Tulips outside the Lory Student Center

College of Liberal Arts Spring 2021 News

News

New hours and exhibitions for the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art
Beginning May 14, GAMA will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and will stay open until 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. “Solo Sundays” will stay in effect, during which single persons, or single “pods,” may book the galleries for solitary visitation from 1 to 5 p.m.

Awards & Recognitions

CLA Faculty and Staff Awards

Faculty and staff from across the college were celebrated virtually on April 21.
Read about them and watch the award ceremony.

Celebrate! CSU Awards

Each year, the University celebrates excellence with the Celebrate! Colorado State Awards. This year, several CLA faculty, staff, and students were acknowledged.

  • Blythe LaGasse, Music Therapy
  • Fabiola Ponce Ehlers-Zavala, English and INTO CSU
  • Jason Downing, Sociology
  • Ally Murphy Pauletto (B.A., ’21; B.S., ’21)

Outstanding Grads

Alumni Stories

Former faculty member and alumnus Bob Coonts ('63) is one of the artists contributing to the Ashes to Art Project, a fundraising to support the volunteer fire departments that helped with the Cameron Peak Fire in 2020.
Jim (B.S., '72) and Christy (B.F.A., ’71; M.F.A., ’88) Martell have enriched the CSU community with their generousity and service, including creating a wood sculpture outside the Morgan Library.
Michael Henry (B.S. ’03) and Kathryn Bulger (B.A., ’06) were part of the ROTC program during their time at CSU. After leading careers in the U.S. Army, the couple hopes to settle back in Colorado when their military service has concluded.
Former CSU Chancellor Joe Blake's prominent career in Colorado business and higher education began with a degree in English literature from Dartmouth College. So it’s no surprise that Blake refers to the liberal arts as “the liberating arts.”

Giving

The endowment for the Ann Gill Faculty Development Fund, which supports faculty research and creative scholarship, reached $1M in Jan. 2021. The fundraising efforts were led by members of Great Conversations. This past year’s Great Conversations membership raised more than $64,000 for the fund. And more than $7,000 was raised by 111 donor households on CSU’s Day of Giving.

Day of Giving Collage

Recent Research & Scholarship Stories

Wicked Problems

Wicked Problems

Some may think that dealing with the “wicked problems” of our age, like climate change or world hunger, only requires technical solutions from hard sciences like engineering. We simply need to invent the next generation of low-emission vehicles and sustainable, high-yield crop strains, right?

But there is growing recognition that persistent social challenges like these are intrinsically tied to human emotions and behavior, and can be effectively addressed only by incorporating the fields of study that make up the liberal arts into the discussion. In addition to inventing technical solutions, a comprehensive approach to wicked problems requires careful consideration of human routines, beliefs and actions.

Wicked Problems Overview

Retirements

Ken Berry
Ken Berry, Department of Sociology
Kate Browne
Katherine Browne, Department of Anthropology & Geography
Scott Christensen
Scott Christensen, Deparment of Art and Art History
Debby Thompson
Debby Thompson, Department of English