An architect’s model shows the new Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science between Olin Hall and the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

The largest financial gift in University of Denver history will go toward the construction of a new campus home for engineering and computer science.

Chancellor Emeritus Daniel Ritchie has donated more than $27 million to build the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science, which will be named for his father. The 110,000-square-foot building on the south side of campus also will house the new Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging. It is slated to be completed in early 2015.

“We have wonderful faculty; we have wonderful students; what we don’t have is wonderful facilities. That’s the piece that’s missing,” Daniel Ritchie said at a May 20 press conference to announce the new building. “This will make a huge difference for the University, for the faculty and for our students.”

The new building is part of a new interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative at the University that will address societal needs of the 21st century and prepare globally competitive graduates for business and entrepreneurship. The Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science will bring together multiple complementary STEM activities and research already taking place on campus.

“These are the disciplines that are driving the growth of the worldwide economy,” Chancellor Robert Coombe said at the press conference. “Today, with the U.S. economy rebounding, many of the jobs that are being created are in these disciplines, and we find that this is driving interest among students and among students yet to come to the University of Denver. There is an enormous wave in interest in STEM disciplines, and that wave is washing ashore at the University of Denver with considerable vigor.”

Additional funding for the new engineering building comes from Betty Knoebel, widow of Denver food-service pioneer Ferdinand “Fritz” Knoebel, and the late Bill Petersen (BSEE ’69), an alumnus of the DU School of Engineering. The gifts will allow the University to increase student scholarships, faculty support, industry partnerships and experiential learning programs.

According to Chancellor Coombe, the interdisciplinary focus will allow the University to dramatically expand its current engineering and computer science programs, with a vision of further developing mechatronics, bioengineering and software engineering curricula. Added capacity will allow the school to increase its faculty by more than 30 percent and enhance particular areas of scholarship and instruction. Coombe added that the initiative also responds to the shifting interests of college-bound graduates who are increasingly interested in sciences, math and engineering.

“The University of Denver will be on the cutting edge of developing a new breed of STEM graduates ready for the complex technological needs of the future,” Coombe said. “Our students will create real-life solutions to real-life problems with an integrated approach to learning.”

The University plans to address the increasing needs of an aging population through the new Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging. The Knoebel Center, which builds on the University’s dedication to the public good, supports complementary research and scholarship on aging and aging-related conditions.

The new building will be located between the Newman Center for the Performing Arts and F.W. Olin Hall and will be built adjacent to buildings that currently house the University’s Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and multiple research centers, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, where students join faculty in conducting foundational biomedical, molecular and genetic research.

“This is an extraordinarily exciting time for our University, and these gifts will go a long way in transforming and redefining the focus of our science, engineering and related programs and research. It will help us lay a strong foundation for collaboration across disciplines, while we expand our ability to serve the future needs of our region and state,” Coombe said.

The building is made possible by visionary gifts totaling more than $40 million from Daniel L. Ritchie, chancellor emeritus, Betty Knoebel and the late Bill C. Petersen. The gifts will allow the University to increase student scholarships, faculty support, industry partnerships and experiential learning programs with the overarching goal of achieving distinction in interdisciplinary STEM education. The University expects the new building to provide ideal space for increased collaboration among complementary programs.

The Ritchie gift is the largest single donation in the University’s history and totals nearly $27 million. Ritchie, who served as the University’s chancellor for 15 years between 1989 and 2005 and as chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2009, transferred Rancho Cielo, a working avocado ranch in Montecito, Calif., to the University to support construction of the new building. This is the second time the University has received a ranch from Ritchie. In 1994, Ritchie contributed a large portion of his Grand River Ranch in Kremmling, Colo. to the University. The new Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science is named for Ritchie’s father.

