Metro Magazine Fall 2011 / Volume XXVI / Issue I contents

It was one of those rare rainy, overcast days in Colorado—a perfect day for decluttering. As I sat sorting through a dusty box of memorabilia, up popped a dog-eared script of “The Shadow Box” by Michael Cristofer.

Leafing through those worn and highlighted pages transported me back 24 years to my freshman year at Metro State. I remember reading an audition notice for the MSC Players’ production of Cristofer’s Tony award-winning play. With almost no acting background to speak of, it was a crazy idea to audition. Yet I did, and somehow I ended up with my first-ever lead role.

Before 1987, although a few theatre classes existed under the Department of Speech Communication, there was no theatre major or department. The scrappy and determined MSC Players, a student club, represented Metro State theatre as an extracurricular activity, along with various instructors and others from the outside community who volunteered their time to produce, direct and oversee the process. We held club meetings in a Lilliputian-sized room in the Arts Building and performed in Arts 271, the black box theatre still used today for classes and student productions.

The same year I landed my first stage major role, Marilyn “Cookie” Hetzel, landed her role as theatre faculty member. With Hetzel at the helm, Metro State theatre began its arduous, yet grand evolution from student club to full-fledged Theatre Department, with Hetzel as its chair. Since 2003, the department has offered a bachelor of arts in theatre and a bachelor of fine arts with two concentrations—one in music theatre and one in applied theatre technology and design, as well as a minor in theatre.

With my degree in English and journalism, I went on to become a professional writer and editor, yet I never lost my love of theatre. As a local community actress, director and producer, I simply can’t imagine my life without it.

METRO STATE THEATRE THROUGH THE YEARS

• 
  Late 1960s -2010 – close to 200 plays produced, including student directing projects.
  
• 
  April 1967 – “Viet Rock: A Folk War Movie” is performed.
  
• 
  April 1989 – Professor Marilyn Hetzel directs her first musical, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” The play’s writer/composer Clark Gesner attends, deeming it, says Hetzel, “one of the best performances he’s ever seen.”
  
• 
  2000 – The Kenneth Kendall King Academic and Performing Arts Center opens, giving Metro State theatre access to a technologically advanced black box theater, production studio and a 300-seat shared courtyard theatre.
  
• 
  2003 – Three theatre majors debut under the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences.
  
• 
  2009 – The Theatre Program becomes a full-fledged academic department and joins in a partnership with Kaiser Permanente that offers a highly prized paid internship in which students perform in a professional educational theatre touring company.
  
• 
  2011 – Audiences can look forward to seeing “Tartuffe,” “Working,” “Rhinoceros” and “Sweeney Todd
  

Newsworthy
College News

ENROLLMENT UP AMONG MASTER’S CANDIDATES AND STUDENTS OF COLOR

Enrollment in Metro State’s master’s programs is up fivefold this fall, from 50 students last year to 250 now.

Part of the increase comes from the launch this August of the Master of Social Work Program, which added 115 graduate students to the total. Enrollment in the professional accountancy program tripled (from 16 to 57) and the teacher education program more than doubled (from 34 to 78).

Also on the increase is the enrollment of undergraduate students of color, which now stands at 31.6 percent of the student body, up from 28.4 percent last fall. And the College continues to serve one of its core constituencies, with almost one-third of the student body being firstgeneration- to-college students.

Meanwhile, the slight drop of 0.7 percent in overall enrollment to 23,828 students aligns with the College’s strategy to hold its numbers steady until more classroom space becomes available when the Student Success Building and the Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center open next year. (Visit www.mscd.edu/metrostaterising for construction updates).

WOW! $1 MILLION DONATION FUNDS CENTER FOR URBAN WATER EDUCATION

Metro State has secured a $1 million donation—the largest private donation in the College’s history—to establish the One World, One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship (OWOW Center).

“In Denver’s urban environment, water stewardship and sustainability are especially important and relevant topics,” says President Stephen Jordan. “Our donor’s generosity is a testament to the College’s ability to address these issues from its unique vantage point as an urban land-grant institution.”

Starting next fall, the OWOW Center will offer an interdisciplinary minor in water studies that addresses the growing demand for water and the need for greater public education about this vital resource. The center will also hold public education seminars and water stewardship activities on campus and in the community.

The center will work with a high-level community advisory group to ensure direct relevance of the program to statewide water needs and interests.

The $1 million donation, which came from a local donor who wishes to remain anonymous, will seed the five-year pilot project. The College will also contribute funds to the OWOW Center to lay the foundation for its long-term sustainability.

