Supporting research in the humanities

Throughline: Student Works Inspired by the Center's Collections

During 2020-2021, the Mellon funding has been able to provide support to many student research projects. Though COVID-19 has still had an impact on these, the students have been able to find inventive ways to create. Throughline: Student Works Inspired by the Center's Collections was made possible by the Mellon LIT Grant and the Ballantine Family Fund.  This exhibit curated by Elise Boulanger (Studio Art & Design. '21), features works by her fellow Fort Lewis College peers, showcased alongside pieces from the Center of Southwest Studies' collections. As an interdisciplinary student at Fort Lewis College and an intern at the Center of Southwest Studies, Elise Boulanger was inspired to create an exhibit to celebrate her peers’ diverse voices in harmony with the Center’s collections. With hopes to hold space for her peers and herself to explore personal narratives, she sought to find new, meaningful connections with their place at Fort Lewis College. Over the semester, she collaborated with students through conversations about their backgrounds and learned invaluable lessons about the power of assumptions and the importance of respect for other cultures. The idea that objects are living - made from living beings, passed to living beings, and existing for many generations to come - is the theme of Throughline. Each piece in the Center's collection has a voice that should be heard.

Throughout the semester, the fifteen student participants met with Elise one-on-one at the Center of Southwest Studies to look at collections, conduct research, and talk about inspiration in creating their artistic works. They traced stories with the Center’s curatorial team about where objects came from, who made them, what they mean, and how they came to the collections at Fort Lewis College. Students also met with Native Artist Mentors Tirzah Camacho and Garrett Etsitty – both of whom are Fort Lewis College alumni - as well as professional exhibit preparator, Jack Townes. This project highlighting interdisciplinary research addressing diversity, inclusion, and change and centered around collaboration and self-reflection would not have been possible without Mellon LIT Grant funding.

The exhibit will be on display until April 2022 and is currently open by appointment for the Fort Lewis College community. 

Project overview

During the academic year 2019-2020, we had 8 faculty members from the Arts & Humanities apply for and receive Mellon funding to mentor student research projects. Several of these students presented at our virtual symposium in April, despite the challenges COVID-19 put before them.

During the academic year 2018-2019, 12 faculty members from the Arts & Humanities applied for and received Mellon funding to mentor student research projects. Many were featured at the April Undergraduate Research Symposium and have been/will be published.

Goals

We are expanding the numbers of students engaged in undergraduate research in the humanities, encourage undergraduate publications and presentations, and work on connections to graduate programs.

We are continuing the program of faculty mentors for undergraduate research in the humanities projects in the 2020-21 academic year.

  • Purpose
  • Council
  • Research 2018-2019
  • Research 2019-2020
Purpose

Purpose statement

Fort Lewis College is a small, public liberal arts college in southwestern Colorado. Our campus consistently demonstrates excellence in mentorship and student engagement by the time of graduation, and we are riding a wave of optimism and motivation around what’s possible for our students in their first years at FLC. In coming to this Institute, our team’s purpose has been to create an enduring support structure for undergraduate research in the arts & humanities to complement efforts in STEM disciplines. We will encourage faculty mentorship in these areas and support students who are developing projects, presentations, and publications. We will increasingly ask students to approach learning and research from a self-reflective position, beginning in the first year. An overarching goal is increased engagement and retention of our students by integrating URSCA across the curriculum.

Council

Council for Undergraduate Research Experience

Team members for 2020-2021

  • Paul DeBell - Assistant Professor of Political Science
  • Candace Nadon - Assistant Professor of English

Team members for 2019-2020

The team members included: 

  • Kerry Ginger – Assistant Professor of Music 
  • Stacey Sotosky – Assistant Professor of English 
  • Jillian Wenburg – Assistant Professor of English 
  • Paul DeBell – Assistant Professor of Political Science

In July of 2019, Dr. Chad Colby, Professor of Art (the lead on this project) attended a national CUR conference: “Undergraduate Research Programs Division,” on the campus of The Ohio State University. The majority of those in attendance were administrators of new or existing undergraduate research offices; full-time faculty like Dr. Colby were rare.

In October or 2018, a team of faculty from our Arts & Humanities departments attended a Council for Undergraduate Research (CUR) institute titled “Creative Inquiry in the Arts & Humanities,” held at Montana State University.

