June 2023: Starting anew

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New beginnings are here and on the horizon. These are signaled by degree completion, seasonal changes, a break from school. All provide opportunities for decisions, beginning what is next: a new job, a relationship or place to live. Each of these is an exciting space for our Buff family to extend roots, find nourishment and grow. 

 

Featured events

It's been two years since the Federal Juneteenth Holiday was signed into law with overwhelming bipartisan support. But many questions remain about the holiday, its purpose and its legacy after national recognition. What has "recognition" as a national holiday meant for understanding the full and complex history.. Read more  

This talk will be led by Dr. Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders of CU Boulder's History Department.
Thurs., June 15, 2023 at 1 p.m.

Renée Crown Wellness Institute Class Experience


Calling all middle school students looking for a unique summer experience! The Crown Institute invites you to join our first-ever Summer of Wellness camp. Gain hands-on experience working alongside leading researchers on a variety of programs to learn about the science of wellness and help support positive change.

Since 1987, the University Perspective program has developed and deepened the leadership capacity of staff on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Participants gain firsthand knowledge of the university through meetings with senior leaders on the Boulder campus and each of the other three campuses in the CU System and the CU System Office. The program is sponsored by Organizational and Employee Development (OED) in the Department of Human Resources. Applications are being accepted for the 2023-24 program.

Applications are now open for the 2023-2024 year.

We invite you to share the application with colleagues who you think would benefit from the program.

Join FSAP Workshops! The Faculty & Staff Assistance Program is dedicated to serving the emotional and psychological needs of the campus community. All FSAP staff are trained as generalist counselors and are equipped to deal with a wide range of personal and work related issues.

Workshops:

  • Cultivating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships | Two-part Session (June 6)
  • Staying Fit Beyond the Gym (June 14)
  • Mindfulness and Everyday Life (June, July & August)

You must be a CU Boulder employee to use FSAP services, and services are free to all CU Boulder faculty and staff members.

Faculty for Wellness

Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders

Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders is an Assistant Professor in the History department where she teaches courses on African American history and U.S. history.

Her research encompasses Civil War memory, Black Southern history, Black radicalism, and public memory in the United States. Her work has been featured in The Journal of African American History, The Washington Post, Black Perspectives, NPR and she has appeared on Al Jazeera, Colorado Public Radio, and the BBC World News as well as various podcasts including American History Tellers, Plot of Land, and the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast. She was recently awarded a 2023 American Council on Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowship and will spend the next year completing her first book project tentatively titled, "The Knew What The War Was About: African Americans and the Memory of the Civil War" which explores Black Americans’ long engagement with the memory of the Civil War and the myths of the Lost Cause.

Read featured article

June Gruber

June Gruber is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado and Director of the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Laboratory.

June Gruber’s teaching, which recently won a Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction, doesn’t mean she shows students the path to unmitigated joy; on the contrary, the science of emotional wellness is more nuanced.

Read featured article

Erica Ellingson and Roselinde Kaiser

The winter solstice in December marks the astronomical change of the seasons: the year’s shortest day and the beginning of the sunrise’s northward swing along the horizon. For millennia, people have identified the days around solstice as special, acknowledging their association with darkness, but also celebrating the return of light. 

Let’s CU Well will host Erica Ellingson, professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, and Roselinde Kaiser, associate professor in the Department  of Psychology and Neuroscience, for a conversation about the winter solstice, the challenges and stressors that are common to this time of year, and how we can use this time of transition as an opportunity for renewal and wellness.

Their presentation is titled, "December: the darkest days and the season of light."

Let’s CU Well, a series of wellness presentations, is an outgrowth of the College of Arts and Sciences’ wellness initiative, called Be Well.

Let’s CU Well aims to help the college community find balance in both home and school life with the help of presentations from the college's wellness researchers and practitioners.

Watch presentation

Put wellness on your calendar!

Resources for your summer

Student organizations often operate on the same schedule as the academic calendar. This means that they often disband and cease all operations over the summer break, without properly closing out the semester and transitioning the organization to a new year.

This year:

  • Elect new organization leaders (presidents, vice-presidents, treasurers, etc.)
  • Update signer information with the Center for Student Involvement
  • Make sure new leaders have all appropriate organization documents including constitutions, bylaws, procedures, goals, meeting minutes, past event plans, financial reports, etc.
  • Give new leadership access to all organization accounts, including email, social media and BuffConnect access.

    The Just Transition Collaborative (JTC) engages to advance social and environmental justice in the transition from fossil fuels to a renewable-based economy and in response to climate change.

    News and Updates: