College of Communication, Media, Design and Information

Announcing 2026-27 Tiers 3 and 4 PACES Grantees

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 20:09:20 +0000

Announcing 2026-27 Tiers 3 and 4 PACES Grantees Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 08/26/2026 - 14:09

The Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship team in the Office for Outreach and Community Engagement is pleased to announce the 2026-27 Tiers 3 and 4 grantees.

Tiers 3 and 4 fund faculty-led public and community-engaged scholarship that connects research, teaching and creative work with public needs and interests. Proposed projects must connect ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� scholarship with the expressed needs, interests or activities of external communities and be aligned with the campus definition of outreach and engagement. The selection process is guided by the Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship Grants Committee.

Based on the committee’s recommendations 22 projects are receiving over $398,00 in funding this cycle.

Tier 3 (formerly ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Outreach Award: Individual)
2026–27 Recipients

College of Arts and Sciences

Community-Engaged Language Revitalization
Ambrocio Gutierrez, Associate Professor
Department of Linguistics

Literacy Practicum
Rai Farrelly, Teaching Associate Professor
Department of Linguistics

Colorado Law

The Acequia Assistance Project
Gregor MacGregor, Assistant Teaching Professor
Masters of the Environment

Educating Colorado High School Students ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Their Rights
Matthew Cushing, Assistant Teaching Professor

Increasing Native Access to Vote
Christina Stanton, Associate Professor
Clinical Education Program

School of Education

Mentor Advisory Boards: Bridging the Gaps in Our Teacher Licensure Programs
Karla Scornavacco, Director
Field Experiences

Reclaiming Heritage, Identity and Community
Andrea Dyrness, Associate Professor
Program in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice

College of Media, Communication and Information

Colombia Infrastructure Updating for Displaced Communities
Jota Samper, Assistant Professor
Program in Environmental Design

College of Music

Middle School Ensembles Program
David Rickels, Associate Professor
Department of Music Education

Tier 4 (formerly ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Outreach Award: Group)
2026–27 Recipients

AQuEEN Educators’ Network: Mutual Aid in Action
Elizabeth Meyer, Professor, Program in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Bethy Leonardi, Associate Professor, Program in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice

Attention, Behavior and Learning Clinic: Affordable Pediatric Evaluations
Nomita Chhabildas, Research Associate, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Erik Willcutt, Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Astrosenderos: Cultivating Belonging Through Latinx Co-Created STEM Spaces
Marialis Rosario Franco, Teaching Professor, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
Seth Hornstein, Teaching Professor, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
John Keller, Director, Fiske Planetarium

Building AAC Capacity for Adolescents and Adults
Sherri Tennant, Clinical Assistant Professor, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Christine Brennan, Assistant Professor, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Building Community Infrastructure for Air Quality Monitoring at San Lazaro Mobile Home Park
Enrique Lopez, Associate Professor, Program in STEM Education
Shelly Miller, Professor Emerita, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Collaborative Research with/for Multilingual Youth: Adams12 MLSAC
Deborah Palmer, Professor, Program in Equity, Bilingualism & Biliteracy
Michelle Renée Valladares, Faculty Affiliate, Program in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Adria Padilla-Chávez, Assistant Teaching Professor, Program in Equity, Bilingualism & Biliteracy

CU Children's Book Festival 2026
Adam Crawley, Associate Teaching Professor, Program in Literacy Studies
Natalia Umaña, Assistant Professor, Research and Collections Engagement

Indigenous Connections and the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation
Brooke Neely, Research Fellow, Center for the American West
Thomas Andrews, Professor, Department of History
Andrew Cowell, Professor, Department of Linguistics

Listening to Communities: Co-developing Toolkits to Measure Sound and Air Pollution
Evan Coffey, Research Faculty, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ellen Considine, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography
Shalom Ruben, Teaching Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Pilot Monitoring of Urban Pesticides for Human Health and Biodiversity Protection in Boulder, Colorado
Riley Mulhern, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies
Karen Bailey, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies
Shelly Miller, Professor Emerita, Department of Mechanical Engineering

SCENIC26: Environmental Sustainability Through Rural School Wildfire Inquiry
Daniel Knight, Associate Research Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Michael Hannigan, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Joseph Polman, Associate Dean, Program in Learning Sciences & Human Development

Seeing Justice: Video Evidence in Tribal Courts
Sandra Ristovska, Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies
Christina Stanton, Associate Professor of Clinical Law, Colorado Law

Training Lived Experience Experts as Community Researchers
Dave Ciplet, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies
Riley Mulhern, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies

Tiers 3 and 4 fund faculty-led public and community-engaged scholarship that connects research, teaching and creative work with public needs and interests. Based on the committee’s recommendations 22 projects are receiving over $398,00 in funding this cycle.

Off

Traditional

White

Announcing 2026-27 Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Fellows and Cohorts

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 19:54:17 +0000

Announcing 2026-27 Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Fellows and Cohorts Arielle Wiedenbeck Wed, 08/26/2026 - 13:54

One way the Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) team builds ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� capacity for engaged scholarship is through professional development opportunities for faculty members, graduate students and staff members.

Professional development is possible through the PACES Lunch & Learn Series, micro-credential programs, one-to-one consultations or longer-term and in-depth experiences such as fellowships.