Research 2018-2019

2018-2019 Undergraduate Research in the Humanities Projects

Projects

To Care for Him Who Shall Have Borne the Battle, and for His Widow and His Orphan: Unintended Consequences of the Systematic Transformation of the VHA

Supervising Faculty
Dr. Jillian L. Wenburg, Assistant Professor, English Department

Student
Jesse Villanueba, Junior, Public Health Major

Project

Global Perspectives on the Problem of Evil

Supervising Faculty
Dr. Justin McBrayer, Professor of Philosophy

Student
Egan Wynne, Sophomore, Philosophy Major 

Project

Multigenerational Transmission of Trauma in Native Americans and African Americans

Supervising Faculty
Ana Hale, Senior Lecturer-English

Student
Katherine Potter, Junior, Environmental Studies/Political Science 

Project

Environmental reconstruction, future climate change, and water rights at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, San Luis Valley, Colorado

Supervising Faculty
Jared M. Beeton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Environment and Sustainability

Students
Leah Biersack, Senior, Environmental Studies; Carrie Deitz, Senior, Environmental Studies; Allison Hurcomb, Senior, Environmental Studies; Jennifer Lewis, Senior, Environmental Studies; and Paula Pletnikoff, Senior, Environmental Studies

Project

Conversations about The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Supervising Faculty
Susan M. Cannata, Professor of English, English Department

Student
Liberty Claer foster [sic], Senior, English Major

Project

Bilingual Environmental Typography in Diné Bizaad & English

Supervising Faculty
Anthony Carton, Asst. Professor of Art & Design

Student
April Yazza, Senior, Communication Design

Project

Summer Theatre at FLC

Supervising Faculty
Dr. Kerry Ginger, Assistant Professor of Music, Music Department 

Student
Hallie Denman, First-Semester Senior, Music Business 

Project

Attachment Style and Endorsement of Gender Roles in Young Adults

Supervising Faculty
Natasha Tidwell, Assistant Professor of Psychology 

Student
Emma Franklin, Senior Psychology Major 

Project

Writing Center Support for Undergraduate Researchers

Supervising Faculty
Michelle Bonanno, English Department and Writing Center 

Students
Jack Ellmer, Junior, English: Writing and Randy Poyer, Post-Bac, GIS Certificate

Project

The Real Meal Deal, Assessing Student Preferences for “real food” at Fort Lewis College

Supervising Faculty
Kathy Hilimire, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies

Student
Maggie Magierski, Senior, Environmental Studies

Project

Developing Creative Voices

Supervising Faculty
Candace Nadon, Assistant Professor of English

Students
Alyssa Begay (Writing / Junior); Jack Ellmer (Writing / Junior); Ian Murphy (Writing/ Senior); Christina Stanton (Writing / Junior).

Research 2019-2020

2019-2020 Undergraduate Research in Humanities Projects

Projects

Project

Deforestation, Guitars, and the Power of Music to Instigate Positive Environmental Change  

Supervising Faculty

Jared M. Beeton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Environment and Sustainability

Student

John Leeah, Senior, Environmental Studies; Grace Ann Robinson, Junior, Environmental Studies; Joshua James, Senior, Environmental Studies. 

Project

Systemic Racism and the Ignored Threat of White, Right-Wing Terrorism

Supervising Faculty

Ana Hale, Senior Lecturer-English

Student

Julian Maissel, Senior, Political Science 

Project

IMF Conditionalities and Violence in Latin America

Supervising Faculty

Dr. Benjamin Waddell, Associate Professor of Sociology, Criminology, and Borders and Languages 

Student

Olivia Thomas, Senior, Political Science 

Project

Claiming Identity: Cultivating and Situating Poetic Voice

Supervising Faculty

Candace Nadon, Assistant Professor of English

Student

Jalen Charley, Junior Psychology Major 

 

Project

A Settlement, Land Ownership, and Land Use History of Wetlands in San Luis Valley, Colorado

Supervising Faculty

Dr. Pete McCormick, Professor of Environmental Studies

Student

Cole Maurer, Environmental Studies and Anthropology Double Major 

Project

 ‘Old Pueblo Ska’: Ska Music in the Southwest, 1992-2001

Supervising Faculty

Dr. Paul Kuenker, Visiting Instructor, History

Student

Danial Ciluffo, Senior, History/ Teacher Ed.

Project

Native Hawaiian Hula and Cultural Immersion

Supervising Faculty

Dr. Cory Pillen, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Design 

Student

Matthias Biggs, Senior, Studio Art Major, Native and Indigenous Studies Minor 

Project

The Hands that Feed us are Invisible Hands (Strawberry Production in California)

Supervising Faculty

Dr. Carolina Alonso, Assistant Professor of Borders and Languages 

Student

Tatyana Trujillo, Senior, Environmental Studies and Prelaw