According to Chancellor Robert Coombe, the interdisciplinary focus will allow the University to dramatically expand its current engineering and computer science programs, with a vision of further developing mechatronics, bioengineering and software engineering curricula. Added capacity will allow the school to increase its faculty by more than 30 percent and enhance particular areas of scholarship and instruction. He added that the initiative also responds to the shifting interests of college-bound graduates who are increasingly interested in sciences, math and engineering.

“The University of Denver will be on the cutting edge of developing a new breed of STEM graduates ready for the complex technological needs of the future,” Coombe said. “Our students will create real-life solutions to real-life problems with an integrated approach to learning.”

The University plans to address the increasing needs of an aging population through the new Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging. The Knoebel Center, which builds on the University’s dedication to the public good, supports complementary research and scholarship on aging and aging-related conditions in a variety of STEM disciplines, particularly the molecular life sciences, including cell biology and biochemistry of aging, neurodegenerative diseases, and drug design and discovery.

The Knoebel Center’s proximity to engineering and computer sciences, as well as other STEM and complementary social sciences disciplines, will encourage collaborative and complementary research and scholarship. This would include synergistic activities with such fields as orthopedic biomechanics and bioengineering. The Knoebel Center will act as the overall umbrella for cooperation and partnerships between natural sciences, engineering and social sciences — including social work and professional psychology programs. The laboratory hub of the Knoebel Center will occupy its own floor in the building containing the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science. Named in recognition of a gift from Betty Knoebel, widow of Denver food services pioneer Ferdinand “Fritz” Knoebel, the gift also will fund faculty positions focused in molecular life sciences and bioengineering.

Additional funding for the new engineering building is provided through an estate gift from the late William C. Petersen (BSEE ’69), an alumnus of the DU School of Engineering who had a lengthy career at the Gates Rubber Co. in Denver. Petersen resonated with the need for a new engineering facility when he named the University in his estate plans, specifically designating that his bequest could be used for construction of a new engineering building.

The building will create an anchor on the south portion of campus for STEM-related disciplines. It will be located between the Newman Center for the Performing Arts and Olin Hall and will be built adjacent to buildings that currently house the University’s Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and multiple research centers, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, where students join faculty in conducting foundational biomedical, molecular and genetic research.

Incorporating an open design the approximately 110,000-square-foot facility building will provide expanded research and instructional spaces, flexible classrooms, interdisciplinary centers and institutes, community areas, faculty and administrative offices and food service.

The architectural design of the building will be in keeping with the desire to create an enduring structure on campus with multi-century durability through the use of load-bearing bricks, stone masonry and signature copper roofs. The sustainable building design is a collaborative partnership between the Office of the University Architect and Anderson, Mason and Dale Architects (University’s Architect of Record-AoR).

“This is an extraordinarily exciting time for our University, and these gifts will go a long way in transforming and redefining the focus of our science, engineering and related programs and research. It will help us lay a strong foundation for collaboration across disciplines, while we expand our ability to serve the future needs of our region and state,” Coombe said.

To ensure that the next generation of those workers is prepared for effective service in the fog of calamity, the University of Denver will sponsor an international humanitarian crisis simulation exercise over Memorial Day weekend, May 26–27.

Funded by a DU internationalization grant and by the Josef Korbel School of International Studies’ Social Science Foundation, the exercise will test the skills and knowledge of up to 30 students in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology’s Master’s Program in International Disaster Psychology and the Korbel School’s Humanitarian Assistance Program.

“It’s an opportunity for students to see how what they learn in theory in the classrooms plays out in the field,” says Chen Reis, director of the Humanitarian Assistance Program and one of the simulation’s organizers. “We can’t send our students out into war zones, for obvious reasons. Nor is it really appropriate to do so while they’re being trained. But we can give them a sense of what their world will be like when they begin their professional lives.”

What’s more, says co-organizer Courtney Welton-Mitchell, an assistant professor with the international disaster psychology program, the simulation offers an experience that can’t be had elsewhere in North America, integrating humanitarian generalists and international disaster psychology specialists in one exercise. Other simulations sponsored by academic institutions typically focus on medical triage. This one concentrates exclusively on protection and psychosocial services.

