Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program

What’s all the buzz about?

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 21:23:44 +0000

What’s all the buzz about? Rachel Sauer Thu, 10/02/2025 - 15:23

Bradley Worrell

In a week celebrating both National Coffee Day and International Coffee Day, CU Boulder scholar and “coffee-ologist” Kate Fischer considers a good cup of joe

By her education and training, Kate Fischer is a cultural anthropologist. But she uses an entirely different descriptor to explain her research focus.

“I sometimes tell people I’m a coffee-ologist,” says Fischer, an associate teaching professor at the �鶹��Ƶ in the Arts and Sciences Honors Program as well as a seminar instructor in the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program. While the connection between her chosen career field and area of research might not be clear at first blush, she explains, “My PhD is in cultural anthropology, which allows me to look at coffee from a lot of different angles—from biology and tropical plant science, to agricultural management, to labor conditions on the farms, all of the chemistry and engineering that goes into transforming it (into a beverage), and then the brewing and the baristas in the coffee shops who serve it. So, really it touches everything.”

For those who really, really love their coffee—including Fischer—this week was a special one, as Monday was National Coffee Day in the United States and Wednesday was International Coffee Day.

Kate Fischer, a CU Boulder associate teaching professor and cultural anthropologist, researched coffee in Guatemala and Costa Rica during her PhD studies.

With two days this week devoted to celebrating all things coffee, it seemed like the perfect time for Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine to ask Fischer about her thoughts on what makes for a good cup of java, the appeal of both new specialty coffees and old standards like Folgers and the pros and cons of becoming a coffee connoisseur. Her answers have been lightly edited and condensed for space.

Question: How did you come to be a self-described coffee-ologist?

Fischer: I started as a barista back in the day, and I had so many questions. Some people might have been happy to search online for answers; other people, like me, go and get PhDs to get their questions answered (laughs). And then still have questions.

My initial research was in Guatemala and then later in Costa Rica, where I lived for a year and a half while working on my PhD, looking to get the bigger picture of coffee. I was really fascinated by the idea that you could have this same crop grown in so many places, with some similarities but also many differences.

Question: How is it that coffee has become such a big part of the American experience when it’s not native to this country?

Fischer: Coffee has been a part of the United States for a really long time, but it particularly took off around World War II. Its ubiquity came from the fact that it became a part of soldiers’ rations, so when they came back from the war they were used to it and, as a result, we saw big increases in demand. With modernized packaging and shipping, it became easier to sell on store shelves.

It became this sign of a modern family to have your coffee in the home. Even if they weren’t drinking it as a kid, kids grew up with the smell of it in the parents’ and grandparents’ home. Even people who tell me they don’t enjoy the taste of coffee say they like the smell, because it brings back a lot of memories for them.

Question: Is there any data on how many Americans regularly drink coffee? And how coffee consumption today compares with past years?

Fischer: This year’s National Coffee Association report tells us that 66% of American adults drink coffee daily, which is more than any other beverage, and up nearly 7% compared to 2020. The average coffee drinker drinks three cups a day. While it’s up since 2020, over time our consumption of coffee has dropped, because there is so much more competition now.

Question: There is a perception that young people today don’t like coffee. As someone who teaches young adults, do you believe there is any validity to that idea?

Fischer: Again, I think one of the big things is that today there’s so much more competition in terms of drinks, especially ready-to-go drinks. In the 1980s, your big competition was soda and maybe tea. Today we have kombucha, boba tea, Monster and Celsius energy drinks and so many other choices, so the overall coffee share is probably a bit less.

"I encourage people who are interested in coffee not to get overwhelmed or turned off by some of those gatekeepers who have their opinions of what good coffee tastes like. There are lots of different ways to enjoy coffee," says CU Boulder coffee researcher Kate Fischer.

When I ask my students, especially first-years, how many of them drink coffee every day, it’s just a couple. Many of them have had other caffeinated beverages. But when I ask how many of them drink coffee at some point during the week, then it’s nearly everybody. So, it might not be every day, but they are drinking coffee at some point during the week. With juniors and seniors, there’s a definite increase in caffeine consumption, particularly coffee.

Question: How do you explain the appeal of coffee to people who don’t drink it or who say they don’t like coffee?

