communication

Recycle, reuse—rethink? How a fresh approach to storytelling could put plastics in their place

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:43:37 +0000

Recycle, reuse—rethink? How a fresh approach to storytelling could put plastics in their place Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/17/2024 - 07:43

By Joe Arney

We’re going about environmental storytelling all wrong.

When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, it became a rallying point for the nascent environmental movement—not because it was a scientific book (though it is), but because of its haunting opening pages that described a town where the birds and bees had vanished, fish were gone, fruit wouldn’t blossom, and disease ran rampant.

That scene moved people to ban pesticides and rethink humanity’s role in the larger environment. But, Phaedra C. Pezzullo said, until we figure out how to tell stories about today’s environmental crises—like plastic pollution and climate change—all we have are data that, alone, fail to move people to action.

“What many people are arguing is that the climate crisis is a crisis of imagination and of communication,” said Pezzullo, a professor of communication and media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information. “The idea is, we struggle to grapple with what is the climate—I can’t touch it, I can’t see it—so how do we tell stories that empower people, instead of only getting caught up in the data?”

Interdisciplinary insights

Pezzullo’s interdisciplinary approach to the problem of plastics—the science of microplastics permeating the human body and the way of explaining that crisis in a way that inspires people to demand action—has helped her see a need for a fresh approach to how we talk about such complex problems.

It’s partly what moved her to start a podcast series, Communicating Care, and her most recent book, Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care, which was published last year. The book has generated significant attention as the media struggles to cover the plastics problem; since the summer, it has won three significant prizes from the National Communication Association: a Diamond Anniversary Book Award, the James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address and, significantly, the Tarla Rai Peterson Book Award in Environmental Communication, named for a prolific scholar who Pezzullo met years ago at a conference.

“It’s an honor to have this book recognized and affirmed by my colleagues with expertise in environmental studies, rhetoric, and across the entire field of communication,” Pezzullo said.

In some ways, Beyond Straw Men and Pezzullo’s search for impactful storytelling is the kind of scholarly work that’s uniquely possible at a place like CMCI. The college was created to address the complex challenges of today’s interconnected world, which require interdisciplinary perspectives to effectively engage.

It’s an approach that resonates with partners outside the university. In her role as director of ��Ƶ Boulder’s graduate certificate in environmental justice, Pezzullo has been working with Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment to help update its quantitative database of communities most affected by environmental damage. Undergraduates in a new class she’s teaching, Advanced Topics in Storytelling, Culture and Climate Justice, are updating story maps to help the state assess how the message it’s spreading about climate impacts local communities.

At CMCI, expertise in ‘how to move people’

“These stories need to be assessed so they can figure out if they are empowering residents,” she said. “Are they rich enough, compelling enough, moving enough? Or did we lean too hard on data that maybe is too dense for this audience?

“And that’s why the state would love more partnerships with people in CMCI who can help them build capacity for the storytelling component, because they spend so much of their own time in the weeds. There’s a thirst for research that understands the climate science, but also brings to the conversation an appreciation for how to think about audiences, context and how to move people.”

Part of that is finding ways to avoid confining stories about topics like pollution and climate to negative headlines, disaster movies, dystopian fiction and the like.

“We’re getting to the point with climate justice where you have to change attitudes, beliefs and the culture, and that means you need a range of stories—including comedies, as my colleagues I work with across campus have shown. We have to use a whole range of human emotions to change a culture.”

It also means those stories need broad appeal, so they aren’t just preaching to the converted.

“There’s a thirst for research that understands the climate science, but also brings to the conversation an appreciation for how to think about audiences, context and how to move people.”
Phaedra C. Pezzullo, professor, communication and media studies

“The argument of folks who are working on climate storytelling in the industry is any film or media content created for the present or the future that does not have climate change as part of its backdrop should be considered fiction, because it is a part of life,” she said.

The desperation to find the right storytelling techniques for plastics is easy to see in the endless drumbeat of bad news about plastics clogging rivers, causing floods; being burned, destroying air quality; and invading our drinking water, food supply and bodies. But like all good stories featuring hardship, this one has a protagonist we can easily root for.

“What I’m interested in right now is the idea of repair,” Pezzullo said. By that, she means material repair—in May, Colorado passed its third right to repair law, empowering consumers to fix, not flush, things like broken phones—but also repairing relationships, especially in the case of well-meaning partnerships where, say, an NGO promised a solution to a plastic problem in the global south that failed.

“How do we have accountability, but also find a way to forgive people for mistakes?” she said. “It’s very challenging right now to admit that people have made mistakes, and then—if they’re willing to do the work or willing to do the repair work, forgive them.

“And, of course, how do we repair the earth? That’s the most important question to me.”

