CU Boulder Professor Jamie Nagle will discuss the quarks and gluons that formed at the Big Bang in his Distinguished Research Lecture Feb. 6

Ten trillion degrees Fahrenheit is unfathomably hot—more than 10,000 times hotter than the Sun’s core—and it’s the temperature of the universe just moments after the Big Bang. At such extreme temperatures, according to nuclear theory, ordinary matter made of protons and neutrons transforms into a plasma of fundamental particles called quarks and gluons.

At the world’s most powerful accelerators, scientists recreate tiny droplets of this early-universe matter by colliding heavy nuclei at near-light speeds. One of these scientists is Jamie Nagle, a University of Colorado Boulder professor of physics who for 20 years has studied these fleeting droplets and, along with his research group, engineered their shapes, sizes and temperatures to better understand their properties.

Nagle will discuss this work in the 125th Distinguished Research Lecture, “10 Trillion Degrees: Unlocking the Secrets of the Early Universe,” at 4 p.m. Feb. 6. in the Chancellor's Hall and Auditorium of the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE).

About Jamie Nagle

Nagle has spent much of his career investigating the early universe through high-energy nuclear physics. His research has focused on understanding the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter theorized to have existed just microseconds after the Big Bang. 

“As you go back to about six microseconds after the universe started, the temperature was around two trillion Kelvin,” Nagle explains. “It was theorized that protons and neutrons inside of nuclei would melt away, creating a bath of more fundamental particles—quarks and gluons.”

Nagle's work involves recreating droplets of this quark-gluon plasma in a laboratory by colliding large nuclei at nearly the speed of light. These collisions occur at the world’s highest-energy accelerators, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. 

“In the world's highest-energy accelerators, we can collide very large nuclei like gold, lead or platinum at such high velocities that we create a tiny droplet of this 2 trillion Kelvin plasma,” he says.

   What: 125th Distinguished Research Lecture, 10 Trillion Degrees: Unlocking the Secrets of the Early Universe

  Who: Professor Jamie Nagle of the Department of Physics

  When: 4-5 p.m. Feb. 6, followed by a Q&A and reception

  Where: Chancellor's Hall and Auditorium, Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE)

Reflecting on the award, Nagle expresses gratitude and a sense of accomplishment: “It means a lot to me. You get to a certain middle age and are more self-confident, but this recognition feels rewarding. There's a lot of effort, and much of the hard work goes unnoticed. It’s nice to feel like the fruits of that labor are appreciated.”

The Distinguished Research Lectureship also emphasizes communicating complex scientific concepts to broader audiences. For Nagle, this is a vital part of his work: “This award is very meaningful to me because I often listen to the lectures of past recipients. It's about communicating the broader context of why this scientific research is important, not just within the microcosm of nuclear physics.”

About the Distinguished Research Lectureship

The Distinguished Research Lectureship is among the highest honors given by faculty to a faculty colleague at CU Boulder. Each year, the Research and Innovation Office requests nominations from faculty for this award, and a faculty review panel recommends one or more faculty members as recipients.

The lectureship honors tenured faculty members, research professors (associate or full) or adjoint professors who have been with CU Boulder for at least five years and are widely recognized for a distinguished body of academic or creative achievement and prominence, as well as contributions to the educational and service missions of CU Boulder. Each recipient typically gives a lecture in the fall or spring following selection and receives a $2,000 honorarium.

Read the original article from the Department of Physics

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Participants will learn how to regulate heart rhythms to immediately address their emotional state in challenging situations.

An expert in heart-rate variability will share research and its application via the HeartMath system in a workshop at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Participants in the workshop, which will be at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 on , will learn how to use the heart/brain connection to regulate heart rhythms to immediately address their emotional state in challenging situations. The event is open to all, but .

The workshop will teach participants how to do so while uniting heart, mind and emotion; boosting resilience; decreasing stress; and improving mental and physical performance, notes Erin Cunningham Ritter, who will lead the workshop.

Cunningham Ritter, who is director of wellness and employee engagement for the College of Arts and Sciences, says that the workshop’s aim is to “support our communities with practical, in-the-moment tools for building coherence and capacity for resilience, stress reduction, improved self-regulation, performance and mental and physical health.”