Fischer: For people who don’t love the taste of coffee, it is more of a caffeine delivery vessel, and maybe a sugar delivery vessel for people who like the lattes with the crazy syrups and other things in them. They want to hide the taste, but caffeine and sugar are strong appeals. For the people who really get into their coffee, there is the sensory side of it, like the way it’s roasted and ground, and how different preparation methods can make the same coffee taste very different.

I think a lot of people, when they say they don’t like coffee, really it’s bad coffee they don’t like. They don’t like hotel coffee, or dining hall coffee, or really dark roast coffee. There are so many other good alternatives to those types of coffee if they are willing to try them.

Question: What do you think makes for a good cup of coffee? Is it the beans? The grinding? The brewing process? Something else? Are there any commonalities?

Fischer: All of the above. What makes good coffee is a topic I’ve been looking at for a long time, and it has led me down many rabbit holes.

There are a lot of ways that people try to be empirical about what makes good coffee, which, as a cultural anthropologist, I tend to challenge the notion that you can be empirical about something as subjective as taste, but there are objective pieces to it.

The Specialty Coffee Association has come up with a grading system. For a long time, it was a numeric scale, and they said, ‘Here’s how you’re going to prepare this coffee,’ and they had this whole checklist of things like the roast level, the grind size and all these different things. And then there is a specialized tasting, called cupping, where experts look at these different attributes and score them. And people are trained to do this, judging coffees on a straight scale of totally bitter to totally sweet, and anybody who has a trained palate will agree on this. They’ve done all kinds of blind tests on this and they are very consistent in their judgments. Today it has evolved to include more holistic assessments that do a better job of separating out objective qualities from preferences.

But really, the answer is: The best cup of coffee is the one you like the best. Like anything else, it’s a preference.

"For the people who really get into their coffee, there is the sensory side of it, like the way it’s roasted and ground, and how different preparation methods can make the same coffee taste very different," says CU Boulder scholar Kate Fischer.

Question: Do you have thoughts on specialty brands, such as Death Wish Coffee, that are designed to give you a huge jolt of caffeine and basically assault your senses?

Fischer: At that point, is it really any different than drinking a Red Bull or other energy drink? With something like Death Wish, that’s absolutely a branding style and choice of who they’re aiming it at, and I think they are trying to capture the energy drink crowd by giving them a drink that’s more (caffeine) concentrated.

Ultimately, I think that’s about knowing your customer and what the buyer is looking for. So, if you’re trying to sell that customer who wants Death Wish a fruity, really light, delicate coffee, you’re probably not going to do very well.

Question: Alternatively, there are those who just like basic black coffee without any special flavorings or other enhancements. Anything you would say to them to encourage them to broaden their horizons, coffee-wise?

Fischer: There are a lot of people out there who say, ‘I don’t want my coffee to taste like cranberries’ or these other descriptors. They want coffee to taste like coffee, which for them might be something like Folgers. My father, for example, wants a nice, simple, comfort-food version of coffee, and for him, Folgers is comfort food. And for me, it’s just bitter and sad and needs a lot of help to disguise what it is. Which is not what I want in my coffee.

I try not to judge people for liking what they like when it comes to coffee, but developing a palate for coffee does ruin you. I’ve tried not to be a coffee snob, but once you’ve had the really good stuff and you know what it can taste like, it’s hard to go back.

Question: With two major events celebrating coffee this week, will you personally be doing anything to celebrate?

Fischer: I hadn’t planned to, but now I’m thinking I should. I would just encourage people to drink coffee and learn something about where it came from. With coffee, it’s one of those things that can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.

Also, I encourage people who are interested in coffee not to get overwhelmed or turned off by some of those gatekeepers who have their opinions of what good coffee tastes like. There are lots of different ways to enjoy coffee.

And it’s OK if coffee is not your thing. I don’t understand it, but it’s OK.

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In a week celebrating both National Coffee Day and International Coffee Day, CU Boulder scholar and “coffee-ologist” Kate Fischer considers a good cup of joe.

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¡Sí, ella puede!