A CMCI expert’s book has won a trio of awards for its attempt to change how we think about, and tell the story of, plastics pollution.

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If it ain’t ‘woke,’ does it need fixing?

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 15:15:54 +0000

If it ain’t ‘woke,’ does it need fixing? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/14/2024 - 09:15

By Joe Arney

Does “woke” make you broke? A new book from Tim Kuhn serves as a reminder that, while we might think of corporations as single-minded entities, they are in fact messy and complex—and that messiness often is where innovation takes place.

“Corporations often deploy purpose to create order, to fight complexity, because we typically think of a good organization as being orderly,” said Kuhn, a professor of communication at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information.

“Purpose tends to be seen as this device that produces similarity, produces unity, produces a setting or a culture where everybody is on the same page. And that is a fantasy.”

So, when you see companies posting about pride or gun control, it doesn’t mean they’ve suddenly been taken over by “woke” warriors. Rather, it’s evidence of different perspectives and new avenues of thought being pursued within a larger organization. Those can produce more humane workplaces and foster innovation—which, together, can be healthy for the bottom line, Kuhn said in the book, What Do Corporations Want?: Communicative Capitalism, Corporate Purpose and a New Theory of the Firm.

Corporate purpose, Kuhn said, has often been framed as either producing profits or following principles. “Some versions of purpose can be a claim for morality, for your business to stand for more than shareholder maximization,” he said.

But believing corporations are only a single thing means “we’re missing an opportunity to understand their complexity and how they effectively serve a wide variety of purposes,” he said. “Saying that corporations just want profits, full stop, is perhaps way too simple, and does an injustice to both businesses and the good people who work in them.”

‘Dysfunction’ as a business driver

For businesses to pursue both purpose and profit—to walk and chew gum at once—is a good thing, because being open to multiple outcomes can help companies develop new lines of business. Chasing the idea that an organization must choose a single form of value often creates the dysfunctions managers think they need to neutralize.

“Purpose tends to be seen as this device that produces similarity, produces unity, produces a setting or a culture where everybody is on the same page. And that is a fantasy.”
Tim Kuhn, professor, communication

By way of example, Kuhn’s book mentions Coinbase, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. In 2020, as social tensions heated up from the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and a charged pre-election climate, CEO Brian Armstrong said there would be no political conversations permitted on workplace channels.

“And, as you can imagine, employees revolted,” Kuhn said. “Employees said, ‘This company is about shaking up the way the world works. Politics is core to who we are.’”

Coinbase offered severance to employees who left over the policy, and while the business was private at the time, making it hard to evaluate impact, Kuhn said this was an opportunity lost.

“What if you thought of strategy not as an attempt to create unity and a simple trajectory for your firm?” he said. “What if you thought of strategy as developing from the many possibilities for our future—the many voices that made up the organization? What new practices, what appeals to new audiences, might have emerged from that?”

Leaders, Kuhn said, “should be less fearful of conversations that stray from our predetermined purpose or strategy, and instead foster conversations that develop emergent, perhaps unanticipated, practices that could be considered part of our complex organization.”

Exit strategies

That sort of adaptability is crucial for corporations charged with innovating amid change and competition. Unfortunately, they don’t always get there. As part of his research, Kuhn observed a high-tech incubator in action. While the entrepreneurs housed there had big ideas about disruption, the accelerator’s model was laser-focused on exit strategies for the startups, as that’s where their money came from.

“That makes sense, in that we often think that’s the only way corporations think about value,” Kuhn said. “But as I spoke with many of these startups, they were interested in a variety of other forms of value. Many wanted to fight the corporate machine, were really interested in civic values or just wanted to do something technologically cool, whether it paid off or not.”

Instead, he said, they were pushed to sell out in ways that didn’t always make sense for the long-term viability of their companies, “and it was telling for me that there was a corporation—the accelerator— that was doing the pushing—a form of communicative capitalism that was making these nascent firms into something they didn’t want or need to be.”

The book is a collection of theoretical deep dives into how communication, purpose and authority intersect, but there are plenty of practical takeaways for leaders looking for an edge in innovation.

“Organizations are these conglomerations of humans, practices, places, things, passions, times, histories and so on,” Kuhn said. “If managers think their proclamations will directly produce the outcomes they want, they are probably not long for their positions. Because nothing is that simple.”

New research suggests communications outside of a business’ core purpose can stimulate innovation and new lines of activity.

