Glance at a photo of campus from the late 1800s, when only Old Main stood, and it may take a moment to orient yourself. Soon you’ll spot familiar landmarks: the Flatirons rising to the west, Boulder Creek flowing to the north.

Far before the university’s earliest days, the natural landscape — and water, specifically — has played an important role across Colorado and the West.

More than wayfinding aids or scenic features, our rivers, reservoirs and rainclouds have defined the direction and pace of economic development, supported the agricultural needs of the nation and provided fertile ground for collaboration and conflict.

Today, water — or the absence of it — continues to be a defining factor for communities across the West. And now, CU Boulder faculty, staff and students are lending their expertise to help communities make smart, data-informed decisions about this precious and often imperiled natural resource.

In CU’s environmental journalism program, students and alumni are exploring how declining water supplies and climate change will impact our lives and livelihoods in the years to come.

Across engineering and the sciences, researchers are examining how water quality is impacted by oil and gas or mining operations, wildfires and other natural and human activities.

For 20 years, the within CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) has partnered with researchers from multiple disciplines in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah to conduct innovative water research and make the findings more accessible to decision-makers across the region. The work directly aids communities seeking greater resilience in the face of climate change.

And for the last several years, instructors from CIRES also have through Coursera that allows students worldwide to examine scientific, legal and cultural issues around water using the Colorado River Basin as a case study. More than 3,000 people are currently enrolled.

Those are just a few examples of how members of the CU Boulder community are helping to address the West’s toughest questions related to water needs, bringing creativity, courage and commitment to bear as we seek to positively impact humanity.

In the face of climate change, these matters become more consequential. And it becomes even more essential that we bring diverse voices and perspectives into the conversation that have been neglected or ignored.

Too often, discussions on water in the West can leave us feeling concerned, distrustful or apprehensive.

But when I consider how CU Boulder’s faculty, students and staff are becoming part of the solutions, I find myself once again with reason to hope — and that’s a river that will never run dry.

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Photos by Matthew Rossi/CIRES (right); Jeroen Geeraert/CIRES (top)

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CU Buffs often describe themselves as family, but in this case, two members of the CU Boulder Police Department (CUPD) sworn to serve and protect really are family.

Officer Cathy Chestnut and her son, Officer Matt Dillon, were sworn in together in October. Their shared passion for public service led them both to CUPD, where Chestnut was already serving as a police dispatcher when the pull to go back on the beat became too strong to ignore.

At the same time, Dillon was graduating from the police academy. His decision to become a police officer was influenced by his five years of service in the United States Marine Corps. Applying his service mindset closer to home meant mother and son’s paths converged.

“I am incredibly proud of Matt,” said Chestnut. “I am excited to be serving with him and looking forward to sharing my knowledge of the job to help him grow and learn.”

“It’s a privilege to be able to work here,” said Dillon. “The ability to serve this campus feels like protecting the future.” 

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Photo by Matthew Jonas/Daily Camera

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A Love for Student Work 

Since June, D’Andra Mull has served as CU Boulder’s vice chancellor for student affairs. In her role, she leads a division focused on student support and growth beyond the classroom. “Every day I get to wake up and love to do the work that I do,” she said. 

How soon after waking up do you look at your phone? 

Immediately! 

App you wish you had the inner strength to delete?

Amazon!

Last person you called?

My best friend. 

Duration of longest call last week?

57 minutes. 

Location and description of last selfie?

Times Square, New York City — after a meeting with parents of our incredible Buffs. 

Does anyone else have your passcode?

Yes! My best friend. 

Oldest photo on your phone?

I had to look back a bit for this one. It is from Nov. 13, 2013. I was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

What is your lock screen or background image?

My lovely six-month-old daughter, Gigi. 

What do you use your phone for most?

Emails, texting and FaceTiming my daughter!

Three of your most used apps:

Snapchat

Safari

Baby+

Most-used emoji:

Laughing-crying emoji

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Photo courtesy D'Andra Mull

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On Sept. 26, during his annual State of the Campus address, Chancellor Philip DiStefano announced his retirement as chancellor of CU Boulder. He has served in the role since May 2009. 

