September 2009

Dear Friends,

Philip P. DiStefano

Going beyond traditional academic boundaries is a keynote of our Flagship 2030 strategic plan that we are implementing at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This was illustrated earlier this month in two important ways.

Flagship 2030 calls for the creation of residential colleges in which professors move into residence halls with their families to teach where the students live. Associate Professor Scot Douglass recently moved into the renovated Andrews Hall with his family to lead 229 new and returning undergraduates in the Engineering Honors Program, which he directs.

Watch how Associate Professor Scot Douglass interacts with students, and his family, in this unique educational and social environment. Go >>

Professor Douglass, who has won several teaching awards, will conduct classes, recitations, seminars and office hours in the hall where his students live. Residential colleges create a sense of community and a small-college atmosphere for students who also can take advantage of the resources and choices available at a comprehensive research university like CU-Boulder.

Additional residential colleges supported by our Faculty-in-Residence Program are planned down the road for Arts and Sciences Honors, Communications, Global Studies and Pre-Health. Important educational programs like this are one of the ways CU-Boulder distinguishes itself from other institutions in Colorado and nationwide, and they offer students unique opportunities.

The groundbreaking for the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building took place Sept. 9. Left to right are Jennie's son Jonathan Caruthers and his 6-year-old son Alexander, Nobel Laureate and professor Tom Cech, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Chancellor Philip DiStefano and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology research professor Leslie Leinwand.

Revolutionary biotech building will take on urgent human health challenges
Our interdisciplinary biotechnology facility on CU-Boulder’s East Campus is another example of how we are setting new parameters in teaching, research and outreach.

Gov. Bill Ritter helped me break ground on Sept. 9 for the revolutionary Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building. Jennie Smoly Caruthers, a long time CU-Boulder research professor, died of cancer and the building will be named in her honor. The work within its walls will have the power and potential to regenerate cartilage for human joints, develop replacement heart valves through tissue engineering, develop inhalable vaccines, and advance therapies for cardiovascular disease, infectious disease and cancer.

This will be made possible by the brightest minds in life sciences, physical sciences, math, computational sciences and engineering collaborating under one roof. This interdisciplinary approach breaks through traditional bounds and is another foundation of our visionary Flagship 2030 strategic plan.

The urgent work being done in this area is part of our Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology directed by Nobel laureate Tom Cech, who also is teaching freshman chemistry. Both undergraduate and graduate students will prosper from participation in vital biomedical research in a multitude of disciplines. Thousands of K-12 teachers and students will benefit from the outreach extended through teacher workshops, courses and programs offered in schools.

The new Caruthers building will generate jobs on three levels: construction, research and in the spin off of new biomedical companies, of which there have already been a dozen generated from this work. Here is just one example of the kind of live-saving work that goes on within this initiative.

Reuters, Aug. 25: “Inhaled measles vaccine closer to reality,”

Boulder is top-ranked as a college destination. On Sept. 1, Chancellor Philip DiStefano, a resident of Boulder for 35 years, greeted students in the University Hill area and encouraged them to be good neighbors.

Boulder top pick as a college destination
A new report identified Boulder as the nation's top destination for college in metropolitan areas with a population of 250,000 to 1 million. The report ranks college destinations based on academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunities. The College Destination Index was released Sept. 8 by the American Institute for Economic Research.

USA Today, Sept. 8: "Colleges ranked on surroundings, city life off campus"

Students work with mentors in the Herbst Academic Center.

Academic success for CU’s student-athletes
Our 355 student athletes had their highest cumulative grade point average in a quarter century last semester. Last spring the football team had its highest term GPA on record, the men’s basketball team recorded its highest GPA in history and the women’s basketball team had its highest GPA in seven semesters. In all sports combined, the spring semester GPA for our student athletes was 2.85, one of the best performances in our history. Credit goes to the student-athletes and to the Herbst Academic Center for providing student-athletes with academic support.

I am a fan of our student-athletes on and off the field.

Go Buffs!

Philip P. DiStefano, Chancellor
University of Colorado at Boulder