It is exciting to be part of a community of scholars and artists who have brought international acclaim to CU-Boulder. My immediate goals are to inspire and inform my students, deepening their understanding, fueling their passion for lifelong learning, and instilling within them the confidence to lead with integrity.
-Allan McMurray, Distinguished Professor, College of Music. Professor McMurray is the Robert and Judy Charles Professor of Conducting and the Director of Bands.
As the first faculty member to be moving on campus, I am excited to invest in creating a new type of living and learning community for the Engineering Honors Program. My family and I will be living in the newly renovated Andrews Hall with its high-tech computer lab, special study spaces, classrooms, great room, and common kitchen. This will be an ideal spot for us and our 227 "extended roommates" to cultivate a four-year educational experience that matches both their abilities and ambitions.
-Scot Douglass, Associate Professor, Herbst Program of Humanities for Engineers and Director of the Engineering Honors Program in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Professor Douglass was awarded the 2003 Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award.
My research and teaching is about emerging critical trends in the media age. At CU we've always been good at innovation and creative approaches to real issues and problems because we think outside the usual silos. This will be our signature as we rise to the challenges ahead.
-Stewart M. Hoover, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Professor Hoover is particularly well known for his work in religion and media, and he directs the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture.
The Honors program at Colorado dates back to 1931—President Norlin's day—and maintains a tradition of inclusiveness unique among American universities. I expect that tradition to thrive as the program grows. In five years Honors will be more central to the life of the campus than ever before.
-Fred Anderson, Professor, Department of History, and Director of Honors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Anderson is the 2008 recipient of the 100th Distinguished Research Lectureship, which recognizes an entire body of creative work and research.
Similar to our increasing awareness of global warming, the current housing and banking crises are showing us that we can no longer ignore the financial institutions around us. For better or for worse, finance has a big impact on the economy and on our societal well-being. It's an exciting time for students, and it may well turn out to be a fertile ground for new opportunities at CU and beyond.
-Nathalie Moyen, Associate Professor of Finance, Leeds School of Business. Professor Moyen's research interests include capital structure and corporate investments and her teaching interests include derivative securities.
I see education as the process of learning, not "knowing." Students enter my classrooms with rich personal and intellectual resources including ideas about science, the nature of science, and ideas about teaching and learning. We develop these ideas collaboratively, so we must trust ourselves and each other throughout this process.
-Valerie K. Otero, Assistant Professor, School of Education. Professor Otero is deeply involved in cross-campus collaborations with other science faculty members who are also interested in student-centered teaching practices.
The potential role that CU-Boulder can play in catalyzing the Colorado economy, particularly the aerospace industry, is exciting. The Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is leading this activity through the new AeroSpace Systems Science and Engineering (AS3E) Initiative and eSpace: The Center for Space Entrepreneurship.
-Jeffrey M. Forbes, Professor and Chair, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Professor Forbes was elected a 2008 Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a global organization that annually recognizes members who accomplish great services for science and the community.
Research Diamond partnerships with regional universities, government laboratories, and the private sector will build on CU's distinguished record of interdisciplinary research. Three physics faculty have won Nobel Prizes for research done in JILA, a 46-year collaboration between the University of Colorado and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
-Paul D. Beale, Professor and Chair, Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Beale's general field of research is the thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of condensed matter systems and his recent work includes a calculation of the exact distribution of energies in the two-dimensional Ising model.
The next several years should be a period of great advancement in the social sciences. As a sociologist, I intend to further my research on gender and trauma and to provide a dynamic learning environment for students who seek to engage with the world around them.
-Janet Jacobs, Professor of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences and Director of the Farrand Residential Academic Program. Professor Jacobs's research focuses on women, ethnicity, and the social psychology of identity formation.
Inspired by CU-Boulder's new Flagship 2030 strategic plan, faculty talk about their personal role in the future of CU. Click on the photos below to read what more faculty have to say about their role in the university's strategic efforts.
