Grantee Stories

Taking the Bard "Down Under"

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 18:01:15 +0000

Taking the Bard "Down Under" Arielle Wiedenbeck Tue, 12/09/2025 - 11:01

Gretchen Minekime

Amanda Giguere, Colorado Shakespeare Festival Director of Outreach, recently traveled to Australia as a featured guest of the Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative at the University of Melbourne. Giguere was invited to share research about the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program (a collaboration between the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF), the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, and the Department of Theatre and Dance), and to discuss her new book: Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators (University Press of Colorado, 2025).

During her week in Australia, Giguere delivered an interactive keynote, featuring professional actors from Melbourne, participated in a documentary video series, On Humanities, and conducted training sessions at the University of Melbourne and at Bell Shakespeare (Australia’s leading Shakespeare theatre). While in Sydney, Giguere met with Bell Shakespeare leadership about CSF’s innovative project, and hopes that the work which originated at CU ��ý�� can impact people in Australia.

“I wrote the book about Shakespeare & Violence Prevention so other educators could learn from what we’ve done here in Colorado,” said Giguere. “It’s so inspiring to hear, when I share this work with people outside of Colorado, that it resonates with others in meaningful ways.”

For more information about Giguere’s new book: https://upcolorado.com/university-of-wyoming-press/item/6749-shakespeare-violence-prevention

For more information about the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program, currently touring Colorado’s K-12 schools: https://cupresents.org/performance/10050/shakespeare/csf-schools/

Amanda Giguere, Colorado Shakespeare Festival Director of Outreach, recently traveled to Australia as a featured guest of the University of Melbourne to share research about the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program.

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We are Water: How a Colorado Community is Reimagining its Relationship with Water

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 22:15:47 +0000

We are Water: How a Colorado Community is Reimagining its Relationship with Water Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 12/08/2025 - 15:15

Elle Moscinski

For so many of us, when we turn on the faucet to our sink or shower, fresh, potable water comes out. We might take it for granted, and we rely on it deeply for drinking, cooking, washing, and sustaining our daily routines. Maybe we don’t question whether it will run out or, often, where it comes from. Water is one of the most critical resources for life, but for many in the Four Corners – the region where NM, CO, AZ, and UT meet – it is not a guaranteed resource. Access varies widely, and the realities of drought, agriculture and infrastructure shape how communities live.

A new exhibit devoted to water issues recently opened at the Alamosa Public Library in Southwestern Colorado. Tory Nau, program manager of We are Water, facilitated the co-creation of the exhibit with Alamosa community members. We are Water is a National Science Foundation funded education project within the Center for Education, Engagement, and Evaluation (CEEE) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) and a grant recipient of CU ��ý��’s Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship. The project focuses on place-based education and storytelling to bring together multi-generational audiences to learn and share about water in their community. It encourages people to explore the past, present and future of their water and to bring their own experiences and cultural perspectives to the conversation.

Previously, We are Water used a traveling exhibit to visit rural libraries in the Four Corners Region. Now, the project focuses on co-creating community exhibits that will be permanently installed in communities, like the one in Alamosa. This bilingual exhibit is comprised of two parts, an interactive 3D printed topographic model of the Rio Grande Watershed that features various water locations and an interactive informational wall display. CU ��ý�� students built the exhibit, which showcases the work of local artists Jocelyn Catterson and Ryan Michelle Scavo.

With Alamosa’s permanent exhibit, residents will be able to return and keep learning about water in the San Luis Valley. The We are Water team hopes to raise awareness of water as a more critical, complex subject and to get people thinking about their water sources. For example, aquifers are often depicted online as underground lakes. However, they are actually made up from many pockets of water covered in rocks, sand and gravel and are not constantly accessible bodies of water.

The installation is the result of a collaborative effort between We are Water and local libraries, researchers, artists and Alamosa community members. Creating the exhibit started with a large listening session, supported by the library with hopes of reaching a variety of voices in the community. Participants discussed their questions, concerns and hopes for water in their community.

“Our approach with this project wasn’t to come in and educate people about water policy,” said Nau. “It was more about creating a space for people to come together to connect and share stories, perspectives, and experiences about water.”

The project merges art and science, Western and Indigenous worldviews, university researchers and local libraries and formal and informal education—an approach that creates accessible spaces where community member’s stories are shared and recorded, and people learn together in everyday settings.

“I think [informal learning] is very powerful,” said Nau. “Learning can happen anywhere, and some of the best learning happens outside of a classroom. And, I say that as a teacher.”

Issues of water are complex and critical. Water sustains every living thing, yet water policy is challenging when some communities face shrinking supplies, competing uses or changes caused by invasive species and drought. Some communities in the Four Corners Region do not have access to running water. Additionally, cultural perspectives on water vary. By using storytelling, We are Water’s approach encourages people to share personal experiences, listen to one another’s histories and understand how others see valuable natural resources.

