On Saturday, June 6th, UCCS students Emily Nguyen and Jessi Asuquo hosted a peaceful march to insight social change within the Colorado Springs community. During this event, they held 8 minutes and 45 second of silence for George Floyd and discussed the racial injustices that many people in the black community face today, before marching on behalf of all the people who have died unjustly in this country. A short movie of the event was featured on LAS Peak Moments.

Christina Jimenez

Dr. Christina Jimenez, Professor and Chair of the Department of History, was recently featured on a national podcast from the Movement is Life Caucus. The following was taken from a brief description of the podcast episode:

“COVID-19 is severely impacting underserved communities. Health disparities continue to make the headlines as we transition from the acute phase of the pandemic to the chronic phase. This new normal means we must learn to live with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future. We will continue to peel back layers of disparities to reveal the factors behind health inequities being amplified by this pandemic. In this podcast for Movement is Life, Episode 41 we discuss privilege. We hear the p-word (privilege) used a lot in the context of health disparities, but what does it really mean and how does it perpetuate health inequities?”

Movement is Life Caucus Movement is Life is a multi-disciplinary coalition seeking to eliminate racial, ethnic and gender disparities in muscle and joint health by promoting physical mobility to improve quality of life among women, African Americans and Hispanics. Strategic Objectives. To Reduce Musculoskeletal Health Disparities at the Patient, Healthcare Provider.
Eugenia Olesnicky-Killian
Christina Biermann

Four of 5 women faculty from UCCS recently featured on the national Academic Minute radio program are from the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences: Christine Biermann, Assistant Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies, Oksana Bihun, former Associate Professor of Mathematics, Elizabeth Daniels, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Eugenia Olesnicky Killian, Associate Professor of Biology. The theme of the broadcast was “Women in STEM Takeover.” Jessi Smith, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Psychology, selected the participants. More information is available from an article in the UCCS Communique.

Michele Okun

A study conducted on the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on students’ health was recently featured in the UCCS Communique. The study was conducted by Michele Okun, Lectuer, and Leilani Feliciano, Professor, both from the Psychology Department.

Leilani Feliciano

Chip Benight, Professor of Psychology, was interviewed recently by CU on the Air about his work on human adaptation from trauma.

Chip Benight