BOULDER The University of Colorado has announced that CU-Colorado Springs Professor John Miller and CU-Denver and Health Sciences Center’s Dr. Estevan Flores are recipients of the 2004 Thomas Jefferson Awards. This special award recognizes CU faculty, students and staff members who exemplify the Jeffersonian ideals of a commitment to democratic principles, intellectual pursuits, civic responsibility and the welfare and rights of all individuals.<\/p>\n
Winners were selected by a committee of CU System faculty, staff, students and alumni who represented the sciences and humanities. The committee evaluated nominees based on their broad interests in literature, arts and sciences and public affairs; concern for advancing higher education; involvement in civic activities; and concern for individual rights. Each recipient receives a plaque and monetary award of $1,000. The award will be presented to Professor Miller at the Thurs., Feb. 24 Board of Regents meeting to be held on the Colorado Springs campus. Dr. Flores will receive his award at the March 24 regents meeting in Denver.<\/p>\n
“It is an honor to recognize Professor John Miller for his deep commitment to the humanity, dignity and welfare of individuals,” Hoffman said. “Dr. Miller has provided selfless service in the soup kitchens and delivery vans of Project Angel Art, courageously challenged Amendment 2, and has provided passionate scholarship and teaching of U.S. Latino literature and culture.”<\/p>\n
Miller has taught Spanish at CU-Colorado Springs since 1987. Among his most popular courses is “Minority Voices,” which explores the multicultural nature of the United States. Much of his academic work focuses on Latino literature and culture, and he specializes in writers of Cuban and Colombian descent who live in the United States. Miller has received numerous awards and recognitions, including two Fulbright Senior Lectureship awards and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant for his work in Colombia.<\/p>\n
“Indeed, John Miller is the rarest of university professors,” Jeffrey Rubin-Dorsky, professor, English, said. “He is a man who has fully integrated his scholarship, his teaching, his commitment to higher education, and his civic service around the twinned themes of the power of diversity and the necessity for social justice.”<\/p>\n
Miller is an active participant in university affairs, having served as chair of the CU-Colorado Springs Faculty Assembly and participating in the formation of the humanities, ethnic studies and American studies programs at the Colorado Springs campus. Miller is involved with a number of AIDS organizations and AIDS awareness initiatives and has been a vocal proponent of gay rights.<\/p>\n
When told of winning the award, Miller said:<\/p>\n
\t“With his strong beliefs in the rights of the individual, a government derived from the people, freedom of religion, separation of church and state and, most importantly, education available to all, Thomas Jefferson was personally inspiring to me. The night before the U.S. Supreme Court was to consider Amendment 2, I walked his memorial, and that of Abraham Lincoln, and was reminded of the importance of these founding beliefs of our country.”<\/p>\n
Miller reflected on a famous Jefferson quote, ” we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors,” as important in helping him to become the first in his family to attend college and, as the son of a truck driver, to have a 40 year career devoted to learning and teaching.<\/p>\n
Miller earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University and the University of Maryland and a doctoral degree from Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt. Prior to joining the CU-Colorado Springs faculty, he taught at Gettysburg College, Richard Stockton State College, New Jersey City University and New York University.<\/p>\n
CU gave its first Thomas Jefferson Award for faculty in 1962 with a grant from the Robert Earl McConnell Foundation. The award was later expanded to include categories for students and staff members.<\/p>\n
The University of Colorado is a three-campus system with campuses in Boulder and Colorado Springs, and the recently consolidated Denver and Health Sciences Center campuses located in Denver and at the former Fitzsimons Army Base in Aurora. For further information, please contact Michele McKinney in the CU System Office of Institutional Relations at (303) 492-6206.<\/p>\n
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BOULDER The University of Colorado has announced that CU-Colorado Springs Professor John Miller and CU-Denver and Health Sciences Center’s Dr. Estevan Flores are recipients of the 2004 Thomas Jefferson Awards. This special award recognizes CU (Full Press Release)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pressreleases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressreleases.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}