Nau hopes that audiences take away curiosity and awareness about water. She hopes that people will begin to think critically about where their water comes from—the journey from source to tap. She hopes that people will make broader connections to climate change, the needs of their communities and all the ways in which we are connected by water.

A new exhibit from We Are Water at the Alamosa Public Library focuses on place-based education and storytelling to bring together multi-generational audiences to learn and share about water in their community.

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Shakespeare & Violence Prevention Program in Southeast Colorado

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 20:55:21 +0000

Shakespeare & Violence Prevention Program in Southeast Colorado Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 11/19/2025 - 13:55

Amanda Giguere

The Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program (SVP), a collaboration with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF), CU Theatre & Dance, and the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, pairs Shakespeare’s plays with violence-prevention research. Since 2011, SVP has reached more than 140,000 K-12 students. Its methods are outlined in a new book: Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators.

This year, the SVP troupe is performing The Tempest and Hamlet in schools across Colorado. The team recently completed a two-day residency in Southeast Colorado. SVP actors were accompanied by Professor Kevin Rich, director of the abridged Hamlet, and CSF Director of Outreach Amanda Giguere, author of Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators. The actors performed for 410 students, bused in from six schools across three counties (Bent, Las Animas, and Otero). Prior to the visit, the SVP team trained Otero College professors and students online in workshop facilitation. During the residency, SVP actors and Otero College facilitators led breakout sessions connecting the plays to contemporary violence.

Additionally, Rich trained local teachers in Applied Shakespeare, exploring how Shakespeare’s plays resonate with contemporary issues. A free public performance of Hamlet concluded with a discussion featuring a representative from Colorado’s Office of School Safety, alongside Rich, Giguere and the actors.

“This recent visit to La Junta was a powerful reminder of how learning can be engaging, lively and fun,” said Giguere. “Our professional actors worked alongside Otero students, CU faculty, and K-12 students and teachers to share the power of live theatre. It was inspiring to see people collaborate and use the arts to connect our communities.”

This visit was funded by CU’s President’s Fund for the Humanities. The 2025-26 SVP program is also funded in part by PACES, ��ý�� Arts Commission, Kahn Family Teaming Fund, RIO Arts & Humanities Grant, school fees and individual donations to the CSF Education Endowment and the CSF Education Fund. To request the program in your community, visit here.

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CU ��ý�� professor develops more accessible way for families to experience planetarium shows

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 18:14:15 +0000

CU ��ý�� professor develops more accessible way for families to experience planetarium shows Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 10/30/2025 - 12:14

Elle Moscinski

Fiske Planetarium at the ��ý�� has begun hosting special events catering to families with young children who have sensory needs. Dubbed Sensory-Friendly Sundays, those attending will find staff passing out blankets and headphones, kids clutching stuffed animals, interactive exhibits, and a relaxed, welcoming environment. The adapted show format provides an accessible space for kids to learn more about the universe and their place within it.

Professor Ann-Marie Madigan, associate professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the ��ý��, is the program’s creator. Her expertise is with gravitational dynamics, including the motions of stars around supermassive black holes, and planets orbiting white dwarfs. Madigan first found inspiration for the program at the World of Wonder Museum in Lafayette, CO. She noticed how beneficial and comfortable their monthly sensory-friendly day was for her young daughter.

“I really appreciated those events, and my daughter really enjoyed them,” said Madigan. “I wondered how to bring something similar to the greater ��ý�� community, and I thought it would be really nice to combine my day job as an astronomer with something I really appreciate in my outside life.”

Sensory-Friendly Sundays first started in fall of 2024 with a grant from the Office of Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES). Two pilot events were hosted with overwhelming success—immediately exceeding the registration cap of 100 people. This semester, a second more substantial grant is enabling monthly events and a broader audience, reaching children ages 3 to 12.

Typical planetarium shows can sometimes be overwhelming or stressful. The planetarium dome can have loud, startling noises or explosive light displays. Some families may not feel comfortable bringing their kids for fear of the experience being too dysregulating and intense. Sensory-Friendly Sundays are designed to provide a safe space for kids where they can be especially supported and can calm down in a quiet environment.

Fiske’s house rules are more relaxed on Sensory-Friendly Sundays; the planetarium dome always has open doors so families and kids can come and go as needed if they become overwhelmed. Madigan also noted how stressful it can be for parents to worry about their children being disruptive. Often, if parents fear that they won’t be able to stay the entire time, they will not come at all, because they don’t wish to interrupt the show. Having open doors helps to alleviate those worries.

