University of Denver

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The University of Denver (DU), founded in 1864, is an independent university in Denver, Colorado. DU typically enrolls about 9,800 students, about equally divided between graduate and undergraduate programs. The 125-acre main campus is a designated arboretum and is located in a pleasant residential neighborhood, (University Park), about seven miles south of downtown Denver.

The University was founded in 1864 as Colorado Seminary by John Evans, the former Territorial Governor of Colorado, who had been appointed by US President Abraham Lincoln. Evans, who also founded Northwestern University prior to founding DU, is the source of the town name "Evanston" (the site of the Northwestern campus) as well as Mount Evans, a 14,000+ foot mountain visible from the DU campus.

DU is one of the top private universities in the American West and ranked in the top 100 nationally. The nationally-ranked Daniels College of Business is the primary undergraduate and graduate drawing card, but there are also considerable graduate level strengths in law, professional psychology, international studies, and social work.

Historically known as a school with an affluent, upper-middle class student body, with about 60 percent of the students coming from Colorado, and the other 40 percent coming from primarily the US East and West Coasts, the Midwest and foreign countries, DU has been transforming itself from its former undergradute reputation as a "ski school" into a much more dynamic insitution that combines small classes with university level resources, all in a young, vibrant and beautiful area of the United States.

Under the leadership of former Chancellor Daniel Ritchie (now Chairman of the DU Board of Trustees), about $500 million in capital improvements have taken place in the last decade and the learning inside these new buildings has improved in the same period, as admissions selectivity and rankings have improved dramatically.

The experiential learning components of all the classes at DU gives students the chance to excel beyond book knowledge. Believing firmly in the value of an experience abroad, the Cherrington Global Scholars program offers every undergraduate the chance to study abroad at no cost above normal DU tuition, room and board. The Honors program at DU, under the direction of Professor Todd Breyfogle, provides bright minds a refuge of conversation and advanced courses.

DU alumni have distinguished themselves in foreign affairs, politics, business, journalism, and the arts and entertainment, as well as athletics. Prominent alumni include: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, current commander of all forces in Iraq General George Casey, Andrew Rosenthal (assistant managing editor, New York Times), the late Lowell Thomas (radio commentator), Susan Waltz (chair, International Executive Committee, Amnesty International), U.S. Sen. Peter Domenici (R-NM), Paul Laxalt (former Nevada governor and senator), Peter Coors (CEO, Coors Brewing Co.), James Cox Kennedy (CEO, Cox Communications), U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Emily Cinader Woods (co-founder, J. Crew), Howard P. James (former CEO, Sheraton Hotels), Peter Morton (founder, Hard Rock Café chain), Elliott Martin (Broadway producer), Scott Rosenberg (founder, Malibu Comics, screenwriter of Con Air and Men in Black), Duane Michaels (photographer) and David Adkins (the comedian known as 'Sinbad').

In 2005, Denver selected former provost Robert Coombe as its new Chancellor.

Denver is one of the only schools in the US that personally interviews every undergraduate applicant (with interviews in more than 25 cities per year), ensuring that most accepted students will find that the University is very interested in the person, not just the applicant's credentials. The Hyde interview is named after an influential DU professor, Ammi Hyde, and most students describe the process as relatively painless, so the interview should not be considered a deterrant for prospective students who are nervous that they will not perform well. Further information can be found here, at the Ammi Hyde interview page.

In autumn 2003, DU opened a new 63.5 million USD facility for its College of Law, what was later named the "Sturm College of Law" The building includes a three-story library with personal computers accessible to students. Recently, the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has also undergone an internal renaissance, consolidating its position as the preeminent law school in the Rocky Mountain Region. In 2003, the University of Denver ATLA trial team won the national championship in New Orleans, taking Harvard's title from the previous year.

Additionally, the University also recently opened the acclaimed $75 million Newman Center for the Performing Arts, which includes a 1,000 seat, four-level opera house with some of the finest acoustics in the region, a 600-seat recital hall with an impressive organ, and a 400-seat flexible theatre space. The Newman Center serves as home to many professional performing arts groups as well as University performing arts events.

Athletics

DU's athletic teams are known as the Pioneers and have been fielding intercollegiate teams since 1867. Today, DU operates a full NCAA Division I athletic program with a unique and successful mix of sports in and around the $75 million Daniel Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness, which was completed in 2000.

Men's Ice hockey is DU's flagship spectator sport, regularly selling out the new 6,000 seat Magness Arena on campus, the showpiece of the Ritchie Center. The Pioneers won consecutive NCAA titles in 2004 and 2005, to go with five previous NCAA Championships in the '50s and '60s, giving DU 7 hockey titles overall, second only to the University of Michigan's nine NCAA hockey titles. Skiing is another strong sport at Denver, with 18 NCAA titles (more than any other school) including the most recent in 2005 and as well as three consecutive NCAA titles from 2001 to 2003.

The women's gymnastics, women's soccer, and men's lacrosse teams have all also been ranked in the national top 20 in recent years, and the men's basketball team won the Sun Belt West Division in 2005 and appeared in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for the first time since the 1950s. The women's basketball team appeared in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

Denver is a member of the Sun Belt Conference for Men's and Women's Basketball, Swimming, Tennis and Golf as well as Women's Volleyball and Women's Soccer, while the other Denver teams play in other conferences in those sports that are not sponsored by the Sun Belt. Men's Ice Hockey plays in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, men's soccer and women's lacrosse play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, men's and women's skiing competes in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, while men's lacrosse plays in the Great Western Lacrosse League. Women's Gymnastics competes as an Independent.

Football was once the most popular sport at Denver, as the school competed in the Sun Bowl and Alamo Bowl during the late 1940's. However, the program was discontinued in 1960 due to financial reasons, and Denver's baseball team was dropped in 1999.

Denver's athletic alumni include over 50 NHL hockey players, including the late Keith Magnuson, Craig Patrick, Cliff Korroll, Peter McNab, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Dineen, and current NHLers Antii Laaksonen, Mark Rycroft and Matt Pettinger. Other notable Denver sports alumni include former Major League Baseball player Dan Schatzeder, basketball player Vince Boryla, 1952 US Olympic Long Jump Gold Medalist Jerome Biffle and current Colorado Rapids soccer player Nat Borchers.