“Essentially,” Welton-Mitchell explains, “what our students are being asked to do is to greet internally displaced new arrivals and conduct a rapid needs assessment. They are doing this within interdisciplinary teams, meeting not only with the displaced persons but also with local government officials, representatives of local women’s groups, and the Red Cross. They are then expected to put together a project proposal and present it to a donor panel.”

The simulation was piloted in May 2012 with a one-day event on the lawn outside the Ammi Hyde Building, a stand-in for faraway Chad, where, according to the scenario, a civil conflict had caused untold numbers of people to flee their towns and villages. Participating students were dispatched to an area of the country experiencing an influx of internally displaced persons—known within the field as IDPs.

Guided by a script and some preliminary coaching, volunteer actors played the IDPs and demonstrated a host of mental health and psychosocial needs. Some were young children separated from parents. Others were victims of gender-based violence.

Another group of actors, Welton-Mitchell says, played local officials, Red Cross representatives and staff members from nongovernmental organizations. They introduced obstacles, educated students about on-the-ground realities and responded much the way their real-life counterparts respond during a real-life crisis.

For the would-be humanitarian aid workers, all this work culminated with a presentation of proposals to a donor board staffed by faculty members from the GSPP and Korbel School programs, as well as community participants with disaster relief experience. The panel represented major donors, such as USAID and the European Union. Panel members examined proposals, questioned their authors about everything from budget to implementation, and issued rulings on each proposal. In 2012, Welton-Mitchell notes, none of the student proposals received funding—a result, alas, all too true to real life.

Determined to make the 2013 simulation even more reflective of reality, Reis and Welton-Mitchell have added several new components, as well as an extra day in which to accomplish everything. Students will be asked to respond to lightning-fast changes in the scenario. For example, Welton-Mitchell says, as they prepare their proposals, they will receive periodic alerts: Cholera has been diagnosed among several displaced persons; the nearest water supply is contaminated; additional fighting has resulting in more persons being displaced.

In addition, students will receive media training and encounter reporters seeking confirmation of rumors or updates on events. They also will learn how to enlist new technologies — mobile apps, for example — in their efforts to address problems and craft proposals.

Liyam Eloul, a student in both the international disaster psychology and humanitarian assistance programs, found last year’s simulation so helpful that she’s participating again this year.

Eloul comes to the simulation with experience in the field. Before enrolling at DU in fall 2011, she traveled to Oman on a Fulbright grant to study the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. She also worked with AMERA (Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance) in Cairo and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Damascus, Syria.

Even with experience under her belt, Eloul found the simulation a challenge. It tested her composure, skills and knowledge.

“On an individual level, you watch yourself be under stress, under time pressure and deal with insurmountable needs,” Eloul says.

The simulation also tested students’ ability to collaborate within teams, to capitalize on individual strengths and to compensate for weaknesses.

“It was really nice to be on a multifaceted team,” Eloul recalls. “Everybody has their own specialties and their own things to bring to the table. I’m trained as a therapist, so I’m really good at listening. But I’m not good at negotiating.” As a result, she excelled at the IDP needs assessments but discovered that some of her peers were better at negotiating with government and agency officials.

Eloul also learned how classroom learning holds up in a crisis. Sitting in class, she says, the processes associated with disaster relief seem matter-of-fact: a set of procedures, checklists and logical next steps. But after completing the 2012 simulation, Eloul realized that things she thought would come easily in the field did not.

“When you are in a high-stress situation, a lot of [textbook knowledge] just bleeds away,” she says.

Such discoveries are just what Welton-Mitchell and Reis hoped for when they designed the simulation.

“We’re looking at hard skills and soft skills,” Reis says. “Do students know how to do certain kinds of things, like write a proposal or interview people to assess a situation, pull together information from various sources and arrive at an understanding of the context? As well as soft skills, like how do they cope with stress, how do they communicate with people from a different background or with a different communication style?”