In addition, Sensory-Friendly Sundays offer support through staffing and equipment. The program provides trained onsite support from student volunteers from the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic, as well as professional therapists. Fiske staff members have been educated about neurodiversity and sensory overwhelm and coached how to engage appropriately with kids who may have special needs. Inside the dome, the lights are not completely dimmed, and the noise level is lowered. There are materials to help kids remain calm and engaged: tables with crafts, a gravity floor, and lots of textured materials meant to be touched, such as a large 3D model of the lunar surface. Noise-cancelling headphones, blankets and stuffed animals are available to check out.

As the program has evolved, so have the activities inside the dome. CU ��ý�� undergraduate Hunter Pratt led a dome activity exploring how light interacts with color and how both animals and astronomers see the universe in different wavelengths.

To run this program effectively, Madigan reached out to the Fiske Planetarium staff, including the director, Professor John Keller. She worked with the Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic and sought feedback from members of the Autism Society of ��ý�� County. It was tough logistically; for example, making sure all the therapists were properly compensated and that there were enough volunteers.

“It was a little scary to open the doors for the first time,” said Madigan. “But, after the first event, everything was more relaxed ... because all we’re doing here is making this space much more available and accessible, for free, for families with kids who have sensory processing disorders, and they really loved it.”

Madigan is delighted that this program will be an ongoing, supportive event for the broader ��ý�� community. So far, her favorite part is getting to see kids run around as their authentic selves and be excited about space. Sensory-Friendly Sundays will hopefully continue to serve families and connect them with astronomy.

“Astronomy is special, because it is so fundamental and meaningful. It’s about what we are doing here and how it all came to be,” shared Madigan. "Kids are fascinated with space, planets and black holes. It feels right to make sure that all kids can actually engage with it.”

Learn more about Sensory Sundays on Fiske’s Planetarium’s website.

Designed in collaboration with the Autism Society of ��ý�� County, Fiske Planetarium hosts a monthly series of free sensory-friendly experiences intended for children with autism spectrum and sensory processing disorders.

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Lights! Camera! Action! Cherry Yogurt!

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 21:52:36 +0000

Lights! Camera! Action! Cherry Yogurt! Arielle Wiedenbeck Tue, 10/07/2025 - 15:52

Aspiring filmmaker and CU ��ý�� senior Francesca Hiatt’s short film, Cherry Yogurt, relies on subtlety to touch on grief and support, viewed through children’s eyes

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SCENIC Expands Rural Impact at Trinidad Water Festival

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:00:00 +0000

SCENIC Expands Rural Impact at Trinidad Water Festival Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 08/28/2025 - 07:00

Arielle Wiedenbeck

Last May, CU ��ý��’s Science‑Engineering Inquiry Collaborative in Rural Colorado (SCENIC) program brought its hands‑on, inquiry‑based science programming to the Trinidad Water Festival. Led by Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight, CU ��ý�� students created an erosion‑focused activity that allowed K‑12 participants to learn about flooding.

The SCENIC program connects CU ��ý�� faculty members and students with rural high schools across Colorado to develop locally relevant science projects. This year’s participation in the water festival was made possible through Knight’s involvement in the PACES 2024 Community Perspectives Tour, where he connected with Linda Perry, a festival organizer.

The Trinidad Water Festival, hosted annually by Trinidad State College, drew more than 1,300 students and teacher attendees this year, with most from schools in Las Animas County and nearby communities in Colorado and New Mexico. Organized with the help of a handful of event leads and about 15 volunteers, the festival included activities from a diverse range of participants including the US Forest Service, a local fly tier and even a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator.

An example of a miniature homestead built by an elementary school participant.

To align with the festival’s focus on water, the SCENIC team adapted an existing module from their Soil Quality Inquiry programming into an “erosion challenge.” Using soil, rocks and legos, K-12 participants designed miniature homesteads and tested how they held up under simulated flood conditions. The activity encouraged students to think critically about how environmental engineering plays a role in protecting communities — especially Trinidad, which is prone to flash flooding due to its location along the Purgatory River.

Percy Smith, a PhD candidate specializing in engineering ethics education, led the activity alongside two other students from the Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Lab, Gabriela Cortes and Julia Harper.

“I hadn’t worked with elementary school kids in a science context before,” Smith said. “They had these really cool projects, and they were all very excited. A couple of them said it was their favorite [activity].”

Reflecting on the experience, Smith emphasized the importance of transferring knowledge beyond the university. “To be able to take [CU ��ý��] students into communities and say, ‘OK, now you have to explain this concept not just to me, but also to the students who don’t have any background,’ it makes your understanding stronger and builds awareness of the work you’re doing.”

Bob Philibin, a longtime recruiter for the festival, said involving college students enriches the experience for everyone involved. “I hung out with them for one of their sessions, and the [CU ��ý�� students] were totally engaged,” he said. “They looked like they were having a really good time…that’s what we want.”

For SCENIC, the water festival helped deepen community ties. Knight said the team was able to establish a new relationship with a teacher in Yuma and is continuing to explore expansion into additional rural regions, such as Gunnison. He also hopes to return to the Water Festival next year.

