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The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
. Founded in 1876, five months before
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
became a
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
, it is the
flagship university A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
of the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
system. CU Boulder is a member of the
Association of American Universities The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...
, a selective group of major research universities in North America, and is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity. In 2021, the university attracted support of over $634 million for research and spent $536 million on research and development according to the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, ranking it 50th in the nation. The university consists of nine colleges and schools and offers over 150 academic programs, enrolling more than 35,000 students as of January 2022. To date, 5
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
laureates, 10
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winners, 11 MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipients, 1
Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in compu ...
laureate, and 20
astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
have been affiliated with CU Boulder as alumni, researchers, or faculty. In 2022, the university received over $658 million in sponsored research to fund programs like the
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) is a research organization at the University of Colorado Boulder. LASP is a research institute with over one hundred research scientists ranging in fields from solar influences, to Earth' ...
and
JILA JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute ...
. The
Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...
compete in 17 varsity sports and are members of the
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
. The Buffaloes have won 28 national championships: 20 in
skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
, seven total in men's and women's cross country, and one in
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. The university has produced 10 Olympic medalists. Over 1,000 students participate in over 34 intercollegiate club sports annually.


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 The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...
in
Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...
, and the Colorado Agricultural College in
Fort Collins A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. Two cities competed for the site of the University of Colorado: Boulder and
Cañon City A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
. The consolation prize for the losing city was to be the home to the new Colorado State Prison.
Cañon City A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
was at a disadvantage as it was already the home of the Colorado Territorial Prison. (There are now six prisons in the Cañon City area.) 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 school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Colorado was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the
V-12 Navy College Training Program The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...
which offered students a path to a navy commission. CU hired its first female professor,
Mary Rippon Mary Rippon (May 25, 1850 - September 8, 1935) was the first woman to teach at a state university, as well as the first female professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Rippon began teaching French and German at CU in 1878, became head of G ...
, 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 The Pearl Street Mall (also referred to as Pearl Street, or Downtown Boulder) is a four-block pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado. The pedestrian area stretches from 11th Street to 15th Street along Pearl Street and is home to a number of busines ...
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 Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...
'' and ''
Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club memb ...
''.


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 Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
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 Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
walls with sloping, multi-leveled red-tiled roofs and
Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem 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 The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...
mountain quarries. In 2011,
Travel+Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark ...
named the Boulder campus one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.


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 North-East side of campus houses the nation's largest
geotechnical centrifuge Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It al ...
as well as ion-implantation and microwave-propagation facilities,
spectrometers A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomenon where the ...
, electron and other microscopes, and a structural analysis facility.


Norlin Library

Until 1903, the library collection was housed with the rest of the school in Old Main. The growing size of the library required a move, as the weight of the books was causing physical damage to the floor. The cornerstone for the first separate library building was laid in January 1903, and the building was opened in January 1904. When the new Norlin Library opened in 1940, the old library was turned over to the
Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
department and was converted into classrooms and a theatre. Norlin Library was the last building to be designed by Klauder. There are two inscriptions on the western face of the building, overlooking the Norlin Quadrangle. Both were composed by President Norlin. The larger inscription reads "Who knows only his own generation remains always a child," based on a
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
quotation, while the smaller inscription on the marble just over the door reads "Enter here the timeless fellowship of the human spirit."


Macky Auditorium

Macky Auditorium is a large building on the north edge of the University of Colorado campus, near 17th Street and University Avenue, which plays host to various talks, plays, and musical performances. Andrew J. Macky was a prominent businessman involved with the town of Boulder in the late 19th century. Macky served as the President, as well as a stockholder of the First National Bank, an institution founded by another early CU supporter, Lewis Cheney. Macky is credited with a number of landmarks throughout Boulder, where he was a carpenter and involved in politics. The Auditorium opened its doors in 1923, thirteen years after construction started. Macky's adopted daughter, May, sued for a third of Macky's estate, a case that took thirteen years to settle. May was angered that her father left her no money in his will while leaving $300,000 to CU for the hall's construction. The university eventually won the case, and the majority of critical construction on the building resumed. The building has a variety of architectural elements from various buildings around the globe that President Baker, CU's president at the turn of the 20th century, admired. The design of the auditorium is primarily
Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
, with the primary materials being sandstone and red tile, like the rest of campus. The result is a unique building, with two large towers and sprawling ivy, that sets itself apart from the rest of the CU campus. Macky was refurbished in 1986, with improved seating, custom carpeting, modern plumbing, and an elevator. Currently, there is an electronic bell system in the towers of Macky which rings the hours during the day. Macky is the home of two departments both in the College of Music, the
Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
Studies Department and the Choral Department, and it houses an art gallery that is open Wednesdays, and to patrons during performances. The hall houses almost all performances by the
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1958, is a professional symphony orchestra based in Boulder, Colorado. It is led by Music Director Michael Butterman. The Boulder Philharmonic’s season at Macky Auditorium on the University of Colo ...
, the Artist Series, and the CU Opera. Macky is also the home of many lectures including part of the
Conference on World Affairs The Conference on World Affairs (CWA) is an annual conference, open to the public, featuring panel discussions among experts in international affairs and other areas, hosted since 1948 by the University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder, Colorado, U ...
held at CU each spring.


