The clinic at DU’s Sturm College of Law filed suit in 2009 against the National Forest Service, looking to overturn a timber permit for more than 3,400 acres in the Handkerchief Mesa area of the Rio Grande National Forest. The permit also would have allowed for the construction of 11 miles of roads in the forest.

The area in question was damaged by logging in past decades and is suffering from beetle infestation, making recovery from logging more difficult. Students argued the Forest Service never took these stresses into account before issuing a permit. Protection is especially important, students argued, because the area feeds the headwaters of a river that is a major source of drinking water for millions of people in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas and that provides water for agriculture in the United States and Mexico.

The suit was prepared in June 2009 by student Jacob Schlesinger and Environmental Law Clinic Fellow Ashley Wilmes under the direction of Environmental Law Clinic Director Michael Harris. It named the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Agriculture. It was filed in federal court in Denver on behalf of environmental groups WildEarth Guardians and Colorado Wild, now known as Rocky Mountain Wild.

Student lawyers Mason Brown and Justine Shepherd argued the case in federal court in December 2011 under a provision that allows students to practice in federal court while supervised by a licensed attorney. Brown and Shepherd already are involved in a new case, a suit that seeks to block federal permits that would allow the artist Christo to install a massive art project called “Over the River” on federal lands in Colorado.

On Feb. 9, U.S. Judge William Martínez in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ruled the Forest Service did not meet obligations spelled out in the National Forest Management Act and that an environmental assessment was inadequate. The ruling overturns issued permits for the Handkerchief Mesa near Alamosa in southwestern Colorado.

Harris says stopping a permitted timber project in Colorado is extremely rare. The ruling, he says, sends a message to the Forest Service that its permitting process must take into account changing conditions, ongoing insect infestations and other ecological conditions.

“The court has told the Forest Service, ‘The game has changed, and you need to change if you are going to continue to permit these projects,’” Harris says.

The Cowans, who live in Iowa, pursued their musical avocation — vocals, accordion and handbell-ringing, in addition to piano — throughout Marlow’s 27-year career at the YMCA, where he organized groups of teen bell-ringers who performed around the world, and for another 16 years at the Des Moines VA Hospital, where he provided music therapy for vets from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In retirement, the Cowans continue to bring musical joy to schools, hospitals and nursing homes. They were invited back to the Mayo Clinic for a follow-up performance in 2010 and were interviewed for the clinic’s website.

The Cowans also appeared in two national PBS documentaries last year: “Over 90 and Loving It” and a segment of the “Need to Know” series about the positive impact a happy marriage can have on health. The couple has been married for 63 years.

He will see drama, all right—compelling acting, plaintive expressions and emotional outbursts from an ensemble cast that might include the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Indeed, the plays Wishmier will watch have occurred in recent NBA games and are awaiting his judgment of disputed referees’ calls.

Wishmier (BSBA ’72), who was a 6-4 shooting guard for the Pioneers, is integral to what the NBA calls its team inquiry website, or TIW.

“Teams are allowed to ask questions about plays,” Wishmier says, “whether a call is made or whether a call is not made. I have access to the video on every game that’s played. It shows the regular television angle and usually two or three alternate angles, such as baseline angles, overhead angles. I interpret the play and give the team an agree or disagree ruling.”

The NBA began playing a shortened 66-game schedule on Christmas, the result of a lockout that ran from July 1–Dec. 8. In mid-July the league laid off 114 employees, including Wishmier, who was one of three group supervisors responsible for the oversight of the NBA’s 60 referees. Wishmier been in that post for eight years.

“They basically eliminated the position,” Wishmier says. “Fortunately, I was the only group supervisor to be rehired. So I’m hoping it leads to something bigger and better next year. I actually really enjoy [the TIW job], but I like the interpersonal relationships of dealing with referees on a daily basis better.”

While laid off last summer, Wishmier started exploring avenues within college basketball. Ed T. Rush, the NBA director who hired Wishmier, does frequent consulting work with the Pac-12 Conference. He enlisted Wishmier to evaluate every play in assigned games and chart the calls made by the refs.

Wishmier, formerly a referee in the NBA and in two defunct minor leagues, the Continental Basketball Association and the World Basketball League, works out of his home in Aurora, Colo. His office is equipped with a 42-inch high-definition television, and five DVRs enable Wishmier to record all the NBA games on any given day. With remote control in hand, Wishmier will look at a play, stop the action, hit rewind and repeat the process until he has arrived at clarity.