For Smith, these experiences serve as an important reminder that “these are the people that are impacted by the work we’re doing.”

The SCENIC program is funded in part by the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship. Learn more about the Community Perspectives program.

Engineering students with the Science Engineering Inquiry Collaborative in Rural Colorado (SCENIC) program developed a hands-on “erosion challenge” for K-12 students to learn about the effects of flash flooding on infrastructure.

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Julia Harper sets up SCENIC's "erosion challenge" at the 2025 Trinidad Water Festival in Trinidad, CO.

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CU ��ý�� undergraduate Julia Harper sets up SCENIC's "erosion challenge" at the 2025 Water Festival in Trinidad, CO

Colorado's Marshall Fire survivors find healing, meaning through oral history project

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:46:45 +0000

Colorado's Marshall Fire survivors find healing, meaning through oral history project Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 07/28/2025 - 16:46

The Marshall Fire Story Project was started to preserve the stories of people affected by the 2021 fire that killed two people and destroyed over 1,000 structures. Read from CU experts Kathryn Goldfarb and Lucas Rozell on The Conversation.

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Faces of Community-Engaged Scholarship: Amanda Giguere

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:03:54 +0000

Faces of Community-Engaged Scholarship: Amanda Giguere Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 07/17/2025 - 13:03

Gretchen Minekime

“This is not the time for siloed knowledge, and experts agree that violence is a complicated issue that will require innovative and collaborative solutions. How can violence-prevention researchers harness knowledge from other disciplines to translate research into practice, and how can we bridge the gap between research and the daily lives of real people? Enter Shakespeare.” ~Amanda Giguere, Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators

Amanda Giguere is a pioneer or, at least, the leader of a team of pioneers. Giguere is the director of outreach for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) and the founder of the Shakespeare and Violence Prevention Program. Since 2011, she and her colleagues at CSF, CU ��ý��’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV), and other community partners in the violence prevention field have adapted and staged Shakespeare’s plays to see how the content and approaches can reinforce violence-prevention skills in K-12 students. To date, the program has reached nearly 140,000 students in 30 counties and more than 300 schools across Colorado, garnering national attention.

Giguere just published Shakespeare & Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook for Educators to help educators everywhere apply the lessons of the world’s most famous bard.

____________________________________________________________________

The first play CSF adapted for this violence prevention program was Twelfth Night. What sparked your initial idea to incorporate an anti-bullying message into the play?

As someone who works with Shakespeare, I am always thinking about how the plays resonate with the present moment. Tim Orr, CSF’s current producing artistic director, and I wanted to produce Twelfth Night in K-12 schools because that title was slated to appear in CSF’s upcoming mainstage season. This was 2011, and we were hearing a lot in the news about bullying. It was becoming a prevalent issue. There was even a new term coined for suicide deaths caused by bullying: “bullycide.”

In the play, the character Malvolio spoke to the present moment [2011]. This character is the target of a prank that escalates over the course of the play. His last line of the play is “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you.” The play’s scenario reminded us of present-day issues with cyberbullying. Malvolio’s story unlocked a connection to the present.

While we started this as an anti-bullying project, we’ve learned that Shakespeare’s plays invite engaging conversations about violence overall.

What research and evidence did you incorporate in Twelfth Night? What led to adapting more plays?

Research about the power and effectiveness of upstander behavior to address harm gave us an entry point to the plays. Shakespeare’s plays would be very different if the characters operated in a culture where upstander behavior was normalized and respected.

A 2001 study found that 57% of the time, bullying stops in 10 seconds or less if someone acts as an upstander (someone who takes action to protect others). There’s no one way to be an upstander, but if witnesses choose to take action, it’s often really effective. When bullying occurs, young people are usually more aware of it than adults are. Students can practice their own upstander strategies before they need to use them in real life.

When we first staged Much Ado About Nothing in 2014, our CSPV colleagues were concerned about the plotline of spreading a rumor that someone had died. We didn’t know how depicting a rumor of someone dying would impact young audiences. Would there be any chance that depicting the behavior could encourage the idea? So, we changed the play to “Hero has fled” rather than “Hero is dead.” That was 2014. In 2019, when staging Romeo and Juliet, we worked with the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention and learned that the research had shifted. We know now that talking about suicide, for example, does not plant the idea in someone’s brain. The latest recommendation is that it’s important to ask someone directly if they are having thoughts of suicide. That’s an example of research evolving and, therefore, our approach.

Every time we produce a play we start from scratch, look at what has shifted in the world, and what has shifted in the research. The second time we adapted Julius Caesar was right after the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. So, a play about a planned attack at the capitol resonated differently.

In response to data that show youth are struggling with mental health needs, we’re currently adapting Hamlet and analyzing the mental health themes in the play. The 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado survey revealed that 28% of youth reported poor mental health most of the time or all of the time during the past month.