University Memorial Center

In 1947, Colorado Governor Lee Knous issued a
proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
to create a
memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
to Colorado's servicemen at the University of Colorado Boulder. A proposal to house this memorial in a student union building resulted in a remarkable fundraising effort. The University Memorial Center (UMC) opened its doors in October 1953 with President Robert Stearns presiding over the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The UMC quickly became the central landmark of the Boulder campus. A 1964 addition created a new book store, conference facilities, additional dining facilities, and offices to house the rapidly growing student activities and organizations. The expansion was financed through bonds granted by student fees. The 1960s and '70s put the UMC at the center of student activism as students staged strikes, grape boycotts, love-ins, sit-ins, and walk-outs. The UMC Fountain Court (now the Dalton Trumbo Fountain Court) became a familiar sight to network television news watchers as the famous and notorious promoted their cause at CU Boulder. Entertainers as diverse as
Ramsey Lewis Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
and the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
have performed in the
Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Arm ...
Ballroom. The UMC Connection, a student entertainment center in the basement, is a more informal gathering place, featuring pool tables and a small bowling alley. It also features Club 156, which hosts concerts from local and up-and-coming bands. In 1986, students passed another bond issue to remodel the food-services area. The
Alferd Packer Alfred Griner Packer (January 21, 1842 – April 23, 1907), also known as "The Colorado Cannibal", was an American prospector and self-proclaimed professional wilderness guide who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874. He and fi ...
Grill gets its name from Alferd Packer, a famous historical cannibal in Colorado. Many exotic meals can be found here.


Center for Community

The Center for Community, also known as the C4C by students, follows the distinct architecture guidelines of Charles Klauder and is a facility that is promised to be 20 percent to 25 percent more energy- and water-efficient compared to similar-sized buildings. The facility was completed in September 2010 at a cost of $84.4 million. The building is originally bond-financed through the CU treasurer and will be repaid through a combination of sources. A large portion of the debt, $47.4 million, will be repaid by Housing and Dining Services, through room and board fees. Fees from Permit and Parking Services will contribute as well. The center also relies on $18 million in donations, a goal which has not been achieved, but has become a top fundraising priority for the university. The building houses offices of Student Services including
Campus Card A campus credential, more commonly known as a campus card or a campus ID card is an identification document certifying the status of students, faculty, staff or other constituents as members of the institutional community and eligible for access ...
Services, Disability Services, and Career Services among others. These services have been relocated to the C4C from various locations around campus. For example, Career Services was previously housed in the basement of the Willard Dormitory. There is a underground parking structure that contains approximately 365 to 375 parking spaces. Student study areas are located on the upper floors and conference centers are open to campus and non-campus affiliates throughout the building. The dining services offered within the C4C include a CU on the run "grab-n-go", The Bakery, a late-night dining hub called the Weather Tech Café, open until 2 A.M., and finally a central dining facility. This dining facility seats 900 and offers students up to nine specialty dining choices including Persian, Asian, Latin, sushi, Italian, Kosher, a grill, salad bars, and desserts. Overall the Dining Center is projected to serve around one million meals per year.


Recreation Center

In 1973 the student recreation center was built on the CU Boulder's main campus, by the architect James Wallace. The funding to build the recreation center came entirely from student fees, which also funded the expansions in 1990 and 2014. The recreation center features strength and cardio space, basketball/volleyball courts, the only ice rink in Boulder proper, lap pool, dive well, fitness studios (cycling, rowing, etc.), climbing gym, turf gym, and an iconic outdoor pool in the shape of the CU Boulder buffalo mascot. It is currently about and operates on a $5 million annual budget. The center is co-managed by the division of student affairs and CUSG, CU Boulder's student government. It is located on the northern edge of campus next to
Folsom Field Folsom Field is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. It is the home field of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Pac-12 Conference. Opened in 1924, th ...
. It is open seven days a week and on average 16 hours a day with most of its facilities available for use during those hours.


