A CLAS Act

It was the winter of 1972. The Vietnam War raged. President Richard M. Nixon became the first
American president to visit the People's Republic of China. Don McLean's "American Pie" topped the
charts. In a former trolley-car barn in downtown Denver—the Denver Tramway Company Building—trouble brewed among the high-spirited faculty, staff and students of University of Colorado Denver Center.

Word had spread that CU President Fred Thieme had reached an agreement with Metropolitan State College of Denver to phase out freshman enrollment. The close-knit community at the Denver Center was infuriated. Jim Wolf, professor emeritus of history, served as chairman of the Faculty Assembly at the time.

He remembers students, faculty and staff banding together to appeal to the Board of Regents.

The regents met in March to vote on the fate of undergraduate education at the University of Colorado extension in Denver. "Had the vote been three-to-three," Wolf recalls, "the president would have voted for the resolution. But the regent from Greeley changed his vote and voted to sustain arts and sciences in Denver. It was amazing. It was a dramatic thing."

By fall, a measure was put to voters as to whether CU's Denver and Colorado Springs campuses should be considered independent institutions. The ballot passed.

The story of the University of Colorado Denver, to a large degree, is the story of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The college is responsible for the general education of every undergraduate at UC Denver, providing the foundation of the undergraduate curriculum.

Every degree-seeking undergraduate spends at least a third of his or her time in CLAS courses. The college generates 55 percent of the university's credit hours and is its largest degree-granting entity.

Officially established in 1971 as the College of Undergraduate Studies, the college was renamed in 1975 to encompass its solid liberal arts and sciences orientation where research, creative activities and hands-on faculty interaction were central to the student experience.

Faculty and students from the early days remember less-than luxurious facilities that were a stark contrast to the scholarship of CLAS. Camaraderie was born of shared purpose and close quarters. A
faculty lounge was out of the question, so the young professoriate met for planning sessions at the old Frontier Hotel bar across the street.

Professor of history Tom Noel earned his teaching certificate and rediscovered his love of history in the Tramway Building in the late '60s. Students, he says, hung out at Collins Finer Foods, famous more for its 10-cent beers than its cuisine. Should a student want to confer with a faculty member, he says, "We could all go over to the Frontier and talk to our professors."

"You could park for free if you timed it right," remembers Jean Skaggs, BA '73. "I would get there just as the meter lady was coming through and get out to move my car just as she was coming back."

Skaggs was a young mother when she attended UC Denver in the late '60s and early '70s.
"Everybody, whether they were in English or chemistry, lined up in a couple of halls," says Bob Damrauer, a professor of chemistry and special assistant to the provost. "We all knew each other and it made it possible for us to interact with people in completely different disciplines."

The growing status of the university created opportunities for female faculty members to make inroads. Processes were flexible, so professors could often follow their hearts and their areas of interest when designing courses.

"It was wonderful," observes Myra Rich, chair of the history department, who started as adjunct faculty when her husband came to work there. "It allowed people to play to their strengths. I was told I could teach any time I wanted to and never felt embarrassed to say that my kids were in preschool so that's when I could come."

The college moved from the Tramway Company Building in 1976 to the Auraria Higher Education Center, which was built to house UC Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver. The Tramway Building became home to Hotel Teatro and the Denver Center for Performing Arts.

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Experiences John Lanning came to the college in 1974. He observes that the college—and the university—has struggled to carve an identity separate from the other institutions with which it shares a campus. The 2004 merger with the CU Health Sciences Center adds new challenges and opportunities. "We are very much meeting the university-level needs of the region," he says. "There is a flavor of quality and a commitment to students that is the underpinning of what we're doing."

Today, the college offers 20 bachelor's degrees, 16 master's and three PhDs—along with a smattering of certificates, minors and interdisciplinary signature areas. More than 5,000 undergraduate and 600 graduate students are enrolled in its programs. Students at the graduate and undergraduate level benefit from working closely with professors on scholarly projects.

"Research and creative activities have always been important components of the mission of CLAS, but will become even more so in the near and long-term future," says Dean Daniel J. Howard. "Indeed, students will find that experiential and inquiry-based learning opportunities are expanded in a college in which faculty are more actively engaged in extending the boundaries of knowledge."