Name Change Initiative Town Hall Meeting, Monday, Feb. 21, 7-8p.m.

In an effort to directly communicate with our diverse alumni community concerning the recent announcement of the Strategic Name Initiative, we invite you to join Dr. Jordan and other leaders from Metro State to talk about the proposed name change and share your views, questions and concerns. This meeting is focused on ‘our’ prospective alumni and how it will affect our existing degrees. We will also address Metro State’s continued commitment to our mission of providing high-quality, affordable and accessible education opportunities.

The discussion also will elaborate on how this name change would help us enhance our mission to ensure continued growth among students of color, increased retention and graduation rates, tuition strategies that ensure access and post-graduate opportunities for our students.

Call Us. Tweet Us. Watch Us. Email Us. Join Us!

Share your views, questions and concerns LIVE during the Town Hall meeting:
Call: Town Hall Call In Number: 1-800-392-9307
Web: Watch the meeting LIVE on-line at http://www.justin.tv/metrostatealumni
Tweet: Tweet a question or comment at http://twitter.com/metrostatealum
Facebook: Post a question or comment on Facebook.
Email: Email us at alumni@mscd.edu

In addition to attending this Town Hall Meeting, we encourage you visit the name change website and to provide your thoughts by completing the name initiative survey: http://www.mscd.edu/namechange/. Please encourage your peers, neighbors and former classmates to complete the survey as well.

Future Alumnus: (soon to be) Alumni Award Winner Phillip Eggers

Phillip Eggers, Human Services major & minor in Non-profit Management Fall 2011 or Spring 2012

A nationally and locally recognized volunteer for his contributions in helping veterans from all branches of the military from generations since pre-World War II, he saw the needs and addressed them. He started the student organization Student Veterans at Metro State (SVMS) in February 2010 and it continues to gain momentum as an organization where he currently serves as President. Student Veterans at Metro State has engaged many veterans and their first large scale program, PTSD TBI Briefing Taking Off the Pack, was an instant success as other colleges and universities are now requesting information on mirroring this event such as the University of Michigan. Student Veterans at Metro State is now recognized through the national student 501 C(3) organization, Student Veterans of America (SVA). Philip is a U.S. Marine veteran who has faced combat and has received a disability rating from the Veterans Administration as a result of his war time experiences, and from that he is now disabled.

Phillip also currently serves as Treasurer of the student group Human Services Education Organization, a community of like minds whose goal is helping the community through volunteerism and fundraising. Most recently he started participating in the student group, Association for Non-profit Students.

He also has high academic proficiency at Metro State have been excellent as he is on the Provost Honor Roll, and he is also hoping to be on the Presidents Honor Roll after this semester. He has been enrolled at Metro State full-time for 9 consecutive semesters, including summers. He also received a Who’s Who award and has been recognized through Student Support Services as an outstanding student.

Future Alumnus: (soon to be) Alumni Award Winner Adrian Puryear

Adrian Puryear, English with a minor in Secondary Education Spring 2011

Adrian is a Metro State senior who is paragon of student leadership, academic excellence, and community involvement. She is a person of great integrity who cares immensely for her fellow humans. Her Nominator Stephanie Martin said, “I believe that as an alumna, she will bring honor to the name of Metro State College for decades to come.”

Currently, Adrian is a Writing/Reading Tutor with Student Support Services (SSS), a Federal TRiO program. She is professional and is incredibly caring with her students and is an excellent teacher to all of them. She has found her right path to become a teacher because she is a natural, and very gifted. As a tutor, she has helped many students who might have otherwise slipped through the cracks to not only achieve success at Metro State, but also to feel as though they belong. She asks excellent, critical-thinking level questions of her students, encouraging them to do their own intellectual work and empowering them with the academic skills necessary for success. She not only works on writing and reading skills with her students, but also fosters in them good study habits, time-management skills, and organizational skills. Adrian does an excellent job of establishing rapport, trust, and mutual respect with each of her students. I have come to rely on her to train newly-hired tutors, to present workshops to groups of students, and to act as a sounding board when students are struggling in non-academic areas of their lives.

After graduation from MSCD with a Bachelor’s degree in English with Secondary Education Licensure, Adrian plans to put her outstanding teaching skills to use in the community as a high school English teacher. We admire Adrian’s choice to enter into this noble profession, where she will work long hours for little pay or glory, but make an enormous contribution to the lives of the youth in the Denver-metro area. Adrian will be an excellent teacher and touch the lives of each of her students, but that she will further Metro State’s reputation for providing skilled, well-prepared teachers for our community.

