Early Bird

Kudos

This month, we recognize award winners, leaders, mentors, outstanding students and one beautiful building.

By Lindsey Coulter

October 30, 2019

In addition to Faculty Citings, the Early Bird shines a spotlight each month on the accomplishments of Metropolitan State University of Denver faculty and staff members. This month, we’re celebrating outstanding faculty members and students who make us proud.

Standout staff members

Two TRIO Student Support Services staff members were recently elected to lead professional organizations.

Faith Fitzgerald, retention specialist and administrative assistant, TRIO SSS, is the new president-elect of the Colorado Chapter of ASPIRE (Association of Special Programs in Region Eight). In her new role, Fitzgerald will lead the chapter in providing professional development and advocacy for the Federal TRIO Programs funded through the U.S. Department of Education.

Tisha Townsend was also elected to lead the MSU Denver Latino/a Faculty and Staff Association, which addresses and advocates for the needs of the MSU Denver Latino community. In her new role, Townsend hopes to strengthen faculty involvement, promote faculty and staff mentorship of students to ensure retention of Latino students and ensure that support services are available and accessible to Latino students.

Megan Jones, policy administrator, recently published a new blog post, “Learning and Love: Romantic Relationships in the Classroom,” on the Association of College and University Policy Administrators Policy Matters page.

Fantastic faculty members

Richard Russell, J.D., assistant professor, Accounting, and lecturer Kristina Kesselring earned an honorable mention in the CPA Journal’s 2018 Max Block Distinguished Article Awards for “Untangling the Inherited IRA Rules: Retiring Baby Boomers and the Impending Transfer of Wealth.”

Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ph.D., director of the Writing Center and professor of English, participated in the fifth annual Naylor Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies as a faculty mentor, and MSU Denver student Matthew Candelaria participated as an undergraduate researcher. The intensive workshop allows undergraduate researchers to work with multiple faculty mentors and other undergraduate researchers from around the country on research projects.

Student successes

Precision Flight Team members and Aviation students Matt Cape and Zach Turner placed first in the Aircraft Navigation competition at the recent National Intercollegiate Flying Association Region One tournament hosted by MSU Denver. The challenging category requires a careful balance of maintaining airspeed, groundspeed, fuel flow, pilotage and more. Making the win even more impressive, the two students had a last-minute aircraft change that included an older and unfamiliar GPS unit.

Congratulations to student-athlete Alden Gruidel of the MSU Denver Cross Country and Track and Field teams. Gruidel was named to the All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first team and earlier this month was named the RMAC’s Runner of the Week for the second time this season. MSU Denver Volleyball player Alyssa Kelling was named the RMCA Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, while Erica Torres, goalkeeper for MSU Denver Women’s Soccer, earned RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week honors.

And one beautiful building

Finally, the Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building was awarded second place in the American Concrete Institute’s 2019 Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards. The building was recognized in the “Decorative Concrete” category; first place went to the Qatar National Library.

If you know Roadrunners doing fantastic work to advance University goals and student success, or those doing great work in the broader community, remember to share it with the Early Bird! We want to ensure that all great achievements are celebrated.