Welcome to the Master of Humanities and Master of Social Science Student and Alumni page. MH and MSS students and alumni are unique people who are changing the world with their ideas and accomplishments. They chose the MH and MSS programs because they value the highly individualized coursework they were able to do to fit their interests and goals. We are proud to share news of our current and former students and invite more to contact us with updates on where your studies have taken you and how you are engaged in your community. We encourage all members of the MHMSS community, current and former, to stay in touch.
Following is a list of current students and alumni successes which will be updated on a frequent basis.
MHMSS Graduate Student Achievements
RAQUEL (ROCKY) GUERRERO
Conference #1: Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Student Research for the 21st Century
Paper: Dancing in the Street: Danza, Azteca and its Role in the Formation of Chicano Spritual Identity
Location: Denver Campus, University of Colorado
Date: November 16th, 2009
Conference#2: Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Colorado Boulder Graduate Student Research Conference on Other Bodies: Performance and Theatricality in Spanish and Portuguese Literature, Language and Arts
Panel titled: Denounce, Disfigure, Transform: Working Towards a New Perspective
Paper: Dancing in the Street: Danza Azteca as a Transformative Syncretic Tradition
Location: Boulder Campus, University of Colorado
Date: April 10th, 2010
RICHARD O'CONNELL
Conference: Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Student Research for the 21st Century
Paper: Tales of the Code Breakers: Allied Code Breakers During World War II
Location: University of Colorado, Denver
Date: November 16th, 2009
CHEREKA DICKERSON
Conference #1: (En) Gendering Social Inquiry: Critical Feminist Concerns
Paper: Niggaz, Bitches, Cars and Cribs: Idealizing Masculine Identity to Erase Feminine Identity to Rap Music
Date: February 16th, 2010
Location: Arizona University
Award: Master of Humanities and Master of Social Science Grant
Conference #2: Revitalizing the Sociological Imagination: Individual Troubles and Social Issues in a Turbulent World
Paper: Paper: Niggaz, Bitches, Cars and Cribs: Idealizing Masculine Identity to Erase Feminine Identity to Rap Music
Date: April 8-11th, 2010
Location: 81st Annual PSA Meeting in California
Award: Master of Humanities and Master of Social Science Grant
DAVID BUCHANAN
All day event presented by Oxford's Department of Education
Study Day: Art and the Metaphysics of Quality in the Writings of E H Gombrich and Robert Pirsig. David opened with a one hour talk wherein his task was to explain exactly what Pirsig meant by Quality. Two other professors presented also. One presented recordings of Pirsig being interviewed, and the other related Pirsig's work to Gombrich's. All three participated in question and answer periods throughout the day.
Date: October 24th, 2009
Location: University of Oxford, London
Award: Master of Humanities and Master of Social Science Grant
GINA SCHLESSMAN
20th Annual Women and Society Conference
Paper: Evoking Myth: Ecofeminism's Use of the Spiritual for the Political
Date: October 21-22, 2011
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY
Award: University of Colorado Denver, Graduate School Dean's Travel Award
TONI ROSATI
National Weather Association Meeting
Paper: Using Tsunami Perceptions to Measure Climate Change Literacy
Date: October 15-21, 2011
Location: Birmingham, AL
Award: University of Colorado Denver, Graduate School Dean's Travel Award
SUSAN MCPARTLAND
Susan work for the Visitor Use Management Team in the Denver Service Center Planning Division within the National Parks Service
Conference #1: Sixth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Paper: Landscape Alteration Due to Renewable Energy Development: Agenda Setting in the Social Sciences
Abstract: Renewable energy development is expanding throughout the United States. With the rapid increase in wind and other renewable energy production, the question of where such development is taking place becomes increasingly important. While many investigations of renewable energy structures' physical ecological impacts have been undertaken, the aesthetic and social impacts of such landscape alteration have been studied to a much lesser degree. Moreover, current research on how this type of landscape alteration affects the individuals and communities for whom development is visible is concentrated within areas where development has already taken place, not in areas where development is likely to occur. The core arguments against such development are rooted in the conflict between ideals of development and conservation. How people react to this clash of ideals is important to understand as the placement of future wind farms, solar panels, solar collectors and other renewable energy structures is decided. Landscape alteration due to renewable energy development needs to become a forefront agenda item for the social sciences. The topic specifically needs to be investigated before development takes place and, most importantly, needs to add to local, regional and national conversations about where and how development should be adopted. This paper will present an affective starting point for this important social science agenda item.
Date: July 11-13, 2011
Location: University of New Orleans
Award: Master of Humanities and Master of Social Science Grant
Conference#2: The George Wright Society Conference on Parks, Protected Areas & Cultural Sites
Papers: Renewable Energry and Landscape Alteration Surrounding U.S. National Parks
Abstract: With the rapid increase of renewable energy production, a key question of where such development is taking place is raised. The National Park Service (NPS) is one agency which currently finds itself grappling with difficult managerial decisions concerning renewable energy development. The alteration of landscapes visible from or associated with National Parks is highly likely to occur as renewable energy development occurs throughout the U.S. The question then becomes how will renewable energy structures visually impact a landscape and in turn, will those impacts affect NPS park visitors? Two projects highlight how that question can be addressed using a combination of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and social sciences. The first project addresses how GIS can be used to anticipate landscape alteration and the second on how GIS and social sciences can be used together to ask and answer questions about visitor experience.
Date: March 14-18, 2011
Location: New Orleans
JOHNNY MOREHOUSE
Event to raise funds for Documentary film about the Denver Girls Rock and Roll Camp
Date: July 27th, 2011
Location: Denver, CO
JENNIFER L. MCCURDY
Date: September 13th, 2011
Position: Full-time Faculty member
Department: Department of Health Care Ethics
Institution: Rueckert-Hartman School of Health Professionals at Regis University
LOUISE MARTORANO
Position: Director of Operations, RedLine Art Gallery, Denver, CO
Louise holds a Master of Humanities degree (2010) with a focus in Contemporary Art History & Music and has nine years management experience in both for-profit and non-profit arts organizations. In addition, Ms. Martorano has four years experience in the film industry producing and fundraising for independent films that have received international festival recognition in Dallas, Austin, Poland, and Denver. This year brought her first co-curated art production entitled Project Hello at Denver's Taxi by Zeppelin complex. Project Hello was a juried exhibition of 40 emerging Denver artists working in film, design, craft, poetry, and music, culinary, visual and performing arts that welcomed over 400 visitors.
MIKE YOST
Master of Humanities alumn (2010) Mike Yost recently e-published his MH project, a novella entitled Remnants of Light with Whaley Digital Press (http://www.Remnants-Of-Light.com). The story focuses on two soldiers who form an unlikely friendship during the Iraq war and find themselves challenged as POWs and under the shadow of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The novella has been nominated for a 2011 Lambda Literary Award and has occasioned the launch of www.OUTArmedForces.com, on October 11th, 2011, National Coming Out Day.