Edie Hooton
DemocraticQ1 What advisory mechanisms will you implement to ensure that evidence and scientific findings play a crucial role in your policymaking process?
“As a former Colorado State Representative and a candidate for the CU Board of Regents, my approach to governance has always been data-driven. Within the CU system, our greatest asset is our world-class faculty, researchers, and graduate students. To ensure scientific evidence directly informs university policy, I will advocate for formalizing advisory panels that bridge the gap between researchers and the Board. This includes regular briefings from CU’s premier institutes (such as CIRES, JILA, and BioFrontiers) on critical issues such as climate resilience and sustainability (e.g., the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education), public health, and technological innovation.”
Q5 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to form a better public understanding of and relationship building in science?
“Science literacy is fundamental to a functioning democracy and a thriving economy. I support the current shift away from rote memorization, teaching to the test, toward inquiry-based learning - evaluating evidence, testing hypotheses, and understanding the peer-review process. CU can impact this by expanding its K-12 outreach, teacher training programs, and pipeline initiatives such as CU Teach.”