A new school year means new students, new classes, and for a few departments/programs in the College of Liberal Arts, new leadership.
The three CSU faculty members who have taken leadership roles in the College are:
- Elissa Braunstein, Interim Department Chair, Department of Economics
- Robert Gudmestad, Department Chair, Department of History
- Michelle Stanley, Director, LEAP Institute for the Arts
The College welcomes their leadership and guidance as we continue to focus on learning, scholarship, and engagement.
Elissa Braunstein is professor and interim chair of Economics at Colorado State University, as well as editor for the journal Feminist Economics. She spent 2015-2017 working as a senior economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the Division on Globalization and Development Strategies. Her work focuses on the international and macroeconomic aspects of growth and development, with particular emphasis on the interactions between macroeconomic policy and gender equality, as well as the consequences of incorporating care and social reproduction into macroeconomic models. She publishes widely in both academic and policy venues, and has done consulting work for a number of international development institutions, including UN Women, the International Labour Organization, the World Bank, and the United Nations Research Institute on Social Development. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Master’s of Pacific International Affairs from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego.
Robert Gudmestad is a professor and new chair of the Department of History. His current research involves using GIS to study the combat between Union gunboats and southern guerrillas during the American Civil War. He has published books and articles on Mississippi River steamboats, the domestic slave trade, the use of football to promote patriotism, and baseball in Richmond, Virginia.
Gudmestad was also featured last year in our Faculty Friday Q&A series.
Michelle Stanley, flutist, is an associate professor of music at Colorado State University and the new director for the LEAP Institute for the Arts. She is an active teacher and performing musician, traveling frequently throughout Europe and the U.S. as a recitalist and master teacher, most recently performing in Italy and Russia. She is a recording artist for Parma records, a faculty member at the Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy, and principal flute of the Pro Music Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Bach Ensemble. Her first recording was released in 2005 and her second recording of French flute music was released in January 2018.
Stanley is also an active lecturer for many music associations and schools. She is a passionate musician and pedagogue with an enthusiastic approach to teaching and performing.