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 19:09:18 +0000

¡Sí, ella puede! Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/29/2023 - 13:09

Rachel Sauer

In newly published chapter, CU Boulder researcher Celeste Montoya demonstrates how social movements have influenced Latina legislative leadership in Colorado

Betty Benavidez strove to improve access to better education in her west Denver neighborhood. She worked in her local schools and founded action centers, belonged to the Hispanic Education Leadership Program and the West High School PTA, and was district captain for the Democratic party to mobilize Mexican-American voters.

When she was elected to the Colorado General Assembly in 1970, her occupation was listed as “housewife.”

Benavidez was considered one of the madres del movimiento—mothers of the movement—in not just her Westside neighborhood, but in Chicana involvement in Colorado politics. She was the first Latina elected to the Colorado General Assembly, which happened during a turbulent time in not only Colorado politics, but in shifting gender roles and social movements focused on racial and ethnic identity.

In a chapter written for the recently published Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S. Politics, Celeste Montoya, a �鶹��Ƶ associate professor of women and gender studies, demonstrates how social movements and community activism have played a vital role in shaping Latina legislative leadership in Colorado.

CU Boulder researcher Celeste Montoya studies Latina political involvement and how social movements have influenced it.

Even though Colorado has one of the largest and oldest Latino populations in the United States and Hispano legislators were elected to territorial legislatures even before Colorado was a state, representation was slow growing.

Benavidez was the first Latina state legislator in Colorado, but through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the number of Latinas in office remained low. In 2018, however, nine Latinos were elected to the legislature, joining five others already in office and creating the largest Latino caucus in Colorado history. Nine of the 14 were Latinas and eight of the women had been elected for the first time.

“I think there were a lot of similarities between 2018 and what was happening in the early ‘70s—multiple social justice movements, people of multiple marginalities starting to take leadership,” Montoya says. “For many of these women, they’re thinking about the overall wellbeing of their community and that they need to give their community a voice at this state level.”

Montoya further explains that Latina legislative leadership is shaped by their experience and understanding of their social positioning—including race, gender, class and sexuality—which is influenced by social justice movements and translates to legislative practices.

Montoya recently answered questions about this topic, and a portion of that exchange follows:

Question: There’s not a lot of scholarship looking at Latinas in Colorado politics; how did you get into this area?

Montoya: Truthfully, my research initially was on women’s human rights on a global perspective. I wasn’t exposed to a lot of professors who studied Latino politics and I didn’t know there was such a thing you could study. As a grad student, I got involved in the Latino caucus at one of the western conferences and I met all these scholars, a lot of them from California, who are studying Latino politics. Even though my research was in a different area, I kept getting pulled into research areas focused on gender and race in politics.

I’m a Latina from southern Colorado, and I didn’t see a lot written about Latinas in Colorado politics—the literature was more focused on Latinas in Texas and California, maybe Florida. But as I got to reading about the Chicano movement in Colorado, looking beyond Denver and Pueblo at what was happening in the rest of the state, I was finding these amazing stories of women’s leadership. In a lot of the writings, women often were a footnote to men’s stories, but the more I dug into it, I was finding that what was happening in Colorado fit into larger stories of what Latina leadership looks like nationally.

I think that women have such a different path to leadership because in many ways, the traditional paths had been closed to them, and that’s especially true for women of color.

Question: Since they were historically blocked from traditional paths to leadership, what are the paths that Latinas who entered Colorado politics have been taking?

Montoya: Some of patterns we see with women and with people of color in general are that a lot of the reasons they’re running for office are very community-based. They have experiences where they keep hitting walls in terms of seeing what is possible and figuring, ‘If I was in the statehouse, I could make the change.’

There’s a pattern of seeing that need for advocacy and voice, but not so much in terms of having a political agenda. So many were like, ‘That was never the plan, it just sort of happened, I’m surprised that I’m here, but I’m just focused on doing this work now.’ There’s not often this agenda of, ‘I’m going to use this as a springboard to run for the Senate.’ It’s more, ‘I’m here to help my community and do the best I can while I’m here.' Some of them had to be talked into running for office, often multiple times, and often didn’t see themselves as qualified.

Question: It seems that Latinas who run for state office deal with a double whammy of racism and sexism.

Montoya: Some of the Latinas I talked with, when I’d ask them about discrimination they’d experienced, many of them went right to talking about racism first. I don’t think it was because they thought the racism was worse than the sexism, but because the sexism is so normalized and pervasive. Some of them talked about addressing it, but others took more of a “pick your battle” approach, especially when the sexism came when working within the community.