Mary Rippon Theatre

The Mary Rippon Theatre is an outdoor
theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
and the site of many
cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
events, notably the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. The Theatre was named after Professor
Mary Rippon Mary Rippon (May 25, 1850 - September 8, 1935) was the first woman to teach at a state university, as well as the first female professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Rippon began teaching French and German at CU in 1878, became head of G ...
, the first female instructor at the university and one of the first female university instructors in the United States. She taught German and French. Professor Rippon was so popular with students that when attempts were made to replace her with a male instructor, the student body revolted ''en masse'', and Rippon kept her job.


Old Main

Old Main is the oldest building on campus, and previously served as the Medical School for the University of Colorado system.


Galleries

Norlin Library features two art galleries, several dedicated art spaces, and artworks on display throughout the building. The CU Art Museum features works of modern and contemporary art, as well as historical artworks. The Museum's permanent collection includes over 5,000 works of art from numerous time periods and cultures. The UMC Art Gallery exhibits a variety of visual offerings ranging from student works created on campus to presentations of internationally recognized artists. Andrew J. Macky Gallery showcases the work of both local and national artists and is housed in the historic Macky Auditorium.


Museums

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History has one of the most extensive natural history collections in the Rocky Mountain and Plains regions, representing the disciplines of anthropology, botany, entomology, paleontology, and zoology. It is located in the Henderson building, named after its first curator, Judge
Junius Henderson Junius Henderson (April 1865 – November 4, 1937) was an American lawyer, judge, curator, and amateur malacologist who was the first Curator (a position eventually equivalent to Director) of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, ...
, and hosts the Museum and Field Studies master's (MS) program. The CU Heritage Center tells the stories of CU Boulder's past and present and is housed in Old Main, the first building constructed on campus. Seven galleries exhibit art and memorabilia associated with CU faculty and alumni. The Fiske Planetarium and Science Center features a . planetarium dome and produces laser shows, live concerts, and an ongoing series of public programs. Fiske also offers a hands-on science museum with interactive exhibits and space-themed art.


Performing arts facilities

The University of Colorado Boulder College of Music presents over 400 performances and educational events bringing together faculty, students, and guest artists each year through the Pendulum New Music Series. They present musical genres including classical, jazz, world music, and new music. The University of Colorado Boulder Department of Theatre & Dance is home to the Charlotte York Irey Dance Theatre, the University Theatre, and the Loft Theatre as well as Grusin Music Hall and the Chamber Music Hall in the College of Music. More than twenty productions are presented each year featuring student and faculty actors, dancers, choreographers, directors, and designers, as well as the work of professional guest artists. Student work is also showcased in the annual CU Boulder Fringe Festival, produced by OnStage, a student performing arts group.


Visual Arts Complex

A new visual arts complex that houses the Department of Art and Art History and the CU Art Museum officially opened on September 24, 2010. The new facility houses programming in Art History, Ceramics, Drawing, Foundations, Integrated Art, Painting, Printmaking (screen printing, intaglio, lithography), Sculpture, and Integrated Media Arts Practices (IMAP) including Digital, Photography, and Video Art. The building contains studio classrooms, seminar rooms, a wood-shop with a CNC Machine and metal shop, and a 200-seat auditorium. It also has resources for art and art history majors, including darkrooms, graduate student and faculty studios and offices, as well as twenty-eight student exhibition spaces throughout the facility. Additional resources include the Visual Resources Center, the Exhibitions Program of the CU Art Museum, the Colorado Collection (an art collection of approximately 5,000 pieces), and multiple computing labs.


The Hill

The Hill, a college neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado, lies directly west of the University of Colorado campus. The central street of the neighborhood is 13th street, which features a variety of attractions including the renowned concert venue,
The Fox Theater ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
and is nearby The Sink and several other attractions.


