University of Colorado Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. CU Boulder is a member of the Association of American Universities, is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and has been referred to as a Public Ivy.

The university consists of nine colleges and schools and offers over 150 academic programs, enrolling more than 35,000 students as of January 2022. In 2021, the university attracted the support of over $634 million for research and spent $536 million on research and development according to the National Science Foundation, ranking it 50th in the nation. It receives the most NASA astrophysics technology grants of all academic institutions and is the only university in the world that has sent instruments to all planets in the Solar System.

The Colorado Buffaloes compete in 17 varsity sports and are members of the NCAA Division I Big 12 Conference. The Buffaloes have won 28 national championships: 20 in skiing, 7 total in men's and women's cross country, and 1 in football. The university has produced 10 Olympic medalists. Alumni, faculty, and researchers have included 12 Nobel Prize laureates (of whom 5 were affiliated with the university when the prizes were awarded), 10 Pulitzer Prize winners, 11 MacArthur Fellows, 1 Turing Award laureate, 20 astronauts and 2 associate justices of the United States Supreme Court.

History

On March 14, 1876, the Colorado territorial legislature passed an amendment to the state constitution that provided money for the establishment of the University of Colorado in Boulder, the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, and the Colorado Agricultural College in Fort Collins.

The cornerstone of the building that became Old Main was laid on September 20, 1875. The doors of the university opened on September 5, 1877. At the time, there were few high schools in the state that could adequately prepare students for university work, so in addition to the university, a preparatory school was formed on campus. In the fall of 1877, the student body consisted of 15 students in the college proper and 50 students in the preparatory school. There were 38 men and 27 women, and their ages ranged from 12 to 23 years.

During World War II, Colorado was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a navy commission.

CU hired its first female professor, Mary Rippon, in 1878. It hired its first African-American professor, Charles H. Nilon, in 1956, and its first African-American librarian, Mildred Nilon, in 1962. Its first African American female graduate, Lucile Berkeley Buchanan, received her degree in 1918.

Campus

The main CU Boulder campus is located south of the Pearl Street Mall and east of Chautauqua Auditorium. It consists of academic and residential buildings as well as research facilities. The East Campus is about a quarter-mile from the main campus and is composed mainly of athletic fields and research buildings.

CU Boulder's campus has been ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States by Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler.

Architecture

CU Boulder's distinctive architecture style, known as Tuscan Vernacular Revival, was designed by architect Charles Klauder. The oldest buildings, such as Old Main (1876) and Macky Auditorium (1923), were in the Collegiate Gothic style of many East Coast schools, and Klauder's initial plans for the university's new buildings (approved in 1919) were in the same style. A month or so after approval, however, Klauder updated his design by sketching in a new wrap of rough, textured sandstone walls with sloping, multi-leveled red-orange-tiled roofs and Indiana limestone trim. This formed the basis of a unified style, used in the design of fifteen other buildings between 1921 and 1939 and still followed on the campus to this day. The sandstone used in the construction of nearly all the buildings on campus was selected from a variety of Front Range mountain quarries.

Residence halls

Currently, freshmen and others attending the University of Colorado Boulder have an option of 24 on- and off-campus residence halls. Residence halls have 17 varieties of room types from singles to four-person rooms and others with apartment-style amenities. There are several communities of residence halls located throughout the campus, as well as in a separate area called Williams Village which is located approximately 1.5 miles off of the main campus. There is a free bus service that transports students to the main campus from Williams Village and vice versa. The university also offers Residential Academic Programs (RAPS) in many of its Residence Halls. RAPs provide students with in-dorm classes tailored to academic interests (international affairs, environmental studies, etc.).

Engineering Center

The Engineering Center on the Northeast side of campus houses the nation's largest geotechnical centrifuge as well as ion-implantation and microwave-propagation facilities, spectrometers, electron and other microscopes, and a structural analysis facility. In 2021, the Rustandy Building joined the Engineering Center to the Koelbel Building, in order to increase collaboration with the School of Business.

Undergraduate admissions

The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes CU Boulder as selective. For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), CU Boulder received 54,756 applications and accepted 43,576 (79.6%). Of those accepted, 6,785 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 15.6%. CU Boulder's freshman retention rate is 87%, with 74% going on to graduate within six years.

Of the 32% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores, the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1180–1380. Of the 16% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 25 and 31. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 8 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.

Academics

The University of Colorado Boulder is divided into several colleges and schools. While the college of Arts and Sciences is by far the largest, the university also consists of the college of Engineering and Applied Science, the Program in Environmental Design, Education, Music, Law, the Leeds School of Business, and the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information. Most, if not all, of these colleges and schools also incorporate master's- and doctoral-level degree programs. At the university, there are currently approximately 3,400 courses available in over 150 disciplines, making up 85 majors ranging from Accounting to Women's Studies.

University of Colorado Law School is the smallest and most selective of the colleges. The Wolf Law Building, the new home of the Law School, was dedicated on September 8, 2006, by United States Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer.

The Leeds School of Business has an enrollment of 3,300 students, including undergraduates, master's candidates, and Ph.D. candidates. The undergraduate program ranks 39th in the country and the undergraduate entrepreneurship program ranks 14th in the nation. The MBA program ranks 26th among all public universities. The faculty are ranked 38th in the nation according to the Academy of Management Journal.

CU Boulder adopted an honor code in 2000 following growing concerns about academic dishonesty on campus in the late 1990s. A copy of the code stating "On my honor, as a University of Colorado Boulder student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work" is engraved on a metal plate and posted in every classroom on campus.

