From CFO leadership to soil science breakthroughs, kudos to these Roadrunner achievements 

Jim Carpenter, vice president for Administration and Finance and chief financial officer, MSU Denver 

Behind every strong university is a steady financial hand, and for Metropolitan State University of Denver, that’s Jim Carpenter. The University’s vice president for Administration and Finance and chief financial officer was named a finalist in the nonprofit category of the Denver Business Journal’s CFO Awards, which honor financial leaders making a lasting impact across Colorado. 

Carpenter was honored for his steady leadership and strategic vision in guiding the University’s financial growth, ensuring that MSU Denver remains strong and continues supporting students for years to come. 

Adam Melnick, assistant professor, Management  

Entrepreneurship is second nature to Adam Melnick, and now he’s taking that expertise global. The assistant professor in MSU Denver’s Department of Management recently earned a Certificate of Accomplishment from the Center Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. 

The international program connects entrepreneurship educators and center directors from around the world for immersive leadership training. Participants gain hands-on experience in launching and managing entrepreneurship centers, building partnerships, and fostering innovation across disciplines. Melnick joins a global network of educators shaping the future of entrepreneurship in higher education. 

Joanne Ammidown, Budget Office 

Joanne Ammidown, assistant budget director at MSU Denver, is stepping into the national spotlight as one of 78 participants selected for the 2025-26 Emerging Leaders Program hosted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). 

Now in its fifth year, the program brings together promising higher education professionals from 69 institutions across 31 states for a year of leadership development, mentorship and collaboration. Participants sharpen their management and communication skills while exploring the evolving business landscape of higher education. 

Ammidown’s selection marks MSU Denver’s representation in the largest and most competitive cohort in the program’s history. 

Corporate and Foundation Relations team, MSU Denver Foundation and University Advancement 

Innovation paid off big for MSU Denver’s Corporate and Foundation Relations team, which earned a national Aspire Award from the Association of Advancement Services Professionals for its project Streamlining and Elevating Foundation Post-Award. 

The project has reimagined how MSU Denver manages foundation-funded grants, improving coordination, efficiency, and communication across departments. By refining workflows and strengthening relationships with funders, the team set a benchmark for post-award excellence in higher education philanthropy. 

The CFR team was honored in September at the 2025 AASP Summit in Reno, Nevada, where their project was celebrated alongside other standout initiatives from advancement professionals across the country. 

University Events, Office of Student Engagement and Wellness 

It takes teamwork to keep large campus events running smoothly, and MSU Denver’s University Events team is earning recognition for doing just that. The group received a Bronze Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for its Disruption Protocol for All Large Campus Events. 

Developed to help staff and students respond effectively to disruptions while maintaining safety and free speech, the protocol provides a clear, step-by-step playbook for large-scale event management. Judges praised the model’s collaboration, scalability and use of student liaisons, calling it a forward-thinking example for other universities. 

Ryan McKenna earns Colorado Gay Rodeo Association scholarship 

Ryan McKenna, a full-time employee in Information Technology Services and a Computer Science student at Metropolitan State University of Denver, has been awarded the Wayne Jakino Scholarship from the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association. 

The scholarship recognizes students who demonstrate academic achievement and community involvement within the LGBTQ+ community. McKenna  received the award during the Colorado Gay Rodeo on July 12 and 13. 

Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ph.D., Department of English 

Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ph.D., professor in the Department of English, is being recognized nationally for her co-edited book “Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin,” which was named Best Book of 2025 by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. 

Co-edited with Sohui Lee and Julie Prebel, the collection takes an activist approach to highlight authors whose voices have been marginalized in writing center scholarship. Through powerful narratives and research, contributors examine how structural, global, and embodied forms of marginalization shape writing centers and the people who make them thrive. 

Research by Sarah Schliemann, Ph.D., and Nels Grevstad, Ph.D., reveals soil’s response to climate change  

It was a dirty job, but Sarah Schliemann, Ph.D., assistant professor of Environmental Science, had no trouble recruiting dozens of students over several years to muck around in the Rocky Mountain National Park soil, collecting samples. By measuring carbon in those soil samples, Schliemann and Nels Grevstad, Ph.D., professor of Mathematics and Statistics, were able to offer a rare bit of good news about climate change’s effects: As temperatures have risen, the release of atmosphere-warming carbon by soil in the park may be limited by decreased soil moisture in the coming years.  

“Soil is a huge storer of carbon,” Schliemann said. “It’s an important climate change indicator because it can store and also release carbon” into the atmosphere.  

The findings, published in Geoderma Regional, suggest that the release of carbon by soil is heavily dependent on moisture, Schliemann said. And as climate change brings drier summers, the release of carbon by soil could actually slow down, Schliemann said. 

Associate Professor Sandra Mizumoto Posey, Ph.D., and alum Cricket Malament publish in the Journal of American Folklore

Posey and Malamet’s article “rending and mending heARTS: joy, aesthetic expression, creative pedagogy, and collaborative representation” has been published in the special Comics and Culture issue of the Journal of American Folklore: a Global Quarterly (JAF 138:550, Fall 2025). Posey co-authored the piee with recent MSU Denver graduate Cricket Malament — now pursuing a fully funded M.A. in Public Culture and Folklore at the University of Oregon. The piece explores how creativity, joy and aesthetic expression can transform student learning and academic work and draws on teaching practices developed in the Gender Institute for Teaching and Advocacy, while showcasing a collaborative student–faculty oral history project highlighting marginalized student voices through short comics distributed across campus. Supported by multiple MSU Denver grants and interdisciplinary partnerships and in partnership with Psychology Professor Kristen Lyons, Ph.D., the project continues to foster inclusive storytelling and shared ownership of student-created work.