Arts & Humanities

Two reporters have won the 2016 Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting. Their winning piece details how dogged police work by investigators in Colorado captured a serial rapist and led to the exoneration of a Washington woman who was wrongfully prosecuted for false reporting of a rape that actually happened.

They have been at if for decades, these two sleuths from CU-Boulder, using their expertise in plant forensics to help investigators solve crimes, often murder. And now the pair, emeritus professors Jane Bock and David Norris, have teamed up on a new forensic plant science book expected to aid detectives, lawyers and judges around the world in better understanding and solving crimes.

Sometimes the big moments for a musician happen nowhere near the recital hall or the practice room. Sometimes they happen on the other side of the world, in a classroom with a young student who can’t read sheet music, and who can barely speak your language. Classical guitarist Patrick Sutton (DMA'14) splits his time between performing and teaching students in nations without access to music education. He talks about his time spent in Afghanistan, Egypt and South Africa.

The Classics Department at the University of Colorado Boulder will host students from across the state for Colorado Classics Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, on the south lawn outside the Duane Physics building.

Since middle school, CU-Boulder student Willie Payne has looked for ways to incorporate music composition and computer science. With dreams of composing music for video games, Payne became interested in exploring new ways of using technology. Specifically, Payne wanted to create unique musical dynamics and adaptations where the user controls sounds.

It’s not every day you get to work with a Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist as a college student. It’s even less often that you share the same alma mater. When the sixth season of the CU New Opera Workshop, or CU NOW, kicks off this month, one of the opera professionals mentoring composition students knows Boulder well. Mark Campbell, a 1975 graduate of the Department of Theatre and Dance, is coming back to campus for the first time in 40 years.

When you’re a master’s candidate, in your final semester, you don’t have a lot of time for yourself. Your days are spent writing, researching, neglecting to sleep. And when you’re working toward your master’s in music, a good chunk of your day is spent practicing. That said, sometimes an opportunity presents itself that’s so good—an opportunity that will demand weeks of your precious time—that turning it down isn’t an option.

Professor Fred Anderson of the University of Colorado Boulder history department has been awarded the 2015 Hazel Barnes Prize, the most distinguished award a faculty member can receive from the university. Since 1992, the Hazel Barnes Prize has been awarded each year to a CU-Boulder faculty member who best exemplifies the enriching interrelationship between teaching and research, and whose work has had a significant impact on students, faculty, colleagues and the university.

University of Colorado Professor Patty Limerick will review nearly four decades of service as University Fool and reflect on the value of humor on April Fools’ Day.

Up for a romantic Valentine’s Day evening? Then head to the University of Colorado Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium to Relativity for Lovers – A Valentine’s Day Among the Stars , for music, film and a talk on the genius of Albert Einstein.