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Demonstrative democracy: At forum, students show energy, curiosity about engaging with politics

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:32:25 +0000

Demonstrative democracy: At forum, students show energy, curiosity about engaging with politics Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/02/2024 - 15:32

By Joe Arney
Photos by Arielle Wiedenbeck

In sports, it’s often said, offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

For Cody Walizer, when it comes to politics, that’s inverted—good defense can win a debate, but it’s offense that wins elections. And that’s unusual because of how little time candidates spend on offense when they are sparring onstage.

“When someone has an opportunity to build, to go on the offense, but choose to play defense, that’s a bad sign for their position,” Walizer, an assistant teaching professor of communication in the College of Media, Communication and Information, said. “It’s also a sign maybe they’re trying to play these political games, as opposed to being a good debater.”

Walizer was one of nearly a dozen panelists speaking at a voter engagement fair put on by CMCI, ��Ƶ Student Government and the Office of the Chancellor, in association with ��Ƶ Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs. ��Ƶ 150 students attended on Tuesday night to ask questions about politics and elections, register to vote, and learn how to become involved in local elections.

Walizer was invited to participate because of his expertise in debate. He captained his high school debate team and has extensive experience coaching debaters, and said, “I can very firmly state that I have never seen a presidential or vice presidential debate that was a good debate.”

That’s because politicians rarely play offense, which Walizer described as constructing arguments and showing why your side is right. Instead, they play defense—deconstructing arguments and saying why the other side is wrong.

Three panels answered questions submitted by students ahead of time, which covered issues such as the role social media plays in political messaging, how ideology plays out with voters, and how students can involve themselves and help ensure electoral integrity.

Not taking sides

Leah Sprain, an associate professor of communication and director of the university’s Center for Communication and Democratic Engagement, co-moderated the event and frequently praised the quality of questions that students contributed.

Sprain studies democratic engagement, particularly how to support the ways people come together to make decisions on public issues—enabling participation, designing better meetings or rethinking civic norms. When she has worked to help other groups structure their meetings more effectively, she found participants may assume more knowledge about a particular issue than they actually possess.

“They wanted to hear more about how this election would have consequences throughout their lives,” Sprain said. “They were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.”

Of nearly 200 student registrants, dozens submitted questions, “which is a proportion of interest you don’t typically see, especially when some people are registering for things like extra course credit.”

Some of the liveliest discussion concerned social media’s capacity for good and harm, through generative artificial intelligence, advertising and the like. Sandra Ristovska, associate professor of media studies, and Alex Siegel, associate professor of political science, said elections have always been shaped by new technologies. Siegel said the railroad and telegraph helped create a national audience for Abraham Lincoln by offering more timely coverage of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

“They were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.”
Leah Sprain, associate professor, communication

Bogus content isn’t new, Ristovska said, and recent research suggests we’re good at not letting it influence how we vote, but in India’s elections earlier this year, “deepfakes did contribute to sexual harassment of women, the intimidation of journalists and the intimidation of human rights activists in the country,” she said. “We need to be paying more attention to those things.”

Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor of political science, talked about an essay she has students write at the start of her undergraduate course on modern ideologies. Each student describes his or her ideology; she consistently finds students support a mix of free-market economics and social justice issues, like reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights.

That’s not a coalition you typically see in the United States, she said, as those issues are claimed, respectively, by the right and left of the spectrum. Ferguson said she’s intrigued by Vice President Kamala Harris’ attempt to signal support for both camps “as a way to peel away voters who would otherwise sit out elections or vote Republican.”

“It’s really exciting to me to see her doing the very thing that my class exercise would tell you is the strategy to win an election in the United States.”

Other presenters included Chuck Plunkett, director of ��Ƶ News Corps; Toby Hopp, associate professor of advertising; Patrick Deneen, a visiting scholar at the university’s Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization; Molly Fitzpatrick (PolSci’11), Boulder County clerk; and junior Grace Covney, a tri-executive with ��Ƶ Student Government.

Learning to lead through government

Tyler Rowan, another ��ƵSG tri-executive and a junior studying international affairs, said he hoped the energy of the room translated into active participants in the election.

He got into student government not for partisan reasons, he said, but because “I wanted to make the most out of school and learn how to lead. Student government has taught me that—it’s taken a majority of my time, but I’m very passionate about it and it’s the best decision I ever made.”

That youthful energy was exciting for Walizer to see, as well.

“The emotional intelligence students need to have to be asking things about how do I engage in politics in a way that’s healthy, how do I have conversations with my roommates in a way that’s respectful—those are not things I’ve seen asked in a situation like this before,” he said.

In addition to being open to all ��Ƶ Boulder students, the discussion was livestreamed to audiences at Colorado Mesa University, in Grand Junction, and Fort Lewis College, in Durango. It was followed by a live viewing of the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz.

Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI, kicked off the event by encouraging students to seek out difficult conversations as a way to learn and grow.

