Program Overview
As a Change Maker fellow, you’ll join a supportive cohort of experienced professionals navigating what’s next. Meeting twice each week—once on campus and once online—you’ll reflect on your life and work so far, identify your strengths and aspirations, explore new options, envision where you want to go next, and chart your next chapter with clarity and confidence. Guided by expert facilitators, you’ll leave with renewed purpose and a concrete plan to make it real.
25-30 peers
navigating transition experience together
1 semester
A 4-month structured, supportive experience
Hybrid format
combination of in-person & online
2 evenings/week
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
I think what's happening at the University of Colorado Denver Change Makers program is a model for what we need all over the country.
Marc Freedman
Founder/coCEO of CoGenerate and author of Encore and How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the GenerationsProgram Components
The Change Makers experience blends reflection, exploration, and connection across five integrated components, each designed to help you clarify what’s next and begin building it.
Connect
Join a cohort of accomplished professionals at a similar stage of life. Share stories, learn together, and build lasting connections as you shape your next chapter. Again and again, fellows tell us this is their favorite part of the program—the friendships and sense of community that grow along the way.
Explore
In weekly discussion-based sessions, reflect on your experiences, clarify what matters most, and explore new ways to apply your talents for purpose and impact. Sample topics include navigating change and transition, identifying your values and vision, and designing possible future paths.
Expand
In our seminar series, hear from experts and thought leaders who reimagine what's possible in the second half of life — exploring how longer lives, new work models, and evolving definitions of success can open doors to growth, meaning, and impact. Sample topics include working differently (including for oneself), reigniting creativity, giving back through volunteering or advocacy, caring for our physical and emotional well-being, and challenging outdated assumptions about age.
Grow Your Brain
You’ll have the option to audit university courses, learning alongside traditional-age students. Take a course for pleasure or intellectual stimulation, without the burden of tests and grades. Explore architectural history, music theory, social entrepreneurship, or anything in between.
Enrich
With access to university events including lectures, seminars, exhibitions and performances, you’ll expand your intellectual horizons. Take in an art opening at one of our campus galleries, catch some performance art, attend lectures on architecture and planning, biology, business insights, current events, and more.
I’m honored to be part of a diverse 22-member cohort exploring new personal and professional opportunities, building community, and creating connections for the next phases of life. I highly recommend this unique program.
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Buffy Naake
Change Makers alum, 2023Is Change Makers right for you?
Read about our admissions process.
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