Colorado College

Colorado College

Motto	Scientia et Disciplina (Latin)
Type	Private college
Established	1874; 147 years ago (1874)
Endowment	$768.8 million (2020)[1]
President	Song Richardson
Undergraduates	2,012
Location	Colorado Springs , Colorado , United States 38°50′53″N 104°49′23″W / 38.848°N 104.823°W / 38.848; -104.823Coordinates: 38°50′53″N 104°49′23″W / 38.848°N 104.823°W / 38.848; -104.823
Campus	Urban, 90 acres
Colors	Black and Gold[2]
Athletics	NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Division I National Collegiate Hockey Conference, men's ice hockey Division I Mountain West Conference, women's soccer
Nickname	Tigers
Website	coloradocollege.edu

Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado.^[3] It was founded in 1874 by Reverend Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its 90-acre (36 ha) campus. The college offers 42 majors and 33 minors.^[4] Notable alumni include James Heckman, Dutch Clark, Ken Salazar, Liz Cheney, Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Marc Webb, and Steve Sabol.

Colorado College is affiliated with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Most sports teams are in the NCAA Division III, with the exception of Division I teams in men's hockey and women's soccer.

History[]

William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs and founding trustee of Colorado College

Colorado College was founded in 1874 on land designated by U.S. Civil War veteran General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and of Colorado Springs.^[5] Founder Reverend Thomas Nelson Haskell described it as a coeducational liberal arts college in the tradition of Oberlin College. Like many U.S. colleges and universities that have endured from the 19th century, it now is secular in outlook, and it retains its liberal arts focus.^{[citation needed]}

Cutler Hall, the college's first building, was completed in 1880 and the first degrees were conferred in 1882.^{[citation needed]}

William F. Slocum, president from 1888 to 1917, oversaw the initial building of the campus, expanded the library and recruited top scholars in a number of fields.^[5] In 1930, Shove Chapel was erected by Mr. John Gray, to meet the religious needs of the students (though Colorado College is not religiously affiliated).^{[citation needed]}

Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" during her summer teaching position at Colorado College in 1893.

Academics[]

Russell T. Tutt Science Center at Colorado College

The college offers more than 80 majors, minors, and specialized programs including: Southwest studies, feminist and gender studies, Asian studies, biochemistry, environmental science, neuroscience, Latin American studies, Russian and Eurasian studies, and American cultural studies, as well as an across-the-curriculum writing program. In addition to its undergraduate programs, the college offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. Tutt Library has approximately half a million bound volumes. In 2012, Colorado College yielded a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1.^[6]

Block plan[]

Colorado College follows a schedule known as the "block plan" in which students study one subject intensively for three-and-a-half-week "blocks", followed by a 4.5 day break. The intensity stems from the time commitment (classes meet for a minimum of three hours Monday through Friday) as well as the demand for engaging rapidly with complex content. Advocates say this allows for more lab time, field research, and an intensive hands-on learning experience with fewer distractions.

Students get a 4.5 day break between blocks. Most students head off campus, often to participate in some type of outdoor exploration.^{[citation needed]}

Every student begins the Colorado College journey with a "First Year Experience" course, or FYE. This is a back-to-back block spanning 8 weeks and functions as a freshman seminar course.^{[citation needed]}

Students can also take blocks during winter and summer breaks. In January, the college offers "half blocks," an intensive 10-day course fulfilling a half credit. Meanwhile, summer blocks are three weeks long, and there are also graduate blocks of differing lengths. In parallel with the students, professors teach only one block at a time. Classes are generally capped at 25 students to encourage a more personalized academic experience.^{[citation needed]}

Admissions[]

Colorado College is considered a "most selective school" by U.S. News & World Report.^[7]

For the class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), Colorado College received a record 10,969 applicants of which 14.3% were admitted. The admit rates by round were: 30.5% Early Decision I/II; 18.6% Early Action; 3.9% Regular Action. For the eighth year in a row, more than a quarter of the incoming class self-identify as students of color (28%) and seven percent are international students. In the last decade, the population of students of color and international students has increased by more than 60% while 10% of our incoming class are first in their families to attend college.^[8]

Rankings[]

In its 2021 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranks Colorado College as tied for 25th best liberal arts college in the nation and No. 3 among the most innovative national liberal arts colleges.^[13] The most innovative schools are those "making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities."^[14]

Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Colorado College 16th in its 2017 ranking of best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.^[15]

In 2019, Forbes rated it 92nd overall in "America's Top Colleges," which ranked 650 national universities, liberal arts colleges and service academies.^{[citation needed]}

CC is one of six colleges in the western US included in the guidebook The Hidden Ivies.^[16]

Requirements[]

Students must satisfactorily complete 32 credits to graduate in addition to specifying a major of study and fulfilling those requirements. The college offers a unique alternative for students who wish to design their own major. However, standardized cross-cutting requirements still apply, though these criteria are fairly broad compared to those at comparable colleges.^[17]

Student life[]

The median family income of Colorado College students is $277,500, the highest of any college or university in the United States, with 54% of students coming from the top 5% highest-earning families and 10.5% from the bottom 60%.^[18]

Extracurriculars[]

The small campus of 2,000 students boasts more than one hundred clubs and student groups, ranging from professional groups, interests clubs, and social groups. Among them are intramural sports groups, which have a strong presence on campus. There are intramural teams, ranging from broomball to ultimate frisbee.^[19]