She describes HeartMath as an evidenced-based program that teaches participants to access their hearts’ inner balance to become the best versions of themselves. These tools, which can be applied in the moment, are proven to help participants reduce stress and anxiety while improving coherence, self-security and decision making, Cunningham Ritter says.

HeartMath has developed highly successful programs for self-improvement in mental, emotional and physical balance, according to Cunningham-Ritter. However, HeartMath technology and materials are not intended to replace treatments for medical or psychological conditions by licensed physicians, psychologists or other health care professionals. 

The workshop is a presentation of Let’s CU Well, an expert-speaker series sponsored by Be Well, the College of Arts and Sciences’ wellness initiative, and CU Boulder Health and Wellness Services. For more information or to ask questions, contact Erin Cunningham Ritter.

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New CU Art Museum exhibit highlights the ways in which art meets challenging times and finds the sometimes-elusive silver lining

It began not with the more known Confederate battle flag—the infamous stars and bars—but with the lesser-known , a white linen towel waved on April 9, 1865, by Confederate troops when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, ending the U.S. Civil War.

In 2019, textile and social practice artist Sonya Clark made the flag of truce the focal point of her work , recreating the “cloth that brokered peace and represented the promise of reconciliation.” The University of Colorado Art Museum recently acquired Clark’s 2022 print, Confederate, surrender, which reconstructs the historical artifact.

"From Me, All Things Proceed and to Me, They Must Return," by Hollis Sigler (1991) is part of the "Better Days" exhibition now open at the CU Art Museum.

It was this interpretation of a lesser-known symbol that got curators and staff at the museum thinking: “(Clark) is taking this ongoing moment in history and, in many ways, elevating it with an act of repair,” says Hope Saska, acting director, chief curator and director of academic engagement in the museum. “That started us thinking about how do artists take these times that may be challenging and then use art to respond?”

The fruit of those discussions is “Better Days,” an exhibition on view beginning today and open through Oct. 26, highlighting how artists “respond to times of uncertainty” with “work that can help make sense of the world.” In the works in the exhibit, drawn from the museum’s collection, “some [artists] imagine a better world, encouraging viewers to find silver linings, while others reveal hidden aspects of conflict, sparking conversation… Collectively, they offer ways to contend with a complex world, urging viewers to celebrate our shared humanity, witness injustice and work to repair division and inequity.”

These themes are especially timely as the U.S. presidential race speeds toward election day and as events worldwide seem to create tumult and fracture rather than hope and healing, Saska says.

“In some of these artworks (in the exhibit), artists are taking stands about racial injustice and political and social conflict, or they’re making artworks related to the AIDS crisis,” she explains. “For the museum, in the climate we have today, taking on these topics kind of feels risky sometimes. We were thinking about all of these things as we curated the exhibit, so hopefully it is thought-provoking even in its challenging aspects. Our goal is that what people really get out of it is positive and reparative. We want them to come away with hope.”

   What: "Better Days" exhibition

  When: Aug. 20-Oct. 26; reopening February 2025. Opening celebration from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 12.

  Where: CU Art Museum

More information 

Daniella Fairley, a junior who is studying art history and ethnic studies with a minor in creative technology and design, completed an eight-week Art Buffs Collective internship with the CU Art Museum during the summer. As part of the internship, Fairley helped curate and create “Better Days.”

“I felt like this exhibit shows the perseverance of the human spirit and how we cope with tragedy,” Fairley says. “In seeing a lot of these art works and learning how they were made, what they represent, their stories, I feel like it's important to show how humans struggle and how we still live through it. Art connects us more than we think, and I hope that people can feel that connection or thread when looking at this show.”

Lead museum attendant Bella Mahlerbe, a student in the bachelor’s-accelerated master’s in art history, also provided curatorial labor for the exhibit. Malherbe worked with fellow Lead museum attendant Riley Ramsay to create a visitor feedback wall where visitors can share responses to the exhibition.

Top image: "Party Picture," by Laurie Simmons (1985) is part of the "Better Days" exhibition now open at the CU Art Museum.