It’s neat to see how these plays written more than 400 years ago can bring the latest research to life.

How many students has Shakespeare & Violence Prevention reached, in how many schools, and in what areas of Colorado?

Since 2011, the program has worked with schools in 30 of Colorado’s 64 counties and reached 139,919 students from 315 schools. I should shout out to my colleague at CSF, Dr. Heidi Schmidt, for developing the processes we use to keep track of these statistics!

How do you know this program is making a difference?

With our very first Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship grant in 2011, we set up four or five weeks of touring, and it booked up quickly, which suggests there was demand for this kind of arts programming that addressed schools’ needs. After that initial 2011 tour, we repeated the tour due to continuing demand. Then, at the 2012 annual conference of the Shakespeare Theatre Association, we gave a presentation about our anti-bullying approach to Twelfth Night. Colleagues were intrigued about the connection between Shakespeare and violence.

We kept exploring more titles and realized Shakespeare’s plays have so many overlaps with the violence-prevention field. Since that initial production, we have adapted nine Shakespeare plays for the violence prevention program. The upcoming Hamlet will be our 10th.

When our actors visit schools, audiences are surprised by how fun and accessible Shakespeare can be. Teachers tell us that students who are not very engaged otherwise are surprisingly so during our visits. This program is also the first time many students see a play. Teachers and administrators frequently express appreciation for how our work aligns with and reinforces the school’s existing work. My favorite anecdotes are from teachers who report hearing the characters and the stories sneaking into students’ everyday language with one another. An elementary school teacher recently reported overhearing a student on the playground say: “Hey, remember Malvolio.”

The arts offer a powerful kind of learning. I think the idea of taking a play and seasoned professional actors and letting kids watch them work, in and of itself, is highly engaging. I believe any exposure to live theatre is violence prevention because you’re practicing empathy, thinking about the world from other perspectives, and you’re physically around other people.

The most important question we ask after workshops is whether students are likely to act as an upstander the next time they witness mistreatment, and historically, between 85-90% of students say yes.

My hope for this project is that we’ll be able to eventually stop doing it because we have a world of upstanders, and it will no longer be necessary.

Why your book and why now?

The program had been running for about seven years, and we were all excited by how effective the work is. I knew we were onto something here in Colorado—reaching 6,000-10,000 students per year with our in-person performances and workshops. But I wondered how we could reach beyond where our little van could travel. How else could we empower more people to integrate violence prevention into a theatre or language arts curriculum?

CSF, as part of CU ��ý��, has an amazing connection to world-class research. Not every theatre company has a violence prevention research center right next door! Plus, it’s CSPV’s goal to get the research into as many hands as possible. So, I started writing the book in 2018, with a goal of sharing this work more widely and getting this kind of applied Shakespeare into classrooms everywhere.

Although it is written for educators, the content is approachable for a wide readership, regardless of whether you’re a classroom teacher or someone with an interest in Shakespeare.

Really, the book offers a model for how we can consume a lot of different art forms through a violence prevention lens.

How has working in partnership with communities influenced your work?

Over the years, we’ve learned to leave more room for participants’ voices and solutions during workshops in K-12 classrooms. Our actors are trained to facilitate activities, rather than teach any predetermined outcomes. Their job is to get curious about the existing wisdom in each classroom they visit. They ask questions and use students’ ideas to reframe scenarios from the plays, inviting students to step in with their own strategies as upstanders.

Dr. Beverly Kingston, director of CSPV, says that we have a lot of scientific information about violence and preventing violence, but that information alone will not get us there. We need human connection and human stories. The actors who work on this project show up in schools, perform plays that depict a wide range of emotions and experiences, and then they work directly with students to talk about what they saw in the play. When people can authentically connect with others, slow down, and have a discussion about violence in our world, this builds really healthy connections and promotes social and emotional skills. Working with Shakespeare’s plays reminds us about what it means to be human—and this kind of community engagement helps us recognize our shared humanity.

Why do you think community-engaged scholarship is important for this campus?

From my perspective in the theatre world, it’s an important way to expose young people to the arts. The arts are the balm to the soul. Our actors performed in a rural community this past spring, and many of the kids had never seen a play. Afterwards, a student who had not been participating much in the post-show activities approached an actor and said: “That was the best day of my life.”

We truly never know what's going to stick with a kid. It's easy to forget we’re in this bubble on campus where, of course, we value learning and research and the arts and the sciences and the humanities. But, that’s not a given everywhere.

I see this type of work as a pipeline and a way of building excitement about higher education and meaningful work. It’s exposure to CU ��ý�� for many young people and an important reminder for our staff, students, and faculty that we are not alone in our research and creative work. Through community engagement, we are building the next generation of scholars, artists, teachers, and citizens.

What’s next for you?