Was that a charging foul on the offensive player going toward the basket or a blocking foul by the defender trying to stop him and theatrically flopping to the floor? Three-second violation by the offensive player? Defensive three-second violation? Did the defender impede the offensive player without the ball, bumping him off course?

“It’s all across the board,” Wishmier says of the plays that reach him. “I’m probably spending eight to 10 hours a day reviewing plays in my office at home. I have no time restrictions other than my self-imposed ones. I don’t want anything to sit for more than 24 hours on my desk.”

Already this season, Wishmier has detected a pattern. Six teams are sending in about 90 percent of the plays for TIW review. Understandably, Wishmier prefers not to publicly name those teams.

Wishmier submits his decisions to Joe Borgia, the NBA’s vice president of referee operations. If Borgia agrees with Wishmier’s judgment and his written analysis of the play, Borgia marks it as approved. An email response goes directly to the team filing the complaint, although upon completion of this process, any team in the league can examine all plays that were reviewed.

Wishmier says Borgia disagreed with just two of Wishmier’s first 195 rulings. In those cases, Wishmier says, members from the referee operations and basketball operations departments in the league office in New York examine the play and reach a conclusion by vote.

Regardless of Wishmier’s success rate, with the game over and the result final, what satisfaction does the TIW process bring a team whose complaint is upheld, particularly a team that lost?

“That’s a good question,” Wishmier says. “I don’t know what satisfaction they get out of that. First of all, you have to understand that teams are paranoid with referees and umpires. So for the NBA to admit that an official missed a play, it must give the teams some sort of satisfaction. I don’t know.”

Emmit McHenry (BA ’66) will receive the Randolph P. McDonough Award for Service to Alumni. McHenry’s many DU volunteer activities have included serving as president of the Alumni Association, mentoring staff and alumni, and serving on the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Alumni Board.

The Distinguished Service to the University Award will be presented to Cathy Grieve (MA ’72, PhD ’79), DU’s executive director of conferences, events and special programs. Formerly a faculty member in the communications department, then director of the Office of Special Community Programs, Grieve—who has worked at DU for more than 30 years—now oversees everything from Convocation to the upcoming presidential debate.

Leslie Howard (EMBA ’03) is the recipient of the Community Service Award. Howard and her husband, Gary, started the Gary and Leslie Howard Family Foundation, which provides scholarships to students who want to study business at the University of Denver or Colorado State University. The Howards also organize and run the annual Miracle on Ice hockey camp on the DU campus, serving children who live in Denver’s housing projects.

Daphne Preuss (BS ’85) will receive the Professional Achievement Award. Preuss, a former professor of molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago, is CEO and co-founder of Chromatin Inc. in Chicago. Among other things, the company is using proprietary technology to develop specialized types of sorghum that can be turned into high-energy biofuels to run vehicles and power plants.

Among his many acts of service to DU, Doug Scrivner makes weekly flights from his California home to teach corporate governance risk and compliance at the Sturm College of Law. Photo courtesy of Snavely and Associates

Growing up in Madison, Wis., Doug Scrivner didn’t have to go far to find playmates. Thanks to his parents’ sense of community, Scrivner’s home was always buzzing with kids from the neighborhood. “It was an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ kind of environment,” recalls Scrivner, a DU trustee, alumnus and adjunct professor.

DU will present Scrivner (JD ’77) with the John Evans Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, at the Founders Day ceremony in March. In his typically modest fashion, Scrivner doesn’t take full credit for the ethic of altruistic hard work he has brought to myriad DU endeavors over the years. “Whoever I am as a person,” he says, “is entirely attributable to my parents.”

Among his DU initiatives, Scrivner is particularly excited about the creation of the Academic Commons at Penrose Library. The remodeled building will include a café funded partially by a gift from Scrivner and his wife, Mary. Envisioned as a place for students to socialize and study, the café will be called the Front Porch to reflect the house he grew up in and “to draw upon memories of my mom and dad growing up, and what my parents meant to so many.”

It is in that spirit of social obligation and community building that Scrivner, 60, has helped DU grow. He sits on various University committees. He makes weekly flights from his California home to teach corporate governance risk and compliance at the Sturm College of Law. He was an adviser on the law school’s recent strategic planning exercise, has been a leader on several DU fundraising campaigns and served on the search committee that led to the appointment of Martin Katz as dean of Sturm. In addition, he developed the concept and provided initial funding for the Ved Nanda Center for International Law. Scrivner has done it all with a low-key, inquisitive demeanor that belies his tenacity.

