About Us
The Libby Residential Academic Program (LRAP or Libby RAP) offers an interdisciplinary curriculum in the arts. Students can take classes in the visual arts, theatre and dance, music, and film studies. The curriculum and related events, such as visiting artists, shows, and exhibits, are designed to let students explore their creativity, regardless of major.
Libby RAP's small courses (15-22 students per class) create a close intellectual and artistic community. Students generally take 3-6 credit hours in the hall each semester. Courses offered fulfill Arts and Sciences core requirements, major requirements, or elective requirements. Classes meet in Libby Hall and are taught by faculty with demonstrated excellence in teaching. The program cost is $850 for the academic year.
Director Eric Stade is also Professor of Mathematics and former Chair of that department. In 2011, he was named a President's Teaching Scholar, the highest teaching award given by the university, recognizing his ongoing contributions to pedagogical excellence at CU and local schools. Professor Stade is interested in themes and notions that are common to mathematics and the arts (and many other pursuits), such as: beauty, order, pattern, and creativity. He believes that anyone who engages in the creative process can stand to learn a lot from anyone else who does the same, and he hopes that, as Director of Libby RAP, he can help cultivate the culture of creativity that is already a hallmark of the CU-Boulder experience.
Associate Director Janet Robinson, M.A., has been part of the Libby RAP faculty since its inception and is currently an Instructor and the Associate Director. She teaches film studies courses including many film courses that fulfill core requirements. Before she came to Libby RAP full-time, she taught film studies for the prior 16 years as an adjunct instructor for the film studies departments at the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of Colorado Denver; and the University of Denver. Last year, she took 20 LRAP students to the Telluride Film Festival, and will be leading students to the festival again this fall. In the past year, she wrote and presented papers on David Cronenberg's Crash and the HBO TV series True Blood, both scheduled to be published this fall.
Program Assistant Michael Shernick has served students at CU for over a dozen years. He is an artist and has exhibited his work locally, regionally, and internationally. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado Denver, a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a Certificate in Botanical Illustration from the Denver Botanic Gardens. When he is not helping students, Michael and his wife Martha, also a CU staffer, tend to their gardens and three rescued cats.
Founding Director Deborah J. Haynes is also Professor of Art and Art History and former Chair of that department from 1998-2002. In 2003 at the request of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, she began to develop the Libby RAP, culminating her directorship of the program in 2011. Before coming to CU-Boulder, she was Associate Professor of Art and Director of Women’s Studies at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She completed the Master of Fine Arts degree in studio arts at the University of Oregon in 1977; the Master of Theological Studies degree at Harvard Divinity School in 1986; and a Ph.D. in The Study of Religion and Fine Arts at Harvard University in 1991. Both an artist and a writer, her books include Bakhtin and the Visual Arts (1995), The Vocation of the Artist (1997), and Art Lessons: Meditations on the Creative Life (2003). She regularly teaches graduate courses in the art department.