards of more than $176,000 in grants since its inception.

“We want to build greater connectivity in cross-discipline research, student advancement and engagement,” Stevens stresses. “The grant competition is one of many programs planned and in place to better serve our faculty, staff and, most important, our students.”

The next undergraduate experience symposium will feature John Gardner, nationally-recognized education expert, on Oct. 6.

Building Bridges to Best Serve Students

Aron Wolterstorff, physics student

Sustainable Development:People,Prosperity,

the Planet

While one might call a cross- disciplinary curriculum on

sustainability “earth shattering,” the faculty launching this curriculum believe it will achieve just the opposite. Eight scholars from four schools and colleges at the downtown Denver campus have combined to develop a unique course, “Sustainable Development: People, Prosperity and the Planet,” aimed at enhancing the well-being of Earth and its inhabitants. Anu Ramaswami, associate professor of engineering and principal investigator, explains that starting fall 2007 freshmen and sophomore students can learn about this complex, real-world global issue using a multi-dimensional framework that integrates environmental, ecological, economic, social, cultural and political perspectives.

“Students from all disciplines— architecture and planning, liberal arts, physical and social sciences, engineering, business, arts, communications, public affairs and health—can benefit from and contribute to this learning experience,” says Ramaswami. With the assistance of a multidisciplinary grant from

the Center for Faculty Development, the faculty are collecting innovative teaching materials to build an exciting course that

will include intensive readings, hands-on laboratory and survey exercises, field trips and term projects that promote synthesis and integration across the disciplines. Participants include Ramaswami, Mike Tang and Sam Welch from the College of Engineering; John Brett, Jana Everett and Randall Tagg from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Brian Muller from the College of Architecture and Planning; Blair Gifford from the Business School and Center for Global Health; and Chris Johnson, director of the Office of International Education.

“Faculty are team-teaching to enable students to gain all disciplinary perspectives necessary for understanding this complex topic,” Ramaswami says. The unit is being developed initially as a second-semester freshman seminar or a sophomore- level course for the new Honors Program. The course could eventually be expanded as a campus-wide offering, based upon interest and initial outcomes assessments, she adds. The course could also lead to a research- and fieldwork-intensive senior capstone experience building upon the success of various health and sustainability projects being implemented by UCDHSC faculty teams in Denver, as well as internationally in Bolivia, Ecuador, India and Sri Lanka.

“The course specifically has a global reach and addresses the need for sustainable development in both rural as well as urban communities, in the ‘developed’ and the ‘developing’ world,” Ramaswami says.

The Business School, the College of Arts & Media and the College

of Liberal Arts and Sciences have

joined forces to make their respective students even more marketable. Thanks to a multi-disciplinary grant from the Center for Faculty Development, efforts are under way to create a tri-college curriculum in Integrated Marketing Communication.

Cliff Young, professor of marketing in the Business School, said the curriculum will either be part of a certificate

program or an interdisciplinary minor to be offered to students majoring in each of the colleges. Frank Jermance, associate dean of the CAM, and Barbara Walkosz, associate professor of communications, are leading the efforts in their respective colleges.

“Currently, we’re looking at a rubric that incorporates programmatic components from each of the three colleges. A

possible model may include a strategic business plan generated in the Business School which incorporates a public relations plan from communication and links the entire enterprise to the dissemination of the plan through the appropriate media, in consultation with the College of Arts & Media,” Young explains. “Each will be owned by a college, but we would love

enhancing Marketability

of Marketing Students

Five students in political science, history and

international studies, led by faculty advisor Amin Kazak, political science instructor, got a crash course in global inequality, natural disaster, cultural diversity, poverty and the strengths and weaknesses of global mechanisms at the Model United Nations of the Far West conference in San Francisco April 21-25. The trip, organized by Michael Ducey, director of international studies, Jana Everett, chair of political science, and Myra Rich, chair of the

history department, was possible through a multidisciplinary grant from the Center for Faculty Development.

Armed with new knowledge and the perspectives of a diverse group of national governments on global issues, students will organize and present this information in designated classes as well as the Colorado International Forum, a downtown Denver campus student club composed of political science, history and international studies majors. Students who took part include Zara Snapp, Colin Rose,

Venture Brings Insight on Global Issues

Writing is more than the purview of English faculty.

L. Ann Martin, associate professor in the Business School, and Joanne Addison, associate professor in CLAS, have devised a strategy to emphasize the importance of writing across all courses of the curriculum.

Faculty observed during the presentations for the new Core Curriculum that many students are less than proficient in writing and critical thinking skills. Although UCDHSC has a well-respected Writing Center and a strong English department, writing must be incorporated into

WritingAcross the Curriculum

Featured speaker Chris Anson

Students work on a sustainable energy system

to top it off with a 12-hour total capstone course that would be multidisciplinary.”

The plan launched this spring with the start of a series of focus groups featuring students from each of the involved colleges to assess interdisciplinary interests of students. Collaborators have also been researching IMC models at other institutions and interviewing allied businesses in

the greater Denver area. The next step, Young explains,

is to develop a tri-college advisory committee for the IMC course, including faculty members who can team-teach the course, as well as college and department advisors to provide information about how the course can be integrated into existing requirements.

The tri-college curriculum will not only foster an understanding of

the interdisciplinary interests in each of the college and introduce students to IMC applications across disciplines, it also will fuel relationships across disciplines for students and faculty.

The project leaders expect to have the curriculum in place by the spring 2007 semester, most certainly by fall 2007. “We recognize that the marketplace our students will enter will

Sandy Johansson, Zak Bouck and Erin Velasquez.

