By Chris Casey | University Communications
DENVER - The University of Colorado Board of Regents today praised the University of Colorado Denver's student group which won a national competition on energy-efficient buildings and the new Boots to Suits program for veteran students.
The board also heard a resolution that honors the 40 years of service by the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect on the Anschutz Medical Campus. The board began its afternoon meeting at the Tivoli Student Union by hearing the nationally renowned CU Denver a cappella group UCD 6 perform "The Star Spangled Banner" (pictured above).
Chancellor Don Elliman introduced Team Satori, the student group that was recognized at the White House in March for its win in the Energy Department's Better Buildings Challenge. The CU Denver team -- representing CU Denver's College of Engineering and Applied Science, College of Architecture and Planning and the Business School -- won for Most Innovative project in finding solutions to the energy efficiency challenges for a hotel chain.
Before introducing Fred Andreas, assistant professor in the College of Architecture and Planning and faculty advisor to Team Satori, Elliman said the six students representing the three colleges "attacked some of the most common and stubborn barriers to achieving energy efficiency" with their project.
Leanna Clark, vice chancellor for marketing and community engagement, and Cameron Cook, director of Veteran Student Services, explained CU Denver's new Boots to Suits program. The program works to transition veteran students from the military to college and from college to the workforce.
Several regents praised the initiative. "This is a wonderful opportunity for this university to give something back -- not only for us as a university, but for the whole state," said Regent Michael Carrigan.
Regent Sue Sharkey, a daughter of an Air Force veteran, said she recalls growing up during the Vietnam era when the country wasn't especially supportive of military families. With Boots to Suits, which through its direct mentorship and pathways to the workplace is unique among college veteran student programs, "the University of Colorado Denver is just stellar in what you're doing. I can't thank you enough," Sharkey said.
The Board of Regents passed a resolution 8-0 supporting Sharkey's resolution that reinforces the board's approval in June 2010 of its guiding principles in relation to ethics, accountability and transparency. At the March board meeting, Sharkey submitted, then tabled, a resolution in support of HB12-1252, a bill concerning the creation of an online database on higher education financial information.
Sharkey said today that her re-drafted resolution is not related to HB12-1252, which goes to the Appropriations Committee later this week, but rather is a "statement of support for transparency according to our guiding principles and our new accountability database." She noted that the university has worked to centralize all information about budgets (debt loads, tuition and fees, expenditures, etc.), academics (accreditation, teaching loads, etc.), personnel (salaries) and other data about the university's finances and policies into a convenient, searchable database at www.cu.edu/accountability.
Regents Irene Griego and James Geddes emphasized that, in the interest of transparency, the university continue to do all that it can to lay out clearly what its faculty members do and the rigor involved in their work. "What we're doing is a step in the right direction," Griego said.
The Board of Regents will continue its meeting tomorrow in Tivoli Turnhalle. It is anticipated that the board will vote on tuition plans for all campuses, including the Denver Campus and the Anschutz Medical Campus. So far, two tuition options have been proposed for both campuses.
For details about these proposals go online at https://www.cusys.edu/regents/Committees/2012_04-BudgetFinance.pdf and start reading on Page 35.
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Contact: christopher.casey@ucdenver.edu