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RadioEd
RadioEd
Author: University of Denver
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© Copyright 2025 RadioEd
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Hosted by writer Emma Atkinson, RadioEd is a triweekly podcast created by the DU Newsroom that taps into the University of Denver’s deep pool of bright brains to explore the most compelling and interesting research coming out of DU.
85 Episodes
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The time that K-12 students spend with teachers is formative. It’s important. Some might say that a teacher can make or break a kid, especially kids from marginalized communities. There are systems in place to educate and evaluate teachers on best practices in the classroom—but are we doing enough to make sure teacher training is equitable and culturally sensitive?
On this episode on RadioEd, Emma speaks with María del Carmen Salazar, associate dean of the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, about her work with culturally responsive teacher evaluation.
On Sept. 16, 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died.Three days earlier, she was arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing her hijab, a traditional Muslim face covering, in accordance with the regime’s standards. Her death sparked a series of protests in a country deeply divided for several decades.We discuss Amini's death and the politics of the region with Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, and Reza Mehraeen, an Iranian-born PhD student at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
The Colorado River is drying. And that's a problem for the people and businesses that reside in the seven states that make up the Colorado River Basin. Among the varied issues are the environmental costs of having to use less water—a problem that affects not just day-to-day at-home life, but also could mean significant changes for farmers and ranchers, who depend on water to grow crops and feed livestock. The question of who gets to use the river's dwindling water supply is also up in the air: States disagree on which areas should get the bulk of the water. This creates a bit of a legal brouhaha for the states and the federal government, whose job it has become to sort out the whole mess. We speak with reporter Alex Hager and DU Law Professor Kevin Lynch about the legal and environmental problems that have become integral parts of the Colorado River crisis.
Every day in the United States, 17 veterans commit suicide. This Veterans Day, President Joe Biden is putting their mental health in the spotlight. In the latest episode of RadioEd, veteran Evan Stratton explains why the conversation needs reframing. Then, a University of Denver associate clinical professor in the military psychology specialty, Kathryn Barrs, who works closely with veterans, service members and their families, shares mental health trends, obstacles to care and stories of resilience.
Among the many revelations associated with the Pandora Papers scandal was new information about Douglas Latchford, a notorious figure in the art world. He was indicted in 2019 for trafficking looted Cambodian antiquities. According to a trove of Pandora documents, 27 art artifacts with Latchford ties remain on display in prominent museums, including six in the Denver Art Museum. Elizabeth Campbell, director of the University of Denver’s Center for Art Collection Ethics, joins us to talk about ethical stewardship, repatriation of stolen art and the impact of returning these pieces to their rightful owners.
Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate have Dec. 1 circled on their calendars. That's the day the U.S. Supreme Court will take up Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Clinic, a Mississippi case that has the potential to severely restrict abortion rights and undermine the court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Other cases out of Texas and Kentucky threaten to do the same. Ahead of oral arguments, 154 researchers and economists submitted an amicus brief to the court, explaining how reduced access to abortion affects women's income, educational opportunities, professional success and more. One of the signatories, University of Denver economist Paula Cole, joins RadioEd to explore the "downstream impacts" for women and economies across the country.
Ever since 22-year-old Gabby Petito’s parents first reported her missing, the case has run wild on social media, where amateur detectives have picked apart every last detail of the young woman’s final days, even contributing legitimate leads to the investigation. But all that social media attention isn’t necessarily a good thing, and it raises a number of questions. Whose lives are deemed important enough for the masses to care about? How does intense media scrutiny impact a case and the family behind it? And what are the larger implications of social media sleuthing? Jeff Lin, associate professor of criminology in the University of Denver’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences joins us to dive in.
This week, Broadway’s biggest shows are leading a nationwide revival that returns musicians, dancers, cast and crew to the spotlight. For some, the pandemic pause sparked creativity, but it also spawned questions about inequities, irregular hours, extended travel and high pressure. University of Denver alumna Karyn Meek, a longtime Broadway stage manager, shares how COVID changed her perspective on work-life balance. Then, Aisha Ahmad-Post, executive director of the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts, reflects on what organizations endured over the last year and the challenges they face in a changed environment.
In 2001, the United States sent its military into Afghanistan with plans to remove the Taliban from power and build a democracy in its stead. This week, 20 years later, the last U.S. soldier departed the country. But what was supposed to be the end to a decades-long war instead turned into tragedy, as the Taliban quickly wrested back control of the country and its people, setting off a new refugee crisis and global outrage. Nader Hashemi, associate professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and director of the Center for Middle East Studies, joined RadioEd to analyze the situation through a humanitarian lens and pose the question: What does the United States owe Afghanistan, as well as its own people?
So far this year we’ve seen fires ravage Greece, record heat waves bake the U.S. and a massive 7.2 earthquake rock Haiti. These catastrophic events are symptoms of a larger issue according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report’s analysis makes clear that climate change is real, it is dangerous and it’s happening now. Cullen Hendrix, a professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and senior research advisor at the Center for Climate and Security shares with us key takeaways from the report, what they mean for humanity and why he still holds out hope.