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CSU professor credits her autism for her ability to think in pictures and thereby notice things that most people overlook

Temple Grandin, a groundgreaking professor of animal science at Colorado State University whose work has led to the more humane treatment of livestock around the world, will speak at the University of Colorado Boulder Disability Symposium Oct. 8 and 14-18.

According to David Braz, a faculty affairs coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences, the symposium aims to bring attention to people who have traditionally flown under the radar.

“When we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion in public settings, and highlight a lot of groups that have been historically excluded, a group that does not seem to get as much attention are individuals with disabilities, whether apparent or not apparent,” he says.

One disability, or different ability, that often goes unseen is autism, something with which Grandin herself is intimately familiar.

Grandin has written several books about autism and her experiences living with it, including Thinking in Pictures, The Autistic Brain and Emergence: Labeled Autistic, which Oliver Sacks said was “unprecedented because there had never before been an inside narrative of autism.”

Though Grandin, who didn’t speak until she was three and a half years old, encountered teasing and bullying growing up, she nevertheless credits her autism with giving her the ability to think in pictures and thereby notice things that most people overlook.  

“The thing about the autistic mind is it attends to details,” Grandin said during a in 2010. “The normal brain ignores the details.”  

It’s this detail-oriented way of thinking that has enabled Grandin to transform the field of animal agriculture globally. Over the course of her decades-long career, she has written more than 400 articles for scientific journals and livestock periodicals and has designed livestock facilities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.

Now perhaps one of the most recognizable and beloved scientists in the world, Grandin it is important for people to realize that not everyone thinks in the same way, and that’s a good thing. “The world needs all kinds of minds!”

Grandin's presentation will be in-person and on Zoom from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 8. Registration is required.

Grandin's presentation kicks off the weeklong symposium, whose aim is “centering the experiences of persons with disabilities on campus." It will focus on a range of topics, including navigating higher education systems while diagnosed with a disability; how disability and ableism are defined; barriers for disabled veterans in academic settings; medical advocacy; and more.

The symposium has been funded for a second year with support from  the College of Arts and Sciences  and the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The symposium has been made possible through the efforts of the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, University Libraries, the Be Well program, CU Disability Services, the Office of People, Engagement and Culture and students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The symposium aims to inform students, staff and faculty but is open to the general public.

Registration is required. Links to register are included with each presentation, and each registration page includes the option to request accommodation if needed for registering.

Please note that some symposium attendees and participants may be immunocompromised. All attendees are encouraged to wear a mask while in attendance. 

Each year, CU Boulder strives to create an experience that is accessible and accommodates the needs of those with disabilities. If you identify as having a disability, you will have an opportunity to indicate any accommodation requirements when you register using our online registration system. Please also feel free to e-mail us at asinfo@colorado.edu to let us know how we can better enhance your experience.

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‘Let's CU Well: Financial freedom and happiness’ is scheduled for Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. via Zoom

A University of Colorado Boulder finance expert will discuss financial independence and how to break the cycle of working for your money this month at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The College of Arts and Sciences event, titled “Let's CU Well: Financial freedom and happiness: Don't work for your money, learn how to make your money work for you,” with Diane Hirschhorn, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 7 via Zoom. Attendance is free, but registration is required at this link.

Diane Hirschhorn is a teaching assistant professor of finance in the CU Boulder Leeds School of Business.

Being financially independent means having sufficient income, savings or investments to live comfortably for life without relying on a paycheck, experts say.

Financial freedom can mean having enough savings and investments and being able to afford the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family. It is an important goal for many people.

Unfortunately, too many people fall far short of financial freedom. Even without occasional financial emergencies, escalating debt due to overspending is a constant burden that keeps many people from reaching their goals.

What: Let's CU Well: Financial freedom and happiness: Don't work for your money, learn how to make your money work for you, with Diane Hirschhorn

When: Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m.

Where: Zoom, registration is required.

Let’s CU Well Expert of the Month:

Diane Hirschhorn is a lecturer of finance in the Leeds School of Business and a wealth manager.

The talk will be moderated by Erin Cunningham, director of employee wellness and engagement in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The panel discussion is presented by the college’s Office for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. It is co-presented by the college’s wellness initiative, called Be Well. Let’s CU Well is that initiative’s regular series of expert presentations.

