Buff Briefs | Bishop-Cotner to to run for regent

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Bishop-Cotner to to run for regent

On May 18, Democrat Robert Bishop-Cotner announced his candidacy for University of Colorado Regent in the 4th Congressional District. Bishop-Cotner was officially nominated for candidacy on May 21 at the Democratic State Assembly. He will run against Republican Sue Sharkey to take the seat held by Tom Lucero, who cannot run due to term limits.

Bishop-Cotner, who currently serves on the Windsor Town Board and teaches social studies at Brighton High School, is campaigning on the issues of affordability in higher education and lifelong learning. His campaign slogan is “Never settle.”

Currently, incumbent Regent Michael Carrigan, D-Denver, is running unopposed in the 1st Congressional District, and Republican Steve Bosley (incumbent), Democrat Melissa Hart and Libertarian Jesse Wallace are running for regent at-large.

Scripps Fellows named

Five journalists have been selected as 2010-11 Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The fellowships are hosted by the Center for Environmental Journalism and are funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The nine-month program offers working journalists an opportunity to increase their understanding of environmental issues and policy through coursework, seminars and field trips in the region.

The new Ted Scripps Fellows are Karen Coates, a freelance journalist, author and media trainer who splits her time between Asia and the American Southwest after living in Thailand and Cambodia for several years; Erin Espelie, executive editor at Natural History magazine and a filmmaker; Leah McGrath Goodman, a freelance journalist and author based in New York City; Ryan L. Nave, a former staff writer at the Illinois Times and now a freelance journalist based in Seattle; and Jonathan Waldman, who has written about science, culture and the environment for newspapers, magazines, radio shows and blogs, including The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Outside magazine and High Country News.

Moore named interim provost

Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Russell Moore has been named interim provost at CU-Boulder, replacing Stein Sture. The appointment begins July 1.

Moore has served in his current role since May 2009, when he replaced Sture. Now the two are switching places. Sture will return to his post as vice chancellor for research at CU-Boulder.

“I want to assure our community that we will move ahead on the issues of research, teaching and service, and on the challenges of resources and budgets that face us,” Moore said in a news release.

Prior to serving as interim vice chancellor for research, Moore was associate vice chancellor for research from 2006 to 2009. He also served as chair of the kinesiology and applied physiology department (now integrative physiology) from 1994 to 2001.

He also currently holds an adjunct professorship in medicine (cardiology) at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus.

Grant boosts undergrad research

The thought of a run-of-the-mill science course full of lectures, notetaking and textbook experiments is enough for some students to look for another field of study. But the learning environment for many undergraduate science majors at the University of Colorado at Boulder often allows students to work in the lab side-byside with faculty.

Real-world research opportunities are possible in part through grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or HHMI. The organization recently announced it is awarding CU-Boulder a $1.8 million grant for CU-Boulder’s Biological Sciences Initiative, or BSI, to further support undergraduate science education and K-12 science outreach. This is the sixth grant awarded to BSI, bringing the total amount of HHMI funding to $11.5 million since 1989.

With the latest HHMI funding, BSI plans to continue its undergraduate research and outreach programs and to offer new interdisciplinary courses on topics ranging from microbiomes — interactions of microorganisms with their environments — to vaccine development.

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