With the win, the Pioneers advance to their second Final Four in three seasons. DU will face top-seeded Syracuse at 3 p.m. MDT Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa..

“North Carolina: what a train that was, trying to stop that coming downhill at us early,” Tierney said. “Mostly, I’m proud of these young men and teammates for persevering. You don’t get too many opportunities in life to fight through such adversity and come back ahead. I’m just proud for everybody at the University of Denver and everybody in our organization.”

Read more about the game at denverpioneers.com.

Faith Goins performs her senior recital May 22 at the Newman Center. Photo courtesy of Faith Goins

Finding a job after graduation has never been a worry for senior Faith Goins. The voice major will walk in the undergraduate Commencement ceremony on the morning of June 8, and that night she’ll go on stage at the Town Hall Arts Center in Littleton as a member of the tribe in the classic ’60s musical “Hair.”

It’s one of several local productions in which Goins has appeared while studying at DU; others include “Hairspray” at the Arvada Center, “The Color Purple” at the Aurora Fox and “The Wiz” at Dayton St. Theatre in Aurora. It was in the latter performance, she says, that she began to realize the transformative power of live theater.

“A few victims of the [Aurora theater] shooting came to see the show, and they said, ‘That was the first time I felt joy,’ ‘That’s the first time I smiled in a while’ — it was amazing,” she says. “What we do can really impact people’s lives. It’s not just for fun or wanting to be a star.”

Raised in Aurora, where her parents are pastors at Jireh Advancing Kingdom Ministries, Goins has made a life out of singing, dancing and performing. She’s on the Denver Nuggets’ “Rocky’s Super Squad,” which hypes up the crowd during home games; she teaches gospel and praise dance at local churches; and she is a gymnastics coach for the University of Denver squad.

She also is the first woman of color to receive a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance with an emphasis in music theater from DU, a distinction she calls “an honor.” Music, she says, saved her life when she was growing up in a low-income neighborhood with a high crime rate.

“I was very close to going down the wrong path, picking the wrong friends, doing the wrong things,” she says, “and then I blew my knees out doing gymnastics.”

After rehabilitation, Goins discovered her high school theater department, where the directors “were so enlightening and engaging and just loved what they were doing, so it saved me from doing the wrong things,” she says. “It gave me something else to do.”

Still, when Goins first came to DU on a Daniels Scholarship, she found herself frustrated by her lack of musical knowledge compared to her fellow students.

“She grew up mostly singing in church and some in high school, so she had a tiny, tiny little pure voice when I first heard her audition,” says Cathy Kasch, a Lamont School of Music voice teacher who has mentored Goins throughout her time at DU. “But I could tell that she had a special spark of something — that ‘it factor,’ if you will. And that was one reason why I was interested in working with her.”

As a musical theater major, Goins takes classes both in the theater department and in the Lamont School of Music. She appeared in student musicals “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “Side Show,” in addition to her professional work. She has more shows booked after graduation, as well as an internship offer from a theatrical production company in New York. She also wants to try her hand at TV and film acting.

“I don’t know where I’ll go, but I know its going to be great wherever it is,” she says. “I will see where God takes me.”

Faith Goins gives her senior recital, “A Journey Through African-American Musical Theater,” at 7:30 p.m. May 22 in Hamilton Recital Hall in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free.

Dancers perform at the 2011 spring powwow. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

Native American students at the University of Denver are holding a celebration of their community and culture — and all of DU and the Denver community are invited to join in. The University’s third annual spring powwow will be held from 1–6 p.m. May 19, with the grand entrance at 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Native nations from throughout the United States will be represented at the powwow, “New Beginnings,” hosted by DU’s Native Student Alliance. The event features traditional music, dance and food, as well as Native American vendors selling handcrafted art and jewelry. There will be community dances for spectators to participate in, as well.

