CU Boulder is proud of our students, faculty and staff who have served our country and continue to serve our campus community in so many ways.”
–Chancellor Philip DiStefano
The Joint ROTC Color Guard presents during the 2018 Veterans Day Ceremony in the UMC. Photo by Casey Cass/CU Boulder.
CU Boulder will honor the nation's veterans, including CU Boulder's own student, staff and faculty veterans, with a Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom.
The Veteran and Military Affairs event will feature keynote speaker Ben Purser, vice president for geostrategic risk at the Institute for Security and Technology. A Joint ROTC Color Guard will present the colors, and the ceremony will be followed by a reception.
The University Memorial Center
In 1947, Colorado Gov. Lee Knous proclaimed the planned University of Colorado student union a memorial to “those who served in these great wars.” And so it was named “University Memorial Center” in tribute to all Colorado veterans. And at the 2013 Veterans Day Ceremony, the UMC was rededicated as Colorado’s official veterans’ memorial.
The second-floor Veterans Lounge was expanded in 2015 and now displays dedication plaques memorializing the Colorado veterans and University of Colorado students who died in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, the conflict in Korea, the Persian/Gulf Wars, the conflict in Iraq and the conflict in Afghanistan. The UMC continues to work with CU's Office of Veteran and Military Affairs to honor the memory of Coloradans involved in conflicts.
The lounge also features an exhibit with many original artifacts from the USS Colorado, the third ship of the U.S. Navy named in honor of the 38th state. Among the artifacts are the ship’s bell and stern pilot wheel, a waterline one-meter scale model and the ship's 48-star “Sunday Flag.”