Giving Back: Alumni Award Winner Lisa Moder

Lisa Moder ('90, electrical engineering technology) has been named the 2010 Test Engineer of the Year by Test and Measurement World (T&MW) magazine. As part of her award, Moder designated Metro State to receive a $10,000 grant, courtesy of National Instruments, the award sponsor.

A senior manufacturing test engineer at Echostar Technologies, Moder’s area of specialty is set-top boxes, the devices that connect a television to an external source of signal. Moder has developed innovative test strategies that trim field failures, boost test throughput, and add to company profits. She has worked on 13 set-top designs in eight years with the company, enabling such innovations as programming one’s television from a phone. Together, the designs are responsible for some 20 million set-top boxes fielded in the United States.

Moder says she selected the College as a beneficiary of her award because she “believes in giving back to those that have helped me in my career.” Moder cites two Metro State professors in particular, Ha Temmermmer and Mel Capeharthart, both now retired, as having “fostered and mentored me throughout my career at Metro State.” Moder was already giving back to the College even before she received the T&MW award, having served on the EET Industry Advisory Board for the past five years. On the board, she works to help the EET Department recruit and retain students.

In receiving this award, Alumna Moder says, “I am excited to receive this award because I have always valued my education and I have always wanted to give back to those that have helped me get to where I am today. I would not be where I am today if it had not been for the influence Metro State and the faculty and staff there. I think the Alumni Association is an important part of college life as it gives past students the opportunity to stay in touch with each other and the life that is happening on campus.”

A Morning, With Memories

Kick off Homecoming Week’s Carnivale with a morning devoted to 45 years of Metro State memories and history shared by those who’ve lived it, featuring over 30 panelists, including the first graduates, former campus leaders and military veterans, historians, current faculty and staff, as well as former staff and faculty, plus one Dean, three Board of Trustee members, and one Interim President.

The History Subcommittee invites current and former students, faculty, and staff to an unforgettable Morning, with Memories, Monday, February 14, at the Tivoli.

See old friends, hear tales you never knew, and share stories of your own as we commemorate 45 years as Roadrunners.

This FREE Homecoming event begins with “Our First Decade” keynote panel and light breakfast from 7:30-9:15 AM, followed by three breakout panel sessions: “Our Veterans,” The Leadership,” and “Our Alumni Employed at Metro State,” from 9:30-10:45 AM.
All sessions will be videotaped for the Metro State history archives.
Reservations are highly recommended.
RSVP by clicking here.

A Morning, with Memories

7:30-9:15 AM Tivoli 320 A, B, C
7:30 AM Registration and Light Breakfast
7:55 AM Welcome, Dr. Vicki Golich, Provost, introduced by Charlie Branch, Special Assistant to the Provost and Co-Chair, History Subcommittee
Breakfast Keynote Panel “Our First Decade”
Mark Boyko ’71, former student government chief justice; Dr. Sandra Doe, Professor, English; King Harris ’97, former student government member; Doug Holcombe ’69, former student government president; Suzanne Holcombe ’69, first baccalaureate degree; Sandi Jones, former administrative assistant to Keats McKinney; former Human Resources director; Ed Low, former faculty; Sheldon Steinhauser, Associate Professor, Sociology; Dr. Tony Ledesma ‘72, Moderator, Associate Professor, Human Services

9:30-10:45 AM Breakout Session Panels
Tivoli 320 B “The Leadership”
Dr. Frieda Holley, Emeritus Faculty; Dr. Antonio Esquibel, Emeritus Faculty, former Trustee; Margaret Rivera ’80, retired Foundation and Alumni Association Boards member; former assistant to President, Consortium of State Colleges; Dr. Eugene Saxe, Professor, English, former TrusteeDr. Stephen Leonard, Co-Moderator, History Department Chair and Metro State archivist; Dr. Richard Netzel, Co-Moderator, Emeritus Faculty; former Metro State Interim President


Tivoli 320 C “Our Veterans”
Howard Flomberg ’74, retired Affiliate Faculty (Air Force, Viet Nam); Leroy Chavez ’96, Director, Veterans Upward Bound (Army, Operation Desert Storm; Operation Desert Shield); Tesa Johnson Ferrell Jones, Student (Army, Bosnia Brigade); Martha Eaton ’94, Assistant Director, Health Center; Command Master Chief for Operational Health Support Unit San Diego (OHSU SD), Headquarters (Navy, Operation Iraqi Freedom; Operation Enduring Freedom); Alton Clark ’96, Associative Director, Veterans Upward Bound (Army, Berlin Brigade); David Perez '08, Firefighter (Marines, Operation Iraqi Freedom); Dr. Joe Megeath, Moderator, Emeritus Faculty

Tivoli 440 “Our Alumni Employed at Metro State”
Cindy Busch ’07, Manager, Center for Innovation; Dr. Joan Foster ’78, Dean, School of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Meghan Hartvigson ’10, Alumni Engagement Coordinator; Richard Jividen ’00, Director, Creative Services; Michelle Leboo ’95, Associate Director, Scholarship Center; Kate Lutrey ’88, Interim Director, Student Media; Paulette McIntosh ’80, Director, High School Upward Bound; Dr. Hal Nees ’76, Associate Professor, Criminal Justice; Member, Board of Trustees; Kenneth Phillips ‘83, Chair, Industrial Design; Cherrelyn Napue ‘99, Moderator, Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations-Development
Make your reservations by clicking here.