I’ll be speaking about and signing the book at ��ý�� Bookstore on July 29. And in the fall, I’ll teach an online course for CU’s Applied Shakespeare program (Teaching Shakespeare), oversee the school touring productions of Hamlet and The Tempest, and I’ll visit Australia to speak about the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention Program at the University of Melbourne. But in the meantime, we are in the midst of the CSF summer season (two beautiful productions of The Tempest and Richard II now open—everyone on campus should see them!)

Amanda Giguere is the director of outreach for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) and the founder of the Shakespeare and Violence Prevention Program. Since 2011, she and her colleagues and other community partners in the violence prevention field have adapted and staged Shakespeare’s plays to see how the content and approaches can reinforce violence-prevention skills in K-12 students.

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How a High-Altitude Observatory Shaped Colorado’s Story

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 18:45:47 +0000

How a High-Altitude Observatory Shaped Colorado’s Story Arielle Wiedenbeck Thu, 06/05/2025 - 12:45

Elaina Caywood

“A place can be understood as an earthly reality defined by longitude and latitude, with physical features to be detailed by geologists, geographers, and documentary photographers. At the same time, place is affective, defined by a series of experiences in time and their impact on those who linger.” – Hanna Rose Shell, Artist’s Statement

The ��ý�� strives for innovation, continually looking towards the future. But envisioning the future requires remembering the past. Colorado is home to numerous sites dedicated to scientific advancement—but what were the origins of these places, and what can they teach us about our path forward?

Hanna Rose Shell explores this question through the remarkable story of Walter Orr Roberts, drawing on her background in both historical scholarship with mixed-media artmaking. Shell is a professor in the College of Arts & Sciences, jointly appointed in the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts and the Department of Art & Art History, and recent faculty director of the Stan Brakhage Center for Media Arts.

In 2017, Shell moved to Colorado to teach at CU ��ý��, where she was able to transition from a Social Sciences-oriented department at MIT, called Science, Technology and Society, to a new academic home more explicitly in line with her artistic and creative scholarly inclinations. Shell’s transition from Massachusetts to Colorado echoed that of the young astrophysicist who Shell has since made the center of her community-engaged and scholarly projects: Walter Orr Roberts.

Roberts, a graduate student, and his wife, Janet Smock, moved to Climax, Colorado in 1940 to establish North America’s first coronagraph—a specialized telescope used to study the sun’s gaseous halo. Built atop a vast molybdenite mine on the Continental Divide, the small observatory served as a hazardous but groundbreaking scientific base for seven years. During that time, Roberts not only conducted pioneering research on the solar corona but also contributed significantly to the World War II effort. His ionospheric observations enabled him to forecast solar disruptions days in advance, which proved crucial for maintaining radio communications. This achievement, alongside the mine’s role in weapon production with molybdenite, created an unlikely but powerful alliance: the miners of Climax and a Harvard scientist working together to support the Allied Powers. During his time in Climax, Roberts formed strong relationships with the miners, bridging the academic and industrial worlds.

“The kind of project that occurred at Climax in those years brought together so many different kinds of backgrounds, types of expertise and political leanings. It is an inspiring model for how we can find ways to engage with people from a wide range of stakeholders, with distinctive political ideologies,” said Shell.

Through extensive archival research in Colorado and Massachusetts, Shell became captivated by Roberts’ story. With support from the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) and the Research and Innovation Office, she created a multimedia project that explores Roberts’ legacy while prompting reflection about themes such as nature and technology, innovation and destruction, communication and connection.

Shell’s PACES-supported work debuted in April 2025 during ��ý�� Art Week at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesa Laboratory’s Art-Science Gallery. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Flatirons, the exhibit featured photographs of the Climax observatory and mine alongside Shell’s contemplative reflections on Roberts’ achievements and the broader history of scientific exploration. The photos range from personal snapshots by Roberts or Smock, to photos of the observatory, to the actual photos Roberts took of the corona.

Across these materials, the story of the Climax Observatory shines through in all its glory. In the exhibition, beside an archival photograph from the inside of the old Climax observatory, was a pensive statement from Shell: “For me, both the historical legacy and present-day reality of the former site of the Climax Observatory exemplifies a kind of liminality: between darkness and light; between the reaches of the heavens and the depths of the earth; between the vital energies that prompt scientific discovery, and the potential hazards that accompany the human drive for material extraction.”

Hanna Rose Shell presents her work at NCAR Mesa Lab, April 25, 2025.

On April 25, Shell presented her work at the Solar Nexus event, also held at NCAR’s Mesa Lab. Supported by her PACES grant, the event—livestreamed for broader access—brought together researchers from diverse fields of solar science.

