A 16-member steering committee was recently named to begin the task of commemorating the university\u2019s past and helping launch it toward the future.<\/p>\n
The 50th<\/sup> Anniversary Committee recently met and was charged by Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak to begin thinking now about a celebration that will last throughout the calendar year 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cIt may seem odd to plan your fiftieth birthday party at age forty-eight,\u201d Shockley-Zalabak said. \u201cBut this needs to be a year-long celebration that recognizes not only what the university has done but what it will do in the future, telling our community and our alumni that the best is still yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n UCCS was founded in 1965 with a combination of community and business leader efforts, most notably a push from Hewlett-Packard Corp. co-founder and Colorado native David Packard. From humble roots on the grounds of a bankrupt tuberculosis sanitarium and closely tied to CU-Boulder, UCCS has grown to almost 10,000 students and the ability to grant 36 bachelor\u2019s, 19 master\u2019s and five doctoral degrees.<\/p>\n Several committee members shared recollections of the university\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary celebration and copies materials from \u201cUCCS 1965-1990: Celebrating Our Heritage \u2013 Shaping Our Future\u201d were distributed to help campus newcomers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe speaker at our 25th<\/sup> anniversary celebration made a profound impact on me, personally,\u201d Shockley-Zalabak said. \u201cHearing Shirley Chisholm speak made me think what I thought was impossible was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress. She served seven terms representing New York\u2019s 12th<\/sup> Congressional District from 1969 to 1983 and became the first black candidate for President in 1972. As a legislator, she was worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents, opposed the military draft, and supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending. She died in 2005 at age 80.<\/p>\n Shockley-Zalabak encouraged steering committee members to think of speakers who might be invited to celebrate the university\u2019s golden anniversary and to solicit ideas from colleagues about both speakers and other ways to commemorate the university\u2019s anniversary.<\/p>\n Steering committee members are:<\/p>\n\n