Undergraduates who seek an academic challenge may participate in CU's Honors Program. Begun in 1931, the Honors Program currently consists of the top ten percent of incoming freshmen and participating undergraduates with a 3.3 GPA or greater (on a 4.0 scale). The program offers over 40 honors classes each semester, taught by tenured or tenure-track professors and limited to class sizes of 17 students. Honors students also have the opportunity to graduate with honors, high honors, and highest honors, by writing and defending a thesis during their senior year. The program extends into the residence halls through the Kittredge Honors Program. The Presidents Leadership Class is a program for top scholars at the University of Colorado Boulder. Scholars participate in a four-year leadership development program. The program provides opportunities to the top fifty students at CU from every major and discipline.

Campus organizations

The University of Colorado Student Government

The University of Colorado Student Government (CUSG) is the student government for the University of Colorado Boulder. The government contains three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Presiding officers for the student government are elected in a bi-annual vote administered to the 30,000 students at the university. The student government has an autonomy agreement with the University Administration and oversees an annual budget of $36.6 million. CUSG is responsible for the management of the University Student Union, the Recreation Center, the LGBTQ Resource Center, the Women's Resource Center, and the Wardenburg Health Center, along with various other facilities on campus. The government also oversees the fiscal appropriations of over 120 student groups on a yearly basis.

CU Gaming and Esports

Founded in December 2015, CU Gaming is the University of Colorado's largest student organization with over 3,500 current members. The organization offers biweekly and monthly gaming events for its members as well as the general student population at CU. CU Gaming offers leadership, career, and internship opportunities for members who are interested in working in the gaming and esports industries.

CU Esports, CU Gaming's sister organization, fields over a dozen teams in a variety of games. In November 2020, CU Esports' Valorant Black Team was crowned the Collegiate Valorant Conference Fall 2020 Series Champions after defeating UCF Esports 2–1 in the finals.

Hiking Club

Founded in May 1919, the Hiking Club is the longest running student organization at the University of Colorado Boulder. It is a non-profit, student-run organization for university students and affiliates interested in hiking and outdoors activities, with hundreds of active members on campus.

The club motto, "half mile more," dates back to the 1940s of the club's tradition-rich history. A slide show of the club's activities is shown on campus during semi-annual new member meetings and the alumni association meets annually.

Radio 1190

KVCU AM-1190, popularly known as Radio 1190, is a college radio station affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder. Staff of the station are compensated with funds provided by the University of Colorado Student Government, while operating funds are raised during biannual on-air pledge drives. It is also run by volunteers from the journalism program.

Boulder Freeride

Boulder Freeride is the ski and snowboard club at the University of Colorado Boulder. It was started in 1933. Boulder Freeride is active year-round. Boulder Freeride organizes a number of ski trips each year. Past trips have included Jackson, WY, Innsbruck, Austria, Whistler, BC and Chamonix, France.

Sports, clubs, and traditions

Sports teams at the school are called Buffaloes. The varsity athletic teams participate in the NCAA's Division I (FBS for football, see Bowl Championship Series) as a member of the Big 12 Conference. The school rejoined the Big 12 in 2024, ending its affiliation with the Pac-12 Conference. (CU had previously been a member of the former Big Eight Conference, whose members had merged with four schools of the former Southwest Conference to create the new Big 12 Conference in 1996.) The official school colors are silver and gold, as opposed to the common belief of black and gold. Silver and gold were chosen to represent the state's mineral wealth, but the colors did not look good together on the uniforms, so black was substituted. There are three official fight songs: "Glory Colorado", "Go Colorado", and "Fight CU." In the early 1980s, the Board of Regents changed the school colors to sky blue and gold; but the changed proved highly unpopular with students and alumni, and the colors were changed back after 1985.

In 1934, the university teams were officially nicknamed the "Buffaloes." Previous nicknames used by the press included the "Silver Helmets" and "Frontiersmen." The final game of 1934, against the University of Denver, saw the first running of a buffalo in a Colorado football game. A buffalo calf was rented from a local ranch and ran along the sidelines.

Varsity athletics

CU's varsity teams have won national championships in skiing, men's cross country, women's cross country, and football. Conference championships have also been won in several sports. Several club sports, such as cycling, swimming & diving, and triathlon, have won national championships in addition to the varsity teams.

In football, CU enjoys an in-state rivalry with the Colorado State Rams in the "Rocky Mountain Showdown", a game that was formerly played at the neutral site Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. Additionally, Colorado and former Big Eight and Big 12 rival Nebraska Cornhuskers have played some notable games, often finishing their respective seasons in nationally televised confrontations on the Friday following Thanksgiving since the 1990s. This ended after the 2010 season as a result of CU joining the Pac-12 and Nebraska joining the Big Ten Conference. The team has seen renewed success since 2023 with former NFL star Deion Sanders as head coach.

Club sports

CU also maintains one of the largest club sports departments in the U.S. It supports over 30 club teams with leading clubs such as both men's and women's water polo, crew, cycling, ultimate, swimming & diving, fencing, men's lacrosse, baseball, softball, ice hockey, rugby union, and the CU Triathlon Team.

Demographics

As of fall 2021, there were 35,897 students enrolled. 66.2 percent of the student population identified as white. 56.9% were Colorado residents and 10.1% were California residents. A 2014 survey found that 16.3% of the students were registered as members of the Republican Party, along with 10.5% of CU Boulder non-faculty staff and 6% of CU Boulder faculty.

Notable alumni

The University of Colorado Boulder ranks fourth among U.S. universities in the number of astronauts produced, not including military academies. In addition, the University of Colorado Boulder has graduated two heads of state, Mongolian president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and two associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, Wiley Rutledge and Byron White. Japanese-American astronaut Ellison Onizuka and Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla are also alumni.

Chancellors

The following persons have served as chancellor of the University of Colorado Boulder:

Table notes:

Notable accomplishments at CU

First to create a new form of matter, the Bose–Einstein condensate, just seven hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero.

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