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CU Boulder expert to lead series focusing on the science of heart-rate variability and its applicability via the HeartMath system

In a four-part series of workshops at the University of Colorado Boulder, an expert in heart-rate variability will share research and its application via the HeartMath system.

Participants in the workshop series, which runs from Oct. 10-31, will learn how to utilize the heart/brain connection to regulate heart rhythms to immediately address their emotional state in challenging situations. The workshops will teach participants how to do this while building coherence of heart, mind and emotion, boosting resilience, decreasing stress and improving mental and physical performance, notes Erin Cunningham-Ritter, PhD, who will lead the workshops. 

Cunningham Ritter, who is director of wellness and employee engagement for the College of Arts and Sciences, said that the workshops aim to support “our communities with practical, in-the-moment tools for building coherence and capacity for resilience, stress reduction, improved self-regulation, performance and mental and physical health.”

Erin Cunningham Ritter

Each workshop will be held on a Tuesday, beginning on Oct. 10, from 1-2 p.m. The workshops are free and open to all, but participants must register . 

The first workshop, on Oct. 10, is the “foundational workshop,” and participants are encouraged to attend the first workshop before each of the subsequent ones.

CU Boulder recognizes that the campus community is our most valuable asset, and that has never been more apparent than it is now, Cunningham-Ritter said. 

“To care for our students and employees, and to recognize that all of us face new personal, academic and work challenges, the campus is providing a program designed to support our community as we work to balance home and school life,” she said.   

She described HeartMath as an evidenced-based program that teaches participants to access their hearts’ inner balance to become the best version of themselves. These tools, which can be applied in the moment, are proven to help participants reduce stress and anxiety while improving coherence, self-security and decision making, according to Cunningham Ritter.

She added that benefits to the workshops include:

• Enhanced ability to focus, process information and solve problems
• Increased coherence, vitality and resilience
• Reduced stress, worry and fatigue
• Improved physiological/psychological health and executive functions

Workshop topics include: 

• The latest findings from optimal-performance research
• Skills for building coherence in the face of change and uncertainty
• Intelligent energy self-regulation techniques
• Practical ideas for easily integrating valuable tools into everyday routines   

The series of workshops comprises:

• Four, one-hour virtual meetings
• Prompts for practice after each session
• Workbooks and learning materials

HeartMath has developed highly successful programs for self-improvement in mental, emotional and physical balance, according to Cunningham-Ritter. However, HeartMath technology and materials are not intended to replace treatments for medical or psychological conditions by licensed physicians, psychologists or other health care professionals.  

The series of workshops are sponsored by Be Well, the College of Arts and Sciences’ wellness initiative, and CU Boulder Health and Wellness Services. For more information or to ask questions, contact Erin Cunningham Ritter.

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Parsing seven different kinds of hunger, an April 26 Let’s CU Well presentation to discuss honoring your hunger and emotions with kindness

Kathleen Farrell wants to talk about your relationship.

Specifically, your relationship with food. 

Farrell is a registered dietitian nutritionist who works at the Clinical Translation Research Center (CTRC) as a research dietitian, but for about six years she worked as a clinical dietitian for Wardenburg Student Health Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. In that time, she came to understand that many students—and many people in general—have a complicated relationship with food.

While at Wardenburg, Farrell created a handout called the Hunger Tree. She started to ask students: What are you really hungry for? She says it’s key to know what to eat, but just as important to know why you are eating. 

Kathleen Farrell nutures relationships with food in her seminar, Honor Your Hunger and Emotions with Kindness.

For some, food can be a subject loaded with meaning and emotion. To some degree, everyone fuels themselves differently—physically, and emotionally. Thus, Farrell uses her hunger tree to get a better understanding of why someone is eating—emotionally versus for a physiological reason. Hunger can be complicated, Farrell says, partly because there are actually seven different types of hunger: 

1. Stomach hunger—actual physical hunger
2. Mouth hunger—a desire for the taste of a certain food
3. Eye hunger—desiring a food based on its appearance
4. Nose hunger—desiring a certain food based on its smell
5. Mind hunger—what a person’s mind is telling them about a food
6. Heart hunger—a desire for foods associated with emotions
7. Cellular hunger—when the body indicates it has need for a nutrient

While it can be acceptable to eat something in response to any type of hunger, Farrell says it can be valuable to understand the underlying reason for the desire.