NEW EQUITY ASSISTANCE CENTER TO HELP SCHOOL DISTRICTS THROUGHOUT REGION

Metro State is set to establish a center that helps public school districts deal with equity and civil rights issues, thanks to a multiyear, multimillion dollar U.S. Department of Education grant.

Awarded by the DOE’s Equity Assistance Centers Program, the grant is anticipated to total more than $2 million over three years. The College has received an initial amount of $681,931 for the first year.

“Meeting the evolving needs of our school populations requires specialized training around issues of diversity, racial, sex and national origin discrimination,” says Percy A. Morehouse Jr., executive director of equal opportunity/ assistant to the president and the principal investigator on the grant.

The new Metro State Equity Assistance Center (EAC) will offer technical assistance and training to public school districts, at the request of school boards, in desegregation and equity issues. The center will focus on improving school safety; decreasing the incidence of racial and sexual harassment and bullying; and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to underrepresented populations.

The Metro State EAC, one of only 10 in the country, will serve DOE’s Region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

FLIGHT TEAM WINS NATIONAL TROPHY

Metro State’s Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science has been awarded the Loening Trophy, which recognizes the most outstanding all-around collegiate aviation program in the country. It is the oldest and most prestigious collegiate aviation award in the nation, presented annually by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Foundation.

The College’s Precision Flight Team won the trophy at the 2011 SAFECON (Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference) competition hosted by Ohio State University in May. The award represents excellence in aeronautical skills and sets the current benchmark for an overall outstanding collegiate aviation program. Key grading elements of the award include academics, community involvement, aviation skills, safety and an ability to advance the profession.

“Our students have consistently been raising the bar at competitions in recent years, both regionally and nationally,” says Jeff Forrest, Metro State professor and chair of aviation and aerospace science. “I’m so proud of them and our faculty who inspire them to perform at such a high level of professionalism.”

The perpetual trophy is made of pure silver, designed by Tiffany & Co. and dates back to 1929. It is named after aviation pioneer and inventor Grover Loening.

METRO STATE NEIGHBORHOOD CONTINUES TO GROW

The land south of West Colfax Avenue and west of Rio Court near the Auraria Campus is vacant now, with little more than chest-high weeds and aging utility poles. But by next year, Metro State will begin a makeover of the site, eventually turning this overgrown patch into a multimillion dollar athletic facility, with tennis courts and fields for baseball, soccer and more.

Metro State, the Auraria Higher Education Center, Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver bought the 13.5 acres in 2008 for $16.5 million. In September, the Metro State Board of Trustees approved a deal that gives the College a greater stake in the land and paves the way for phased development of the property.

Metro State will take over CC D’s and UCD’s obligations and gain 50 percent ownership. In return, the College will get first priority use of the land, naming rights to facilities it builds there, and right of first refusal if Auraria wants to bow out.

Six tennis courts will be built by fall 2012. A timeline for two additional courts, baseball and soccer/recreation is being developed. Softball will take over the current baseball field when it moves to the new property and there will be room for club and intramural sports.
The College will be seeking private donations to help fund its plans for the land.

The acquisition continues the building of the Metro State Neighborhood on the Auraria Campus, which has begun with the construction of the Student Success Building, scheduled to open in spring 2012, followed by the Hotel and Hospitality Center in fall 2012.

METRO STATE STUDENTS ARE “STARS” TO NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS

Four Metro State students helped brighten the summer for kids in the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood, as part of Metro State’s Journey Through Our Heritage (JTOH) program. The students developed and implemented a six-week summer program at La Alma Recreation Center for 25 children, ages 5-11.

JTOH is a Metro State program that partners Metro State students with local high school students and engages them in a year-long program that enhances their current public school curriculum. It is sponsored by the Chicana/o Studies Department and supported by the African/African American Studies Department.

“If it were not for programs like these, these kids wouldn’t have a chance,” said Marine Sgt. Dean Sanchez (‘07, criminal justice and criminology), who has been visiting the center regularly since he was a child. “I wouldn’t have had a chance.”

Marketing major Jay Jaramillo, one of the Metro State participants, said the children would “see stars in their eyes when we (college students) visited. We let them know that we go to college just down the street and that they can do the same” when they graduate from high school.

TRIPS TO ETHIOPIA YIELD MORE PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Two Metro State delegations traveled to Ethiopia this summer, under the Metro State-Aksum University (AkU) partnership. The College received a $272,425 U.S. Department of State grant last summer to solidify the partnership. Since the partnership was established in 2009, the College has collected seven tons of books for AkU, hosted the Mayor of Axum and participated in fundraising activities to help build a new elementary school in Adowa, Ethiopia.