Shell discussed Roberts’ life and work, describing the challenges and triumphs he and Smock experienced. The talk featured photos, letters, and archival materials illustrating Roberts’ work and experiences. In a segment titled “Conversations of the Plurality of Worlds,” an actress read Smock’s letters aloud, offering insights into the observatory and the mine and their influence on the surrounding environment. Shell concluded her presentation with a clip from a documentary filmed by Roberts, sharing his solar observations and reflections. The clip was composed of time-lapsed photographs of the corona halo stitched together to showcase the changes Roberts was tracking. Reflections about the future of solar research and nuclear power accompanied the corona visuals.

The presentation was followed by Sarah Gibson, who presented current initiatives at the High-Altitude Observatory (HAO), and Alexandra Lockhart, a dancer who fuses heliophysics with performance art.

Shell’s interdisciplinary exploration of Roberts’ story integrates photography, film, music and letters to illuminate a compelling narrative. “One of my goals for the project is to bring this history to ��ý�� and to the world of atmospheric and environmental science,” she said. “It's so interesting that the seed of NCAR originated from this great collaboration between the biggest mine in the country, at the time, and a Harvard researcher.”

A central theme in Shell’s work is the idea of generative collaboration—between disciplines, communities and even ideologies—and how it shapes Colorado’s identity. Although the state has diversified beyond its mining roots, many towns still carry that legacy. For Shell, this community-engaged project offered an opportunity to “engage and learn about the history, geography and communities of Colorado,” while connecting people across divides through a shared scientific heritage.

“CU ��ý�� is located in one part of Colorado, so it’s very important to find ways to bring in the local community, and also people from other parts of the state,” she said. “Roberts’ work inspires us to work together on a single interest, despite our differences.”

Shell hopes to bring her exhibit to other Colorado communities, such as Leadville. With its mining history and proximity to the Climax site, Leadville offers a perspective “from the mining extraction side,” reconnecting Roberts’ work with the mining community and extending it beyond the academic community of ��ý��.

“This can achieve a number of important things,” Shell explained. “One is to spread the story. Two is to get people thinking about how their perspectives and histories are more connected to those of others—people who may have different jobs, upbringings or political opinions. I really want this work to bridge the state, so to speak. I think that’s an exciting opportunity.”

Beyond its academic and public significance, the project resonates deeply with Shell on a personal level. Like Roberts, she left Massachusetts to pursue an academic career in Colorado. “I felt a lot of connection to this young astronomer and his wife,” she reflected. “Roberts came to Colorado from Massachusetts to build this observatory. He stayed here his whole life and became incredibly impactful to the state. He found direction, meaning and inspiration in a new place. That is what drew me—and continues to keep me—with this story. This project has become a wonderful way for me to connect with Colorado, as Roberts did.”

Looking ahead, Shell hopes her work will inspire Coloradans to transcend cultural and class boundaries in the name of collaboration and progress. Through visual storytelling, she encourages us to reflect on the “historical legacies” and “present-day realities” of the places we inhabit. Her work challenges us to consider not only how scientific progress is achieved—but by whom, and for what purpose.

To learn more about Shell’s project, read her NCAR Mesa Lab Flyer or explore her film project through her article, “Conversations of the Plurality of Worlds."

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Opening Conversations: Empowering Youth with Complex Communication Needs

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Mon, 19 May 2025 16:05:54 +0000

Opening Conversations: Empowering Youth with Complex Communication Needs Arielle Wiedenbeck Mon, 05/19/2025 - 10:05

Elaina Caywood

Communication is one of the most important aspects of life, yet many of us take it for granted. Those with complex communication needs (CCN) secondary to different neurological conditions and/or medical diagnoses, such as cerebral palsy, Angelman syndrome and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), typically have co-occurring conditions such as hearing and vision impairments. They face numerous challenges that prevent them from accessing the help they need to communicate effectively with the world. Compounded with economic disadvantages, these difficulties can feel insurmountable, as assistive technology can be expensive.

For the past six years, Sherri Tennant, assistant clinical professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) at CU ��ý��, and her team have worked in Denver with CCN students who experience economic disadvantages and use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. AAC systems are various low and high-tech methods for communication that can help those who are unable to speak verbally, such as picture-based communication books, iPad apps and speech generating devices (SGDs). These systems are customized to meet individual communication needs.

In 2019, Tennant began consulting in Denver Public Schools, visiting classrooms and guiding staff who worked with students unable to verbalize through natural speech or reliably use touch screens. Without AAC systems or trained professionals with the knowledge to use them, many students lacked a consistent way to communicate.

Seeing that the growing need was more than one consultant could handle, Tennant and her colleague, Associate Professor Christine Brennan, decided to apply for a grant from the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship.

“We had a couple of goals in mind with different emphasis,” said Tennant. “One was to train our graduate students in the speech-language pathology program in AAC assessments and intervention, as there is a great need in our field, public schools and healthcare settings.”

During the last six years, Tennant and her team have trained more than 38 graduate students and 30 general education peers in AAC systems, many of whom have gone on to work in public schools.