Farrell uses this example: In the case of heart hunger, what the person might really desire is not food but a hug from a loved one. In that case, the person may be using food as a stand-in for what is really needed because they are “emotionally hungry.”

Making peace with food

For Farrell, a big part of her focus is helping people make peace with food. 

One place where inner conflict over food can arise in individuals is from imposition of a diet that is overly restrictive, which Farrell says can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and sometimes binge-eating.

“Wanting to lose some weight—that hunger for change—is totally fine,” she says. “But if it comes to where you’re not giving yourself permission to enjoy food in a healthy way, that can lead to problems.”

Instead, Farrell says she encourages students to moderate themselves. For example, if someone says they love ice cream but are not sure if they should have some, Farrell says she would tell them, “Enjoy it. Have a bowl of ice cream but have a smaller portion size. Maybe try to enhance it by putting some blueberries or almonds on it.”

Meanwhile, to avoid over-eating, Farrell advises people to “feel their fullness.” That means listening for internal body signals that indicate fullness, observing signs of being comfortably full, and pausing in the middle of eating to ask how the food tastes and to determine one’s current fullness level.

Farrell will share additional views on food and what it means to be at peace with food during her upcoming seminar, Honor Your Hunger and Emotions with Kindness. This event is scheduled as a Zoom presentation starting at noon on Wednesday, April 26. The event is free, but registration is required at this link.

The event is part of the Let’s CU Well speaker series for CU staff, students and the general public. The series is part of Be Well, an initiative launched by the College of Arts and Sciences to promote more healthful lifestyle choices.

Don’t expect Farrell to talk at length about dieting in her presentation, because she believes people are better served by focusing on “eating mindfully” (paying attention to what they are eating) rather than focusing strictly on their caloric intake. 

“When I talk about honoring your hunger with kindness, part of what I mean is not being too hard on yourself,” she says. “A lot of times, we might set a goal for ourselves, but we might fall short. And it’s important just being able to say, ‘I wasn’t able to meet my goal for the day but it’s OK.’

“We do not need to strive for perfection. Perfection is just too hard to maintain. Instead, progress is what I look for. It is really about sustainability.”

Honor Your Hunger & Emotions with Kindness

When: Apr 26, 2023 12:00 p.m. MT
Where: Zoom

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CU Boulder professor is concerned that the focus on individual responsibility for health and wellness—especially during health crises like the COVID pandemic—overlooks underlying causes as to why minorities generally had worse outcomes than the overall population in the U.S. Ideas to be discussed in next Let’s CU Well seminar

In the days since COVID-19 first became a pandemic in the United States in 2020, researchers and health care professionals developed a series of guidelines associated with getting vaccinated, masking, handwashing and social distancing, as well as making lifestyle changes, to reduce the risk of dying or becoming seriously ill from the disease.

Those guidelines were well-meaning, but at the same time they generally are focused on “biomedical individualism” (how the virus is transmitted and what the individual could do to reduce their risk) to the exclusion of understanding why certain segments of the population, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, were at much greater risk of being harmed by COVID-19, according to Maisam Alomar, University of Colorado Boulder professor in women and gender studies. Part of her research focuses on race and gender policies of medicine and rehabilitation.

“It’s not that masks or vaccines aren’t important,” says Alomar, acknowledging that the politics around COVID-19 can be polarizing. However, at the same time, “part of what I’m suggesting is that we need to be moving away from our almost exclusive focus on biomedical individualism in our understanding of wellness … to try to understand that group wellness is not just the sum of individual behaviors or the biological mechanisms by which the virus can infect someone.”

Maisam Alomar is an assistant professor in women and gender studies. Her research lies mainly in the areas of disability studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, and also incorporates black studies and critical race scholarship to analyze ways racial categories shape what is considered a disability, who is considered disabled, and the legal and social consequences of such categorization.