Question: You mention in your chapter that Latinas in Colorado politics have represented multiple marginalities but also worked at the intersection of multiple social movements. Betty Benavidez was in the wave of the Chicano movement and the women’s rights movement, for example. What are some ways that social movements have prepared Latinas for office?

Montoya: I think one important way is helping them see that their experience is just as valid, if not more valid, than the conventional path of you go to law school or business school, although there are definitely some of them taking those routes. Social-justice movements have helped people recognize that representation is supposed to be about the people and the communities. These women of color are able to say, ‘You can get better policy from people who have experienced these challenges.’

But that’s been a hard narrative to share because of women of color’s tendency to, in some ways, self-select not to run or participate in a system that they don’t see themselves as being qualified to join. We also are having that message reinforced systemically, these perceptions that Latinas’ experiences are not valid or good enough.

They were coming from their communities, they were involved in their communities, and that guided the legislation."

One of the things that’s been interesting, too, is a lot of things that Latinas have succeeded at once they were in office may not have seemed big at the time. Things like Laura DeHerrera introducing car-restraints-for-babies legislation that’s law now, Latina legislators introducing policy for pay equity and smoking bans in public places and prison reform, policy to address the numbers of Hispanic children dying from strep throat. They were coming from their communities, they were involved in their communities, and that guided the legislation.

Question: There’s a lot of hope that the 2024 election cycle will see a lot of Latina representation among candidates for local and state office. Do you think that’s true, or is there still hesitation to run?

Montoya: We’ve found that in Hispanic communities, there’s sometimes some worry about the airing of dirty laundry. It’s sort of this attitude of, ‘We know these are problems within our community, but if we talk about them too much, that invites more intervention that could be worse than the problem itself.’ There’s sometimes a fear the attention could introduce new forms of oppression.

We also see with Latinas this question of how do they maintain legitimacy within the community as they’re working to maintain legitimacy within political institutions. It’s interesting to see Latinas who were community organizers first and the ways they try to achieve that balance. They still really want to be in service of the community and at same time be effective within political institutions. An interesting theme has been just how tired a lot of them get from all of this, the challenges within and outside institutions.

So, my feelings are really mixed (about the 2024 election cycle). I’m hearing some good things and there are some amazing initiatives going on, organizations trying to do community outreach, legislators trying to do outreach and mobilization. Some of the momentum that was part of getting Trump out of office is still there, but will it influence who ends up making it on slate and how it mobilizes people? I think that’s what’s uncertain.

Latinos still have the lowest voter turnout, and we see in Colorado the districts that are seen as red are more likely to be ignored even though those votes still count in bigger elections. It’s interesting to see where the money has flowed. But I think that is starting to change. People are starting to see the need to move beyond the notion that Denver Latino politics are Colorado Latino politics and really put effort into going to Latino and Hispanic communities outside the Denver metro area, learning how they understand themselves, what their needs are. This is so important. If not, we will continue to miss opportunities, to lose voice and representation.

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In newly published chapter, CU Boulder researcher Celeste Montoya demonstrates how social movements have influenced Latina legislative leadership in Colorado.

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Message to motivated students: you belong here

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 15:39:22 +0000

Message to motivated students: you belong here Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/06/2019 - 08:39

James W.C. White

Stereotypes can limit students’ growth, but we are striving to overcome that barrier

Ask a kid to describe a scientist, and she will likely describe a white guy wearing a lab coat. Ask the same child to describe an intellectual, scholar or professor, and the answer will probably be the same, minus the lab coat.

James W.C. White, interim dean of the college, soaks up the scenery in the foothills above Boulder. At the top of the page, students in MASP's summer bridge program find a social and academic community here.

Helping students see that scholars are, in fact, diverse is one way to help young people to study what they love. But while it’s critical to debunk broad stereotypes, it’s also crucial to help talented students understand that inside each one of them is an intellectual—who not only could but actually does belong in academe. At the �鶹��Ƶ, one program that strives, successfully, to overcome the harm of stereotype is the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program—or MASP.