“On our campus, we really are in a place where difficult conversations can and should occur,” Bergen said. “When we approach those with courage and curiosity and care and consistency, that’s when learning and growth and progress really happen.”

CMCI faculty panelists praised students for raising thoughtful, serious, nonpartisan questions about how to be active citizens.

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We’re not going to agree. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 15:22:24 +0000

We’re not going to agree. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/19/2024 - 09:22

By Joe Arney

How do you get that neighbor, relative or coworker to change their mind about abortion, gun control or immigration?

You won’t. And Matthew Koschmann wishes you’d stop trying.

The associate professor of communication at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information said our personal experiences should have taught us by now that those who don’t agree with us won’t be swayed by us correcting the information that’s led them to their beliefs.

“If anything, it’s the opposite,” Koschmann said. “We live in a very information rich—if not gluttonous—environment, and more information does not necessarily make us change our minds. … Most of us don’t say, ‘Oh, thank you for correcting me on my assumptions about the world.’”

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk to each other, a theme Koschmann returned to during Monday’s Difficult Dialogues series hosted by the university’s Center for Humanities & the Arts. He was part of a panel examining political polarization and how to stay good neighbors at a time of deep division in the United States.

“If you can’t talk about something, you can’t fix it,” said Jennifer Ho, director of the center, in opening the discussion. “So, how do we find a way forward—how do we stay good neighbors, no matter what results happen in November or in January?”

Polarization and the press

“If we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us—which is very difficult.”
Angie Chuang, associate professor, journalism

The panel also featured Angie Chuang, an associate professor of journalism at CMCI and a former journalist whose research looks at race and identity, especially as presented by the media.

“The news media is part of the problem,” she said. “It informs people, and creates this rich source of information, but it oftentimes polarizes people.”

It’s a problem that’s arguably gotten worse in the digital age, as the number of publications and platforms has mushroomed. Instead of the mid-19th century penny presses, clickbait proliferates through alternative news sites.

“The news media is not there to improve our national dialog or improve our nuanced understanding,” Chuang said. “There are individual journalists who are trying really hard, and there are organizations trying to fight this—but as a marketplace, it is trying to get advertising money. Understand that, and you become a savvier media consumer.”

Chuang and Koschmann were joined on the panel by Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, as well as moderator Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor in the university’s department of political science.

If you’ve tried to have conversations with people who don’t share your views, you know how difficult the proposition can be. Chuang said our social identities—race, gender, sexuality, religion and others—are seen as essential to who we are, so when that becomes the topic, discussion quickly veers off course.

“If I were to say, ‘Michelle, your views on the economy and foreign trade are just totally ignorant, and I can’t even understand why you think the way you do,’” Chuang said to Ferguson, “it comes off differently than if I say, ‘Michelle your views on race are completely ignorant.’

“If I say, tell me your experience based on your identities, that is a different conversation than, ‘Why is your position on policing or affirmative action the way it is?’ If we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us—which is very difficult.”

Defusing disagreements

As the mayor of a city with a well-publicized progressive bent, you might expect Brockett’s days are spent on friendly territory, but spoke about the difficult conversations he’s had with residents on any number of issues. He defuses such situations by offering to learn about how the other person formed their viewpoint, and sharing materials that demonstrate where he’s coming from.

It doesn’t always work, he said. Once, he sent a peer-reviewed paper to a resident to shine light on an issue, which she countered by sending a thesis proposal from a master’s student that she found online.

“On almost any topic, you can find something to support a position, any position, somewhere on the internet,” Brockett said. Online, he said, “many of us are accustomed to getting feedback loop, hearing the same viewpoints over and over again—and then it becomes inconceivable to you how other people might think something different.”

The panelists agreed that those difficult conversations are worth having because when you find a moment of connection, it’s authentic and validating. Just don’t go in expecting to bring people around to your ideological corner.

“If you are interested in being influential and persuasive in implementing change in your community, the most effective thing you can do is not explicitly try to change people’s minds,” Koschmann said. “Try to live a beautiful life of human flourishing, that is attractive and winsome, that draws people to you—and then people say, ‘What’s going on, tell me more about your interests and why you’re happy.’”

Two CMCI professors took part in a community roundtable to explore how we can stay good neighbors amid intense polarization.

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Class acts: CMCI’s new faculty bring new ideas on A.I., identity, culture to Boulder

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:16:32 +0000

Class acts: CMCI’s new faculty bring new ideas on A.I., identity, culture to Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/22/2024 - 14:16

By Joe Arney
Photo by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm'18)

When asked why they choose the University of Colorado Boulder, students and faculty alike tend to cite its location, along with academic prestige, research successes and access to opportunity.