The race to space is on for some of the wealthiest men in the world. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ 11-minute trip to space on his company Blue Origin’s rocket made headlines, but also raised significant questions about the ethics of escaping Earth at the price of a multi-million-dollar ticket. University of Denver business professor Michael Nalick weighs in on the ethical responsibility of business leaders, what this means for the wealth gap and if this was a smart business move.
After more than a year of uncertainty, athletes are finally on their way to Tokyo for the Olympic Games, which begin Friday, July 23. (The Paralympics begin Tuesday, Aug. 24.) For those who had their sights set on representing their countries, an extra year of preparation proved to be a test of both physical and mental fortitude. Athletes dealt with added stress from the COVID pandemic, limited access to training facilities and an ambiguous future. In this episode, Paralympian Lacey Henderson and Jessica Dale Bartley, a clinical assistant professor and director of mental health services for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, share the ways COVID altered athletic routines, redefined mental toughness and permanently changed high performance training.
For decades, Britney Spears has been a fixture not just in pop music but also the headlines. Most recently, it’s not her music drawing attention, but a legal battle she’s been waging against a conservatorship that empowers her father to make key decisions on the singer’s behalf. This arrangement, Spears says, has become a tool of abuse, and she’s calling for its end. Tammy Kuennen, a Sturm College of Law professor who has litigated multiple conservatorships, tells us what a typical conservatorship entails and how they can sour.
On June 1, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that bans transgender girls and women from women’s sports teams. The bill, signed at the start of Pride Month, is the latest in an anti-trans legislative trend. A dozen similar bills have passed this year, and state legislatures have considered more than a hundred others, making 2021 a record year for legal restrictions to transgender peoples’ rights. Carl Charles, a teaching fellow in the Sturm College of Law focused on gender identity and the law, and a staff attorney with noted LGBTQ+ advocacy law firm Lambda Legal, joins RadioEd to discuss the impacts of these bills on the LGBTQ+ community.
Recently, hackers successfully targeted the country’s largest fuel pipeline, the world’s largest meat processor and the New York City transit system. One company even paid the hackers nearly $5 million to recover its stolen data. In the wake of these cyberattacks, the White house warned companies to increase their cybersecurity and formed a Department of Justice task force, which was able to recapture that ransom money. DU cybersecurity professor Nate Evans discusses what makes a company vulnerable to an attack, how companies weigh the decision to pay ransom and why we are seeing a spike in cyberattacks now.
Infighting in the Republican party intensified this month: Those skeptical of the 2020 presidential election results removed Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post, while a group of more than 100 Republicans have organized a movement to reform their party or splinter off and start something new. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have had it with the two party system, according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year. But even though there’s a will to create a third party, is there a realistic way? Seth Masket, political science professor and director of DU's Center on American Politics, evaluates the possibility and what it might look like for each side of the political spectrum.
Over the last year, working moms have experienced serious burnout. Between the pandemic, closed daycare centers and schools, work from home and isolation from support systems, they have had countless challenges to negotiate and too few resources to draw on. We are just starting to understand the toll the pandemic has taken and the long-term implications for women, their families and society as a whole. Recent U.S. census numbers show that 3.5 million mothers with school-age children left work last spring. In this episode, we talk with Lindsey Feitz, director of the University of Denver’s Gender and Women’s Studies program and a mom herself, about what this means for gender roles, which mothers are the most vulnerable and postpandemic concerns.
With plastics overtaking every corner of the planet, from Mount Everest to ocean habitats, consumers have started seeking solutions — everything from recycling and plastic bag bans to antistraw campaigns. But are these solutions moving us closer to a cleaner planet, or is the plastics problem much bigger than we know? Assistant professor Jack Buffington, whose work in supply chain management has driven him to explore solutions to our plastics problem, joins this week’s episode of RadioEd to explain.
Across the U.S., all eyes are on the Derek Chauvin trial, which will decide whether the former police officer is guilty of murdering George Floyd last May. But no one will be listening as intently as the jurors tasked with delivering a verdict. Over two weeks, 12 jurors and three alternates were chosen from a pool of more than 300, and these individuals will hear one of the most high-profile cases in recent memory. Law professor John Campbell joins RadioEd in a conversation about the ethics of jury selection, the impact it can have on a case and how this trial might play out.
In the year since COVID-19 shut down the United States, businesses have closed their doors, students and teachers have created virtual classrooms, employees created home offices, and friends and families were separated for months. While the virus spread rapidly across the country, another crisis was growing alongside it: a mental health crisis. A special episode of RadioEd explores the ways we’ve struggled, adapted and overcome — whether through adopting crucial telehealth technology, leaning on our four-legged friends or turning to the arts as an outlet.