DiStefano will remain in the chancellor position until a national search for his replacement is complete, he said, and then he will return to the faculty in CU Boulder’s School of Education, where he began his CU career as an assistant professor in 1974. 

“It has been such a rewarding and humbling experience to serve as chancellor of Colorado’s flagship university for the past 15 years,” he told the crowd in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. “I am so proud of our faculty, staff and students and all that you have accomplished, and I also will treasure the many alumni, donors, parents and friends of the university I was lucky enough to meet.”

Beginning in fall 2024, DiStefano will serve as senior executive director at the Center for Leadership and continue his role as the Quigg and Virginia S. Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership.

In addition to his duties as chancellor, DiStefano — a first-generation college graduate — has served as an educator, dean and provost at the university, dedicating his career to making CU Boulder a nationally recognized research institution while also serving as a champion for democracy.

He intends to continue the work toward improving the university and helping students succeed, he said. 

“When a Forever Buff asks themselves, ‘Am I better off for having attended CU Boulder?’” he concluded in his speech, “let’s make sure they can automatically and unequivocally say ‘yes’… not simply because of the dollars in their pocket, but because of the totality of their lives and the richness of the world around them.”

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Photo courtesy University of Colorado

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Eye Movements Reveal Decision-Making 

CU Boulder research into “saccades,” a rapid eye movement from one fixation point to another, has revealed that an individual’s decision-making can be revealed in their eyes. The eye movements are nearly completely involuntary and are faster than a blink, but CU Boulder scientists found that when given a choice between two options, subjects tended to move their eyes faster when they looked toward the option they wound up selecting — and the more vigorous the eye movement, the more they preferred their choice. The scientists believe that more studies into saccades — particularly when they are slowed — could help doctors screen patients for illnesses including Parkinson’s Disease or depression.  

Gardening Benefits Health

A first-of-its-kind CU Boulder study funded by the American Cancer Society found that mental and physical health could be improved by community gardening. Study participants who began gardening were likely to consume more fiber and exercise more often — two ways that can reduce cancer and chronic illness risk. They also reported diminished stress and anxiety levels, regardless of gardening expertise.  

“It’s not just about the fruits and vegetables,” said study senior author and CU environmental studies professor Jill Litt. “It’s also about being in a natural space outdoors together with others.”

In Politics, Does Age Matter? 

Research out of CU Boulder’s political science department found that age is not necessarily a factor when gaining support from voters. The study determined that voters seem to be just as willing to vote for older candidates for office as they are younger politicians. At the same time, young voters more often disapprove of the job that older politicians are doing. The reason may be that voters are more concerned with their political party winning a race than focusing on the candidates themselves, speculated lead study author and PhD candidate Damon Roberts (MPolSci’21; PhD’25). 

Heard Around Campus

“Litigation can only go so far. The battle will be won or lost in the chambers of people’s hearts.”

— Naderev ‘Yeb’ Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, during the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, which took place at CU Boulder Dec. 2-4. About 4,300 people representing 99 countries registered to attend the summit — co-hosted by CU Boulder and United Nations Human Rights — in person or virtually. 

Digits: CU Boulder South

In November, City of Boulder voters upheld City Council’s 2021 annexation of CU Boulder South, a 308-acre property on the south edge of town that CU purchased in 1996.

1,000s

Of hours city officials, CU Boulder and the community spent crafting the annexation agreement

2,300

Downstream residents who will be protected by a 36-acre flood protection project to be built at the site

119

Acres dedicated to become City of Boulder Open Space

1,100

Approximate number of housing units for faculty, staff and non-first-year students

5

Acres dedicated to permanently affordable housing for anyone in the community who qualifies

2026

Anticipated completion of flood protection project, which must be complete before CU Boulder begins developing the site

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CU Boulder South illustration courtesy CU Boulder

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Sonia DeLuca Fernández supports institutional change in DEI at CU Boulder. While , she maintains a warm and humorous demeanor: “I have the best boss [Chancellor DiStefano] and best colleagues in the world,” she said. “Also, I snack all day long and can be bribed.”

How soon after waking up do you look at your phone? 