For example, the scientific and health care communities came to embrace the idea that making healthful lifestyle choices could reduce the risk of becoming sick from COVID—without recognizing that these lifestyle choices are not equally available to everyone, that some people live in “food deserts” that make it difficult to obtain nutritious meals or that those populations don’t have easy access to recreational spaces, according to Alomar.

“These are some of the things we don’t tend to consider as much,” she says, adding, “I’m also suggesting that we should be tailoring our interventions to account for the most vulnerable people … and this idea that when you structure your health care systems in a way that’s geared toward the most vulnerable people that you yield better health results for everyone.”

What’s more, when considering why certain groups of people, such as racial or ethnic minorities, have worse outcomes when it comes to COVID, there is a tendency even among the scientific community to ascribe those outcomes to preexisting conditions within those communities or even biological factors—rather than issues having to do with socioeconomic inequities more generally and the disparity in health care among different segments of the U.S. population, according to Alomar.

Alomar will share other additional views on COVID-19 and U.S. health care policy during her upcoming seminar, “Moving Away from Biomedical Individualism in Health and Wellness.” This event is scheduled as a Zoom presentation starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21. The event is free, but registration is required.

The event is part of the Let’s CU Well speaker series for CU staff, students and interested community members. The series is an offshoot of Be Well, a wellness initiative launched by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Alomar draws a line between COVID-19’s effects on varying populations relate and the “interdisciplines” at universities.

According to Alomar, interdisciplines—which includes Black and feminist studies—have performed valuable research related to COVID-19. That’s particularly true, she says, when it comes to debunking some unsupported claims involving COVID-19 outcomes based on race and ethnicity. 

 

Interdisciplines offer a very useful critique ... When budgets are tight, people start asking, do we really need this (field of study) if there’s a crisis? I think that when there’s a crisis we need these fields even more because of the explanatory power they offer.”

For example, she notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highlighted obesity as a co-morbidity factor disproportionally harming minorities in COVID outcomes, but that research from a noted sociologist found that “the association between ‘obesity’ and mortality is baseless.”

Alomar says interdisciplines at universities can be very useful for the insights and critiques they provide for various fields of study, such as science and health care. At the same time, she says interdisciplines also tend to be one of the programs universities first look to cut when their finances are dented by unforeseen circumstances, such as the Great Recession of 2008 or the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I’m saying is interdisciplines offer a very useful critique, and it’s very important to have that in a university,” Alomar says. “When budgets are tight, people start asking, do we really need this (field of study) if there’s a crisis? I think that when there’s a crisis we need these fields even more because of the explanatory power they offer.”

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Jennifer Ho, director of CU Boulder’s Center for Humanities & the Arts, discusses the state of arts and humanities in higher education as the center prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and she champions the inherent value of the arts and humanities

The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at the University of Colorado Boulder turns 25 this year. 

To commemorate the quarter-century milestone, CHA is hosting a celebration from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) building’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), CASE E390. is recommended and can be completed . For more information on the event, visit the CHA website’s 25-year anniversary webpage. 

At the top of the page: A scene from the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's 2019 production of Twelfth Night. Above: Jennifer Ho, CHA director and ethnic studies professor, teaches courses on Asian American culture and Critical Race Theory at CU Boulder.

Jennifer Ho, CHA director and ethnic studies professor, said the celebration will offer an opportunity to look back on CHA’s successes and to discuss and plan how to promote, support and celebrate the arts and humanities. 

Ho recently participated in a five-question interview about the current state of arts and humanities in higher education, looming challenges for arts and humanities scholarship, strategies CHA employs as it strives to be an effective advocate for the arts and humanities, and more. Her responses follow below. 

Question: How has the situation for the arts and humanities in higher education changed over the last quarter century? 

Ho: I think there’s a tendency to lament the decline of arts and humanities, especially humanities, in higher education, because we see a declining number of arts and humanities majors and decreased funding. And that’s definitely a part of the narrative at CU Boulder and nationwide. 

However, there have also been more humanities and arts centers that have opened nationwide in the last 25 years—one at Brandeis just started up a year ago—and the scholarship and artistic productions by faculty, students, and staff have continued to flourish, on and off campus. 

