University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado Denver is a public research university located in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. Established in 1912 as an extension of the University of Colorado Boulder, CU Denver attained university status and became an independent institution in 1973. CU Denver is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity. The university's graduate programs award more master's degrees than any other institution in the state, serving roughly 5,000 students annually. CU Denver makes up one-third of the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver, along with the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver.
History
University of Colorado Anschutz
The University of Colorado created the Department of Medicine and Surgery in September 1883 in the Old Main building on the Boulder campus. The Department of Nursing opened in 1898.By 1892, the last two years of classes were taught in Denver because the larger population afforded more practical experience. This practice triggered something of a turf battle with the University of Denver's medical school and the subsequent legal battle went to the state Supreme Court. In 1897, the court found that CU's charter restricted them to Boulder. However, in 1910, CU got an amendment to the state Constitution passed which allowed them to move back to Denver. In 1911, the School of Medicine combined with the Denver and Gross Medical College to form a larger school with a more comprehensive program, paving the way for the school's permanent move to Denver. In 1925, the School of Medicine moved to the campus on Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. This would become the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
In 1995, the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center was officially put on the Base Realignment and Closure list, after which officials from the Health Sciences Center, University of Colorado Hospital and the City of Aurora presented a proposal to the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. to repurpose the decommissioned base as an academic health center. In 1999, the Army base was closed under the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure action. In 2004, the first UCHSC labs moved from Denver to the research towers on the Fitzsimons campus. In 2006, the Fitzsimons campus of UCHSC was renamed CU Anschutz in recognition of philanthropic donations from Philip and Nancy Anschutz. By the end of 2008, academic and research operations of all CU Denver health sciences schools and colleges relocated from the Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard campus to the new CU Anschutz campus, joining the affiliated University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital.
University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado Denver began as the Extension Center of University of Colorado's Department of Correspondence and Extension, which was established in 1912. In 1938, the Extension Center acquired permanent quarters in Denver in the C.A. Johnson Building at 509 17th Street, where a single, full-time faculty member ran the school with the help of part-time teachers. In 1947, the Extension Center moved into the Fraternal Building at 1405 Glenarm Place. In 1956, the university acquired the Denver Tramway Company Building at 14th and Arapahoe Streets. In 1964, the Extension Center was renamed the University of Colorado – Denver Center. On January 11, 1973, lawmakers, upon proclamation of the governor, amended the state constitution to establish additional CU campuses, transforming the University of Colorado—Denver Center into the University of Colorado Denver.Between 1973 and 1976, the State of Colorado built the Auraria Higher Education Center on a downtown campus to be shared by the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver. In 1977, the Denver campus expanded to the newly opened AHEC, and later to several buildings extending into downtown Denver.
Merger, subsequent separation, and renaming
In the summer of 2004, the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center merged to create the University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center. On October 29, 2007, the board of regents voted to rename UCDHSC the "University of Colorado Denver", consisting of the CU Anschutz and Denver Campuses. In August 2011, the regents approved a name change to the "University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus", while the legal name of the dual institution remained "University of Colorado Denver".However, in 2014, the University of Colorado appointed separate chancellors for the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Anschutz, effectively separating the two campuses. The campuses offer some dual campus programs, but CU Anschutz is independently referred to as "CU Anschutz" or "University of Colorado Anschutz" in official materials, and the Denver Campus is independently referred to as "CU Denver" in official materials. The marketing campaign ALL FOUR:COLORADO emphasizes the distinct identities of the CU Denver and CU Anschutz campuses alongside the other CU institutions, Boulder and Colorado Springs.
Beall's List
The university was known for its association with Beall's List, created by its former faculty member Jeffrey Beall and used by universities worldwide, and ultimately for the role the university played in the disappearance of the list. In an interview in 2018, Beall stated that "my university began to attack me in several ways. They launched a research misconduct investigation against me. They also put an unqualified, mendacious supervisor over me, and he constantly attacked and harassed me. I decided I could no longer safely publish the list with my university threatening me in these ways."Campuses
CU Denver Campus
CU Denver, part of the Auraria Campus, is located to the southwest of downtown Denver in the Auraria Neighborhood, on Speer Boulevard and Auraria Parkway. In a unique arrangement, CU Denver shares certain facilities on the Auraria Campus with two additional institutes of higher education, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver. Proprietary facilities such as the CU Denver Student Commons Building are not shared. CU Denver Regional Transportation District's Light Rail has two stops on the Auraria Campus: Colfax at Auraria and Auraria West Campus.A student wellness center opened in Summer of 2018.
CU Denver features both undergraduate and graduate courses, with graduate students making up 32 percent of enrolled students. The campus is located in the heart of the central business district and is in close proximity to the Ball Arena, Elitch Gardens, the Colorado Convention Center, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Larimer Square, and the 16th Street Mall. The reclaimed Tivoli brewery, which closed in 1969, houses the student union.
Institutional profile
University of Colorado Denver offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and first professional degrees.Enrollment
In addition to on campus students, the university had an additional 11,000 online students in fall 2019. 76% of the student population were full-time students, 16% were out-of-state residents, and international students made up 6% of total enrollment. 15,490 students were enrolled at CU. 41% of undergraduate students and 55% of new freshmen at CU Denver belonged to an ethnic minority. The average entering ACT score for new freshmen at CU Denver was 22.9 composite. The average entering SAT scores at CU Denver was 549 Math and 542 Verbal. The average high school GPA for new freshmen was 3.37. The most popular undergraduate majors at CU Denver were biology, psychology, pre-engineering, music, and economics. International students on the campus arrived from 125 countries. The 2020 average 6-year graduation rate was 48%.The CU Denver campus had 14,000 enrolled students as of fall 2022. 52 percent of undergraduate students and 25 percent of graduate students belong to minority groups. U.S. News gives the school a diversity index rating of 0.68, ranking 75th of national universities.
Academics
University of Colorado Denver has the largest graduate business school and graduate school of education in Colorado.Libraries
The Auraria library on the CU Denver campus downtown serves the three institutions that share the campus—CU Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Community College of Denver. The library houses nearly 1 million print books, 130,000 e-books, 44,000 e-journals and 300 databases.Schools and colleges
The university offers degrees in a wide variety of academic fields such as music industry, engineering, business, film & television, culture, history, language, digital design, the natural sciences, and biomedical sciences. CU Denver hosts 8 schools and colleges:- College of Architecture and Planning
- College of Arts & Media
- The Business School
- School of Education & Human Development
- College of Engineering, Design, and Computing
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- School of Public Affairs and its Presidential Climate Action Project
- Graduate School.