Housing[]

Most students live on or directly adjacent to the college campus. During the first two years of study, students are required to live on campus in one of the student dorms, while apartments and student-owned housing become available as upperclassmen.^[20]

Campus[]

Cutler Hall, located at 912 North Cascade Avenue, on the Colorado College campus, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many of the earliest campus buildings, including Bemis, Cossitt, Cutler, McGregor, Montgomery, Palmer, and Ticknor Halls, are on the National Register of Historic Places, along with Shove Memorial Chapel and the William I. Spencer Center. Arthur House or Edgeplain, once home to the son of President Chester A. Arthur, is also on the National Register.^[21]

Since the mid-1950s, newer facilities include three large residence halls, Worner Campus Center, Olin Hall of Science and the Barnes Science Center, Honnen Ice Rink, Boettcher Health Center, Schlessman Pool, Armstrong Hall of Humanities, and the El Pomar Sports Center. The face of campus changed again at the beginning of the 21st century with construction of the Western Ridge Housing Complex, which offers apartment-style living for upper-division students and completion of the Russell T. Tutt Science Center. The east campus has been expanded, and is now home to the Greek Quad and several small residence halls known as "theme houses."^{[citation needed]}

Some of the more recent notable buildings include Tutt Library, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and later expanded and renovated by Pfeiffer Partners to be the largest carbon-neutral academic library in the United States, Packard Hall of Music and Art, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center, which was designed by Antoine Predock with input from faculty and students.^{[citation needed]}

Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center at Colorado College

Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center[]

Colorado College's Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center, completed in 2008 and located at the intersection of a performing arts corridor in Colorado Springs, is home to the college's film, drama and dance departments and contains a large theater, several smaller performance spaces, a screening room, the I.D.E.A. Space gallery, and classrooms, among other rooms. The building is also LEED certified.^{[citation needed]}

Athletics[]

Map of CC

The school's sports teams are nicknamed the "Tigers." Colorado College competes at the NCAA Division III level in all sports except men's hockey, in which it participates in the NCAA Division I National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and women's soccer, where it competes as an NCAA Division I team in the Mountain West Conference. CC dropped its intercollegiate athletic programs in football, softball, and women's water polo following the 2008–09 academic year.^[22]

In 1994, a student referendum to change the athletic teams' nicknames to the Cutthroat Trout narrowly failed, by a margin of 468-423.^[23]

The Tigers hockey team won the NCAA Division I championship twice (1950, 1957), were runners up three times (1952, 1955, 1996) and have made the NCAA Tournament eighteen times, including eleven times since 1995.^[24] In 1996, 1997, and 2005, CC played in the Frozen Four, finishing second in 1996. Fifty-five CC Tigers have been named All-Americans.^[25] Hockey Hall of Fame coach Bob Johnson coached the Tigers from 1963 to 1966.^[26]

The current hockey coach is Mike Haviland, who had been head coach of the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and was an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.

KRCC radio[]

Colorado College operates National Public Radio Member Station KRCC-FM. In 1944, KRCC began as a two-room public address system in the basement of Bemis Hall. Professor Woodson "Chief" Tyree, Director of Radio and Drama Department at Colorado College was the founder and inspirational force in the program that one day became KRCC-FM. In 1946, KRCC moved to South Hall (where Packard Hall now stands) on campus where two students, Charles "Bud" Edmonds '51, and Margaret Merle-Smith '51, were instrumental in securing a war surplus FM transmitter. KRCC began over the air broadcasting in April 1951 as the first non-commercial educational FM radio station in the state of Colorado.^{[citation needed]}

KRCC broadcasts through a series of eleven transmitters and translators throughout southern Colorado and a portion of northern New Mexico. KRCC's main transmitter, atop Cheyenne Mountain, broadcasts three separate HD multi-cast channels, including a channel run completely by Colorado College students called the SOCC (Sounds of Colorado College).^{[citation needed]}

Notable people[]

CC has graduated a Nobel Prize winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, 2 MacArthur Fellows, 14 Rhodes Scholars, 31 Fulbright Scholars, and 68 Watson Fellows.^[27] Alumni include Liz Cheney, Peggy Fleming, and Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani. Board members include Robert J. Ross, France Winddance Twine, and alumni Frieda Ekotto and Joe Ellis. Life Trustees include David M. Lampton and alumni Neal A. Baer. Honorary Trustees include alumni Lynne Cheney, Diana DeGette, and Ken Salazar. CC has also graduated 18 Olympians^[27] and 170 professional hockey players, including over 30 current and former NHL players.^[28][29] Notable faculty and staff include Dick Celeste and Jill Tiefenthaler.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Dunn, Joe P., "A Mission on the Frontier: , Colorado College, the New West Education Commission, and the School Movement for Mormons and ‘Mexicans,’" History of Education Quarterly, 52 (Nov. 2012), 535–58.
• Loevy, Robert D. Colorado College: A Place of Learning, 1874–1999. Colorado Springs: Colorado College, 1999.
• Reid, J. Juan. Colorado College: The First Century, 1874–1974. Colorado Springs: Colorado College, 1979.

External links[]

Media related to Colorado College at Wikimedia Commons

Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Colorado College".

• Official website
• Colorado College Athletics website
• "Colorado College" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.