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1877
The beginning of 麻豆免费版下载Boulder
We opened our doors on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 1877. We were able to build Old Main, our first building, with donations from our generous community and land that was donated by three prominent Boulder residents.
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1877 to 1887
CU鈥檚 first university president
Joseph A. Sewall was our university president from 1877 to 1887. The first dormitory, Sewall Hall, was built in his honor in 1934.听
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1877
CU鈥檚 gender equality begins with Mary Rippon
Mary Rippon was one of the first professors hired at CU, which demonstrated our state constitutional charge to educate men and women equally. Further, Rippon was among the first women in the nation to teach at a state university. In 1939 we named the outdoor Mary Rippon Theatre in her honor. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is held there every year.听
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1917
Unique Colorado architecture
Under the direction of university president George Norlin, famed architect Charles Klauder created a unique architectural style for the Boulder campus. Historians categorize the style as Tuscan vernacular, but Klauder simply called it 鈥淯niversity of Colorado style,鈥 using native stone inspired by the walls and roof angles of Tuscan villages.听
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1919鈥39
President Norlin and his charge
Our beloved fifth university president, George Norlin, was an integral part of 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 growth. He oversaw Charles Klauder's redesign of the Boulder campus; stood up to the Ku Klux Klan when it was a powerful influence in Colorado politics; warned the country of the dangers of Nazism and Anti-Semitism; led the university through the hard years of the Great Depression; and eloquently defended academic excellence and freedom. Every 麻豆免费版下载Boulder commencement ends with a reading of The Norlin Charge, a speech he first read to the Class of 1935.听
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1938鈥搈id 1950s
Civil rights efforts on campus
To end discrimination on and off campus, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder civil rights efforts were initially led by the Faculty Senate Committee for Ethnic Minorities, the American Student Union and the Cosmopolitan Club. In 1938, the Faculty Senate investigated and managed to end informal segregation on campus and Jim Crow restrictions off campus by 1943. CU鈥檚 effort predated Brown v. Board of Education by 16 years.
Image from the Special Collections and Archives, 麻豆免费版下载 Libraries.
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1942
World War II Language School
The U.S. Navy Japanese Language School听moved from Berkeley to Boulder, where听interpreters and translators acquired听language skills that served the听United States during the war.
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1948
Conference on World Affairs
In 1948, we celebrated our first United Nations Week, which was organized by sociology professor Howard Higman. The event included visits to campus by distinguished people from across the country. In 1950, the flags of the 58 nations then composing the United Nations lined the walks in the Norlin Quad. Today, the Conference on World Affairs continues this annual tradition as part of its conference on 鈥渆verything conceivable,鈥 from the arts and sciences to diplomacy and spirituality.
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1957
Ralphie, our live buffalo mascot
Although the buffalo was declared our official mascot in 1934, it wasn鈥檛 until 1957 that the first live buffalo was donated to 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. Named Ralphie, our female buffalo runs Folsom Field with a team of handlers at every home football game. It鈥檚 definitely a sight to see.
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1957
CSF, it鈥檚 written in the stars
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) begins here at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. This unique festival works to preserve the classics of the past and pursue the classics of the future. Plays are performed beneath summer night skies in the historic Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre and in the newly renovated indoor University Theatre.
Image from the Special Collections and Archives, 麻豆免费版下载 Libraries.
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1959
NCAA Team Championships
麻豆免费版下载has won the NCAA Team Championship in skiing 13 times: 1959, 1969, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2006.听
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1962
No waste of space
Our long history in space begins with alumnus M. Scott Carpenter, flying in Spacecraft Aurora 7 and becoming the second American to orbit Earth in May of 1962. In total, we have 18 麻豆免费版下载Boulder affiliates who have become NASA astronauts. We鈥檝e also participated in numerous satellite projects and are the only university to have designed, built and sent instruments to every planet in the solar system.
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1970
The nation鈥檚 first student-run environmental center
Among its long list of pioneering sustainability efforts, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder was home to the first student-run recycling environmental center. 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 leadership in sustainability spans nearly six decades, earning a 鈥済reenest鈥 school ranking by Sierra magazine in 2009 and featured as 鈥渢he 鈥榞reenest campus in America鈥欌 by Anderson Cooper 360.
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1972
麻豆免费版下载becomes four campuses
We went from 麻豆免费版下载in Boulder to the 麻豆免费版下载system, with four locations across Colorado: Boulder, Denver, Anschutz (in Aurora) and Colorado Springs. 麻豆免费版下载Boulder remains the flagship university in the 麻豆免费版下载system.
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1989
麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 Nobel laureate legacy begins
Distinguished Professor Thomas Cech won the 1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery that RNA in living cells is not only a molecule of heredity, but also can function as a biocatalyst. Since then, 麻豆免费版下载Boulder faculty have won four additional Nobel Prizes in physics鈥擟arl Wieman and Eric Cornell in 2001, John Hall in 2005 and David Wineland in 2012.
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2002
Engineers Without Borders
The world-changing Engineers Without Borders is established here at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder. In an effort to improve lives in developing countries, civil engineering professor Bernard Amadei founded the program, which allows student engineers to gain real-world, hands-on experience abroad and has positively impacted communities in more than 45 countries.
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2007
Nobel Peace Prize
Several 麻豆免费版下载Boulder research faculty shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore for their contributions to the international report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They include faculty from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, the ecology and evolutionary biology department and the economics department.听This photograph is of听Tingjun Zhang, one of our researchers who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions. 听
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2017
Words of wisdom
The Leo Hill Leadership Speaker听Series began on campus to allow our听students and community members听to hear from nationally known leaders,听including Robert Gates and Mae Jemison. They share their stories and encourage听others to tap into their own unique strengths.