Â鶹ÒùÔº in the Minority Arts and Sciences Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder have completed a project with the Colorado Historical Society on a new historical roadside marker.
The signs will be installed later this month near mile marker 39 on the south side of the road in Boulder Canyon. The exact date is pending.
In what is expected to be an ongoing program, MASP students partnered with the Society to create contemporary historical markers under the leadership of Gerald Ronning, a recent graduate of the department of history. Presently a lecturer for the history department, Ronning has taught courses for MASP in the humanities and social sciences for the past five years and last summer enlisted the students' aid to do research on Boulder's history.
"The students are helping to fill an important need for preserving Colorado history," Ronning said. "Results from a recent survey of the state's historical road markers showed a serious need for modernization."
Alphonse Keasley, MASP director, said that Ronning has been a quiet intellectual force in MASP.
"When he pitched the public history idea as a MASP Summer bridge enhancement to me, Gerry seismically moved our public intellectualism curriculum to new heights," Keasley said. "He is one of the MASP treasures and is completely dedicated to our MASP scholars."
The students chose three topics of interest for the Boulder marker: Camp Nizhoni, a summer camp for African American girls founded by the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA, Rocky Flats and Los Seis de Boulder, a commemoration of six Chicano activists killed in Boulder in 1974.
The students worked with a professional writer on the final drafts for the marker, which is composed of stone facing with two panels of text and photos. Two additional panels are being held in reserve for this summer's Bridge class.
Founded in 1879, the Colorado Historical Society brings the unique character of Colorado's past to more than a million people each year through historical museums and highway markers, exhibitions, manuscript and photograph collections, popular and scholarly publications, historical and archeological preservation services and educational programs for children and adults.
The CU-Boulder Minority Arts and Sciences program is acknowledged as one of the "best practices" models on the Boulder campus for recruiting, retaining and graduating minority students.
For more information, call (303) 492-8229 or visit the MASP Web site at .