This Week @Metro | Metro State

Wednesday
July 28, 2004
Vol 2, No 5

Inside Today's Issue

1. Local business leaders surveyed about Metro
2. OSP offers grant workshops
3. R.E.N.E.W. is tomorrow
4. Tivoli Update
5. Retiree Gwen Thomas feted by Aurora
6. Reminder: Trustees meeting cancelled

1. Local business leaders surveyed about Metro

A recent survey of Denver business leaders has revealed some key information about how this influential group views Metro State. The purpose of the survey, which was conducted this spring by the Noel-Levitz higher education consulting firm, was to glean the information necessary to better understand the leaders' perceptions of Metro and the value that higher education holds for them.

To read more go to
http://www.mscd.edu/%7Ecollcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol2/survey_twv2072804.htm

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2. OSP offers grant workshops

Faculty and staff are welcome to attend two upcoming grant training workshops hosted by the Office of Sponsored Programs. The workshops are for participants in OSP's Grant Mentoring Program, but OSP Director Betsy Zeller emphasizes that any Metro employee who is interested is encouraged to attend.

To read more go to
http://www.mscd.edu/%7Ecollcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol2/grants_twv2072804.htm

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3. R.E.N.E.W. is tomorrow

Massages, free food and tips on improving your overall well-being are available at Thursday's Resources, Energy, Nutrition, Education and Wellness Fair. Also included are a demonstration of the art of Capoeira and a session on "Nutrition on the Go" sponsored by Vitamin Cottage.

Sponsored by Campus Recreation at Auraria, the fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lobby 103 of the P.E. Event Center. For more information, call 303-556-3210 or e-mail mbrueke@mscd.edu.

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4. Tivoli Update

AHEC reports that the Tivoli revitalization project is making great progress.

Renovation of the Auraria Bookstore is complete, and the first and second floors are open for business.

The fourth through sixth floors have new 20-foot windows, and the installation of new exterior windows throughout the student union continues.

Large holes on the south side will accommodate new entry doors, which will be installed by the beginning of the fall semester. The southeast entry doors are temporarily closed for painting and other reconstruction.

Metro's Student Activities office will move back to room 305 soon.

Roof work will continue through the summer, including the hoisting of rooftop units.

Entry closures will continue to occur for crane work, window and door replacement and other related projects.

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5. Retiree Gwen Thomas feted by Aurora

Aurora and the organization Citizens Concerned about Minorities in Aurora (CCAMA) recently celebrated the service and contributions of former Metro administrator and professor Gwendolyn Thomas at an afternoon reception.

An Emeritus Professor of English, Thomas was recognized for the active role she has played in the Aurora community for almost 50 years. She is a founding member of CCAMA and an active member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She has been an ACLU board member for years and has been the delegate to the national board for more than 10 years.

Thomas, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Denver, began her Metro State career in 1980 as dean of the School of Community and Human Services. In 1985 she was named assistant vice president for institutional advancement, then three years later moved to the role of assistant vice president of student affairs and professor of English. She remained a professor until her retirement in June of 2003.

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6. Reminder: Trustees meeting cancelled

The August 4 Board of Trustees meeting has been cancelled. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 8.

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@Metro is an electronic news bulletin distributed every Wednesday to all faculty, staff and administrators at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Copyright 2002-2003 Metropolitan State College of Denver

Feature Story

Funeral Mass today for Delgado

As reported in the July 26 special edition of Today@Metro, poet and Chicano activist Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado, who had taught Chicano studies at Metro State for 17 years, passed away Friday at the age of 73.

Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 1209 W. 36th Ave.

Delgado, who was born in Mexico and moved to Texas as a child, was an internationally recognized writer. His lifelong work to improve the plights of farmworkers, prisoners and the barrio poor began during his college years at the University of Texas at El Paso. For decades, he was dedicated to promoting Hispanic literature and worked to have it taught in colleges and universities.

"Lalo was a strong voice, a leader in our Chicano/Latino community," said his long-time friend Yolanda Ortega-Ericksen, interim associate vice president of student services. "He was always willing to fight the fight and take a stand with his words."

Delgado's powerful and poignant poem "Stupid America" was his most celebrated.

stupid america, see that chicano/with a big knife
on his steady hand
he doesn't want to knife you/he wants to sit on the bench and carve christfigures/but you won't let him.

stupid america, hear that chicano/shouting curses on the street/he is a poet without paper and pencil/and since he cannot write/he will explode.

stupid america, remember that chicanito/flunking math and english/he is the picasso/of your western states/but he will die/with one thousand masterpieces/hanging only from his mind.

Even as he wrote such forceful and terse poems, said Ortega-Ericksen, he also used his words in ways that were personal and intimate. "If you invited him to a wedding or a graduation, he would always write something for that particular moment, that event, as a gift."

To read a profile of Delgado that ran in the fall 2002 issue of the college's alumni magazine Metropolis, go to:

http://www.mscd.edu/
%7Ecollcom/@metro
/tw@metro_vol2/
delgado_twv2072804.htm

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