Admissions


Undergraduate

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 The term "retention rate" is used in a variety of fields, including marketing, investing, education, in the workplace and in clinical trials. Maintaining retention in each of these fields often results in a positive outcome for the overall organiz ...
is 87%, with 74% going on to graduate within six years. Of the 32% of the incoming freshman class who submitted
SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
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 The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
and
Sciences Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
is by far the largest, the university also consists of the college of
Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
and Applied Sciences, the Program in Environmental Design,
Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
,
Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
,
Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, and the
Leeds School of Business The Leeds School of Business is a college of the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States, established 1906. As of April 2022, the school reports an enrollment of over 3800 undergraduate students. In 2001, the college was named for the ...
, plus a new College of Media, Communication, and Information that debuted in 2014. Most, if not all, of these colleges and schools, also incorporate master- and doctorate-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 School of Law The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies in ...
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 The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
justice
Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...
. The
Leeds School of Business The Leeds School of Business is a college of the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States, established 1906. As of April 2022, the school reports an enrollment of over 3800 undergraduate students. In 2001, the college was named for the ...
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 Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...
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 15 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 The Presidents Leadership Class (PLC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder is one of the oldest collegiate leadership programs in the United States.''Roberts, Dennis C. Deeper Learning in Leadership : Helping College Students Find the Potent ...
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. One option for students (mostly freshman and sophomores) living on campus is to join a residential academic program (RAP). Each RAP focuses on a curricular theme and offers courses in the residence hall itself. The programs also include educational activities.


Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the University of Colorado Boulder tied for 99th best among all national universities, tied for 42nd among public universities in the U.S. for 2022, and 50th best among all universities globally for 2020. The Center for World University Rankings ranked CU Boulder 19th among U.S. public comprehensive institutions and 63rd overall in the world in its 2014 ranking of the top 100 degree-granting institutions of higher education. Fifteen CU Boulder graduate school specialty programs are ranked in the top 50 in the nation by ''U.S. News & World Report'' in 2020. CU Boulder's atomic/molecular/optical physics program is ranked second nationally. Other CU Boulder programs ranking in the top 10 are environmental law (8), ceramics (5), quantum physics (6), physical chemistry (10), and aerospace engineering (10). ''U.S. News & World Report'' also ranked the Education school 29th, the Engineering school tied for 23rd, the Law school tied for 45th, and the Business school tied for 79th for 2020. In 2015,
Thomson-Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...
ranked the University of Colorado system as the 28th most innovative educational institution in the world. In 2015, ''
Sierra Magazine The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
'' ranked CU Boulder 52nd in its "Coolest Schools" in America list for campus sustainability and climate change efforts.


Faculty

, there were more than 3,800 tenured or tenure-eligible faculty members, as well as 4,400 non-tenured adjunct professors and instructors. Current faculty include
Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...
David J. Wineland (physics 2012),
John Hall John Hall may refer to: Academics * John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic * John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal * John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
(physics, 2005),
Eric Cornell Eric Allin Cornell (born December 19, 1961) is an American physicist who, along with Carl E. Wieman, was able to synthesize the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995. For their efforts, Cornell, Wieman, and Wolfgang Ketterle shared the Nobel ...
(physics, 2001), and Thomas Robert Cech (chemistry, 1989). Carl Wieman was also awarded a Nobel prize for his work with Eric Cornell. He maintains a part-time appointment at the University of Colorado Boulder but his primary appointment is Professor and Director of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia. Controversial writer
Ward Churchill Ward LeRoy Churchill (born 1947) is an American author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007.
was a professor of
ethnic studies Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by indivi ...
until he was terminated in July 2007.Jury Says Professor Was Wrongly Fired
; ''New York Times''; Kirk Johnson and Katherine Q. Seelye; April 2, 2009,
Robert T. Craig an
International Communication Association The International Communication Association (ICA) is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. ICA communicates within the association and with ot ...
Fellow and author of "Communication Theory as a Field" is a professor in the Communication Department. Professer Emerita Susan Kingsley Kent is the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies.


Center for Advanced Engineering and Technology Education

The Center for Advanced Engineering and Technology Education (CAETE) is a partnership between the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. As the
distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
and professional studies arm of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, CAETE provides courses from the college to working professionals via the Internet and CD-ROM. Students can take courses for professional development or toward earning a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
or graduate certificate (in some disciplines) in
aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
,
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
, electrical, computer and energy engineering,
engineering management Engineering management is the application of the practice of management to the practice of engineering. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organizational, admini ...
, and
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
. Founded in 1983, CAETE currently receives over 1,000 enrollments a year from over 250 job sites in
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, across the nation, and abroad.


