The intensive conference welcomes beginners, published writers, teachers, students, and anyone else who believes in the magic and power of the written word.
Mark Todd, the conference organizer, is a widely published author and longtime Western faculty member. He has brought together more than 25 writers, publishers and editors to create the region’s preeminent literary gathering.
Western’s Poetry MFA is delighted to announce that Gunnison resident Enid Holden is joining the poetry Concentration Advisory Board.
Western Music professor, Dr. John Wacker, died in a vehicle crash on May 11.
The Western State Colorado University community is incredibly saddened by the tragic loss of Dr. John Wacker. John was a mentor, role model and friend to students, faculty and community members throughout the Gunnison Valley. He instilled a love of music and an ethic of hard work in students and friends alike. Our hearts and thoughts are with his family.
Dr. John Peterson, a Computer Science Professor and Wacker’s friend, offered the following tribute:
If you have friends or family who cannot attend, tell them to watch the spring 2014 Commencement Ceremony online here!
James Nauman came to Western State College of Colorado as a freshman in 1945 and was subsequently drafted by the Army, where he served for 18 months. After this initial period in the military, Jim spent the next two years studying Biology and Chemistry at Western. At the end of his junior year, although he had not met the graduation requirements for Western, he was accepted to the University of Colorado Medical School. There was a demand for doctors, and James Nauman answered that call. But it left him without an undergraduate degree.
Western’s Environment & Sustainability and Business Administration programs jointly sponsored the event, reflecting its focus on not only ideas but also practical economic solutions.
“It’s nice to celebrate poetry for an entire month,” he says, “but events and passion for poetry go on year round.”
Key to many of these events is Western’s WordHorde a performance troupe of undergraduate students that travels the region to promote the spoken word and poetry.
Honors students took the chance to mingle with each other and benefactors. There are a total of 107 Honors Students this year and they hope the numbers will grow next year.
Sociology professor Dr. Dan Cress became the Honors Director in the Fall of 2013. Scott Doyle will be taking over as President.
Depending on the time of year, there could be dozens of openings for Work-Study on campus. Now is the time to start watching for great summer opportunities and the early-bird positions for the fall. If you have federal or state Work-Study funds, you're a hot prospect on campus!
For more information on how to apply, go to the Work-Study Information Pages.
Directed by Karin Waidley, co-written by Chuck Novatka and with choreography by Crested Butte Dance Collective co-founder Adge Marziano, performances are set for 7:30pm April 9 through 11, and at 2pm and 7:30pm April 12 in Taylor Hall's Western Studio Theatre.
Western’s departments of Environment & Sustainability and Business, Accounting & Economics sponsor the event. Dr. Jonathan Coop, assistant professor of Biology and Environment & Sustainability, and Dr. Michael Vieregge, professor of Business Administration, organized the first conference last year, to provide a forum in the Gunnison Valley, where growers, distributors and end users would come together, exchange ideas and network.
The NCAA noticed as the red-shirt sophomore from Buena Vista wrestled in early March at its Division II Wrestling Championship in Cleveland. They honored him as one of the Elite 89 academic stars in NCAA Athletics. A dozen days earlier, he earned the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Summit Award for having the highest cumulative GPA of any wrestler competing in the conference tournament, which Western won for the first time since 2010.
It’s now been 36 years since a team from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory did. And the flapping of that little butterfly’s wings sent ripples all the way to Washington – and beyond. The tiny creature joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species list in 1991.
This low-residency 30-credit M.A. in Creative Writing program focuses on both the craft of creative writing and the pedagogy for the teaching of creative writing. Students select one of three emphases: popular genres fiction/nonfiction, poetry with a focus on versecraft, or screenwriting for feature film and television. The program involves two online semesters of coursework that use a combination of online writing submissions and critiques as well as regular real-time discussions with writer-mentors and peer students.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — On March 1, Western State Colorado University wrestling earned the sixth Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title in program history. Western won the conference and Region IV title, finishing with 86.5 points, seven ahead of California Baptist University.
The Black Student Alliance sponsored several sessions with Pearson, who speaks both English and Spanish fluently, has authored several books on diversity and motivation, and calls himself the "S.A.L.S.A.
“Dr. Atwell is a rare talent,” says Dr. John Hausdoerffer, director of the MEM program, set to welcome its first students this summer. “He is an environmental educator with systemic thinking concerning local and national communities and resources.”