That was a big draw for Joe Izaguirre III, as well. But it wasn’t the mountains he had in mind when he signed on as an assistant professor of communication at the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Izaguirre studies how political power influences Latin identities from the lens of public rhetoric and rhetorical histories. Plenty of the source material for his book includes texts produced by activists who lived in the Colorado area.

“I hadn’t thought of this, but I’ll be able to hand-deliver the book to families who participated, instead of just dropping it in the mail,” he said. “It feels like an opportunity to have a more personal connection to the things I’ve been studying.”

Izaguirre is among the seven new tenure-track faculty joining CMCI this fall. The college also is welcoming seven nontenure-track faculty, including new appointments for professors who previously held different roles.

“I’m so excited to welcome our new faculty to CMCI,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college. “As the media, communication, design and information landscape continues to dramatically change, the new perspectives these professors bring will ensure our students get a cutting-edge, immediately applicable education.”

“It was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating.”
Dinfin K. Mulupi, assistant professor, journalism

Design thinking

For the first time, this year’s incoming cohort includes faculty from the environmental design program, which formally integrated with CMCI over the summer. Though there are no changes for current students, faculty in the program are enthusiastic about the chance to collaborate with colleagues eager to explore new applications for their work.

Martín Paddack, a teaching associate professor who joins CMCI and ENVD following seven years at Howard University, has a wealth of interests around architecture and sustainability, including participatory design—“understanding how we identify where there is need and trying to create connections with community for design.”

“I always try to inculcate into students that it’s not about coming up with an idea and saying, here’s the answer,” said Paddack, who also is founder and principal of the Washington, D.C.-based DesignMAP firm. “It comes down to communication—asking the right questions and really listening so you can identify where the needs are. If you are prescriptive, and don’t listen to your community, that’s when design starts to fail.”

Paddack brings a diverse set of interests—architecture, sustainability, social responsibility, writing, painting, woodworking—to the classroom, as well as a global perspective: He was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Peru and Uruguay before moving to D.C. as a boy. He also taught in South America and completed a painting residency in Barcelona. He helped set up a fabrication lab at Howard to ensure students developed both practical architecture experience.

“That’s something I really like about environmental design at ��Ƶ—the focus on how we can apply sustainable principles across four different areas, and an emphasis on doing hands-on fabrication so that students learn the theory, but also how to apply it,” he said.

‘Great experience’ connecting with students

Most new faculty who join CMCI say they feel an instant rapport with professors in their departments, which makes the college feel like home well before they start. That was true for Dinfin K. Mulupi, as well, but she felt an equally strong connection to the journalism students she taught as part of the interview process.

“I was fascinated by their interest in learning the research behind journalism practices,” said Mulupi, a native of Kenya who came to CMCI via the PhD program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

A discussion she led critiquing news coverage of immigration, Mulupi said, sparked so much insightful discussion that she felt bad moving on to the next topic.

“It was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating,” she said. “When you’re a professor, you are creating knowledge with your students, and they were so attentive and involved that I know it will be a privilege to teach them.”

Mulupi’s research looks at sexism and sexual harassment in newsrooms, and came from working on her thesis as the #MeToo movement gained momentum. She was among the first scholars to explore the topic in Kenyan newsrooms; her work has since expanded to more than 20 countries.

It’s an important topic at a time when the news industry is contracting, as “when you have a newsroom culture with sexism, harassment, racism and bigotry, you lose talented journalists who don’t feel safe and included,” she said. “I am also focusing on solutions, especially exploring how we can build safer, more inclusive newsrooms that produce news content that serves the diverse needs and interests of a wider audience.”

Pooja Iyer, who joined CMCI from the University of Texas Austin, where she completed her doctoral work in the spring. She’s also doing timely work, researching the ethics around how advertising firms collect and use data in the course of connecting to consumers.

“In my industry days, I realized my own cognitive dissonance—asking how granular we could get on a target audience while having ad blockers on my computer,” said Iyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design. “I believe the advertising world can play a more ethical role in how and why they’re using data, and how they’re protecting customers—because there isn’t enough literacy around this.”

It’s something her student will need to consider as they graduate, she said.

“Whether you’re in creative, account management, media planning, it doesn’t matter—you will be working with data,” Iyer said. “So, how can we best empower you to be ethical about the use of that data? As educators, that really needs to be front and center for our students.”

Incoming professors bring an interest in cutting-edge topics at a time when the media landscape is undergoing dramatic change.

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Class of 2024: Inspired by our graduates

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 21:05:01 +0000

Class of 2024: Inspired by our graduates Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/12/2024 - 15:05

The Class of 2024 overcame unique challenges when they arrived in Boulder. In this issue, we celebrate their successes.