Media

The ''
CU Independent The ''CU Independent'' is the student-run news publication for the University of Colorado Boulder. It has been digital-only since 2006, when it became one of the first major college newspapers to drop its print edition. The website has a staff of ...
'' is the award-winning, student-run news publication for the University of Colorado Boulder. It has been digital-only since 2006, one of the first major college newspapers to drop its print edition. The publication has a staff of about 60 editors, reporters, and photographers who are responsible for producing new content to update the website at least once a day during the fall and spring semesters. Most contributors are journalism majors, but other CU programs are represented as well. A managing editor and an editor-in-chief oversee the website. The ''CU Independent'' serves as a testing pad for community news and multimedia. 1000-Word Philosophy is a
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
that publishes introductory 1000-word (or less) essays on philosophical topics. Most of the authors are the students and graduates of the CU Boulder. The blog is created and edited by Andrew D. Chapman, a philosophy lecturer at this university. The essays generally include references or sources for more information. ''What’s Wrong?'' is the "not quite official" blog of the University of Colorado, Boulder's Center for Values and Social Policy. It is edited by David Boonin, professor of philosophy and Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities. The blog's purpose is to provide "a forum for discussing and reporting on topics in applied normative philosophy".


Research institutes

CU Boulder's research mission is supported by 11 research institutes within the university. Each research institute supports faculty from multiple academic departments, allowing institutes to conduct truly multidisciplinary research. The Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) is a research institute within the Graduate School dedicated to conducting and facilitating research on the genetic and environmental bases of individual differences in behavior. After its founding in 1967 IBG led the resurging interest in genetic influences on behavior. IBG was the first post-World War II research institute dedicated to research in
behavioral genetics Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" c ...
. IBG remains one of the top research facilities for research in
behavioral genetics Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" c ...
, including human behavioral genetics,
psychiatric genetics Psychiatric genetics is a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics and behavioral genetics which studies the role of genetics in the development of mental disorders (such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism). The basic principle ...
,
quantitative genetics Quantitative genetics deals with phenotypes that vary continuously (such as height or mass)—as opposed to discretely identifiable phenotypes and gene-products (such as eye-colour, or the presence of a particular biochemical). Both branches u ...
, statistical genetics, and animal behavioral genetics. The Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS) at CU Boulder promotes interdisciplinary research and training in cognitive science. ICS is highly interdisciplinary; its research focuses on
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
,
language processing Language processing refers to the way humans use words to communicate ideas and feelings, and how such communications are processed and understood. Language processing is considered to be a uniquely human ability that is not produced with the sa ...
,
emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
, and higher-level cognition using experimental methods. It is home to a state-of-the-art
fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...
system used to collect
neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...
data. ATLAS Institute is a center for interdisciplinary research and academic study, where engineering, computer science and robotics are blended with design-oriented topics. Part of CU Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science, the institute offers academic programs at the undergraduate, master's and doctoral levels, and administers research labs, hacker and makerspaces, and a black box experimental performance studio. At the beginning of the 2018–2019 academic year, approximately 1,200 students were enrolled in ATLAS academic programs and the institute sponsored six research labs. In addition to IBG, ICS and ATLAS, the university's other institutes include Biofrontiers Institute,
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is a research institute that is sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the Un ...
, Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research (INSTAAR), Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS)
JILA JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute ...
, Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics (LASP), Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.


Campus organizations


The University of Colorado Student Government

The
University of Colorado Student Government The University of Colorado Student Government (CUSG) is the student body government for the University of Colorado Boulder. Known formerly as the University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU), CUSG creates, implements and oversees a $24 million budg ...
(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 & 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 Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...
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 Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
industries. CU Esports, CU Gaming's sister organization, fields over a dozen teams in a variety of games. In November 2020, CU Esports'
Valorant ''Valorant'' is a free-to-play first-person tactical hero shooter developed and published by Riot Games, for Windows. Teased under the codename ''Project A'' in October 2019, the game began a closed beta period with limited access on April 7 ...
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 Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
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 Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...
station affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder. Staff of the station are compensated with funds provided by the University of Colorado Student Union 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, and has thrived as the largest student-run, nonprofit organization on CU's campus. It was designed to promote skiing, and later, snowboarding at the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Boulder Freeride is active year-round. Fall activities include a camping trip, BBQs, popular ski and snowboard movie premieres, and one of the year's biggest events, Welcome Freeriders. Boulder Freeride organizes a number of ski trips each year. Past trips have included a Thanksgiving trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, an annual trip to
Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
to see the
X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...
, spring break trips to
Innsbruck, Austria Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
,
Whistler, BC Whistler ( Lillooet/Ucwalmícwts: Cwitima, ; Squamish/Sḵwx̱wú7mesh: Sḵwiḵw, ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mount ...
and
Chamonix, France Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...
, and summer surf trips to South America.


