Then and Now: Fall 2025
Ten years ago, CU Boulder embarked on an experiment.
"The potential is here to really rebuild those relationships between bodies of knowledge that we’ve somehow defined apart.
—Founding Dean Lori Bergen,
Daily Camera, April 8, 2015
Journalism, communication, advertising and computer science were undergoing tremendous upheaval, thanks to new tools, changing market forces and evolving consumer behavior. Should the models used to teach these disciplines also change, to better prepare students to confront disruption? Was there something to be gained by teaching, say, data science to a journalism student? Or media studies to a communication major?
We now have our answer. In the 10 years since its founding, the college has seen enormous gains in student and faculty size, with strong external and alumni support to advance our aims in education, research and creativity. We’re celebrating our first 10 years with a new name—we became the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information in July—and the strongest footing we’ve been on since the beginning of this experiment.
2015
Hard to believe, but when the college launched, you could fit everyone in a single room.
2016
Work begins on the Center for Academic Success and Engagement. It now houses the dean’s suite, communication department and more. Photo by Dena Heisner
2018
The Immersive Media Lab is a closet in the stadium when it first opens. It’s since become a high-tech hub for collaborations throughout the college.
CMDI by the numbers
$33 million
Total alumni support,
2015-2024
$14.9 million
Externally funded awards received
by CMDI researchers since 2015
151.9%
Growth in undergraduate
applications, 2015-2024
153%
Growth in graduate
applications, 2015-2024
132%
Increase in tenured and
tenure-track faculty, 2015-2024
104,496 ft2
Size of the college’s footprint across 12 buildings
813
Size of the spring 2025
graduating class
411
Students who studied abroad in 2024-25, nearly a 20-fold increase from 2015
2019
Students try out CMDI’s creative equipment at J-Day, held at Colorado State University. The signature journalism event returned to Boulder in 2024 for the first time in decades.
2021
Proving location is paramount: In the worst days of the pandemic, every university had Zoom. Few schools could encourage their grad students to take a hike.
2024
The college’s board of advisors tours a CASE renovation that added event space for CMDI.
2025
The college welcomes its largest class, with 548 new first-year students.