Seconds — there are alarms to futz with! Since I have a horrible sense of time, I need an alarm to go off at least every 30 minutes. Not to wake me up, but to help me keep track of time. And, because I go to bed so early (around 9 p.m.), there are usually texts I need to reply to first thing (around 4:15 a.m.).

App you wish you had the inner strength to delete? 

All of the random, one-off store and hotel apps. 

Last person you called?

My favorite young-adult-person: my nephew, Josh.

Duration of longest call last week? 

75 minutes with my best friend in St. Paul.

Location and description of last selfie? 

Denver. I got to have lunch with a friend who was in town from Pennsylvania. 

Does anyone else have your passcode? 

Hell nah.

Oldest photo on your phone? 

Dec. 9, 2015, of my cat, Dora. 

What is your lock screen or background image? 

The same weirdo, Dora. 

What do you use your phone for most? 

Podcasts and work. I’m listening to podcasts while in the car, on the treadmill and doing house chores. My favorites right now include Ear Hustle and Buried Bones. But I also take too many pictures of my cats, Dora and Diego.
 

Three most-used apps:

Outlook, Podcasts, Messages

Most-used emoji:

The hug emoji

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Andrew Cowell is a CU Boulder linguistics professor specializing in language documentation and linguistic anthropology. In 2003, he, along with faculty and students in the linguistics department, began documenting the Arapaho language to revitalize it for current and future members of the Arapaho nation. Cowell is also the director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS), which, in partnership with the university and Indigenous community members, students, faculty and staff, helped develop a campus land acknowledgment that CU introduced in fall 2022.

Talk about CU Boulder’s land acknowledgment. 

A good land acknowledgment does four things: It recognizes the current or former Indigenous inhabitants of an area. It recognizes that historically, the removal of Indigenous peoples from the land often involved severe injustices and that those historical injustices produce continuing inequities and harms in the present. And it commits to try to mitigate and address those continuing inequities and harms. 

CU Boulder’s acknowledgment is a historical and moral document. Also very important is the commitment by CU to consult with tribes and local Indigenous people. You can’t truly address and mitigate harms unless you engage seriously with the communities themselves and get their perspective on issues and potential solutions. The big question now is, what actual concrete commitments will the campus make to back up its pledges?

How can CU continue to make amends for its early history with Native American and Indigenous people?

One important thing that has already happened is the 2021 state legislature bill providing in-state tuition for students from any of 48 tribes historically associated with Colorado, which CNAIS helped pass. The idea is that Arapaho, Cheyenne or other people would likely still be here in Colorado if not for forced removal, so they should still be eligible for in-state tuition. That has already helped greatly increase Native American and Indigenous enrollment. 

As a state-funded institution, we have a broader responsibility to everyone in Colorado, and beyond, to address social issues and provide effective solutions. By reaching out to tribal communities, we can provide help with all kinds of things: language documentation and revitalization are one example, but there are so many areas for outreach and collaborative engagement with Native American and Indigenous communities.

What are some of the best aspects of having CNAIS affiliated with CU Boulder? 

CNAIS is a teaching and research center where all students and faculty can engage. But we’re also a support center specifically for Native American and Indigenous students, staff and faculty. Since we have faculty and students from all over the campus, we connect interested folks with each other — engineers who might want to work on reservations, or tribes looking for expertise on climate change. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how CU could take on the moral commitments of the land acknowledgment without having a specific Native American and Indigenous-facing component like CNAIS on campus.

What sparked your interest in the Arapaho language? 

What started out as a personal interest turned into a career choice.

My wife is Native Hawaiian, and I had learned Hawaiian and really gotten a lot out of that, so when I was hired at CU, I figured I should learn about the Indigenous languages of Boulder. The Arapaho were the people historically most present around Boulder. I realized there wasn’t a lot of published information, so I went to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to meet some speakers who said they could use help documenting their language. What started out as a personal interest turned into a career choice. You never know where things are going to lead.

What’s important when documenting a language? 

Documentation is important for languages like Arapaho that are endangered, meaning there are no longer young or middle-aged fluent speakers. In such cases, documenting natural discourse — conversations, stories, songs, speeches and so forth — is key. If you want to try and revitalize a language, you need models to learn from — Native speakers engaged in everyday language activities and interaction. I’ve recorded dozens of hours of that kind of thing, mostly on video, so you can also see things like gesture, Plains Sign Language signs, body positioning, the way people use eye contact or not as they interact — subtle features that go into actual communication.  