Please support the Anniversary Scholarship Award Fund. For more information, call 303-556-2242

6th Annual PJ Day and Race for Homeless

The sixth annual PJ Day, whose goal is to raise $1 million for Denver's Road Home, the city's 10-year plan to end homelessness, was launched last Friday when Gov. John Hickenlooper presided at a ceremonial passing of the PJs in Skyline Park. Every year, Hickenlooper has shown up at PJ Day activities in a pair of red pajamas that his mother had made for him; at the kickoff, he gave a copy of the sleepwear to Mayor Bill Vidal.

On Wednesday, February 9th, at 1pm Metro State's Center for Urban Connections presents the Race to End Homelessness, a team bed race event, on the Auraria campus. Enter your team and win great prizes such as hotel stays at the Residence Inn Denver, Omni Interlocken Resort, Renaissance Boulder Flatiron Hotel; tickets to local events; and gift certificates to local restaurants. All you need is five people and some creativity on your team theme.

Teams consist of 4 pusher/runners and 1 rider, who navigate a rolling bed down the driveway by the Auraria athletic fields. At the end of the course, the rider must dismount the bed, put on pajamas (over clothes), button them fully, and get back on the bed, which is then pushed back to the original start line. Participants are highly encouraged to dress creatively. We had a gaggle of nuns and a pile of bedbugs compete last year! The Bed Race is an awareness and fundraising event for Denver's Road Home and the mayor's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. Team registration costs $50.

The following day will find supporters gathering at the Residence Inn Denver City Center for the PJ Day Party, a dress-in-pajamas fete with comfort food and musical entertainment. Things wrap up Feb. 11 with the INAUGURAL PJ Crawl, a party that progresses from pub to pub in the downtown area.

For more information contact The Center for Urban Connections at 303-352-7129, or go To Register your team.

The Denver Posts article on PJ day festivities:
Davidson: The passing of the PJs - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_17264152#ixzz1CqILYdqL
By Joanne Davidson

Two Receptions during Homecoming Celebrate Alumni Employees

More than 80% of our Alums stay in the Metro Area. And, out of the 1,757 people working at Metro, 18% are alums. This group highlights the value of a Metro State education through their professionalism and expertise. More clearly they bring a passion that has built over time and represents the history and culture that is Metro State. The Alumni Association wants to recognize the value these alums bring and the impact they have on the students, our future alums. As part of the 45th Anniversary Homecoming celebration we have invited these alums to a reception where they will be recognized with a personalized gift so they will know how important they are to the vision and mission of Metro State. View the invitation for details, and click here to RSVP for either of the receptions!

Metro State Pride: Alumni Award Recipient Shirley Phillips one of 10 family members with Metro State degree

In the early 1970's, Shirley Phillips (’76, early childhood education) and four of her relatives made a pact to all get a college education. That commitment started a family tradition of Metro State graduations that continues today.

According to Phillips, the reasons the family chose Metro were many. Metro State allowed members the flexibility to work or help out in the family business (at one time Shirley and her husband owned 22 gas stations), while obtaining their degrees. As well, the family appreciated the school's reputation and the high-quality faculty.

“This is one of the top schools in the region,” she explained.

So far 10 members of the extended Phillips clan have earned diplomas from Metro State. Matriarch Shirley Phillips led the way, followed by four of her children—Tracie, Vernoica, Stephanie and Michael—; her cousin Terrell McGary; sisters Maria and Debbie Phillips (Shirley's nieces); Debbie’s daughter Durinda Robinson; and Shirley’s husband’s cousin Aris Strong. In the fall of 2008, Micah McCellan, another young relative, started his education at the college.