Launched in 1993, the program’s first focus was biology students of color who were dropping out of school at alarming rates. Soon, the college expanded the program to cover more students from all fields of study along with first-generation students.

Today, MASP’s mission is to support “motivated, traditionally under-represented or first-generation students who want to be part of a diverse academic community” in the college. Through a holistic application process, MASP accepts community-minded and academically motivated students. In addition to demonstrated leadership abilities, the past two incoming classes have had an average unweighted high school GPA of 3.8.

MASP gets results: 90% of MASP students return to CU after their first year. That retention rate exceeds that of CU Boulder students in similar demographics—but not part of MASP—by about 5% to 15%, depending on the year.

Similarly, the six-year graduation rates of MASP students in the years between 2000 and 2012 ranged between about 75% and 85%. Those results exceed the graduation rates of the whole college by about 10 percent, a truly impressive achievement.

The program achieves these results with tools including these:

A residential summer “bridge” program that prepares students both academically and socially for college life,
“High Impact Practices” that are academically rigorous, including study-abroad participation, internships, undergraduate research experience, and honors theses,
Interdisciplinary seminars,
One-on-one advising with a faculty mentor,
Scholarship support,
And, importantly, a supportive community.

Celeste Montoya, who serves as MASP’s director and is an associate professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, says the idea is to foster student success by helping students develop their identities as scholars, to facilitate their sense of agency and belonging at the university.

Education is the great equalizer, but only when our institutions of learning fully embrace equality."

“Building an inclusive academic community, which requires teaching them to work across difference, is a powerful tool and/or resource for them to draw from in their academic (and life) endeavors,” Montoya says.

Building that community, she adds, is just one way “to let our students know they belong here and they are capable scholars” who have the confidence, skill and knowledge to excel in life.

The program encourages open-mindedness, critical thinking, life skills and talent growth, helping each student to be their best self. Because MASP is successful, we want to expand it, and we hope alumni and other friends will help us do so. If you find the MASP story compelling, go online and support it.

One MASP student underscored the program’s efficacy by noting that she expected she’d only gain knowledge needed to graduate. However, she added:

“What I was not expecting was to find myself surrounded by a supportive network of faculty, staff and students that not only created an atmosphere conducive to my social and personal growth but remained unwavering in encouraging my intellectual development as well.”

These are some of the many reasons I praise MASP and other student-success programs. Education is the great equalizer, but only when our institutions of learning fully embrace equality, when they are truly welcoming and inclusive, when they genuinely become an instrument of rather than an impediment to social mobility and intellectual growth.

James W.C. White is interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Stereotypes can limit students’ growth, but we are striving to overcome that barrier.

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With empathy in decline, program builds scholarly community through difference

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:45:22 +0000

With empathy in decline, program builds scholarly community through difference Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/05/2019 - 08:45

Tim Grassley

The Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program teaches students to listen to, understand and connect with one another across backgrounds, values and experiences

When Kellie Lam walks into the small offices of the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program (MASP) at the �鶹��Ƶ, she feels a part of the campus community.

“I have a place on campus that I can go to every day and say hi to someone,” says Lam, who is majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology. “Walking in (to MASP), it doesn't feel like I'm in a room full of strangers.”

Celeste Montoya, Karen Ramirez and Kate Semsar. At the top of the page are student participants in the summer program.

Through evidence-based programming for traditionally underrepresented and/or first-generation students, MASP fosters a high achieving community of capable scholars who are dedicated to their pursuit of academic excellence.

“We’ve worked really hard to make this a rigorous, intellectually rich environment,” says Celeste Montoya, MASP’s director and an associate professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies. “Building an inclusive academic community, which requires teaching (students) to work across difference, is a powerful tool and resource for them to draw from in their academic and life endeavors.”

MASP’s work continues in a time in which Americans’ ability to understand one another is declining. Despite unprecedented access to one another’s stories through social media and the internet, studies show that empathy is rapidly decreasing. In fact, one University of Michigan study found the average American college student in 2009 was less empathetic than 75 percent of Americans 30 years before.

MASP is striving to change this. Their faculty and staff have added opportunities in their summer program, academic programming, mentorship training, classes and graduation ceremony for students to develop their identities on campus and navigate their differences.