Are there other Native languages you hope to document and preserve? 

I’ve written a grammar of the Aaniiih (or Gros Ventre) language of Montana, which will be published in the next year or so, and also done a bilingual anthology of legends and historical accounts in that language. I’ve also written a grammar of the Coast Miwok language of California, which will be finished once I look at some archival materials from the 19th century. I also have created databases of the Southern Sierra Miwok language and the Central Sierra Miwok language of California. More recently, I’ve been working with the Quechua language from Peru as well.

What do you do in your free time? 

I enjoy hiking, camping, snowshoeing, birdwatching — generally engaging with the natural world. I really enjoy knowing the plants, being able to identify birds and animals, and having a very detailed interaction with the environment. That helps me with the languages, too, when I’m working to document Native names for various plants or animals or Native ecological knowledge. 

What else should we know about you?

Honest cross-cultural engagement is hard work but very rewarding.​

I’m a progressive, church-going United Methodist. One of the things I see at CU is a tendency for many students to view organized religion as being entirely conservative or entirely detrimental in relation to things like missionaries and Native people. That component is there, and many progressive religious groups are working to confront some of the highly problematic aspects of their past involvement with colonization or conquest — in a way similar to the Land Acknowledgment movement — and I’ve been involved in that. But at the same time, many of the Native Americans I work with are themselves Christians — and often simultaneously practitioners of Indigenous religions. So I think we need to keep a nuanced understanding of the very complex role of “the sacred” and not be automatically dismissive of organized religion — or, conversely, engage in simplistic caricatures of Native spirituality. Honest cross-cultural engagement is hard work but very rewarding.

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Photos by Glenn Asakawa

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THEN 1908

In 1908, CU Boulder graduates braved a windy day to march to Chautauqua Auditorium for their commencement ceremony. They first paraded around campus, then took horse-drawn carriages to Chautauqua to complete the procession. That spring, 146 students graduated from the university.

The traditional Folsom Field commencement tradition began in 1949.

Photo by T.C. Black, Jr/Courtesy CU Boulder Heritage Center

NOW May 5, 2022

On May 5, CU Boulder was more than ready to host thousands of graduates at the first in-person commencement ceremony since 2019 - and Colorado's signature bluebird sky showed up too.

More than 9,000 degrees were conferred in the Thursday-morning ceremony.

Tom Castello (Jour'87), NBC News' Washington correspondent, delivered the commencement address.

"Never forget this moment, this place" he said. "The place that launched you. ...I never have!"

Photo by Patrick Campbell

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On 2019, opera singer Wei Wu (MMus’13) won a Grammy for his role in the opera “The (R )evolution of Steve Jobs.” It was the same year jazz saxophonist Tia Fuller (MMus’00) received a Grammy nomination for best jazz instrumental album, the second female solo artist to ever earn one in the category. 

Both are featured in the CU Heritage Center’s new exhibit, “CU Making a Difference,” which honors the lives and accomplishments of a rotating cast of CU luminaries. Also on display are three of the five Nobel Prize medals awarded to CU faculty. 

The exhibit is located on the third floor of Old Main and is free to the public. 

In April, Kim Christiansen (Jour’84), voice of the Denver International Airport’s famed train messages, visited the exhibit, which she is featured in. 

“The other alumni featured in the exhibit are extraordinary, brilliant and changing the world,” said Christiansen, lead anchor for Denver’s 9News. “When I see their names and faces, I’m incredibly proud to be a CU grad. It’s too bad I couldn’t add ‘Go Buffs’ as a tagline to my DIA train messages.”

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Photos by Matt Tyrie 

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Reiland Rabaka, professor of African, African American and Caribbean Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies, is the founder and director of CU Boulder’s Center for African & African American Studies (CAAAS, pronounced “cause”). Rabaka has published 18 books, including his recent work,  and . Here he discusses the CAAAS, his students and the importance of a movement.

Who have had the largest impacts on your career? 

I was raised by my grandmother and my mother. I would not be who I am physically, intellectually, spiritually or culturally without them. My mother, an ordained Baptist minister, instilled the value of education in me. 