CU Cycling Club

Founded in 1983 by Jim Castagneri, the
cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...
team was taken to the national championships in 1987 by 1992 Olympian John Stenner. The CU cycling team frequently ranks in the top five
USA Cycling USA Cycling or USAC, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the national governing body for bicycle racing in the United States. It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and BMX across all ages and ability leve ...
Collegiate teams in both
road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...
and
mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...
disciplines. They have won the national championship on several occasions, including 2005, when they won in both disciplines. Many members of the club have gone on into professional cycling, including
Sepp Kuss Sepp Kuss (born September 13, 1994) is an American professional cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Kuss started out in mountain bike racing as a junior and as a student at the University of Colorado won two races at the Colle ...
and
Tyler Hamilton Tyler Hamilton (born March 1, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racer. He is the only American rider to win one of the five Monuments of cycling, taking Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2003. Hamilton became a professional cycli ...
. The team is open to any student who pays annual dues and meets a minimum amount of credits during the semester. The members include nearly every different type of cyclist, from BMX riders,
trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...
, and bicycle commuters to elite amateur or part-time professional road and mountain riders. Specifically, to qualify for road or mountain nationals, a rider must have enough high race results to upgrade to "A" category in the USA Cycling rankings. A number of "A" riders will be chosen by the coaches to represent CU at the National Championships. The number of riders the team is allowed to send is based on how well the team did overall during the season.


Program Council

Established in 1953, Program Council is a student-run group that coordinates concerts and movies played on campus throughout the year. Program Council mainly focuses on organizing concerts around campus. Over the years, this group has brought such acts as
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...
,
Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
,
R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
,
The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
,
Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...
, and many more to the University of Colorado. Concerts vary in size ranging from large-scale concerts to smaller local acts, some of which are free to attend. Besides concerts, Program Council also hosts a film series throughout the year which allows students to see soon-to-be-released movies as well as cult classics for free in one of the large lecture halls on campus.


The Herd

The Herd is one of the largest student alumni groups in the nation, with over 6,000 members. The Herd's main goal is increasing school spirit. It encourages students to attend school activities such as sports games and club meetings. The Herd also sponsors discounted bus rides to the ski slopes, discounts around Boulder, and football pre-game parties. Sixteen student leaders run the group; the group is open to currently enrolled students.


Volunteer Resource Center

The Volunteer Resource Center is a student-funded organization aimed towards promoting volunteerism in the Boulder community. They provide a database with volunteer opportunities of 250 organizations around campus and in the Boulder area. The CU Boulder campus was recently one of 3 U.S. Universities to receive the Presidential Award for Exemplary Student Community Service in 2008. The Volunteer Resource Center hosts or participates in special volunteer events and activities including Alternative Breaks, Better Boulder Better World, and The Buffalo Can Challenge. The Volunteer Resource Center is also a yearly Volunteer Internship Program which engages six selected students through an interview process to create events aimed at involving more freshmen in volunteering, effectively managing all logistics of the event, and implementing the events on campus.


Greek life

The
Panhellenic Greek nationalism (or Hellenic nationalism) refers to the nationalism of Greeks and Greek culture.. As an ideology, Greek nationalism originated and evolved in pre-modern times. It became a major political movement beginning in the 18th century, ...
sorority community consists of ten Panhellenic sororities (
Alpha Phi Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members. Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...
,
Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across the United States, and the fraternity counts ...
,
Delta Gamma Delta Gamma (), commonly known as DG, is a women's fraternity in the United States and Canada with over 250,000 initiated members. It has 150 collegiate chapters and more than 200 alumnae groups. The organization's executive office is in Columbus ...
,
Kappa Kappa Gamma Kappa Kappa Gamma (), also known simply as Kappa or KKG, is a collegiate sorority founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, United States. It has a membership of more than 260,000 women, with 140 collegiate chapters in the United States a ...
,
Pi Beta Phi Pi Beta Phi (), often known simply as Pi Phi, is an international women's fraternity founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois on April 28, 1867 as I. C. Sorosis, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after ...
,
Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta (), also known as Tri Delta, is an international women's fraternity founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart. Tri Delta part ...
,
Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chap ...
,
Kappa Alpha Theta Kappa Alpha Theta (), also known simply as Theta, is an international women’s fraternity founded on January 27, 1870, at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury. It was the first Greek-letter fraternity established for women. The main arc ...
,
Gamma Phi Beta Gamma Phi Beta (, also known as GPhi or Gamma Phi) is an international college sorority. It was founded in Syracuse University in 1874, and was the first of the Greek organizations to call itself a sorority. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Man ...
, and the newest
Phi Mu Phi Mu () is the second oldest female fraternal organization established in the United States. The fraternity was founded at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia as the Philomathean Society on , and was announced publicly on March 4 of the same y ...
) and three associate, local-interest, chapters ( Alpha Delta Chi,
Phi Sigma Rho Phi Sigma Rho (), also known as Phi Rho or PSR, is a social sorority for individuals who identify as female or non-binary in science, engineering, and engineering technologies. The sorority was founded in 1984 at Purdue University. The first ch ...
, and
Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi () is a national Jewish sorority. It was founded on October 1, 1998, at the University of California, Davis. History In the early 1990s with the closing of a national Jewish sorority on its campus, the University of Califor ...
). The men's fraternities at the University of Colorado are not officially affiliated with the school; however, they are still a presence on campus. Students who participate in Greek Life account for about 13% of the undergraduate student body. The recruitment process consists of four datebooks, dressing from more casual to formal as the datebooks progress. The first day is the introduction, the second day is philanthropy, the third day is skit night, and the fourth day is preference night. Most of CU-Boulder active Greek organizations in the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils have large North American fraternity and sorority housing, traditional Greek houses primarily for members to utilize. There is also a Multicultural Greek Council that is composed of Asian Greek letter organizations, Latino/a Greek letter organizations, and multicultural Greek-letter organizations. The MGC acts as a liaison between the member organizations and university administration and promotes unity between the organizations and the college community.