“Students will present work with faculty to institutionalize ongoing UCDHSC downtown Denver campus participation in Model U.N.,” Ducey explains. “Political science, history and international studies will be able to develop a signature program through ongoing Model U.N. participation, which will increase student enthusiasm for international studies.”

As a result of the involvement in Model U.N., the Department of Political Science will offer

a course, “The U.N. in World Affairs,” each spring semester. “Participation in the Model U.N. will be an optional part of this course, to be taught by Dr. Kazak,” Everett says.

The benefit to students’ personal growth as well as their academic growth is evident, Rich notes. “These students gained team-building experience, skills in research, oral and written communication and leadership through their preparation for and participation in the Model U.N.”

The university values and encourages multidisciplinary

research opportunities for undergraduate students. With advances in technology and the expansion of cross-disciplinary fields, the emphasis on research has become a competitive necessity for university faculty, staff and students. The program for Under-graduate Multidisciplinary Research in the Sciences, funded by a grant from the Center for Faculty Development, will foster and build these collaborations.

Authored by Mary Coussons-Read, associate professor of psychology, Leo Bruederle, associate professor of biology, and Lissa Gallagher, Career Center director, the program enlists the expertise of scholars spanning eight science, math and engineering departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“We’re establishing ongoing conversations among faculty, staff and students to develop, sustain and enrich undergraduate research on the downtown Denver campus,” Bruederle says. “Internal

conversations, supported by the experience of external consultants and scientists, will explore new aspects of research experiences.”

Monthly workshops began this spring with a mini-symposium featuring Charles Rupprecht, doctor of veterinary medicine

for the Centers for Disease Control, discussing rabies. Other presentations included “Tales of Successful Undergraduate Research at UCDHSC Past and Present,” featuring faculty and students discussing the development, implementation and outcomes of productive undergraduate research.

The March meeting featured Mary Crowe, director of undergraduate research at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who spoke on benefits and issues for offices of undergraduate research.

Anne-Barrie Hunter, an investigator from the CU-Boulder Center for Ethnography and Evaluation Research, gave the keynote address at the Research and Creative Activities Symposium April 14. Her presentation addressed assessment and evaluation of undergraduate research programs. She will be working with faculty on our campus to develop an assessment plan for undergraduate research activities and establish metrics to determine success and areas needing improvement.

“These monthly meetings enable faculty and students to form groups around topics of common scientific interest,” Coussons-Read explains. “The groups meet every other week to develop ideas that will be fleshed out into proposals for new programs curricula and research projects.”

Fueling UndergraduateMultidisciplinary

Research in the Sciences

require the ability to function across disciplines toward a productive convergence of ideas, skills and perspectives. We believe these bridges can be built through curricular innovation and cooperative learning experiences created across colleges and academic programs.”

all course work if students are to succeed in their careers.

The “Writing Across the Curriculum” program started this spring with the help of a multidisciplinary grant. The effort kicked off with a campus-wide survey of faculty to determine the extent and type of writing projects assigned by faculty, to assess attitudes about the quality of student writing and to identify a cadre of faculty interested in curriculum development.

The main event was a day-long workshop May 5 featuring Chris Anson, professor of English and director of campus writing and speaking at North Carolina State University. Anson spoke on developing and sustaining a successful writing program across the curriculum. His expertise enabled participants to develop

assessment tools for various types of writing assignments, incorporate program-based outcomes assessments and teach effective and efficient ways to incorporate writing into courses.

Anson, a respected researcher in the field, brought writing to the attention of the campus as a whole and provided incentives for faculty not accustomed to thinking about writing assignments as a tool to assess learning outcomes, organizers explain.

The Writing Across the Curriculum project extends the work of the Quality Undergraduate Education (QUE) committee and is closely linked to current initiatives. A Web site planned for a fall release will highlight classes incorporating writing and feature ideas to include writing projects in classes.

Anne-Barrie Hunter, CU-Boulder

UCDHSC downtown Denver campus welcomes John Gardner

thin layers of epithelial tissue. Meyers, who specializes in ear, nose and throat ailments, explained that a current method of oral cancer detection involves a physical exam—simply looking in the mouth and feeling areas of concern. “The problem is that there are abnormalities you can’t see, and it’s difficult to differentiate pre-malignant from malignant tissue without a biopsy,” Meyers says.

A second detection method takes a swab of abnormal tissue

In Sight... continued from page 1

Downtown Denver Campus

Center for Faculty DevelopmentCampus Box 192

Contact the Center for Faculty Development at www.thunder1.cudenver.edu/cfd

and looks for deviated cell growth under the microscope or some other technique. “Unfortunately, this takes time, is costly and results in a lot of false positives,” Meyers explains. “We feel the optical detection techniques are cheaper, faster, easier to use and more accurate.”

Other research projects vary, from creating optical lenses from soft gels (to control shapes and focal lengths externally) to using nanotechnology determine sources of cells in thickening of arteries as a consequence of pulmonary hypertension. “In a one-year time frame, we expect to complete at least five of the projects,” Tagg notes. “All are well under way, with the apparatus built and preliminary data being recorded.” The projects are part of a sustainable prototype that will enable the program to secure external grants and revenue for the future.

Renowned author and expert in undergraduate education, John Gardner, will be the speaker at the second annual symposium, Enriching the Undergraduate Experience at a Research University, Friday, Oct. 6, at St. Cajetan’s Center, 1190 9th St. Keep an eye on PostExpress for further details on this important event during this exciting time of transition on the downtown Denver campus.

Randall Tagg and Aron Wolterstorff

John Gardner

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