“Second goal, of course, was to meet the needs of the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST), helping those students and empowering them by giving them access to AAC systems through Medicaid,” continued Tennant. “As of now, we have assessed and procured AAC systems for 12 students total.”

“Our third goal then was to do professional development for all the educators, paraeducators and speech language pathologists that work in the school district. And then, finally train the family members to use these systems at home with the AAC users, the adolescents,” explained Tennant.

The project has now involved two high schools and one middle school within the DSST school network. The DSST team of educators has continued to support the project, writing letters of support that demonstrate the need for this kind of work and help in the grant reapplication process.

While some paraprofessionals and teachers initially felt apprehensive about using AAC systems due to their cost and complexity, many have now fully embraced them, actively participating in Tennant’s training and advocating for AAC systems in their schools.

“Seeing the change in attitude and progress [from educators] through consistent teaching, patience and modeling has been one of the biggest rewards,” reflected Tennant.

The team is working to organize and lead a larger workshop in summer 2026 to introduce critical AAC information and provide advanced training to professionals who are new to AAC as well as give more information to families who may be struggling with adopting the AAC systems. This will continue to increase the number of people who will benefit from this grant project.

Alongside professional training for paraeducators and teachers, the team created multimedia training modules to assist with AAC system use, and they plan to expand this online resource into Spanish. Marcella Manzur, a Spanish-speaking collaborator in Mexico City, has frequently assisted the team by interpreting and translating content for family support and training groups. She is also working with her team in Mexico to translate the multimedia training modules into Spanish. Due to the linguistic importance of this work, Tennant ensures that the team remains sensitive to cultural and linguistic identities when interacting with students and their families. Manzur supports this goal by acting as a translator during therapy sessions, helping students and their families feel as comfortable as possible while learning about how to use an AAC system.

Despite the wide scope of their goals, Tennant and her team have achieved great success, giving a voice to economically disadvantaged adolescents with complex communication needs in the community while helping educators and CU ��ý�� students gain critical hands-on experience with AAC systems. In February of 2023, Tennant, Brennan and five graduate students presented the outcomes of this work at the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) national conference in Orlando. The team plans to present their findings again at ATIA in 2026. Graduate students working on this project not only get the chance to present their work at important conferences in the field but also gain extremely valuable experience in a relatively niche area, leading to great opportunities.

“I’ve received emails from [past students] saying it’s because of this grant project that they were able to get their position or that they felt so comfortable and confident working with the school team. That has been really rewarding,” remarked Tennant.

The collaboration between many different professionals across the SLHS and education spheres provides a uniquely impactful experience for the program’s youth participants. This work is inherently community engaged, heavily depending upon consulting and interacting with the community; Tennant stressed the importance of “family-centered treatment as much as possible.”

Tennant shared an example of a teenager whose progress depended on being consulted within her natural setting outside of highly structured therapeutic activities with a community- and family-centered approach. While being assessed in a local hospital to demonstrate how she could benefit from an AAC system, the teen exhibited noticeably aggressive behavior. However, at school, the teen had successfully communicated and responded with the trial AAC systems. The teacher, with whom the student had built trust, asked to be included in the hospital assessment but was denied due to post-COVID policies. The hospital’s assessment incorrectly concluded that she would not benefit from an AAC system due to her behavior, which was a result of the teen’s trusted companion, her teacher, being unable to assist. Tennant’s team was then able to assist in completing the AAC assessment at school where the student was comfortable and included her mother as well. The student was very cooperative, using the AAC system effectively with a smile.

“Sometimes these policies in outside organizations can be obstacles to what’s beneficial for a client or a patient. The beauty of our grant project is it allows us to go into their [the patient's] most comfortable setting. If that’s home, if that’s school, we can do that. When we do that, we get a clear picture of their potential,” explained Tennant. “ We were able to procure a system for her [the teen] through Medicaid, and she was using it really effectively. She ended up graduating and moved on and out of the school. That conveys one very powerful benefit of this grant project.”

Students who may have been resigned to silence in their classrooms can now communicate and even make jokes in class, happily surprising the educators who have watched them grow and progress.

The work of Tennant and the rest of the team has provided hope to these teens and opened doors for them to participate and interact with the world around them. In a world so consumed with communication, everyone deserves access to the human flow of connected ideas—thanks to this grant project, those with complex communication needs can overcome economic barriers to join in on the conversation, too.

This crucial work continues on. For more information about the multimedia modules, SLHS pathology trainings for graduate students, family-centered trainings at DSST or information on future conference presentations, visit: Empowering Economically Disadvantaged Adolescents with Complex Communication Needs.

For the past six years, Sherri Tennant, Assistant Clinical Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) at CU ��ý��, and her team have worked in Denver with CCN students who experience economic disadvantages and use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems.

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