“This is a traditional event to bring various native communities together to practice their native dances and wear their traditional regalia,” says Johanna Leyba, assistant provost for inclusive excellence. “This is a great opportunity for the DU community to learn about Native American communities today, as well as their surviving histories and cultures and traditions.”

Powwows originally were held as part of spiritual celebrations, Leyba says.

“They have evolved into annual gatherings for native peoples to celebrate their traditions, connect and engage in friendly competition,” she says.

Jim Montgomery is DU’s new head coach. Photo: DU Athletics

The University of Denver hockey team will play 36 games, including 18 regular-season home contests at Magness Arena, in its 2013-14 season. The team’s inaugural season in the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is also its first under new head coach Jim Montgomery, who replaces the departed George Gwozdecky.

The Pioneers advanced to their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament last year and secured the 12th consecutive 20-win season in the program’s history.

“I am really excited about this season’s schedule. The nonconference portion is very competitive and will prepare us for the inaugural season of NCHC play,” Montgomery says. “We are really looking forward to opening play in the NCHC and are anxious to meet the challenges and competition it will present on a nightly basis.”

Denver’s schedule features 12 contests against foes that qualified for the 2013 NCAA Tournament, four games against in-state rival Colorado College and four against 2013 NCAA Frozen Four participant St. Cloud State.

DU will open the regular season against Merrimack in a two-game series at Magness Arena on Oct. 11-12. The Pioneers will drop the puck on the NCHC conference action for the first time on Nov. 1 when they host Nebraska Omaha.

The Pioneers’ nonconference slate is highlighted by a trip to the Alaska Fairbanks Tournament, where Denver will square off against Alaska (Oct. 18) and Anchorage (Oct. 19). Other games on the non-league slate include home games against NCAA qualifiers Niagara (Oct. 25) and Canisius (Oct. 26).

Denver will trek east for three games in December as the Pioneers take on RPI in a two-game set (Dec. 13-14) before heading to Amherst, Mass., to battle the University of Massachusetts (Dec. 17).

DU’s 18-game regular-season home schedule is headlined by two-game series against Nebraska Omaha (Nov. 1-Nov. 2), Colorado College (Nov. 9 and Feb. 21), Western Michigan (Nov. 15-16), St. Cloud State (Jan. 10-11), North Dakota (Jan. 24-25) and Miami (Ohio) (March 7-8).

The Pioneers also host single games against Air Force (Nov. 23) and Brown (Jan. 3) in non-league action.

Denver plays at Colorado College (Nov. 8 and Feb. 22), Air Force (Nov. 22), Miami (Ohio) (Dec. 6-7), Minnesota Duluth (Jan. 17-18), St. Cloud State (Feb. 7-8), Nebraska Omaha (Feb. 14-15) and Western Michigan (Feb. 28-March 1).

The Pioneers’ top returning scorer and 2013 All-WCHA selection Joey LaLeggia highlights the list of 15 returning letter-winners for 2013-14. Senior goaltender Sam Brittain and defenseman David Makowski also return for their final collegiate season.

Season tickets for the 2013-14 season are currently on sale; individual game tickets go on sale in early September. Visit www.DenverPioneers.com/tickets for more information.

Vocal major John Jones, who performed in his grandfather’s native Welsh, meets the guest of honor at a May 10 reception for Prince Harry. Photo: Melissa Cherie Photography

Ten students from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music got a royal opportunity on May 10 — they were invited to perform for Prince Harry during his visit to Colorado.

“He’s a really nice guy,” says junior voice major John Jones. “I expected him to either be a little more frat boyish or a little bit more businesslike, but he was a really nice guy. I wouldn’t necessarily want to party with him, but I’d love to sit down and have a beer with him.”

Jones sang two songs, including the traditional Welsh tune “Men of Harlech,” which he sang in its native language.

“He loved it — it’s actually how we found out we have a favorite movie in common,” says Jones, who is of Welsh heritage and taught himself the language at age 12.