Many students in MASP say these programmatic changes allow them to be better seen and understood, which makes the program’s participants feel like their campus family.

“Everyone is always here for you, no matter what it is about,” says Paulina Armendariz, who is majoring in integrative physiology. “It can be personal, it can be about school, it can be about anything. They'll help you out.”

Building a high achieving, inclusive community

Since 2000, MASP students’ retention rate through their second year averages roughly 95%, and around 85% of the program’s students graduate within six years. By comparison, the retention rate is 10% higher and the graduation rate is 20% higher than traditionally underrepresented and/or first-generation students in arts and sciences who do not participate in the program.

While 96% of MASP students cite the program as a primary reason for their academic success and ability to overcome their greatest college-experience challenge, Montoya specifically attributes much of their success over the last four years to MASP’s programming that combines high standards, a culturally engaging curriculum, scholarly identity and helping students feel valued within a supportive community.

The goal is to boost students’ sense of belonging by “giving (them) the tools to build the community that they want,” says Montoya. “They're not just joining a community that already existed, but they are, on a day-to-day basis, building the community that they want to be a part of.”

MASP faculty and staff look for opportunities to help students develop innovative methods to make higher education accessible and inclusive for everyone. For example, faculty members Karen Ramirez, assistant director of arts, humanities and social science education, and Kate Semsar, assistant director of STEM education, drew on their research on higher education to create the class Student Ambassadors for Inclusive Education, whose goal is to help students think critically about their college experiences.

They are not just surviving at CU. They are changing it.”

“We’ve drawn on each of our backgrounds and strengths to think through how students experience education in inclusive and non-inclusive ways, and the impacts of that on their education,” says Ramirez.

Students in the course critique alternative models and teaching practices that can improve the classroom experiences of a more diverse student body. Along the way, students “recognize that you have voice and that your voice matters. And your experience matters,” says Ramirez. “And it may have been defined (by someone else) in ways you don’t have to take on. You don’t have to use somebody else’s language for your experience.”

In MASP’s classes and programming, students learn more about themselves, their fellow high achieving peers in MASP and the manner each individual navigates CU Boulder. Kelsey Rickert, who is majoring in sociology as well as women and gender studies, notes that MASP’s classes have especially helped students have authentic discussions that build trust.

“(My MASP class) really helped me consider where everyone was coming from and how we can have a genuine conversation about (any topic) without being hurtful.”

Jaela Zellars, who is majoring in integrative physiology, says this allows her to feel truly seen. “(MASP) provides me with a place to really be able to be myself and to express my most authentic self.”

Assessment that sees the whole person

To deepen their understanding of the factors that lead to students’ achievements and challenges, MASP’s faculty and staff are developing innovative ways to measure success.

Throughout the academic year, MASP collects student feedback and adjusts programming based on the findings. They also gather an overview of each student’s experience, including their GPA, sense of belonging, degree of growth or fixed mindset as well as each student’s belief that they have the tools to succeed in college.

The wider perspective creates a stronger understanding of the experiences that boost students and of the barriers that prevent them from being as successful as they could be. This strategy considers each individual’s abilities in a broader, supportive group of students, faculty and staff.

“I always go in assuming that each student is (at CU Boulder) for a reason and they did really well to get here,” says Semsar, who manages their assessment strategies. “But if they are not finding success, is there something about their environment that is getting in their way? Are they a part of a community that can work together to solve (those problems)?”

Toward an empathetic community

MASP’s programmatic and assessment choices allow them to “not just notice differences and commonalities,” says Montoya, “but also really try to listen and hear and understand those different experiences.”

Students note that a community built on empathy both widens their points of view and offers them tools to step into difficult conversations.

“I come into the office, and I get to experience a lot of different people's perspectives on things,” says Rickert. As a result, she sees “what's going on for them on campus that I might not be experiencing.”

Giovanni Venzor Melendez, who is majoring in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, agrees. “We can have a serious and good conversation with people who have different beliefs (than) us. At the end of the day, we are still going to support one another in our endeavors in life.”

That ability to bridge differences and empathize helps students collaborate on complex problems and find original solutions. As a result, of the 96% of MASP students who participate in campus community groups outside of MASP, 72% are in leadership roles.