PACES is pleased to announce its 2026-27 cohorts who are learning together and extending the resources of our campus in community partnerships around Colorado.

Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholars Program

Kelsey Armeni, PhD Student, DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Liz Corrado, PhD Student, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Asher Firestone, PhD Student, DEPARTMENT OF ETHNIC STUDIES
Laura Meinzen, PhD Student, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Kasra Mirfattahi, PhD Student, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE
Amanda Sturman, Masters Student, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE

Experiential Learning Design Accelerator Program

Yohainna Abdala-Mesa, Teaching Assistant Professor, DEPARTMENT OF SPANISH & PORTUGUESE
Anthony Abiragi, Assistant Teaching Professor, PROGRAM IN WRITING AND RHETORIC
Lisa Corwin, Principle Investigator, RE3ACH lab, DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Rai Farrelly, Teaching Associate Professor, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
Loren Intolubbe-Chmil, Assistant Teaching Professor, STUDENT ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER
Renice Obure, Assistant Teaching Professor, PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM

Graduate Student Community-Engaged Scholarship Initiative

Danielle Aguilar, PhD Candidate, NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow, PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS, POLICY & PRACTICE
Kasra Mirfattahi, PhD Student, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE
Anthony Pinter, Assistant Teaching Professor, THE ATLAS INSTITUTE
Kaila Red Bow, Masters Student, Graduate Student Chair, CU Sustainability Council, MASTERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Xiaodong Yan, PhD Student, COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION, MEDIA, DESIGN AND INFORMATION

Higher Education and Democracy Fellows

Paul DeBell, Associate Professor of Political Science, FORT LEWIS COLLEGE
Holly Oberle, Assistant Professor of Political Science, COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY
Leah Sprain, Associate Professor, Lead Higher Education and Democracy Fellow, COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION, MEDIA, DESIGN AND INFORMATION
Christina Stanton, Director of the American Indian Law Clinic, Clinical Professor, COLORADO LAW

Interdisciplinary Arts and Community Engagement Fellows

Joy Armstrong, Director, GALLERIES OF CONTEMPORARY ART, ENT CENTER FOR THE ARTS AT UCCS
Michael Sy Uy, Director, AMERICAN MUSIC RESEARCH CENTER
Kevin Rich, Professor, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE
Erin Espelie, Associate Professor, DEPARTMENT OF CINEMA STUDIES AND MOVING IMAGE ARTS
Heather Pidcock-Reed, English and Theatre Faculty, OTERO COLLEGE

Community Perspectives and Equitable Approaches to Community-Engaged Research cohorts– coming soon!

PACES is pleased to announce its 2026-27 cohorts who are learning together and extending the resources of our campus in community partnerships around Colorado.

Off

Traditional

White

Jota Samper Receives Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship

Arielle Wiedenbeck — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:01:06 +0000

Jota Samper Receives Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Arielle Wiedenbeck Fri, 10/18/2024 - 15:01

Jota Samper receives his award

Gretchen Minekime

Associate Professor Jota Samper, Program in Environmental Design, is the 2024 recipient of the Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). This national award is one of the most prestigious of its kind.

Samper’s research concentrates on sustainable urban growth, focusing on the intersection between urban informality and violent conflict. ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship nominated Samper for 15 years of connecting his scholarship and study abroad programs (at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, Duke University, Emerson College and MIT) with multiple unplanned settlements near Medellin, Colombia. Violence prompted Medellin residents to flee and set up informal dwellings outside the city limits.

Settlements in the region face issues such as landslides and access to potable water, healthcare, public spaces and education. Samper’s Colombian Displaced Communities: Planning and Urban Design Seminar students collaborate with residents to create community development plans and infrastructure designs and help build physical interventions. Communities decide which ideas make it to the building phase. Examples include a rain collection system, paving roads, reconditioning a community kitchen that serves more than 200 youth, and building sewers and potable water lines.

The seventh to win the faculty award nationally and the first from ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, Samper joined other Awards for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship recipients in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 10 at the annual ESC conference.

The grant selection committee for public and community-engaged scholarship has funded Samper’s work eight times since 2018.

Off

Traditional

Jota Samper receives his award

White

College of Communication, Media, Design and Information

Announcing 2026-27 Tiers 3 and 4 PACES Grantees

Tier 3 (formerly ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ Outreach Award: Individual)2026–27 Recipients

College of Arts and Sciences

Colorado Law

School of Education

College of Media, Communication and Information

College of Music

Tier 4 (formerly ���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ Outreach Award: Group)2026–27 Recipients

Off

Announcing 2026-27 Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Fellows and Cohorts

Engaged Arts and Humanities Scholars Program

Experiential Learning Design Accelerator Program

Graduate Student Community-Engaged Scholarship Initiative

Higher Education and Democracy Fellows

Interdisciplinary Arts and Community Engagement Fellows

Community Perspectives and Equitable Approaches to Community-Engaged Research cohorts– coming soon!

Off

Jota Samper Receives Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship

Off

Tier 3 (formerly ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Outreach Award: Individual)
2026–27 Recipients

Tier 4 (formerly ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Outreach Award: Group)
2026–27 Recipients