Grad’s body of work already changing courses
Top photo: Kylie Clarke/College of Arts and Sciences
Rachel Suter, who is earning her BA in neuroscience and arts practices,summa cum laude, is named the College of Arts and Science’s outstanding graduate for spring 2025
Fusing her artistic training and scientific understanding, Rachel Suter highlighted the questionable traditions of using cadavers while exploring anatomy through an artistic lens, and in doing so she has helped change how anatomy classes are taught.
Suter, who graduates this month summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the University of Colorado Boulder College of Arts and Sciences. Her thesis is titled “Cadaveric ethics in figurative art instruction: Developing a workshop for an anatomical approach.”
In her thesis, Suter explores the history and ethics of body procurement in cadaver labs, as well as the consequential effects of primarily representing white male bodies in these figures. “I was doing anatomy through an artistic lens,” notes Suter.
Rachel Suter, who graduates next week summa cum laude with majors in art practices and neuroscience, has been named the spring 2025 outstanding undergraduate of the 91ý College of Arts and Sciences. (Photo: Kylie Clarke)
“I created a workshop for artists in the cadaver labs that taught them superficial anatomical structures relevant to figure drawing, and I simultaneously addressed the history of body procurement and dissection to advocate for a more ethical and equitable future.”
Steven Hobbs, who is an associate teaching professor in theDepartment of Integrative Physiology, coordinates the anatomy lab and served as chair for Suter’s honors committee, notes that Suter’s project was excellent in its scope and caused him to reconsider his approach to teaching anatomy.
“Rachel’s honors thesis is the most original undergraduate undertaking I have witnessed in my 20-plus years at CU,” says Hobbs. “Her work deftly combines history, art, anatomical sciences and advocacy. Anyof thesedomainswould be considered original, masterful and compelling. Together, they form a remarkablewhole, born entirely from Rachel’s creative thinking, passion and hard work. Her thesis is the quintessentialfusion of ‘arts’ and ‘sciences.’”
While Suter’s bachelor’s degree studies in art practices and neuroscience helped her fuse research techniques and art-making workshops, the project’s interdisciplinarity also offered opportunity to initiate instructional practices that could be incorporated into anatomy labs and figure-drawing workshops right away.
“That was my big goal with the thesis,” says Suter. “It was to put theory into practice and make a tangible change.”
Exploring the ethics of how cadavers are procured, studied and illustrated
Suter began her research intending to learn about the history of how bodies are procured by cadaver labs and medical schools to better understand and critique unethical practices. As she charted the medical history, she discovered that labs commonly obtain “unclaimed bodies,” or cadavers that were not claimed by family or friends for burial or cremation and are then made available for medical education and research by the state.
In her thesis, she argues that knowing this background helps anatomy students see cadavers as more than educational objects—they are people deserving of care and respect.
“Some medical schools still use unclaimed bodies today,” says Suter, “and so my thesis promotes the use of consensually donated bodies in anatomy. I didn't know that my project would also turn into more advocacy and activism for working towards a better future.”
While delving into a cursory history of body-procurement and medical ethics, Suter recognized a relationship between her anatomy classes and art classes. While anatomy is generally taught as a science course, it uses art as one of its primary means of communicating findings about the human body, and a stronger understanding of art-making places figures in context.
As an artist interested in figure drawing, Suter experienced first-hand that her stronger understanding of anatomy helped generate more reliable and variable representations of the human body’s structures.
“I was learning how to figure draw at the same time that I was taking the anatomy lab course, and then I continued to work on my figure drawing while I was simultaneously dissecting bodies in the labs,” reflects Suter. “Having an anatomical knowledge of the human body really supported my representation of bodies in art.”
Rachel Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures. (Photo: Rachel Suter)
Suter noted a tendency for anatomy textbook images and illustrations to rely on white male bodies as representative of all human bodies. She found that this was a common practice historically among medical illustrators and could create misunderstanding among students analyzing these visual representations.
“Anatomy studies people,” says Suter. “In studying people, you want to ensure that you are representative of all of those groups.”
Suter organized two figure-drawing workshops in the cadaver lab for artists with the goal of helping them better understand the details they observe on the human body, like musculature and skeletal structures.
The workshops also covered ethical considerations when working with cadavers, the importance of wide representation and individuality in artistic anatomy and methods attendees could use to advocatefor a more inclusive approach to dissection and figurative art.
While she plans to pursue graduate programs in medical illustration after a gap year that includes a 10-week intensive workshop in Florence, Italy, Suter’s thesis has a more immediate effect on how anatomy will be taught at 91ý in the future.
“The anatomy labs here have not previously taught an ethical dimension or historical dimension,” says Suter. “Throughout my thesis, I really tried to advocate for transparency and education in these topics in a cadaver lab setting, and I'm really excited because I'm now talking to Dr. Hobbs about adding some of this content into the anatomy lab curriculum for anatomy students.”
The expansiveness of this project and its effect on teaching were the two characteristics of Suter’s nomination that drew the committee’s attention. Notes Hobbs, “As an instructor of human anatomy for nearly 20 years, I was surprised and inspired by how much I learned from Rachel. Her lessons reshaped my perspective on the human form through the lens of illustration. Rachel’s workshops and honors thesis could be the blueprint for a fantastic interdisciplinary semestercourse at CU.Every anatomy program should be so lucky to have a Rachel Suter.”
Suter not only feels honored to be the 2025 A&S outstanding graduate, she is also thrilled that her project leaves a legacy of change made possible through thoughtful, scholarly and artistic work.
“I don't think I've really found the words quite yet,” reflects Suter. “I'm really proud that I was able to make an impact on campus and develop a new educational approach that filled some gaps.”
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