“On campus he carries a tremendous amount of power, and yet no one feels that,” Katz says of the former corporate attorney. “He’s not the image of a prosecutor you would see in a courtroom drama.”

When Katz was interim dean in 2009, Scrivner approached him. “He sort of reached out and made it clear he was willing to help both me and the law school in any way he could,” Katz recalls. Scrivner’s proactive stance led to a close partnership and open dialogue between the two men. “It has led to wonderful places,” Katz says, including the formation of a trustee advisory board for the school.

The 2012 Founders Day awards, which recognize accomplishments of alumni, faculty and staff, will be handed out at a gala reception March 8 at the Seawell Grand Ballroom in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Read about the other recipients here.

Scrivner’s relationship with DU began in 1974. He had earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics, but Scrivner came to Denver seeking to study under Professor Ved Nanda, then an up-and-coming star in the world of international law, and to pursue a PhD at the Graduate School (now Josef Korbel School) of International Studies. In time, he dropped his doctoral work in favor of completing his law degree — a decision he has never regretted.

Scrivner’s time in Denver was a blur of intensive studies, summer classes and work as editor of the law review, shuttling between the law school downtown and the main campus. Scrivner was in such a rush that he skipped his graduation ceremony to marry his sweetheart in Evans Chapel, honeymoon briefly at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and then hit the road for a job with a Minnesota law firm.

After two years in Minneapolis, Scrivner made the fateful decision to respond to a blind ad in The Wall Street Journal. The firm that hired him as one of its three lawyers eventually became Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. During Scrivner’s 31 years at Accenture, the firm went from 2,000 employees and $220 million in revenue to 230,000 employees and $25 billion in revenue. Scrivner served as the corporate behemoth’s general counsel for 14 years, building a legal group of more than 400 lawyers in 35 countries.

When he left Accenture in 2011, Scrivner accelerated a wide range of volunteer work. He serves on advisory boards and committees at Duke, the California State Bar Law Academy Strategic Task Force and the Project for Attorney Retention, an initiative to help law firms and law departments attract and retain female lawyers. He provides funds to a Saturday law academy for underprivileged California ninth-graders and occasionally speaks to students at the University of California-Berkeley and Northwestern University’s law schools. “I retired from Accenture, not life,” Scrivner says with a laugh.

At DU, Scrivner has served as a trustee, a chairman of the law school’s visiting committee and national co-chair of the school’s Second Century Campaign.But he is especially proud of his work with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System’s Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers initiative, which encourages innovation in legal education.

Scrivner explains his motivation to improve DU in simple terms. “It’s about the sense of gratitude I have to the people there who helped me accomplish so much,” he says.

Juho Olkinuora replaced an injured Adam Murray during a loss at Michigan Tech on Oct. 28 and made his first start the following night, recording 27 saves to help DU escape the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with a draw. Photo: Rich Clarkson and Associates/NCAA Photos

The journey across the ocean Juho Olkinuora made last summer en route to the University of Denver does not begin to compare to his odyssey since joining the Pioneers hockey program.

In just a few whirlwind months, Olkinuora, a freshman goaltender from Finland, has evolved from a last-minute insurance policy to a stopgap starter and, finally, into a player who should be a DU fixture for years to come.

A native of Helsinki, Olkinuora spent last season with Sioux Falls of the United States Hockey League and hoped to continue his hockey career at the NCAA level. When no scholarship offers came his way, Olkinuora returned to Finland to contemplate a pro career in his homeland.

But Olkinuora got some good news when DU got some bad news. Sophomore goalie Sam Brittain underwent knee surgery last summer, sidelining him until at least the end of January, and the Pioneers were left without a bona fide backup for junior Adam Murray. Assistant Coach Steve Miller and former assistant Derek Lalonde scrambled to bring in a viable candidate, and soon Olkinuora was returning to the United States, eager to don DU’s crimson and gold.

Olkinuora was tabbed to serve as Murray’s backup but was thrown into the spotlight during the first half of the season as Murray battled nagging leg injuries.

“I wasn’t involved in recruiting [Olkinuora], but I’m sure it was done with the understanding of knowing what Sammy’s situation was and knowing that Adam was back and that there was a possibility [Olkinuora] might not play just because of the situation with the other two guys,” says assistant coach David Lassonde, who works closely with DU’s goaltenders.

The DU men’s ice hockey team faces off against WCHA conference rival Minnesota at Magness Arena on Friday and Saturday nights. Visit www.DenverPioneers.com for tickets and more information.