One positive change that I’ve noticed is an opening up of what we consider to be valuable works of arts and humanities—showcasing both the artistry and scholarship of faculty of color on subjects that 25 years ago we wouldn’t have been seeing depicted in art and music or validated through scholarship such as transgender issues, addressing Islamophobia, centering Black joy, and using an equity, inclusivity and justice lens within arts and humanities—that’s definitely a positive change I’ve seen in the last 25 years. 

Question: What do you see as the immediate and looming challenge to arts and humanities scholarship generally and also at CU Boulder? 

Ho: Politics and money. These are the two most pressing challenges to arts and humanities nationally and perhaps at CU Boulder. Financially the CHA is fine, for now, though we rely on the generosity of the university for our budget—and if that changed, we wouldn’t be able to offer the grants, fellowships, awards and programs that make the CHA a vital hub on campus for arts and humanities. 

I’d love to be able to endow some of our programs; for example, to raise a million dollars so that we’ll always be able to fund graduate students with dissertation fellowships, summer awards and material grants for student artists. 

Politically, I believe things are fine for now at CU Boulder, but like most people I’m keeping my eye on what is happening in Florida. The book bans, the bills preventing people from teaching certain subjects, what’s happening at the New College of Florida—all of this is very concerning about the political climate in education that impacts those of us working in arts and humanities. 

In fact, next year at the CHA, we are hoping to take this up as a theme: Liberty, Freedom, Democracy and the Fight for Ideas. We often see words like “liberty,” “freedom,” “democracy” invoked by people who tend to be on the more conservative side of the spectrum, and I’d like to delve into what we mean when we use these terms and what freedom of thought and expression actually looks like relative to the work we do at the CHA in supporting arts and humanities. 

 

We don’t just need science; we need critical thinking skills of interpretation to think about these as human issues."

Question: If a student or parent asked you to explain the “value” of the arts and humanities, how might you respond? 

Ho: I love getting this question because it allows me to show my passion for arts and humanities, because the first thing I’d say is that arts and humanities give meaning to our lives. And then I’d say that they teach us how to think critically about our world. Art is literally and figuratively the color, sound, movement and texture of our world. 

When the pandemic had us sheltering at home, we turned to stories and art and music to alleviate our anxiety and provide solace in our uncertainty. And humanities courses don’t just teach us how to write better (which is what many people will say is the value of humanities)—humanities courses and books help us think better—they push us to critically examine the world and ask not just “what” is happening but “why” and “how.” 

If we didn’t have humanities scholarship, we wouldn’t be able to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems—because we don’t just need science; we need critical thinking skills of interpretation to think about these as human issues. 

Question: What strategies does the CHA employ as it strives to be the most effective advocate for the arts and humanities? 

Ho: I think and talk in terms of stories—and the stories that the CHA has to share about why arts and humanities are vital is the most effective way I know for us to advocate for arts and humanities. 

An audience gathered at a CHA event titled “Difficult Dialogues: Being Black in Boulder” in the Fall of 2022. The event included a film screening and then a panel discussion that featured Jennifer Ho as one of the panelists.

A story I tell about bridging the CHA to the greater Boulder County community involves a competition we held for CU Boulder staff, students and faculty to produce works of arts and humanities that engaged the theme of “resilience” in light of the Boulder King Soopers mass shooting. 

The entries we received were powerful and poignant—and the winning submission was by a CU Boulder undergraduate student who was a survivor and witness to that tragic day—who wrote a series of letters to March 22 (the day of the shooting). You can find them and the other winning entries on our website. 

We then had a community event at Chautauqua where the awardees spoke about their works. It was a powerful event—and a reminder that arts and humanities have the ability to do so much: to heal, to communicate, to inspire and to witness. 

The student who wrote her letters to March 22 did so because of our competition and it became part of her healing from this horrific event. This is one story among many about why arts and humanities are so crucial to our lives. 

Question: You hold three degrees in English. What drew you to this discipline, and how does your experience dovetail with the mission of CHA? 

Ho: Stories. Stories. Stories. That’s why all my degrees are in English. I taught myself to read when I was 5, because I didn’t want to rely on my parents reading to me—it’s among my first memories: being on my sofa and sounding out words and figuring out the stories in my picture book. 

