Thomas Andrews

A bird鈥檚 (and mule鈥檚) eye view of U.S. history

Dec. 1, 2011

Thomas Andrews has a knack for framing American history unconventionally. In his award-winning book 鈥淜illing for Coal,鈥 Andrews traced the central role of coal in Colorado鈥檚 economic growth, environmental change and social conflict. Now he鈥檚 turning his scholarly gaze toward another little-acknowledged actor in American history: animals. 鈥淧aying attention to...

George Clooney, center, and Janet Robinson, to his left, pose in Telluride with members of Robinson's CU-Boulder class, part of Libby Arts Residential Academic Program.

Students seeing stars, learning film in Telluride

Dec. 1, 2011

This video, posted on YouTube, captures a CU student perspective of the Telluride University Seminar at the Telluride Film Festival. This video was created by CU student William Jones, with contributions from student Stephen Kuhn. For the second year running, some University of Colorado students have gotten a front-row lesson...

Early earth prone to catastrophic glaciation, CU finds

Dec. 1, 2011

Two University of Colorado Boulder researchers who have adapted a three-dimensional, general circulation model of Earth鈥檚 climate to a time some 2.8 billion years ago when the sun was significantly fainter than present think the planet may have been more prone to catastrophic glaciation than previously believed. The new 3-D...

Elizabeth Fenn

Former auto mechanic makes splash in history

Dec. 1, 2011

If the world ever takes a swift, downward trip in a hand basket, historian Elizabeth 鈥淟il鈥 Fenn feels pretty good about her chances. Compared to many鈥搇et鈥檚 be honest, most鈥搈odern academics, Fenn has led a very hands-on life. Noting tradition of scholars trained in trade skills, she joins CU history faculty.

A still from the DVD created as a result of Soviet Jewry oral history project.

CU leads effort to record oral history of Soviet Jewry

Oct. 1, 2011

In 1966, the Soviet Union promised to do all it could to reunite Soviet Jews with relatives living outside the Communist nation. The pledge was hollow. In much of America, Jewish immigrants struggled. But they found help in Boulder, and that history is being preserved.

鈥楽moke, smoke smoke that cigarette'; genetic factors may add new refrain to old song, CU-led study finds

Oct. 1, 2011

A new study of twins led by the University of Colorado Boulder shows that today鈥檚 smokers are more strongly influenced by genetic factors than in the past and that the influence makes it more difficult for them to quit. 鈥淚n the past, when smoking rates were higher, people smoked for...

Unexpected ancient bronze artifact from East Asia unearthed at Alaska archaeology site by CU-led team

Oct. 1, 2011

A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered the first prehistoric bronze artifact made from a cast ever found in Alaska, a small, buckle-like object found in an ancient Eskimo dwelling and which likely originated in East Asia. The artifact consists of two parts 鈥...

Owen Brian Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado. Photo by Noah Larsen.

Childhood questions became lifelong quests

Oct. 1, 2011

Dinosaurs鈥 demise, Martian environment and Earth鈥檚 climate fascinated Brian Toon as a kid, captivated him as a scientist, and propelled him to a wide-ranging research career marked by a common theme: tiny airborne particles Since he was a kid, Owen Brian Toon has puzzled over 鈥渨eird problems鈥: What killed the...

As the media and much of the populace wonder about the value of studying the humanities, professors and alums offer tangible rebuttals

Humanities a 鈥榳aste of time鈥? CU begs to differ

Oct. 1, 2011

As headlines blare that 鈥淐ollege is a waste of time鈥 and 鈥淒egree not worth debt,鈥 new college students might enter academia with skepticism and eye the flagging economy with wariness. But the University of Colorado Boulder and its humanities departments are not idling while Rome burns. Artists and humanists at...

Reb Zalman founded the Jewish Renewal movement in the 1960s.

Jewish Renewal archives find home at CU

March 1, 2011

Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi was born in Poland, grew up in Austria, fled Nazi oppression in Europe, was ordained in Chabad Lubavitch Hasidism in America, and launched a new hybrid of Judaism for the world. Reb Zalman, as he is commonly known, founded the Jewish Renewal movement in the 1960s. Described...

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