Left Right TIM Improv Comedy

Started in 2008 by CU-Boulder students, Left Right TIM is the Boulder area's premier and longest-running improv comedy team, performing a weekly improvised comedy show every Friday during the university's academic year in the Hale Anthropology Building Room 270 of the school's campus. The team accepts new members every year and has performed in cities around the country as well as opening for established stand-up comedians and improv theaters. On February 23, 2018, the group celebrated its 10-year anniversary.


Umbrella Improv Initiative

A few years after Left Right TIM was founded, Camden Johnson, a member of LRT, saw the need for an organization to cater to beginners and comedy novices who were interested in improv. He founded the Umbrella Improv Initiative, or the "Umbrella Academy", which selected student coaches to teach a new team of 10 to 12 improvisers based on the Upright Citizens Brigade's style of improv. Over the course of a 12-week semester, the group was given a crash course in short form and long form improve comedy, culminating with a debut show at the end of the term in Hale 270. Since its founding in 2011, Umbrella has graduated over a dozen "Generations" of improvisers, and the organization continues to grow, with Gen 17 set to begin in the fall of 2019.


Sports, clubs, and traditions

Sports teams at the school are called Buffaloes. The varsity team, varsity athletic teams participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision, FBS for football, see Bowl Championship Series) as a member of the
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
. The school officially joined the Pac-12 on July 1, 2011, ending its affiliation with the Big 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 Athletic nickname, nicknames used by the press included the "Silver Helmets" and "Frontiersmen." The final game of 1934, against the Denver Pioneers, 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 Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
, NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship, men's cross country, women's cross country, and NCAA Division I FBS national football championship, 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 University, Colorado State Colorado State Rams football, Rams in the "Rocky Mountain Showdown", a game that is played at the neutral site Empower Field at Mile High. Additionally, Colorado and former Big Eight and Big 12 rival University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers football, Cornhuskers have played some notable games, often finishing their respective seasons in nationally televised confrontations on the Friday following Thanksgiving (United States), 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. Colorado once had rivalries with the University of Utah, Utah Utah Utes football, Utes and the United States Air Force Academy, Air Force Air Force Falcons football, Falcons, but these have not been played in recent years. However, the Utah rivalry was renewed in 2011, as the Utes also joined the Pac-10 (which became the Pac-12). The CU skiing, ski team has won 20 National Championships at the Division I level. The sport is not sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, however (nor was it sponsored by the Big 12).


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, Rowing (sport), crew,
cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...
, Ultimate (sport), ultimate, swimming (sport), swimming & diving (sport), diving, collegiate fencing, fencing, college lacrosse, men's lacrosse, college baseball, baseball, college softball, softball, college hockey, ice hockey, rugby union, and the CU Triathlon Team.


