Regents recognize UCCS 50th anniversary

The members of the CU Board of Regents recognized the UCCS 50^th anniversary during the board’s Sept. 11 meeting at Berger Hall.

The regents issued a proclamation that traced the history of the campus from community-based lobbying in the 1960s to a 1972 amendment to the Colorado constitution and growth to more than 11,000 students.

Regent Steve Ludwig, an at-large representative to the board and 1993 UCCS graduate, presented Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak with an engraved plaque of the proclamation.

The proclamation reads

WHEREAS Colorado Springs community leaders lobbied for an expanded CU presence in Colorado Springs throughout the early 1960s;

WHEREAS Colorado native and industrialist David Packard promised then Governor John Love that a Hewlett-Packard plant would be built in Colorado Springs if a CU campus were created to support its employees and family members;

WHEREAS the bankrupt Cragmor Sanitarium including 80 acres were sold for $1 to the university;

WHEREAS in less than 90 days, the Colorado General Assembly and CU officials created what was to become the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS);

WHEREAS a 1972 amendment to the Colorado Constitution named UCCS a distinct CU campus;

WHEREAS UCCS is now one of the fastest growing universities in the region with 38 bachelor degrees, 20 master degrees and 5 doctoral degrees offered in highly ranked programs such as engineering, business and nursing;

WHEREAS UCCS is home to a community of scholars more than 11,000 strong, most of whom are native Coloradans and are often the first in their family to attend college;

WHEREAS UCCS has maintained positive relations throughout southern Colorado and enjoys widespread support from business, non-profit and governmental leaders;

WHEREAS UCCS will celebrate the golden anniversary of its founding throughout 2015;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Regents, on behalf of the University of Colorado community, expresses its sincere gratitude and appreciation to those who 50 years ago had the foresight and determination to create UCCS, whose actions and support have changed the course of Southern Colorado, the Pikes Peak Region, Colorado Springs, and the tens of thousands of students that have graced our halls and classes, 42,000 alumni, their families, and all the lives those individuals have touched; and has given Colorado a critical, exciting and dynamic part of the University of Colorado family.

 

— Photos by Jeffrey M Foster