Five associate professors and a lecturer have been promoted following the June meeting of the Board of Trustees. Those promoted are:

• Kristina Acri, Associate Professor of Economics and Business

  Kristina Acri is a highly effective scholar-teacher who has led one of the college’s largest departments through challenging times. She holds her students to high standards but creates a caring environment where students feel she is deeply invested in their success, allowing them to strive for their best but also allowing them to take intellectual risks and explore new questions. Her lectures are highly structured and effectively organized. She has an active scholarly agenda and her reputation in her field is described by external reviewers as “sterling.” Acri has served on numerous departmental and all-college committees, including securing a $100,000 gift to support scholarships in her department, serving on hiring committees, and conducting professional workshops both on- and off-campus.

• Emily Chan, Associate Professor of Psychology

  Emily Chan is a positive changemaker and mentor to the community; her contributions have been “above and beyond.” Since her tenure, her strong commitment to DEI practices and CC’s antiracism efforts is evident throughout her file. The more than 60 All-College Course Evaluations that she has received since 2010 are overwhelmingly positive. It is clear from the details in both the ACCEs and the numerous letters from students and advisees that Chan has been a transformative presence, especially for Bridge Scholars, a program she has directed for several years, and students from marginalized populations. Her scholarship on the psychology of prejudice has proceeded apace despite her serving for four years in the Deans’ Office as an associate dean. Her service record is multifaceted and exemplary and includes not only directing the Bridge Scholars Program but as one of the top leaders on the Academic Continuity Task Force during the early days of the pandemic and participating in the General Education Course Review.

• Regula Evitt, Associate Professor of English

  Re Evitt is a beloved and transformative teacher whose students remember details from her classes for years after their graduations. Deeply reflective about her own teaching, she has been constantly evolving her pedagogies and course content. A Medievalist, she is on the forefront of her field in engaging diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in teaching practices in Medieval and Renaissance pedagogies as well as scholarship (her scholarship focuses on anti-Semitism and other race and gender issues in the Middle Ages). Her service to the college has been, as many colleagues testify, “truly amazing” and includes but is not limited to service as associate dean, successfully raising money to endow the Venture Grant program, updating the Watson Program, and supporting Boettcher Scholars.

• Steven Hayward, Associate Professor of English

  Steve Hayward is credited with transforming the English Department’s Creative Writing program by making it more inclusive and connecting students with meaningful professional development opportunities. The student evaluations in his file were overwhelmingly positive, noting his generosity with his time in attention in always being there for his students not only as budding writers but as whole human beings. He is a prolific and well-respected writer with an international reputation whose connections have revived the Visiting Writers Program by bringing major talents to campus. He serves the CC community both on- and off-campus with a range of important activities: from producing the documentary celebrating 50 years of the Block Plan to collaborative podcasts with community cultural institutions. He is a highly effective ambassador for the college and our liberal arts values in the wider world.

• Miro Kummel, Associate Professor of Environmental Science

  Miro Kummel was instrumental in growing the Environmental Studies program during his four years as director, when they made several tenure-track hires and the number of majors was growing exponentially. He is known and admired as a deeply caring teacher who meets his students where they are and inspires their commitment to address climate change and other environmental issues. He has adapted his own scholarly agenda to maximize opportunities for students to collaborate with him on research projects. His service to the college has been generous and always “above and beyond.” His most recent major service commitment was as a member of the Colorado College Science Advisory Group, which provided primary leadership for CC’s COVID-19 protocols by doing rigorous research and analysis of the many factors of the effects of the global pandemic on campus.

• Jean Gumpper, Lecturer in Art and Art Studio

  It also was unanimously recommended that Jean Gumpper be promoted to senior lecturer in Art and Art Studio, as she has met or exceeded the expectations for teaching, scholarship, and service for promotion. Her teaching is student focused, and it was clear throughout the overwhelmingly positive student letters and course evaluations that she cares deeply about the whole person that each student brings to her classrooms. She has taken the college’s antiracism commitment to heart and adjusted her pedagogies as a result by expanding the diversity of the images she uses in class and the visiting artists that she invites. She successfully connects her courses on the technical aspects of drawing and printmaking to the broader liberal arts mission of Colorado College. Gumpper is an award-winning and well-established artist in her field, which enriches the experience of CC students. She has made significant contributions to both the department and the wider college community. In the department, she has often gone “above and beyond” the service expectations associated with the lecturer position.