University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado established an extension division in Denver in 1912. The Extension Center was housed in a variety of downtown Denver office buildings until 1938, when the Extension Center acquired permanent quarters in Denver at 509 17th Street. A single, full-time faculty member ran the school with the help of part-time teachers. Several hundred students were expected to enroll; 1500 showed up in 1940. After WWII, veterans swamped CU's Extension Center for its undergraduate, graduate and continuing education courses, and vocational training programs. In 1947, the Extension Center moved into the Fraternal Building at 1405 Glenarm Place. The Denver Extension Center acquired a new home in 1956, when the University purchased the Denver Tramway Company Building at 14th and Arapahoe Streets (now the Hotel Teatro and DCPA Tramway Building).
Enrollment at the Extension Center continued to grow, and in 1964, it was renamed the University of Colorado Denver Center with authority to offer complete undergraduate degree programs. Following a state constitutional amendment in 1972 that provided for University of Colorado campuses in Denver and Colorado Springs, the Board of Regents in 1974 established the CU System, with a president and chancellors at each of its four campuses: Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver and the Health Sciences Center. Growth since 1974 has been steady, with over 11,000 students today at the University of Colorado at Denver. Between 1973 and 1976, the State of Colorado built the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) on a 127-acre downtown campus shared by the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver.
(Excerpted from "Twenty-Five Years: From Arapaho Camp to Denver's Urban University" by Thomas J. Noel, Professor of History, University of Colorado Denver.)
According to the mission statements developed for each public institution of higher education by the State of Colorado, "the Denver campus of the University of Colorado shall be a comprehensive baccalaureate liberal arts and sciences institution with high admission standards. The Denver campus shall provide selected professional programs and such graduate programs at the master's and doctoral level as will serve the needs of the Denver metropolitan area, emphasizing those professional programs not offered by other institutions of higher education." [Colorado Revised Statute 23-20-101 (b)]
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Liberal arts has always been a strong component of the Denver campus, and is by far the largest academic unit. In 1971 the College of Undergraduate Studies was established with a Dean and three divisions: Arts and Humanities, Natural and Physical Sciences (including mathematics), and Social Sciences. In 1975, the College was renamed the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) to reflect a more defined liberal arts mission. In 1984, the College was restructured into departments with a Chair heading each primary unit. In 1989, the College of Music was transferred to CLAS and became the Department of Music. The most recent CLAS reorganization occurred in 1998, when fine arts, music and theatre were removed from CLAS and organized into a separate College of Arts & Media.
Academic Programs
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers 21 baccalaureate majors, ten pre-professional undergraduate programs, 16 master's programs and two doctoral programs. Many baccalaureate degree programs offer options or tracks, such as geo-spatial analysis under the B.S. in geology, biochemistry under the B.S. in chemistry, and film studies under the B.A. in English. See the Academic Programs section in this website. There is also a growing number of Certificate Programs available to degree-seeking and non-degree-seeking students.
CLAS Organization
To meet the rules of the Regents, departments are designated as primary units and headed by an elected Chair. For the purpose of standing and ad hoc committees, the College utilizes an adaptation of the former division structure as indicated below. This administrative organization is different than the organization of disciplines in the UC Denver Core Curriculum, which segregates anthropology, communication and psychology into a behavioral science unit.
| Humanities |
Natural and Physical Sciences |
Social Sciences |
Integrated Sciences |
| English |
Biology |
Communication |
Anthropology |
| History |
Chemistry |
Economics |
Environmental Sciences |
| Modern Languages |
Mathematics |
Ethnic Studies |
Geography and Environmental Sciences |
| Philosophy |
Physics |
Political Science |
Health & Behavioral Sciences |
| |
|
Sociology |
Psychology |
CLAS Deans
| Years Served |
Name |
Discipline |
| 1971 — 1976 |
Herbert G. Eldridge |
English |
| 1976 — 1977 |
Phyllis W. Schultz |
biology |
| 1977 — 1984 |
Daniel Fallon |
psychology |
| 1984 — 1985 |
Shirley W. Johnston |
English |
| 1985 — 1988 |
John R. Ostheimer |
political science |
| 1988 — 1998 |
Marvin D. Loflin |
English |
| 1998 — 2006 |
W. James Smith |
economics |
| 2006 — 2007 |
Jonathan M. Harbor |
geology/geography |
| 2007 — 2008 |
James Hageman |
chemistry |
| 2008 — present |
Daniel J. Howard |
biology |