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More than 400 FLC students graduated on May 6 at a ceremony addressed by Thomas J. Vilsack, the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture. 

For anyone who has ever struggled to follow a postgraduate’s description of their Ph.D. thesis, the American Association for the Advancement of Science created a solution: . The 15-year-old competition invites scientists of any discipline to explain their Ph.D. thesis through interpretative dance. For flow artist and chemist Checkers Marshall (Chemistry, ’16), it was a match made in nerd heaven.

Meet sailor, teacher, mathematician, and weekend philosopher Nicholas Canaparo (Adventure Education, '15). With voyages from Puget Sound to Amsterdam Harbor, Canaparo has lived as a globetrotter aboard world-class vessels. 

Ben Sorensen (Marketing, '13) stepped away from his corner office and position as the director of sales for Ballantine Communications Industry to start his own business, Ascent Digital Agency.

This fall, Fort Lewis College’s School of Business Administration and the Center for Innovation will launch a turbo-charged business education series.

The Academic Hub opened this past week with palpable excitement from students. The Hub centralizes many of Fort Lewis College’s crucial, student-focused services in one convenient location.

Thanks to generous donors and a bounty of support from FLC’s Career Services, students can gain invaluable real-world experience while doing a world of good before they even graduate. From farms to radio, Africa to outer space, student interns work alongside professionals in fields of their interests, gaining skills and insight into their future roles beyond the classroom.

For Joshua Been (Art, '99), a career in art has been an art unto itself. 

Every year, Fort Lewis College seniors create individual or collaborative projects that operate as proof of learning. In this new film from FLC Marketing and Communications, we have a look at four completely different senior projects.

 Study the human mind in all its amazing and fascinating complexity. View this film to get a short overview of what is possible for you as a Psychology Major at FLC!

FLC Theatre Lecturer Felicia Lansbury Meyer and Hollywood actors are spearheading a new theatre festival in Durango. Actors Dan Lauria and Wendie Malick, fans of Durango, inspired a small group of local performing arts lovers to create a space for playwrights to develop new plays with professional actors and directors. The new festival will utilize Fort Lewis College Theatre students, run workshops and mentorships, and eventually perform at FLC's Mainstage. 

An engineer and an artist start a doughnut shop. That pairing is so unexpected that it sounds like the setup to a punchline. But Rendezvous Doughnuts in Durango is no joke. Owner and founder Charlie Shew (Engineering, ’17) and brand manager Hayley Kirkman (Art, ’17) are having serious fun with the craft bakery they opened in late 2017.

When we face trying encounters with nature, we often discover what really matters in our lives. That’s the reason so many people undertake outdoor adventures, from day trips to backcountry expeditions – to learn about themselves by surviving tough challenges. And Josh Kling is the man who takes them there.

“Forensic therapy” sounds like the premise for a dramatic television series. But the work Alex Easterbrook does as a real forensic therapist is far more challenging – and far more rewarding – than any scripted treatment could imagine. “Forensic psychology is the intersection between the criminal justice system and the therapy world,” Easterbrook (Psychology, ’13) says.

Norm Franke didn’t set out to be a banker when he attended college. But 34 years after starting his career, he finds himself a regional president of Alpine Bank in charge of location development – a role that also enables him to invest in the health of his new community. Franke (Business Administration, ’83) worked on Colorado’s Western Slope for 20 years before he moved to Denver in 2013. 

It’s hard to go into business with family. But the Martin brothers can hardly imagine working with anybody else. For them, the formula is paying off: Nitrum Dynamic Paint, which they founded while attending Fort Lewis College, is increasing its capacity to recycle paint, while also contributing to a better world and keeping these brothers connected beyond their college experiences.

Angela Grogan couldn’t imagine that a rhinoceros would help determine her passion and her career. That was before she spent two summers interning with Out of Africa Wildlife Park, a private zoo in Camp Verde, Arizona.

It’s a tale as old as photography: you see pictures of a house you might buy, or an event venue you want to book. The shots entice you to call on the place. But when you see it in person, it looks nothing like the photographs. Jordan Alexander cannot count the number of times he witnessed that disappointment while working in real estate.

Alumnus Peter Mesard says he chose to attend Fort Lewis College because of the outdoors—the skiing and the mountain climbing, especially. But his academic experience is what stuck with him, so much so that he has established the Peter Mesard Undergraduate Research Fund for present and future FLC students.

Like many young basketball fans, Andrew Sharp dreamed of joining the NBA. His dream finally came true after spending five years with the Navy and then graduating Fort Lewis College as a nontraditional student. But instead of suiting up as a power forward or point guard, he dons a different suit altogether. “I’m a staff accountant for the Phoenix Suns,” Sharp (Accounting, ’16) says.