Press Releases:
March 2008
Mar. 28, 2008
METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE of DENVER
NEW PROGRAM BRINGS FOUR-YEAR DEGREES
TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAMPUSES
2+2 signing ceremony launches historic partnership
WHAT: Signing ceremony to launch a historic 2+2 partnership between Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Colorado Community College System.
WHY: The Metro State 2+2 degree program combines the convenience of community college with the resources of a large urban four-year college. This partnership allows community college students to earn an associate’s degree and then complete a Metro State bachelor’s degree in selected programs, while physically remaining at their community college. Front Range Community College-Westminster campus is already participating; Community College of Aurora will begin in fall 2008.
WHEN: Thursday, April 3, 2008 • 11 a.m.
WHO: Karen Reinertson, FRCC President
Dr. Nancy McCallin, CCCS President
Dr. Linda Bowman, CCA President
Dr. Stephen Jordan, Metro State President
WHERE: Front Range Community College
College Hill Library (west end of the building)
3705 West 112th Ave.
Westminster, CO 80031
For more information about the program, visit http://www.mscd.edu/twoplustwo.
For more information about the ceremony contact Angelia McGowan at 303-556-5133 or Rhonda Bentz at 303-916-0502 .
Mar. 27, 2008
METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE of DENVERProfessor available to address the latest “hot topic”
in the race for the next U.S. presidency
The role of African American churches in the U.S.
Denver – One of the most recent issues presented to the public in the run for the next U.S. presidency has been the role of the African American church in America.
Derrick Hudson, assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Metropolitan State College of Denver, is available to provide perspective on why the words of the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of Sen. Barack Obama’s church, were controversial to some, but not to others. Specifically, he can address the history of “black social gospel.”
According to Hudson, the role of the African American church today stems from its role during slavery in the U.S.
“The pulpit was one of the only spaces and places for African Americans to gather,” says Hudson, who currently teaches Survey of African History and African Politics and Government. “As Toni Morrison reminds us in Beloved, Sunday morning was the only place where African Americans could be beautiful. That legacy helps to explain the ’crowns’ that many of our elder African American women wear on Sundays and the more formal nature of dress of black churches. In an existence of ’dumb anguish’ and sharecropping this was often the only time to be beautiful.”
Hudson, who holds a Ph.D. in international relations, can provide a global view of “black social gospel” and politics, as he has studied in Italy, Africa and the U.S. He conducted his dissertation fieldwork in South Africa, focusing on transitional justice issues, such as the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Prior to his academic career, Hudson served as a captain in the United States Air Force, with tours in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the former West Germany and Great Britain.
Hudson’s expertise includes: race relations, African Americans and U.S. politics, religious “literacy,” theological issues, urban studies and poverty, and globalization.
Contact Angelia McGowan at 303-556-5133 or angeliam@mscd.edu to coordinate an interview with Dr. Hudson.
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Mar. 23, 2008
MEDIA ADVISORYAuraria Campus to hold news conference at construction site of Science Bldg
Three higher education institutions call for restoration of state funding
(Denver, Co)—A news conference and media tour will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 24, to view the construction site of the Science Building on the Auraria campus, which broke ground in December 2007 after receiving its first phase of state funding last year.
The state received an updated revenue forecast on Thursday, which reduced the amount available for capital construction projects in the state fiscal year that begins July 1, 2008. The Auraria Science Building request of $37.5 million (already reduced from the original $50 million recommendation) was cut to $0. Other projects, including higher education, human services and corrections projects, were taken out of priority order.
The current science building presents health and safety hazards because of overcrowding and outdated HVAC systems. Two labs have had to be closed due to dangerous levels of chemical fumes and inadequate ventilation.
Auraria has already begun construction of the Science Building, based on an appropriation from the state last year. If state funding doesn’t come through this year, the project is placed in serious jeopardy and will – at a minimum - result in very costly delays.
The Auraria Science Building supports the training of future science and technology workers. The new science building, with students from all three institutions, will educate more future scientists of color than any other location in the state and support the state’s economic development.
WHEN: Monday, March 24 at 11 a.m.
WHO: Auraria Campus Executive Vice President Dean Wolf
Community College System President Nancy McCallin
Downtown Denver Partnership Executive Director Tami Door
Metropolitan State College of Denver President Stephen Jordan
University of Colorado President Bruce Benson
WHERE: In front of the current Science bldg on the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver
(no. 21 on the attached map) http://www.ahec.edu/campusmaps/ahec3d.pdf
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Mar. 7, 2008
METROPOLITAN STATE COLLEGE of DENVER
METRO STATE’S FIRST INNOVATION WEEK
FEATURES BEST IDEAS FROM STUDENTS
The week concludes with Extreme Entrepreneur Tour, a program that features entrepreneurs
who became millionaires before the age of 25
Denver - Thinking outside of the box is the wave of the future for Tyler Gray, an industrial design student who has designed a microwave that is not in the shape of a box. Others are taking their ideas back inside the box. Computer Information Systems major Richard Arbour and Mechanical Engineering Technology major Daimon Fleming have teamed up for a concept called Sign It. The idea enables those working in high-level security industries to log on to their computers by inserting their hand in a concealed box and using sign language.
These are just a sampling of the money-making, life-changing ideas that will be put through the test at Metropolitan State College of Denver’s first Innovation Week on Auraria campus March 10 -13. The four-day event, hosted by the Center for Innovation and the Office of Student Activities, will be held in the Tivoli Student Union and St. Cajetan’s Center. Featured activities include faculty lectures, challenges and award ceremonies, speed networking, and international speakers. Sponsored by Boulder-based Aweida Venture Partners, Innovation Week is free and open to the public.
Gray, Arbour and Fleming are among five finalists chosen out of 13 entries of inventions or ideas from students at Metro State. They were selected Jan. 29 and have been working with mentors to develop prototypes and/or plans for their inventions. They will present and be judged at the Innovation Challenge Award Ceremony, Tuesday, 7-9 p.m. in Tivoli 320. First-place, second-place and third-place awards of $500, $250 and $150 will be given.
Innovation Week closes with the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (www.extremetour.org,) which brings the country's top young entrepreneurs to college campuses to spread the entrepreneurial mindset. Started in fall 2006, the tour has visited 22 schools nationwide and includes talks with four entrepreneurs who each earned $1 million before the age of 25, a Dream Action Workshop on the tools required to take ideas to reality, a speed networking event and an Extreme Entrepreneurship Panel.
Also on Thursday, OppenheimerFunds will be presenting the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards to an outstanding Metro State student and alum.
For more information on the activities for the week, visit www.MetroStateInnovate.org.To schedule an interview with the students or any of the participants of next week’s activities, please contact Angelia McGowan at 303-556-5133 or angeliam@mscd.edu.
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Metro State is a fully-accredited, four-year institution, serving more than 21,000 students. It has the second-largest undergraduate enrollment in Colorado and is one of the largest four-year public colleges in the nation. Metro State enrolls the highest number of students of color among four-year colleges in the state. It boasts 60,000 alumni, 90 percent of whom stay in Colorado after graduation. Visit Metro State at www.mscd.edu.