Supporting the growth and development of UCCS was a particular focus of CU President Emeritus Bruce Benson, who is the subject of a biography released recently. The book follows his story from his birth (on July 4, 1938) and formative years on a farm outside Chicago through his roughnecking days in the Wyoming oil patch to founding and growing his oil and gas company. Its success allowed him to pursue his passions in community service, politics, philanthropy and education, a strong thread throughout his life. “Bruce Benson: Oilfield Roughneck to University President” (available on Amazon) was written by Ken McConnellogue, retired CU vice president for communication.
Benson served as president of CU (his alma mater) from 2008-19. Benson’s 11-plus year tenure made him the longest-serving CU president in 65 years at his retirement, and only three of the university’s 21 previous presidents served longer.
The book features interviews with a variety of civic, education and political leaders who worked with (and sometimes against) Benson, including Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, businessman and philanthropist Philip Anschutz, Colorado State University Chancellor Tony Frank and former Gov. Bill Owens.
Before CU, Benson was deeply involved in community endeavors and politics. He served three terms as chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and was the 1994 Republican gubernatorial nominee, losing to former Gov. Roy Romer. He later served as chair of the board for several organizations in Colorado and beyond, including the Denver Public Schools Foundation, the Denver Zoo Foundation, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and Berkshire School (Massachusetts) Board of Trustees.
Soon after becoming CU president, the university had to navigate one of the worst economic crises in its history, the Great Recession of 2008, the effects of which lingered for years, particularly in the university’s state funding. Still, CU made significant progress during his tenure. He worked closely with former UCCS Chancellors Pam Shockley-Zalabak and Venkat Reddy as they guided the explosive growth of the campus, particularly the development of the North Nevada corridor. A portion of one of the book’s chapters outlines the progress the campus made during that time.
Yet he was not always so welcome at UCCS. In the book, he relates that while chair of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education in the 1980s, the commission’s recommendation to downsize the UCCS engineering program was met with angry faculty, staff and students at a public meeting on campus, who directed their ire at Benson. But after becoming CU president, he supported the campus in a variety of ways. In addition to making President’s Initiative Funds available to UCCS for a variety of projects, Benson and his wife, Marcy, personally funded scholarships and other initiatives on the campus.
Bruce and Marcy co-chaired two billion dollar-plus fundraising campaigns for CU, Beyond Boundaries (completed in 2003) and Creating Futures (completed in 2013). The Bensons are among CU’s largest donors. Former CU First Lady Marcy Benson worked for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush before meeting Bruce and marrying him in 1993. Both Bensons received Honorary Doctorates from CU, Bruce in 2004 and Marcy in 2020.