The Alumni Awards for Excellence celebrate Western State Colorado University as a community of teachers and learners. The Award, established by former President Harry Peterson in 1997, is an opportunity to recognize the talents and achievements of our graduates and remains the University's highest honor for its graduating seniors.
Western State Colorado University’s team in the NASA’s Colorado Space Grant Consortium Robotics Challenge traveled to Great Sand Dunes National Park in early April to test their Mars-Rover-like robot, dubbed “Jack,” against those from other colleges in the state. All did not go as hoped, but …
Western's Geology program takes students out of the classroom into one of the most diverse and spectacular outdoor laboratories in the world. With one of only ten undergraduate petroleum geology programs in the country, Western students have the opportunity to handcraft their geology education and launch into the world after graduation as sought-after grads with their choice of high paying jobs.
The memorial service to celebrate Dammion Heard's life, will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is open to everyone. Western's student-run radio station, KWSB, will be streaming the event live over the internet at www.kwsb.org.
The service will be followed by a candlelit procession to the University Center for refreshments at Mad Jack's. Grief counselors will be made available on the second floor of the University Center during that time.
This year's event took place in the Board Meeting Room at the University Center, where a critical panel – Mariah Green, career and academic advisor, student Scott Cantril, Kim Gailley, director of Human Resources, and Greg White, assistant director of Continuing Education – posed questions and offered critiques of the students' responses.
GUNNISON, Colo. - Western State Colorado University mourns the tragic loss of freshman wrestler, Dammion Heard (Fr., Fort Worth, Texas) this week. Heard was a valuable member to the Mountaineer wrestling squad, Western Athletic Department and University community.
If such questions get your juices flowing, there’s a unique place to seek answers, where you can actually start building a new future: Western State Colorado University in Gunnison. A coordinated double major in Environment & Sustainability and Business Administration now brings together not just innovative ideas but the knowledge to make them happen in the real world.
Dr. David Marchetti, professor of Geology at Western, has since 2005 studied the geology, geomorphology and environmental history of the Fish Lake area. The lake sits at 8,800 feet in northeast Utah, in a structural graben, which is a depression between parallel faults. The lake is roughly 6 miles long, 1 mile across and the largest natural water body in Utah.
The resulting device will compete with robots from other schools April 5 at Great Sand Dunes National Park, about two hours drive from Western. The device must navigate on its own once it's released on the sandy course, where it must avoid obstacles to seek a beacon transmitting at a specific frequency. It must weigh less than 1.5 kilograms, have parts that cost less than a total of $500 and be "no bigger than the average cat," according to Dr. Suzanne Taylor, faculty advisor for the project and Western assistant professor of physics.
They returned to Gunnison with an Honorable Mention for their work representing Macedonia, and with a pair of awards for Outstanding Position Papers.
Western's spring 2014 Student Film Night is set for 7:30pm April 30 in the (Ruby Cinema) University Theater at the University Center. This year's celebration of student creativity will feature student-produced short films and audio documentaries. Students from several Film Studies and Media Production courses (including Media Production: Narrative, Introduction Production and Theory, and Introduction to Audio Communication) have been invited to showcase their work.
Over 900 people were in attendance, including Western Board of Trustees members Meyer Saltzman with his son Scott and grandson Travis. Along with Saltzman, board of trustees member Linda Morton, and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Todd Wheeler were both in attendance. Also attending the event was Western's newest President, Dr. Greg Salsbury and wife Marian along with Western Foundation Board member Terry Brace.
John Peterson, a professor of Computer Science, will join Andy Keck, Heidi Keck, Jeremy Muskat and Zach Treisman, all mathematicians, and Greg Haynes, professor of Music, on stage. They will rotate between presentations on math and musical performance, addressing tuning and temperament, phasing and periodic functions, sieves, chaos theory, and stochastic processes. Their presentations will include:
Francesca Pavillard-Cain, a business and Spanish double-major at Western, stood atop an intimidating peak in Chamonix, France this winter, reflecting on how she'd ended up competing on the world stage as a freeride skier. Pavillard-Cain grew up on a pair of skis in Crested Butte and chose Western because of its proximity to big mountains and its quality academics.
Ali Wolpern, a senior studying exercise and sports science, will work with Dr. Lance Dalleck in Western’s High Altitude Performance Laboratory to study whether measuring an individual’s ventilatory threshold is more effective than measuring heart rate to determine how hard someone is exercising.
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