Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > Chancellor's Celebration of Donors

Chancellor's Celebration of Donors
October 29, 2009
Chancellor Philip DiStefano

Welcome! I would like to extend a hearty and warm welcome, and a heart-felt thank you, to you, our top donors at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We would not be the great institution that we are today without each and every one of you.

We called this reception the "Chancellor's Celebration" because we are celebrating something very special - you and your generous gifts to CU-Boulder. We are here to honor you.

For me, it's great to be back as the permanent chancellor of the university.

I would like to start by thanking Bruce Benson for his partnership with the Boulder campus as the University of Colorado's 22nd president. Bruce was a good friend of the university, and to education, long before he was appointed president in February 2008. An alum of CU-Boulder, he and his wife, Marcy, chaired a $1 billion comprehensive fund-raising campaign from 1997 to 2003, they endowed the Benson Chair in Petroleum Geology, and they led the fund raising and gave us the naming gift for the Benson Earth Sciences Building.

They have served on several boards, commissions and foundations as tireless advocates for higher education, K-12 education and a better future for all Coloradans.

I also would like to acknowledge CU Foundation board chair and the university's good friend, Jeannie Thompson.

Jeannie joined the Board of Trustees of the CU Foundation in 2002 and became a director of the Foundation in 2005. She was elected chair of the board in 2008. She, and her husband, Jack, are generous contributors to numerous programs on the campuses, and are major gift donors to the Caruthers Biotechnology Building on the East Campus. My great thanks go out to the Thompsons for their contributions and service to the university.

I am proud to say I am beginning my 36th year at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In those years I have seen this university become a great institution. I have seen it advance from a regional university of about 20,000 students to the premier nationally comprehensive research university of 30,000 students that it is today.

Over those 3 1/2 decades we have seen many accomplishments at CU-Boulder. This year was no exception.

For starters, this year we set a record for total enrollment: 30,196 students. We feel like we're educating not only good students, but also good citizens, and preparing them for a life of career and contribution in a global society and marketplace. Again, we couldn't do it without you.

We also have 5,519 new freshmen, including 900 students of color. This is another strong, diverse and academically talented class whose members come to us with an average high school grade point average of 3.54.

Thanks to your generous support, and with the help of our partners at the CU Foundation, we nearly matched our 2008 fund-raising record of last year, despite this difficult economy. That's a major accomplishment. Thank you again.

In August we announced a new record at CU-Boulder for federally sponsored research: $340 million, breaking last year's record by $60 million. This points out that our faculty is doing relevant, essential, life-saving work.

This revenue supports the work of many hundreds of graduate students and also undergraduates who participate in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and provides a tremendous impact on the state's economy.

We attracted a record 23 new graduate students who received prestigious National Science Foundation fellowships. These are students who could have studied at any U.S. or foreign institution of graduate research and they chose CU-Boulder. Typically we have seven or eight new NSF fellows each year. This is a wonderful testament to the quality of our graduate programs and it is certainly in step with our Flagship 2030 strategic plan goal of advancing our graduate education mission.

We opened our second Residential College this fall, in which upper class students live and study in residential halls alongside first-year students. Associate professor Scot Douglass moved into the renovated Andrews Hall this fall to lead 229 new and returning undergraduates in the Engineering Honors Program, which he directs. This is the embodiment of our Flagship 2030 initiative on building a Residential College program.

Although Flagship 2030 is still in its infancy, and it was conceived as a long-range plan, we already are beginning to see tangible results. I would like to take a minute to briefly report on our progress on our strategic plan.

We first began formulating our strategic plan just three years ago with significant participation and input from the community, the statewide public and all our constituents. The plan is made up of eight core initiatives to ensure we remain competitive among the nation's top research universities, and 10 transformational initiatives to prepare the university and our students for education and service in the 21st century.

We recognize we can't do it all at once so we have selected a handful of initiatives in this economic environment that will both improve the quality of education for our students and have the potential of producing added revenue.

Some of these initiatives include curriculum enhancements, internationalizing the campus, and serving the state of Colorado.

One of Flagship 2030's transformative initiatives is "investing in the tools for success." I would like to briefly update you on the progress of our new buildings, which are quickly rising from the ground thanks to your support.

I am reminded of what Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

With that in mind, we broke ground on the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building on Sept. 9. This state-of-the-art facility will be home to researchers and students from a broad diversity of disciplines to take on urgent human health-care challenges.

Nobel laureate Dr. Tom Cech will lead the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology to be headquartered in this building, which will help to anchor the East Campus. And in his spare time Dr. Cech also is teaching freshman chemistry this year.

The Visual Arts Complex will open in early 2010. It is a jewel at the heart of our campus with two wings. One wing will house the CU Art (teaching) Museum and the other wing will be home to the department of Art and Art history. The climate-controlled museum will allow the university to bring in traveling exhibits from around the world. It will truly become a cultural gateway not only to this campus, and for the Front Range but for all of Colorado.

The Center for Community on Regent Drive is scheduled to open in the fall. This is an important new facility for students that will house student and support services under one roof along with a centralized 900-seat dining hall. It will provide a great sense of community for students as a place where they can meet, access services, make new friends, break bread and compare notes.

Promoting a strong sense of community and offering services that students need to thrive are essential.

We continue to make progress on fund raising for private gifts that are essential to funding these important projects.

In closing, I would like to once again express a sincere thank you for your dedication and loyalty to the university. Thank you for all you do for the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Go Buffs!