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Announcing the spring 2024 dean's list

Anonymous — Fri, 24 May 2024 21:27:13 +0000

Announcing the spring 2024 dean's list Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/24/2024 - 15:27

CMCI students who have completed at least 12 credit hours of ��Ƶ Boulder course work for a letter grade in any single semester and achieve a term grade point average of 3.75 or better are included on the dean’s list. They receive a notation on their transcript and a letter from CMCI Founding Dean Lori Bergen. Congratulations to all honorees!

Matt Abatangle
Alysia Abbas
Alyssa Abbate
Kristin Adams
Simrita Advani
Sana AlJobory
Sophie Allaway
Kay Louise Altshuler
Jessica Amend
Lisa An
Alexandra Anaya
Bridgette Anderson
Josh Archie
CJ Armitage
Bella Arney
Cole Arnot
Zion Atwater
Keara Aughney
Brooke Aulerich
Lisbeth Avalos-Parra
Niles Ayer
Mason Bailey
Meredith Baker
Noa Baker-Durante
Kathryn Ballode
Emilie Barbattini
Blake Barnes
Emily Barnes
Emalee Barr
Emma Barry
Jenna Barsocchini
Maddy Barth
Ellena Bassoukos
Taylor Beamer
Kayla Beebower
Haya Ben Essa
Jane Bengston
Eddie Benjamin
Charlie Bennett
Kayla Bennett
Madelyn Bennett
Aspen Christina Bentley
Tommy Berman
Tony Beum
Adrianna Bhan
Teak Biaggi
Tommy Bittner
Logan Blackburn
Grace Blitz
Jess Boehner
Cassidy Boldvich
Patrick Boley
Anvitha Bompalli
Elena Bonner
Brooke Bonynge
Sophia Books
Jack Boruchov
Abby Boutrous
Grant Bowditch
Elijah Boykoff
Marisa Bracke
Ben Brechtel
Beth Brechtel
Hannah Brennan
Audrey Brice
Bailey Brown
Courtney Brown
Benjamin Browning
McKenna Bryant
Renee Buchenroth
Mia Buchholz
Annilise Burgess
Eric Burns
Grace Burns
Parker Burt
Gabbie Burton
Madeline Byerly
Noelia Caballero
Cam Cahoon
Victoria Calton
Isabelle Calvanese
Lourdes Camarillo
Mackenzie Campbell
Bianca Cano
Alyx Carifa
Sarah Carleo
Jessie Carlin
Mitchell Carswell
Quinn Cassell
Mia Castro
Sofia Cecchini
Zachary Chagnon
Natanya Chatfield
Ryan Chilson
Rachel Choi
Matthew Cicero
Emma Clary
Emme Clymer
Raphael Coelho
MacKenzie Cole
Sydney Coleman
Sophia Collins
Natalie Coniglio
Gabriella Connell
Scott Connor
Olivia Conrad
Breah Conradson
Diego Cordero
Kyndal Corkins
Ainsley Cox
Lily Cox
Bailey Craig
Elise Crall
Curtis Croll
Gavin Crowson
Charlotte Croy
Eryn Cryer
Kat Culpepper
Lilly Curry
Liz Cutting
Ella Elisabeth D'Orazio
Lacey Daniell
Hannah David
Katherine Davis
Sasha Davison
Alex DeMartine
Madison DeSimone
Eric Deuchar
Kelley Deveny
Zach Dial
Jacob Dilling
Jack Dobson
Campbell Dokken
Connie Dolati
Ally Doll
Lexi Dolsak
Reeve Donner
Sydney Dossa
Wylie Douglas
Daniel Doupe
Averie Dow
Lucas Drager
Noah Drewes
Michael Drozd
Paris Dunlavey
Hannah Duthie
Ansley Edelbrock
Lily Edwards
Camryn Eickenberg
Jenny Ellis
Josie Elowsky
Lucy Esquivel
Lily Estes
Jack Evans
Morgan Evans
Elena Exenberger
Conor Farah
Gavin Faulkner
Trent Finnegan
Elena Fisher
Alexys Fitz
Max Fitzloff
Daisy Flakus
Lily Fletcher
Katie Ford
Emma Fraser
Lyla Fruehstorfer
Alexia Funk
Roxy Fusco
Evanie Gamble
Bailee Gammel
Ruby Gara
Katelyn Gardner
Stephanie Gauval
Nicole Geary
Audrey Geer
Kiara Gelbman
Piper George
Ellie Gianola
Bobby Gibbons
Tegan Gie
Lauren Gillespie
Ryan Giordano
Gianna Girardi
Lily Goldstein
Max Gong
Lauren Gooding
Maxx Goodman
Richard Gorman
Ashley Gosch
Cj Grandi
Lilly Gray
Mia Graziano