The movie is 1964’s “Zulu,” the story of 150 British soldiers who successfully fought off 4,000 Zulus at their field hospital in South Africa. “In the movie, right before the last battle, they end up singing this song,” Jones says.

Prince Harry was in Colorado to attend the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs. The event for disabled veterans includes teams from the U.S. and the U.K. As a link to the games, the prince requested performers with disabilities. Jones has cerebral palsy, junior voice major Jenna Bainbridge is partially paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury, and vocal jazz performance major Samantha Barrasso is blind. The singers were accompanied by a jazz combo featuring Eli Acosta, Jake Alvarez, Sean Edwards, Charles Hoffer Fenning, Justin Peterson and Camilla Vaitaitis, along with pianist Jon Parker.

The three vocalists auditioned for the British Consul General prior to the May 10 VIP reception at the Sanctuary golf club in Sedalia, Colo. The party included dozens of dignitaries, British expatriates, students and military officers, as well as Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin.

“Just knowing giant pandas are part of our amazing planet is important for our psychological as well as physical health,” says Sarah Bexell. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

Conservationist Sarah Bexell serves as scholar-in-residence at the Graduate School of Social Work’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection. She also is director of conservation education at China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where she works with DU social work students to staff an education program that highlights the connection between human and animal welfare. Bexell’s new book, “Giant Pandas: Born Survivors” (Penguin Books, 2013), is co-authored with Zhang Zhihe, one of China’s leading giant panda experts.

DU Today: You’ve spent a lot of time around pandas. Are they as lovable as their press would suggest?

Bexell: Absolutely. They are the most peaceful species I have ever had the opportunity to work for. They are amazing mothers and have wonderful, peaceful and stoic personalities.

Each individual has his or her own personality, just like we do. Some are goofy and love to play and get dirty. Some are fastidious and are always clean. Some subadults (pandas between infancy and sexual maturity) love to play and be close to others, while some prefer to be alone more of the time. But I think one of my favorite qualities is their peacefulness. They really like quiet and calm and to be left alone in safety and serenity.

DU Today: For decades, the panda has served as the poster child for endangered species conservation. And your book identifies the panda as a “born survivor.” Is it too soon to consider the panda a success story for conservationists?

Bexell: Much too soon. I fear we never will be able to call our work for them a success story. None of the barriers to their continued existence has been lifted. The reason giant pandas are teetering on the brink of extinction is because of the human population explosion and our consumption patterns.

With the new leadership of China considering lifting the one-child policy, the future for giant pandas is very grim. And the rise in economic power in China is a deadly force against giant pandas. Add to that global demands for mineral and natural resources, and we have our work cut out for us. It is important for people outside of China not to think of this as a China problem. Where was the shirt on your back made? Your iPod?

The reference to giant pandas as born survivors refers to their extremely long history on Earth, with a lineage of at least 8 million years. They are considered a “living fossil,” and their adaptation strategies have allowed them to persist for far longer than most species. The only reason for their decline today is our species, giving us a great moral imperative to save room for them.

DU Today: Your book takes readers deep inside the panda conservation campaign in China. Why does the Chinese government — which faces so many environmental challenges — consider this important?

 Bexell: The Chinese government knows that giant pandas are beloved by people all over the world. They are keenly aware of their universal appeal. They also need this “green” story to feel proud of. The government has invested millions, if not billions, in the conservation of giant pandas, through captive breeding centers and research and nature reserves. They are invested in saving their national treasure. Just as if the U.S. were to lose our national treasure, bald eagles, which we almost did, it would be a huge source of shame.

With giant pandas as the symbol for conservation the world over, just think how damaging it would be to every citizen of the planet if we could not hold back our collective shortsightedness to save the one species we all profess to love.

DU Today: You make a link, in your book, to human consumption habits and the fate of endangered animals like the panda. What’s the connection?