“I am continually amazed by the talents that [our students] bring,” says Montoya. “Their strength and resiliency. Their agency. They are strong and capable.”

“They are not just surviving at CU. They are changing it.”

Learn more about MASP at this link; support the program at this link.

The Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program teaches students to listen to, understand and connect with one another across backgrounds, values and experiences.

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Former kid from Levittown boosts education, the great leveler

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 01:12:30 +0000

Former kid from Levittown boosts education, the great leveler Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/27/2017 - 18:12

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Christopher Eagan’s faith in education leads to $30K gift to Miramontes program

To Christopher Eagan, growing up in Levittown, N.Y., America’s first and most famous suburb, was nirvana.

In Levittown, which was developed to provide homes for returning World War II veterans and their families, “everybody was the same age, the parents were all the same age. Everybody was young, everything was new, and there were throngs of kids,” says Eagan, 66.

But after 18 years there, Eagan was ready for a change, and he knew just where he wanted to go: the �鶹��Ƶ.

“I loved skiing as a kid, and we took two trips out West. I loved it,” he says. “My freshman year I logged more than 50 days skiing.”

Somewhere in that time he did a little studying, too, graduating with a degree in geology in 1973. He later went on to earn a law degree from Fordham University, and most recently stepped down as partner in the global law firm Bryan Cave LLC, where he specialized in banking.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was at CU, but that was common then. It was much more about getting a solid arts-and-sciences education,” Eagan says. “The assumption was I would be getting a job. I had no idea what it would be, or where, but there was never a fear that I wouldn’t get a job.”

Christopher Eagan. Photo courtesy of Christopher Eagan. At top of page, students work with ceramics in the pottery lab as part of the Program for Excellence in Academics and Community (PEAC) in MASP.

Eagan’s roots in Levittown and his lifelong belief in the importance of a well-rounded education recently inspired him to make a gift to CU Boulder’s Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program, which supports “motivated, traditionally underrepresented or first generation students who want to be part of a diverse academic community in the College of Arts & Sciences.”

MASP, as it’s known, provides community, space and awareness of academic opportunities through a summer program for incoming freshmen, and requires coursework of its participants.

“We have a pretty diverse set of scholars from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, many of them first-generation college students,” says MASP director Celeste Montoya. “This is a very competitive program and these are bright, high-achieving, talented students.”

The Eagan Family Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide a $1,000 scholarship to a MASP student and $5,000 toward an endowment over five years.

Eagan wasn’t aware of MASP when he contacted the Office of Advancement about making a gift. But he strongly believes that institutions know best where support can have a maximum impact.

“I try to be realistic. I reach out and say, ‘You tell me what’s important.’”

When Eagan learned about MASP, he thought it was a perfect fit. So many of the kids he grew up with in Levittown would become their families’ first college graduates, and he believes in the value of mentorship.

“My father was a great believer in education and I’m a great believer. From a post-World War II perspective, education is what transformed this country, increased income throughout this country, and made us a leader in the world,” he says.

“MASP really fits in with my conception of education as the great leveler—it both evens the playing field and expands opportunities. The concept of mentorship, that you’ve got someone to go to, to help you find your way, is important. It opens a door, reaches out a hand and says, ‘Come on in, it’s cold outside. Come on in.’”

As fondly as he looks back on the kids’ nirvana that was Levittown, Eagan credits CU Boulder for not only expanding his mind, but exposing him to a far greater diversity of people than he’d ever seen in his first 18 years. He’s pleased to support a program like MASP, which continues that tradition in even more depth.

“What CU is able to do, partly because of the beauty of its location, is attract people from around the country and around the world, so when you go there you are exposed to so many different cultures,” he says. “That’s a really terrific story about the school that was important to me and remains important to students.”

To Christopher Eagan, growing up in Levittown, N.Y., America’s first and most famous suburb, was nirvana. But after 18 years there, Eagan was ready for a change, and he knew just where he wanted to go: the �鶹��Ƶ.

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Miramontes program supports underrepresented, first-generation undergrads

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 22:53:53 +0000

Miramontes program supports underrepresented, first-generation undergrads Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/02/2016 - 15:53

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Peak motivation helps more students graduate

When it was launched in 1993, the College of Arts and Science’s first program aimed at retaining higher-risk students through graduation was narrowly focused on minority students majoring in the biological sciences.