Fiction is my first true love because it allowed me to travel to multiple worlds in different bodies—and it still does. Who tells stories to whom and for what purpose—this is a powerful tool to have. 

When I started college, I realized it wasn’t just the pleasure of reading novels that I wanted to explore, but the power of representation. The first time I read a book written by a Chinese-American author about Chinese-American experiences was when I was a first year student at UC Santa Barbara. 

That moment changed my life—because up until then, I didn’t think Chinese or Asian American people wrote books—because I had never been assigned a book by an Asian American person and never had a librarian direct me to any Asian American books, fiction or non-fiction. Seeing yourself reflected in stories is a powerful thing—and not seeing that is also powerful, because it means you don’t have a model of what you can be if you can’t see yourself reflected in narrative. 

At the CHA, we want everyone to be able to tell their own story—whether that’s in the form of scholarship, music, media, visual art, dance, drama, or so many of the other disciplines that inform humanities and arts. So, I think my love of stories and my desire to have people tell their stories and be inspired by the stories of others works well at the CHA.

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CU on the Weekend lecture this Saturday to discuss how scholars address a past and present of inequities and understand intersectional identities in sports

The world of sports is rife with inequity, and Nicholas Villanueva has made this a focus of his scholarly study.  

Villanueva, an assistant professor of ethnic studies and director of critical sports studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, will discuss his research at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The free event is being held in the CASE Building fourth-floor auditorium, or is available remotely by Zoom. Registration for Zoom attendance is required and can be completed at this link. 

Saturday’s seminar is part of the CU on the Weekend series. The event is organized by the CU Boulder Office of Outreach and Engagement.  

In his talk, Villanueva will discuss inequity in sports and intersectionality within the area of critical sports studies. Intersectionality is a framework for understanding a person or group of people as being affected by a number of types of discrimination or disadvantages. It takes into account people’s overlapping identities, such as someone being a woman and also being Black, in order to understand the complexities of prejudices and privileges they face.  

Nicholas Villanueva is an assistant professor of ethnic studies and director of critical sports studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

An author of three novels and the recipient of two national book awards for his work in Latinx studies, Villanueva co-created the Critical Sports Studies Program at CU Boulder to address current social issues in sports and is researching LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports.  

Villanueva said his interest in the field dates back to his childhood, when he first became aware of prejudice in sports. 

 “Certain sports eventually became associated with different genders, and I remember looking around and wondering why we’re always associating masculinity and femininity with these activities,” he said. 

The Critical Sports Studies Program offers a certificate based in the Ethnic Studies Department, where students can take classes on historical and current social and political issues in sports.  

Villanueva teaches several of those classes. He said he chose to make the program a certificate instead of a minor to allow more flexibility for students to pursue their interests in the study in a variety of departments. He added that he recognizes that not every sport or social issue falls into his area of expertise and so he is open to proposals from students on courses they may find applicable to the Critical Sports Studies certificate. 

“We don’t just examine social or cultural identities on their own; we focus on the intersectionality of all of those identities when we look at sports studies,” Villanueva said, noting that the concept of intersectionality plays an important role in his upcoming lecture and in his studies generally.  

Villanueva is particularly interested in analyzing traditional ideas about masculinity in sports and is working on a new manuscript on the International Gay Rodeo Association and how it started to upend the stereotype about masculinity in sports.  

 

I want people to understand that as more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities participate in sports—especially in powerful roles—the more the dominant societal group that holds power begins to feel threatened.”

“I’m obsessed with this idea of having people think about masculinity in sport in new ways.” Villanueva said, adding: “I want people to understand that as more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities participate in sports—especially in powerful roles—the more the dominant societal group that holds power begins to feel threatened. This happens not just in sports, but also in every institution. Discrimination in this sense is about the dominant group feeling threatened that they are going to lose their power and control.” 

The concept of critical sports studies might prompt some people to think of Colin Kaepernick or Simone Biles—athletes with large followings who made headlines for taking controversial stands. But, as always, it’s crucial to look beyond notable names and examine why Kaepernick’s story stirred the nation in the first place, Villanueva said.  

He added that he is dedicated to examining frameworks and institutional issues that exist not only in sports, but everywhere in society. 

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