In June, International Studies Director Ali Thobani led a group of five faculty and staff, who laid the groundwork for a study-abroad opportunity for 15 Metro State students at AkU next summer. President Stephen Jordan led a second delegation in July, which participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new elementary school and explored additional opportunities under the partnership. Jordan also delivered AkU’s commencement address.

9 ANSWERS
By Joan McDermott

Anyone who has lived in Colorado for awhile— particularly those who are basketball fans— recognizes the name Bill Hanzlik. After the Seattle Supersonics traded him in 1982, he played for the Denver Nuggets for 11 years. The 6-foot 7-inch forward helped the Nuggets reach the NBA Playoffs eight times, and was the Nuggets head coach in 1997-98. In recognition of his athletic achievements, Hanzlik was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

But Hanzlik did much more for Denver than play professional basketball. In 1986, the Notre Dame graduate founded the Gold Crown Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of Colorado’s children through athletics and education. He also served on the governing boards of several colleges in Colorado. In January 2009, Hanzlik was appointed to Metro State’s Board of Trustees by then-Gov. Bill Ritter.

1. How many years were you a professional athlete?
BH: Eleven under contract. Ten I actually played. (The 11th year I got hurt the first day of training camp.)

2. What do you consider your greatest moment as a professional athlete?
BH: I had one game-winning shot. That was in a playoff game, with the Nuggets vs. the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas.

3. How do you use your experience as a coach to help guide the College as a trustee?
BH: I’m big on teamwork. What’s neat about the trustees, they all have areas of expertise, and use them to strengthen the team. So you listen to different trustees when it comes to different assessments of situations, whether it’s legislative, bond financing, academic affairs, budgets, finance… The teamwork is really fun to watch interact.

4. What have you learned about Metro State and its students that you didn’t know before joining the board of trustees?
BH: The quality of education at Metro State is so good. I’m astounded at how good the professors are and how the whole organization runs with such a limited budget.

5. As a trustee you’re in support of changing our name to include the word university. Can you tell me why?
BH: I always look at what is best for the student. Having “university” in the name takes away any thought that sometimes companies or individuals have that Metro is a community college.

6. What do you think is the solution to the higher education funding crisis in Colorado, particularly in regards to its effect on Metro State?
BH: I’m not sure I have an answer for that one. The thing I see is the value of the institution to the state. You’re educating more people for less revenue than just about any institution in Colorado. There is no more room to cut. Higher ed has never been funded very well by the state of Colorado. We’ve ranked anywhere from 45th to 50th nationally, depending on which survey, over the years. The tuition increases have already come, and I think they’re here to stay. It’s going to go from more state funding to individual funding.

7. You were a member of the Board of State Colleges, which governed Metro State along with three rural institutions, before you were appointed to our board. So you’ve been involved with the College for years. What do you see as the biggest change over the last decade?
BH: Substantial growth. At Metro State more than anywhere. I mean, the old rule of thumb back then was we’ll fund you more, to get kids going to college. So that’s what happened. The colleges worked hard on it, and more kids went to college. But now you’re educating more with less revenue because of the budget cuts. You know, Metro State does have some unique advantages being in a large city, an alumni base that stays in Colorado, and the foundation is the best foundation I’ve been around.

8. You’re the liaison right, with Metro State’s foundation board?
BH: Yes, between the trustees and the foundation board. The ability of the foundation to do more things is really good. And it shows in some of the unique things the foundation is doing— the Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center, for example, is huge (www.mscd.edu/metrostaterising). It’s a way to build a building with no state dollars, no federal dollars. We’ve got the chance to generate revenue. A little drop in the bucket, but still, it’s impactful. And the location is awesome.

9. Tell me about your Gold Crown Foundation, and why you started it?

BH: We were looking to fill a void. There wasn’t a really good basketball camp for girls. We—my partner Ray Baker and I—started as a one-week nonprofit girls camp at Metro State. I think the first year we had about 150 girls and we gave scholarships to about 50 of them. That was in 1986. We paid the coaches and then donated the rest to charity. So we did that for a couple of years, and then we kind of thought, you know rather than give this money away, we think if we roll it back in, we can do more things. And that’s what happened. We had other camps, leagues, programs and so Gold Crown grew. Now we operate basketball, volleyball, golf—and the national wheelchair basketball championships for the Special Olympics. We provide about 35,000 opportunities, meaning one kid in one program, probably 15,000 to 18,000 unique individuals. We’re big believers that you can teach a lot of life skills through sport: teamwork, character, commitment, responsibility—all those things that can help kids.

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