“Because of Sam’s situation and then Adam being hurt on and off the first part of the season, Juho has been — for lack of a better term, he’s been a savior,” Lassonde continues. “He’s done an excellent job when called upon under a situation he probably wasn’t expecting.”

Olkinuora replaced an injured Murray during a loss at Michigan Tech on Oct. 28 and made his first start the following night, recording 27 saves to help DU escape the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with a draw.

Murray returned within a few weeks but soon aggravated his injury, leading to a string of 10 consecutive starts by Olkinuora from Nov. 25–Jan. 6. In the initial game of that stretch, Olkinuora posted his first career shutout, recording 38 saves in a 3-0 win against Princeton.

At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Olkinuora has relied heavily on his athleticism to make saves. Under the tutelage of Lassonde, Olkinuora believes his mental approach and positioning in the crease have improved tremendously.

“Mentally, I feel more comfortable. The guys have been very welcoming,” Olkinuora says. “I think that is a big reason why I have been improving. I used to be more like a guy who wobbles around and scrambles everywhere, in goalie terms.”

Ever so slowly, Olkinuora is falling back into the role he expected when he left Finland for Denver. Murray recently returned to action and has been sharing starting duties with Olkinuora. And with Brittain’s return looming, Olkinuora’s role could diminish further.

Nevertheless, Olkinuora says he could not be happier with the chain of events that brought him to DU. Throughout the season, Olkinuora has hovered at the edge of the top 20 nationally in goaltender rankings—a huge achievement for a guy with no scholarship offers less than a year ago. And he understands he could not have scripted his sudden success at DU any more dramatically.

“There are so many things about DU that I didn’t know when I committed to come here, but that I’ve realized are a real asset, a real treasure,” Olkinuora said. “It was a great decision, even if I didn’t know it all then. I didn’t do my research as good as I should have, but the facilities, the coaching staff, the academics, the teachers, the dorms … I’m glad to be here.”

Jay Kemmerer. Photo courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

Though they both earned BSBA degrees from DU in 1970, the top executives at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Jerry Blann and Jay Kemmerer, never met on campus during their undergraduate years.

Blann was an All-American on the ski team that won three national championships during his four years at DU. Kemmerer, meanwhile, transferred to DU to study finance and hung out with friends on the hockey team.

Their collaboration at Jackson Hole began in 1995, when Kemmerer hired Blann to run the mountain resort his family had purchased in 1993. Sixteen years later, Blann and Kemmerer are still at it.

“Jerry is a leader and a great speaker,” says Kemmerer, 64. “I’m more behind the scenes, involved in strategic planning. Jerry’s out front, while I lie in the weeds.”

That arrangement has worked well for the pair, who have built Jackson Hole into one of North America’s top resorts — serving skiers and snowboard riders in the fall, winter and spring and providing a welcome destination for those who like to spend their summers high in the Tetons near Yellowstone National Park.

Kemmerer’s family, which had been involved in mining since the late 19th century, decided to invest in Jackson Hole after selling its Wyoming coal operation. At the time, the resort was enmeshed in litigation, and the sale to the Kemmerers helped resolve the dispute.

“We were quite fortunate to sell the coal business at that time,” Kemmerer says. “We had become involved in the state, and we wanted to try to give back. And we’ve continued to build the resort.”

That includes installing a new $31 million Doppelmeyer tram in 2008; it takes skiers and riders from its base to the summit — at 10,450 feet — in under 10 minutes. Kemmerer has invested an additional $11 million since 2008 in additional resort improvements.

“The framework was there when we bought the resort; we just needed to spiff it up,” says Kemmerer, who transferred to DU during his junior year from Clarkson College in upstate New York. “It was old and broken down. Then Jerry came in, and we’ve nurtured it along.”

Blann, 63, arrived in Jackson Hole to continue a career in skiing that began during his childhood at Mount Bachelor in Bend, Ore., where his father managed the ski area. At age 10, he was painting lift towers. By 14 he was cutting down trees along the trails, and before long, his summers were filled with blasting tree stumps, digging footings for ski-lift towers or painting chairlifts.

His love for ski racing brought him to DU, where he skied on the team that won the NCAA national championship in 1967, 1969 and 1970. He placed second in downhill and third in slalom in the NCAA championship at Steamboat in 1969.

“Skiing in college is a team sport, and it’s important you finish the race,” Blann recalls. “I seldom got knocked down.”

He majored in business, which helped launch him into the ski industry. He was accepted for a management-training slot at Aspen. He stayed there for 18 years, rising up through the hierarchy to become the resort’s president from 1984–88.