Mascot & spirit program

CU also includes a spirit program. The spirit program consists of three teams: two cheerleading squads, and the CU Express Dance Team. The cheerleading program consists of a competitive co-ed squad as well as a competitive all-girl squad. Both the cheerleading squad and the Express Dance Team compete at NCA/NDA College Nationals. In 2007, the cheerleading squad finished sixth at NCA Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida. All squads support the home games of
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, Women's Basketball, Men's Basketball, and Women's Volleyball teams, along with other athletic and social events. The school's live mascot is a female American Bison named Ralphie the Buffalo, Ralphie. The costumed mascot CHIP is also a part of the CU Spirit Program. CHIP is a costumed buffalo that represents the University of Colorado at numerous athletic and social events. Along with the Cheer and Dance Program, CHIP competes on a national level once a year against mascots from around the country, including Bucky Badger, Sparty, Aubie, Goldy Gopher and many other Mascot Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame mascots. Most recently CHIP competed in the 2009 UCA national competition and was crowned #1, and the national champion after performing a skit titled "CHIP's Favorite Video Games".


Clubs and other organizations

CU Boulder offers a variety of political student organizations which cover the full spectrum of politics. Among them are Amnesty International, which focuses on human rights worldwide, as well as the College Democrats and the College Republicans. The University of Colorado also offers many clubs promoting diversity and human rights, such as the Gay Straight Alliance. Students can also choose from a plethora of clubs and organizations centered on ethnicities and countries, as well as different religious groups. CU Boulder also maintains one of the nation's most competitive student-run parliamentary debate programs. In 2010, CU Boulder became the first fully student-run program to win the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE).


Demographics

As of Fall 2021, there were 35,897 students enrolled. 66.2 percent of the student population identifies as white and 56.9% are Colorado residents and 10.1% are California residents

Most students at CU Boulder are aligned with the American political left. A 2014 survey stated that 16.3% of the students are registered as members of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, along with 10.5% of CU Boulder non-faculty staff and 6% of CU Boulder faculty. In May 2021, CU Boulder announced the investment of $25 million over the next five years to diversity programs including the recruitment, retention, and support for students, faculty, and staff coming from Underrepresented group, underrepresented communities.


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. Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla was also an alumna, as was the filmmaker and director Monty Miranda. Yolanda Shea, a research scientist at Langley Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, is also an alumnus. File:Цахиагийн Элбэгдорж.jpg, Mongolian President and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj File:Wiley Rutledge portrait by Harold M. Brett.jpg, Associate Justice of Supreme Court Wiley Rutledge (LL.B. 1922) File:Kalpana Chawla, NASA photo portrait in orange suit.jpg, Astronaut Kalpana Chawla (MS 1986 & PhD 1988) File:Lynne Cheney official photo.jpg, Former Second Lady of the United States Lynne Cheney (MA) File:Chris Fowler (cropped).jpg, Chris Fowler (BS 1985) File:Steve Wozniak by Gage Skidmore 3 (cropped).jpg, Co-Founder of Apple Inc., Apple Steve Wozniak File:Billups coach (cropped).jpg, Chauncey Billups File:2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials 2555 (27641171904).jpg, Olympic bronze medal Jenny Simpson (BFA 1992) File:Jack Swigert.jpg, Astronaut Jack Swigert (BS 1953) File:Robert Redford (cropped).jpg, Actor and filmmaker Robert Redford File:Trey Parker by Gage Skidmore.jpg, ''South Park'' and ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'' co-creator Trey Parker (BA 1993) File:Matt Stone by Gage Skidmore.jpg, ''South Park'' and ''The Book of Mormon'' co-creator Matt Stone (BA 1993)


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. * First to observe a "fermionic condensate" formed from pairs of atoms in a gas. * Developed the "FluChip" to aid physicians in diagnosing respiratory illness and differentiating between three types of influenza and other viruses that cause similar symptoms. * First place in the 2002 and 2005 Solar Decathlon, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. At these first two Solar Decathlon competitions, students and faculty from the Engineering and Architecture programs collaborated to design, construct, transport, and rebuild a house powered exclusively by the sun. * The Squid server was created at the University of Colorado Boulder by Duane Wessels as part of Harvest project under grant from the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
. * First zero-waste sports stadium (both collegiate and professional) in the nation.


Scholarships

The Charles and Mildred Nilon Teacher Education Scholarship Fund honors Charles and Mildred Nilon, CU's first African American professor and librarian, respectively. The scholarship is designated for students who are “committed to advancing educational opportunities in under-resourced schools, especially those that serve African American communities.” The Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship was created to honor Lucile Berkeley Buchanan, CU's first African American female graduate who graduated in 1918.


Notes


References


External links

*
CU Athletics website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colorado At Boulder, University Of University of Colorado Boulder, Buildings and structures in Boulder, Colorado Educational institutions established in 1876 1876 establishments in Colorado Territory Tourist attractions in Boulder, Colorado Flagship universities in the United States University of Colorado campuses, Boulder