Applying Learning to Life

Through internships, liberal arts students apply their learning to life and gain skills they can take into the working world after graduation.

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Dr. Long talking to a student in a classroom

Letter from the Dean: Connecting Knowledge with Career Experiences

College of Liberal Arts

Internships are one way that we teach our students to both think and do. As the 21st century progresses, both forms of knowledge are as important as ever, both to individuals and to society. 

Aerial view of the CSU campus with snow covering the tops of buildings

College of Liberal Arts Winter 2022 News

College of Liberal Arts

Read the latest news in the College of Liberal Arts, including alumni stories, research and scholarship stories, and retirement announcements.

Student associate with the Center for Public Deliberation

Alumna creates scholarship for student facilitators in public deliberation

College of Liberal Arts | Communication Studies

When Linda Cates – a two-time alumna and long-time donor – learned about the Center for Public Deliberation in 2014 she immediately wanted to support students who were learning deliberative dialogue skills – much-needed skills in today’s society. 

Suzanne Hale teaching Michelle Malenfant collections management

Collections Management – Learning the skills to package and conserve works of art

Art and Art History | The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art

Michelle Malenfant learns skills in collections management through her summer internship with the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art that she can apply to her future career at an art gallery. 

Sydney Steffen

Clinical skills and client setting: Internships launch careers in music therapy

School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Using guitar, piano, and voice talents, Sydney Steffen observed, co-treated, and led sessions with children and adults with varying intellectual and developmental disabilities for her music therapy internship. 

Joanna Mosley

Making sense of messy data sets to help Routt County economics

Economics

Joanna Mosley participates in the Economics undergraduate research internship program with faculty mentor Stephan Weiler to add information about small business in Steamboat Springs to an economic dashboard for rural Colorado counties. 

Walker Urban and Molly Moxness

BBB Ethics Scholars bring philosophical analysis to the corporate world

Philosophy

Recent alumni Walker Urban and Molly Moxness applied philosophy to business when they were Ethics Scholars interns for the Better Business Bureau in northern Colorado, helping local businesses with their application for the Torch Awards, and proving that philosophy has very tangible real-world applications. 

Classroom with empty wooden desks

Fostering a Culture of Care: Restorative Justice Education Creates Space In the Classroom

Ethnic Studies

Lula Tewolde and Olivia Lynch join Dr. Tom Cavanaugh at Restorative Justice Education to create a “culture of care” that trains educators how to foster culturally appropriate relationships and interactions built on equity with students in the classroom.

Riley Lynch planted rain gardens at nearly 20 homes across the Colorado Front Range during her CSU Extension internship

Rain Garden Summer: Sourcing plants and installing gardens with Colorado Stormwater Center

Anthropology and Geography

Riley Lynch, anthropology graduate student, worked with the Colorado Stormwater Center on the Rain Garden Pilot Program sourcing plants, communicating with residents, teaching a course, and installing the gardens with volunteers. 

Political science student Aidan Lyde interned with the Community Networks in Fire-Environment Resilience (CoNIFER) Project

Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Environmental Justice in Colorado’s Forest Landscapes

Political Science

Undergrad Aidan Lyde worked on the Community Networks in Fire-Environment Resilience (CoNIFER) Project to improve the understanding of wildfire risk mitigation planning based on wildfire protection plans in Colorado during a CSU Extension summer internship. 

Seniors Giselle Alpizar-Calixto (left) and Abi Tekeste (right) were interns with CSU Extension for the project “Spanish in Professional Environments"

Closing Language Barriers in Healthcare for Spanish Speakers

International Studies | Languages, Literatures and Cultures

For a new program called Spanish in Professional Environments, Abi Tekeste and Giselle Alpizar-Calixto use their summer internship with CSU Extension to understand the language barriers to healthcare, and to provide information and resources, in rural Colorado. 

Slavery by William Jay

Searching the Archive: Engaging History through a Social Justice Lens

English

Senior Peter Wilson prepares for graduate school by spending six months on an internship with Professor Zach Hutchins doing archival research and looking at original sources for Hutchins’ book project about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 

Addie Brian and Dale Mize

Helping Preserve the History of Routt and Grand Counties

History

Two history graduate students, Dale Mize and Addie Brian, help preserve the history of Routt and Grand Counties in the face of land development by creating oral histories of farming/ranching populations and interactive maps for the Colorado Encyclopedia through CSU Extension summer internships. 

Tobin Gold and Aubree Vecellio

Archiving 150 Years of Agriculture in the Centennial State

History

Tobin Gold documents the agricultural history of the Sterling Irrigation Company and Aubree Vecellio helps with geolocation and visualizing historic images of the Colorado River Compact for CSU Extension summer internships.

Ph.D. Candidate Joy Enyinnaya set up a kid- and family-friendly booth at El Paso’s local county fair to share what herd immunity looks like, how viruses spread, and the importance of getting vaccinated for a community’s overall well-being.

Understanding Hesitancy of Routine Vaccinations

Journalism and Media Communication

PhD student Joy Enyinnaya researches trends surrounding COVID information and vaccine hesitancy, providing education about herd immunity and documenting parents’ hesitancies about routine vaccinations in a summer CSU Extension internship in El Paso County. 

Denver Skyline

Listening to Neighbors and Documenting Change

Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts

Axel Sandoval Bravo, interdisciplinary liberal arts student, and geography professor Carrie Chennault, head to southwest Denver to record the stories of longtime residents experiencing redevelopment and gentrification in their neighborhoods. 

Communication Studies graduate students Riana Slyter, Meredith Laurel, and Cari Whittenburg

Out of the Classroom and into the Community

Communication Studies

Putting communication theory into practice, three PhD students in Communication Studies engage in Extension internships that result in a Middle Eastern cookbook, updated curricula for a local 4-H program, and increased awareness of Extension and the Colorado State Fair. 

Woman carrying a box of fresh produce in front of the Larimer County Food Bank

Building Bridges to Better Communities

Sociology

Ph.D. students Emilia Ravetta and Milagro Núñez-Solis connected food pantries with gardeners and youth with opportunities to strengthen their local communities in their CSU Extension summer internships with Grow and Give and the Family Leadership Training Institute.