Bexell: Every single thing that humans consume takes resources away from other animals. This is a reality that all people need to understand and take personal responsibility for. This, coupled with the exponential growth of our numbers, creates a destructive force. We dominate the planet with our numbers and our taking of resources. From a pencil to a hamburger to cars and homes, all take untold resources to create — resources that other animals and plants depend on as well.

DU Today: Why is the panda’s survival important for those of us in, say, Denver?

Bexell: Just knowing giant pandas are part of our amazing planet is important for our psychological as well as physical health. All animals are beautiful — some you may need to learn a little more about to appreciate — and make our world beautiful and healthy and interesting.

Humans may be the only exception to this. Think about it. What do we do to make the Earth more beautiful? Other than some architecture and artwork that we create only for ourselves, we only destroy our planet and leave toxins and nonbiodegradables in our wake. Every species on Earth has an important job to do, whether it be pollination, seed dispersal, disease control, keeping other species’ populations at healthy levels, cleansing of water … the list goes on.

Giant pandas could be thought of as symbolic. If they were gone, it would be one more sign that our life-support system is in jeopardy, and we would be just a little lonelier.

DU Today: What can conservationists learn from the panda’s survival story?

Bexell: That so far we have taken mostly wrong turns in conservation work. I am making myself slightly unpopular, but we need to get out of our labs and back into the forest, rivers, seas and lakes. Using technology — breeding programs, for example — puts us in a holding pattern at best. It is a sexy way to try to “save” or resurrect species, but the only way to save them is to save their native homes.

When I started in this career, I had faith in humanity — faith that we were good creatures who do not want to cause so much harm, so many extinctions. Sadly, I have so far been disproven. Of course, not only technological fixes have been implemented. Nature preserves have popped up globally, and we must be thankful for those. But they are too few, and many are what we call “paper parks” — protected by a law on paper somewhere but still cleared of all the species deemed useful to humans. And what will happen to those tiny parcels of land or sea if the human population really does reach 9 billion?

Conservation professionals did not make mistakes; we trusted humans would save space; we didn’t realize how bad it could get. Decades of reality are now forcing us to come through with stronger strategies. Humans as a species are now threatened by our own behavior. We need to focus all our efforts on curbing the human population, utilizing only what we need from Mother Earth, and leaving every ounce of untouched habitat untouched.

DU Today: After years of working on the panda’s behalf, are you optimistic about its future?

Bexell: No, and this also makes me unpopular. But if we don’t tell the truth, no one will get off their butts and do anything. As I mentioned earlier, the answers are exquisitely clear: There are too many of us, and we are too greedy and selfish. We need to secure an understanding of our own ecology, human ecology, and ground our worldviews and lifestyles in reality and compassion, not bling and technology and cruelty.

This is possible, and I see glimmers of hope in young people. But if the older generations do not take it upon themselves to be better role models and teachers, we can kiss giant pandas goodbye, as well as very likely dooming the future of today’s children.

Sophomore Wesley Berg recorded career-highs in points and goals as the No. 4-seeded University of Denver men’s lacrosse team defeated Albany 19-14 Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium on the DU campus. With the victory, the Pioneers move to 13-4 on the season and advance to take on North Carolina in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis, Ind., on Sunday.

The game was played in front of a record crowd of 2,621 fans, surpassing the previous record of 2,575 that was set in 2011 as the Pioneers hosted Villanova in the first-ever NCAA Tournament game played west of the Mississippi.

The Pioneers will face North Carolina on Sunday, May 19, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at 10 a.m. MT. The game will air live on ESPNU/WatchESPN, and watch parties will be held at Boone’s Tavern, the Crimson and Gold Tavern and the Pioneer.

After beating the Jacksonville Dolphins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team fell 16-5 to Florida in the second round Sunday in Gainesville. It was the first-ever NCAA Tournament for the women’s team.

Read more about the men’s and women’s games at denverpioneers.com.