Celeste Montoya

“The college noticed that minority students were dropping out (of biology) at a dramatic rate, and the program was intended to focus on that,” says Celeste Montoya, associate professor of women and gender studies and director of the Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program (MASP).

“But the college recognized the potential, and it has expanded beyond that very narrow scope to cover more students from all fields of study in the college.”

More than two decades later, MASP has a mandate to support “motivated, traditionally underrepresented or first-generation students who want to be part of a diverse academic community in the College of Arts and Sciences.”

“We have a pretty diverse set of scholars from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, many of them first-generation college students,” Montoya says. “This is a very competitive program, and these are bright, high-achieving, talented students.”

According to CU Boulder, ethnicity and first-generation status are among the key risk factors in undergraduates’ leaving school before graduation. According to data compiled by CU Boulder, the six-year graduation rate for students in ethnically underrepresented groups is 61 percent compared to 70 percent for the undergraduate population as a whole.

First-generation students also lag in graduation rates, with just 61 percent graduating after six years.

Montoya says MASP—originally called the Minority Arts & Sciences Program and christened in 2008 after late Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Equity Ofelia Miramontes—has a graduation rate closer to 80 percent. She says the program is working to update its assessment numbers.

I’m still pretty close to the group of people I came in with. All these people are super supportive of one another, and we’re really here to help the new generation coming in. (MASP) provides resources that most students probably wouldn’t get otherwise.”

The program focuses on two main goals: providing students with a “sense of belonging” and a natural support community on campus and ensuring they are aware of opportunities to enhance their education outside the classroom, through internships with professors, study abroad, writing undergraduate theses and more.

MASP also offers required seminars on diverse topics for students in the first two years of the program including, recently, “Getting Your Brain to Work for You: The Science of How People Learn,” a course that combines neuroscience with educational theory.

Another course titled, “The 2016 Presidential Election,” taught students how to follow the election (i.e. comparing party platforms and debate performances, analyzing the implications of different voting rules, and critiquing polling methodology.)

MASP, funded by the college, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement and by private donations, is partially modeled on similar programs at other universities, including the groundbreaking Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, praised in a 2013 New York Times editorial.

Students work with ceramics in the pottery lab as part of the Program for Excellence in Academics and Community (PEAC) in MASP.

A critical tool in MASP’s efforts is the Program for Excellence in Academics and Community (PEAC), which brings incoming freshman to campus for four weeks each summer to take intensive courses and get a feel for campus life.

“This gives them a sense of what it’s like to juggle five or six classes,” Montoya says.

PEAC also introduces students to opportunities and resources on campus and offers workshops in study skills and what she calls “the hidden curriculum,” which includes teaching students about such things as how to use a syllabus, proper academic etiquette, and how to make their best impression on professors.

MASP students pose for a group picture at Brainard Lake, in the mountains west of Boulder.

“(PEAC) was a really amazing experience,” says senior integrative physiology major and pre-health-track senior Eric Azua of Brighton. “Those classes really gave me a good head start and are one of the reasons I started so well right off the bat.”

PEAC students also participate in community-building activities, to help them bond as a group outside the classroom, and continue to help their own peers, as well as incoming students. For example, Azua has given presentations about the pre-health program at CU Boulder on how to take final exams, and continues to help students with organic chemistry in MASP’s Porter Hall headquarters.

“I’m still pretty close to the group of people I came in with,” Azua says. “All these people are super supportive of one another, and we’re really here to help the new generation coming in. (MASP) provides resources that most students probably wouldn’t get otherwise.”

“We try to emphasize that they don’t have to do it all themselves,” Montoya says. “There are people in their community to assist them.”

MASP accepted 40 students from the 2016 freshman class and is increasing outreach in an effort to help raise CU Boulder’s percentage of first-generation students and underrepresented groups. In addition, the program is placing an increasing emphasis on post-college transitions.

“This is not just about getting them to persist at CU, but to be successful after graduation, whether in graduate school or professional careers,” Montoya says. “We want them to hit the ground running with their degree.”

Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program (MASP) has a mandate to support “motivated, traditionally underrepresented or first-generation students who want to be part of a diverse academic community in the College of Arts and Sciences.”

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