In Celebration of Black & Women's History Months: The 20th Annual Bridge Speaker: Pam Grier

The 20th Annual Bridge Speaker: Pam Grier, March 3, from 11-12:15p.m. at the Tivoli Turnhalle

The Bridge Speaker is an annual event, with 2011 marking the 20th year on our campus. “Bridge” refers to the symbolic bridging of Black History Month in February with Women’s History Month in March. This tradition is an opportunity to share the life experience and leadership of an African-American woman with our entire campus community. The 2011 featured Bridge speaker is actress, author and former Metro student, Pam Grier. As the first Black woman to be featured on the cover of Ms. Magazine in 1975, Grier broke many barriers with her roles in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown. She is one of a few African-American actresses to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for a SAG as well as a Satellite Award for her performance in the iconic film Jackie Brown. She received an Emmy Award nomination for her work in an Animated Program Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. More recently she appeared in the cable television series The L Word as Kit Porter and occasionally guest-stars in such television series as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (where she is a recurring character). In 2010, Grier began appearing in a recurring role on the hit science fiction series Smallville as the villain Amanda Waller, also known as White Queen, head agent of Checkmate, a covert operations agency. Also in 2010, she penned her memoir with Andrea Cagan, "Foxy: My Life in Three Acts".

Letter from Metro State's Alumni Relations Executive Director, February 2011

Hello Alumni & Friends,

I hope your new year is off to a great start, and that all is well with you and yours.

We have just reached February, and that turn of the calendar brings us ever closer to Homecoming 2011. You’ll find information and links to this year’s events in the enewsletter we just mailed. Plan now to Carnavale!

Your Alumni Association, staff and board of directors, are working hard to help create a dynamic, engaging and meaningful program for each of our 70,000 graduates. Keep an eye on our website, this newsletter and your mailbox for new opportunities, programs and services.

As always, your ideas, comments and suggestions are encouraged and welcome. Drop me an email at mjastorf@mscd.edu.

It is always a great day to be a Roadrunner!

Mark Jastorff

Distinguished Alumnus: Alumni Award Recipient Michael Miera reconnects Latino youth to the community

While working for Metro State in 1991, alumnus Michael Miera (’80, bilingual Chicano studies) recognized the community needed a method of reconnecting Latino/a youth. So, he and other activists founded LaRaza Youth Leadership Program, which holds conferences and now hosts more than 1,500 Latino/a youth participants each year. The focus of the program is to teach youth about their history, their communities and how they can make an impact in the world.

Not long after, he helped launch the Excel Program, which sends current Metro State student ambassadors into high schools with a high percentage of students of color. Ambassadors work with the prospective high school students to assist them with the application process and eventually with the transition from high school to college.

After leaving Metro State, Miera continued working for change as a Community Development Representative of the City and County of Denver for Housing and Neighborhood Development. He works with the Brownfields Redevelopment division. Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or perceived presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

He lives with his wife, Veronica, who has worked for Metro State since 1976, and he is an accomplished Latin dancer. You might also occasionally see him in an El Centro Su Teatro performance, as he is an ardent supporter of that community theater. In addition to receiving this year’s Distinguished Alumnus award, Miera received the Spirit of Tlatelolco Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 for his work with the Chicano Movement.

Work Ethic: Alumni Award Recipient Zander Keig works tirelessly for LGBT community

Though Zander Keig (’99, Interpersonal Communication) has three degrees and works full time in the Office Operations Supervisor Recruiting at the U.S. Department of Commerce, he still finds time to be an outspoken community advocate, youth mentor and diversity educator for the LGBT community.

Keig is passionate about LGBT issues because he identifies as a trans man and a man “with a transsexual history [who] grew up to be a man.” Zeig is now dedicated to facilitating change through transformative connections.

“There’s no one way to transition,” he says, and so his goal is to provide informal transition coaching services for trans guys around the world – online, face to face and in support groups. A self-described “networking fool,” Keig connects other FTMs (female-to-males) to important resources.

Keig also co-founded the Lou Sullivan Society, which strives to keep the life and spirit of Louis Graydon Sullivan alive in the hearts and minds of transgender, transsexual and gender/queer men by providing information, support, community building, education and advocacy for female to male persons and their loved ones.

It’s hard to believe Keig started out with the U.S. Coast Guard or that he was once an undercover narcotics agent before chucking his day job to go back to school at 30. That move led him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in speech, a master’s in conflict analysis and resolution, a M.T.S. in world religion, tackling a year-long internship with National Conference for Community and Justice and earning certificates in massage therapy and holistic nutrition counseling.

Since 1987, Keig has also been involved with dozens of organizations and events including Lesbian Avengers, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Creating Change and LGBT student associations. He moderates the podcast TransAction, writes the blog Tao of Transition and is an ordained Humanist Celebrant.

Keig feels lucky to have similar support from his family. “I’m married to an amazing woman. I’m also very fortunate to have a very supportive family, especially my father, who has been extremely affirming and supportive of my transition, advocacy work and community organizing.”

To view a short video of Keig, click here. Keig also wrote the book, “Letters for my Brothers.”