Blann spent the next five years as president of Bear Mountain in California before returning to Colorado to help launch Lake Catamount, a new resort slated for construction near Steamboat. But the plan fell apart, and Kemmerer recruited Blann to Jackson Hole in 1995.

2010 was Jackson Hole’s second busiest year, with about 480,000 skier days. That season’s snowfall of 558 inches, coupled with the resort’s dedication to improved guest services, also made it the resort’s most profitable year, Blann says.

Jerry Blann. Photo courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

“We found ways to be more efficient,” Blann says. “And good snow helps.”

Both Blann and Kemmerer say they find time for skiing, especially on those powder days when the light, white stuff sets up knee-deep on a crisp morning. Kemmerer, who calls himself a “C-plus skier,” will take the tram to the summit and make his way down to the Grand, which runs under the Thunder lift.

“It’s a very sweet run,” says Kemmerer. “Everybody has his own little stash.”

Blann, meanwhile, still has his carving chops from his racing days and likes the challenge of what he calls Jackson Hole’s “high-testosterone terrain.” From atop the gondola, he’ll take a run down Sundance, get on Casper and seek out his favorite powder stashes in the Moran Woods. Later, he may dip into Tower Tree Chutes or try his legs on the Alta Chutes.

Jackson Hole already has welcomed more than 16 feet of snow this season, with more to come before spring. Blann is gearing up for the fun.

“I ski three times a week, for an hour or two, to see what’s going on,” Blann says. “I still really like the powder.”

A chapter of Global Brigades, the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization, the DU student group was founded in September 2011 by seniors Brett Friedman and Joshua Carlson.

“Brett and I both have a strong desire to go into global health affairs, specifically being on the front lines of bringing medical and surgical care to developing countries that have little or no access to health care,” Carlson says. “We both thought this organization would help to rally students of various academic backgrounds toward a common goal — care and service to the global community.”

Every three to four months, each Global Brigades partner community in Honduras receives a brigade of volunteers who operate a community health clinic. At these open clinics, hundreds of patients receive physician consultations, teeth cleaning, fluoride treatment, pap smears, prostate exams and restorative dental care as necessary.

During their time at the clinic, DU volunteers will assist in intake and triage activities, shadow licensed doctors in medical consultations and assist in a pharmacy under the direction of licensed pharmacists. They also will help deliver workshops on preventive health care and practices.

After the student team’s departure, the Global Brigades in-country team will maintain relationships with the communities, provide follow-up and conduct community health worker trainings to empower local leaders to sustain a consistent level of health care.

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with an estimated 53 percent of the population living in poverty. In the Global Brigades partner communities, the most common ailments are acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, parasite infections, common cold, hypertension and diabetes.

The group is soliciting donations of medical supplies, medicine and cash. The team has raised an estimated $2,000 worth of cash and donations toward its goal of $6,000. Tax-deductible cash donations may be made through the group’s secure fundraising website. The group can be contacted at dumedbrigades@gmail.com.

The Lamont Symphony Orchestra performs Feb. 9. Photo: Wayne Armstrong

The Lamont Symphony Orchestra will perform two of the best-known pieces of orchestral music of all time in a concert Feb. 9.

“The concert will be like the classical music equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster,” says Lawrence Golan, the orchestra’s music director and conductor.

The program features Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony, followed by Ravel’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which takes the listener on a musical tour of 10 drawings and watercolors by Russian artist Viktor Hartmann.

Guest conductor Rin Jong Yang, former professor of conducting at the Conservatory of Music in Seoul, South Korea, will lead the orchestra through these masterworks.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9 in Gates Concert Hall at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Admission is free, but tickets are required. Complimentary tickets are available in person at the Newman Center Box Office. Tickets may also be reserved online or over the phone (303-871-7720) for a small service charge. Parking is free at the Newman Center parking garage.

For all upcoming Lamont events visit the online Web Calendar.

Librarians and architects have been involved in designing DU’s new library, scheduled to open in winter 2013. The Academic Commons will provide traditional library services along with a variety of academic support programs, the newest technology, and a lively café with a porch overlooking Carnegie Green.

The furniture fair runs from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. both days. More than 150 pieces under consideration for the new building will be on display. Feedback will be collected and analyzed and will help determine the final furniture choices for the new library.

The furniture fair location is the old varsity weight room, on the lower level of the north end of Ritchie Center, accessible by going down the ramp on the north side of the building. Signs will show the way from the south and west sides of the building. For more information, contact Andrea Howland, external relations coordinator for Penrose Library, at Andrea.Howland@du.edu or 303-871-3958.