McKenna Green
Eli Gregorski
Satori Griffith
Will Griffiths
Sarah Grim
Eli Grimm
Will Guanci
Jack Guerena
Beth Gurgel
Nate Habteyonas
Victoria Hall
Hannah Hamilton
Norah Hampford
Nate Hankins
Zoë Hannan
J.T. Harland
Wilson Harper
Maeve Harrington
Ella Harris
Sabrina Harris
Alex Hartman
Nick Haseman
Wessam Hassan
Oda Haugen
Sophie Hayes
Madison Hays
Stevie Hemans
Will Henrickson
Kate Herigon
Amanda Hetland
Shannon Ho
Sophie Hodgson
Hannah Hoffman
Jason Hoffman
Will Holmsen
Tatum Hood
Taylar Houck
Donavon Houston
Owen Houtakker
Jordan Houten
Caleb Hoversten
Ava Howe
Samantha Hruska
Mary Ryan Huerter
Wyatt Humble
Eric Huynh
Reese Illston
Jacob Ivener
Lauryn Iverson
Caroline Jackson
Anna Jacob
Max Jacobs
Reed Jacobs
Bri Jaramillo
Hannah Jemsek
Alana Jenks
Aaron Jensen
Keely Jester
Sofie Jimenez
Mia Jochamowitz-Endersby Chikhani
Andy Johnson
Hayley Johnson
Nick Johnson
Skye Johnson
Liv Johnstad
Neda Jonaitis
Eve Jones
Gianna Jordon
Marina Juboori
Max Julian
Lizzie Kalt
Chase Kanger
Jake Karp
Bailey Karraker
Peri Kay
Rhett Kaya
Grace Keating
Emily Keely
Samantha Keenan
Tre Kelly
Charlotte Kendall
Rowen Kennedy
John Kerklo
Jordan Kesner
Josh Kesner
Amy Kibort
Samson Kidane
James Kim
MacKenzie Kim
Julia Grace Kirk
Marin Kirkman
Ian Kligora
Ava Knopping
Mack Kolligian
Rian Korb
Frankie Kramer
Riley Krane
Ella Krelovich
Katie Krochalis
Oona Krukowski
Samuel Kurtz
David LaPaglia
Amy Labontu
Ruby Laemmel
Ella Landry
Sophia Landry
Luca Langella
Sarah Lawrence
Connor Leach
Juliette Leclercq
Emma Leek
Nicholas Leen
Claire Lemel
Bella Leon
Ava Leonard
Jake Levin
Taylor Levine
Claire Levitt
Jackson Lewis
Sydney Liebhauser
Kara Liguori
Keanna Limes
Kya Lini
Chris Lloyd
Leif Lomo
Kate Long
Skyler B. Longerbone
Courtney Loomis
Lauren Lopez
Linus Loughry
Janie Ludington
Julia Lyons
Julia Maclean
Emelia Mantz
Sophia Marshek
Jillian Martellaro
Stella Martens
Jackson Martin
Kendall Martin
Paula Martinez
Sofia Massignani
Jake May
Ainsley McComb
Maddy McManus
Shen Mcconnell
Monday Mccue
Katie Mcdonald
Quinn Mcdonough
Tanner Mcintosh
Emori Mcquigg
Sam Meldner
Alex Melvin
Gabby Mendoza
Courtney Mercer
Lindsay Mescall
Elena Mesker
Jackson Meyer
Olivia Meyers
Zoe Michael
Kristee Mikulski
Creed Miller
Hannah Miller
Mayce Miller
Ally Milton
Hallie Mitchell
Macy Mohlenkamp
Camryn Montgomery
Lilli Moon
Jack Mooney
Emily Moore
Nick Morrell
Carter Morris
Catherine Morse
Madison Moss
Emma Mostello
Hope Munoz-Stanley
Mackie Munsey
Brad Munson
Clare Murphy
Rue Murray
Jacob Myers
Liv Myers
Nick Myers
Sydney Myrick
Justin Naidrich
Aahana Nandy
Katharine Nanke
Henry Napientek
Becca Napier
Presley Nemecek
Hailey Newsum
Christine Nguyen
Sophia Nicolai
Dahlia Nin
Ella O'Brien
Maggie O'Brien
Rory O'Flynn
Naomi Ogren
Ivonne Olivas
Olivia Olshever
Karina Opalski
Annika Ort
Max Osterman
Alina Ouligian
Logan Paddock
Carmen Palmblad
Hazel Palmer
Aly Pardo
Emily Parker
Owen Passmore
Frankie Patton
Maya Paustenbaugh
Cate Pavolonis
Jaclyn Pereira
Bianca Perez
Amy Phillips
Rachel Pilik
Macy Place
Alex Plaut
Katharine Polep-Sawyer
Luca Pollara
Oliver Pollock
Elizabeth Pond
Kendall Poppie
Abbey Posey
Ellen Possehl
Bradley Pratt
Grace Ptak
Noor Rajpal
Mia Ramundo
Marissa Rauzi
Huston Rawls
Kuba Raymond
Jack Remington
Ella Revivo
Maddy Reynolds
Saxon Rhodes
Shaela Rhodes
Evan Jeffery Rice
Brooke Richards