Secondly, if you want me to geek out for you — W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois gave me a model for the kind of intellectual, artistic and activist life I could live. Du Bois was the first African American to graduate with a PhD from Harvard University in 1895. He inaugurated sociology in the United States. Alongside his social scientific work, he wrote five novels, nine volumes of poetry, three dozen short stories and two dozen plays. He was a social scientist, an artist and an activist.

And musically? 

Billie Holiday. I love Lady Day. She sings some of the most beautiful, poignant, melancholic love songs you will ever hear. But at the same time, she sang “Strange Fruit,” an anti-lynching song released in 1939. Black people can say things in song that we can't say in any other way. It seems like we can express ourselves more fully in our art, especially our music. That is one of the reasons a lot of my teaching and research revolves around Black popular music.

What brought you to CU Boulder? 

I’m an ambassador for African American studies. There are suburban and rural youth at CU Boulder who never had the opportunity to take African American studies classes. This is the first chance for many of them. From the very beginning of my time at CU I felt a special kinship with my students. We are part of the first generation of American citizens to come of age in a desegregated and awkwardly integrated American society.

"One of the high points of my intellectual and activist life was to teach the Black Lives Matter Movement seminar, and for my students to immediately apply what they’re learning in class to CU."

Also, CU has a long tradition of really high-profile African American studies scholars. For instance, my faculty line was once occupied by Manning Marable, who received a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Malcolm X. Then Joy James, who is an endowed chair and incredible, brilliant, phenomenal Black feminist philosopher. This position has been seen as a high-profile post where people can do serious work and make important contributions. And, you know, Boulder is kind of freaky and geeky. And I have a bit of a Bohemian mindset. I feel at home here.

What was it like building the CAAAS directly with students? 

One of the high points of my intellectual and activist life was to teach the Black Lives Matter Movement seminar, and for my students to immediately apply what they’re learning in class to CU. Students used direct action and political pressure techniques. Their petition for the CAAAS got 1,500 signatures — and there’s only 800 Black students at CU Boulder. So, obviously, we have a lot of allies. It also inspired us to know that the CAAAS would be a space primarily for Black folk, but also for our anti-racist allies, because they, too, want to know about African and African American history and culture. 

What about CAAAS makes you most excited? 

We have three program areas — a research program, an arts program and a student services program. That’s what makes the CAAAS unique: It’s like a one-stop shop for everything that has to do with Blackness, Black folk and Black culture on campus.

It is a warm and welcoming communal space. I’m trying to create an African village vibe on the Boulder campus. I wanna bring some Africanité — some of the history, culture and art of continental and diasporan Africa — to Macky Auditorium, CU Boulder and beyond.

What is a course you look forward to teaching every time? 

There has been something truly special about teaching the Black Lives Matter Movement class. Teaching the class, I realized many of my white students don’t have a space to evolve their anti-racism and explore what it means to be an authentic ally. In fact, they do not have opportunities and spaces to have serious and sensitive conversations about what that means — what it means to be an authentic anti-racist ally. The CAAAS is also a safe space for allies.

What do you do outside of work? 

I’m a poet. I remember the first time I read Langston Hughes, his poetry was so alive and beautiful. I love Audre Lorde, one of my favorite poets of all time. I’m a musicologist, so I spend a lot of time listening to music. I read novels. I love literature — I read about three to four books a week. Lastly, I’m a long-distance hiker. I live about 15 minutes from Rocky Mountain National Park, and I’m out there probably four or five times a week. 

Is there anything else you would like us to know? 

The CAAAS wouldn’t have happened without incredible student co-founders Ruth Woldemichael (EthnSt, IntlAf’22), Karia White (EthnSt, IntlAf’22), Audrea Fryar (PolSci’21) and Isaiah Chavous (PolSci’21). There’s a Kenyan proverb that says: if you see me standing tall, it’s because I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and my family members. So, even though we are not biologically related, we’re family. I’m trying to build a big multiracial and multicultural family here in Boulder. That's what the CAAAS is about. If it’s about nothing else, it’s about creating a sense of belonging and building community.

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Photos by Glenn Asakawa

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