Tessa Rieger
Kevin Rios
Rida Fatima Rizvi
Michael Robinson
Jaeda Rodriguez
Audrey Rolstad
Justice Rosen
Eli Rosenthal
Josh Rouland
Liam Rude
Bella Rulon
Reagan Russell
Sam Russo
Emme Rutherford
Kyle Ryan
Luke Ryan
Tanvi Sabharwal
Jessica Sachs
Joaquin Salinas
Luke Samiee
Eli Sanders
Annika Sandquist
Olivia Santangelo
Lydia Sarbacker
Emily Savitz
Maddie Schaaf
Jackson Schalow
Logan Schaper
Lucas Schiffman
Sophie Schnoll
Jaimie Schoenke
Tyler Scholl
Sydney Schrader
Emerson Schroeder
Erin Schwaninger
Andrew Schwartz
Rachel Scott
Olivia Scussel
Mayla Seliskar
Iris Serrano
Julia Sharkowicz
Shubham Sharma
Hannah Shaw
Jenna Shenbaum
Lindsay Shermeta
Amanda Sherter
Anika Siethoff
Olin Silverman
Aidan Sloan
Chloe Smith
Kyle Smith
Lucy Snow
Matt Solari
Lainey Sparks
Jaiden Spence
Jessie Spires
Matthew Spivack
Jacob Stanich
Lola Stanley
Ashlin Stasswender Swasey
Alexander Stein
Jack Stein
Braden Stirrett
Ava Stoller
Mary Strasser
Lucy Suja
Daniel Sullivan
Ben Sutter
Alec Sutula
Nic Tamayo
Sarah Taylor
Sage Thompson
Grace Thorburn
Julia Thorne
Leslie Tingley
Clio Torrance
Eliza Travelstead
Elizabeth Travia
Lauren Tucker
Taylor Tucker
Caroline Tuffy
Jazzy Tung
Ella Turgeon
Nolan Urgo
Jade Valentino
Jill Vallance
Karina Van Den Eeden
Celia Vargas
Alexia Vasilopoulos
Wyatt Vattano
Sally Vaughan
Branden Veale
Téa Villarreal
Lea Wadhams
Kylie Wagner
Jada Walker
Liam Walsh
Jessica Wang
Cameron Warchuck
Emma Ward
Luke Watson
Liam Watters
Anna Wert
Ally Whaley
Hayden Whitcomb
Emma White
Ella Whittall
Mark Whooley
Riley Wiener
Owen Wiggans
Jackson Williams
Rhys Williams
Nick Wilson
Holly Wininger
Emma Winkelbauer
Halle Wist
Trent Wobschall
James Wongsudin
Lily Wright
Sidney Yarnall
Chloe Yearous
Bradyn Yonaha
Elliot Young
Kristen Young
Lily Young-Stallings
Hannah Zafrani
Arwyn Zaleski
Emma Zande
John Zehner
Frank Zhang
Matt Zimmermann
Rachel Zing
Jack Ziporin
Cole Zucker

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Class of 2024: William W. White Honorees

Anonymous — Sun, 05 May 2024 07:28:09 +0000

Class of 2024: William W. White Honorees Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/05/2024 - 01:28

William W. White Outstanding Seniors are chosen by department faculty to recognize academic merit, professional achievement and service to the college. The Outstanding Graduate award honors the CMCI student with the highest overall GPA in their graduating class.

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Class of 2024: Bianca Perez

Anonymous — Thu, 02 May 2024 06:42:01 +0000

Class of 2024: Bianca Perez Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/02/2024 - 00:42

A CMCI graduate’s working-class upbringing has given her a unique perspective on tech, wage theft and exploitation, which she’s bringing to an Ivy League doctoral program.

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ImpacTED: How a signature CMCI event creates meaning for careers, community

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 20:32:08 +0000

ImpacTED: How a signature CMCI event creates meaning for careers, community Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/29/2024 - 13:32

Strategic communication senior Lillian Wentworth has been part of the team breathing new life into TEDx��Ƶ.

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