DIRE ECONOMY NOT HOLDING BACK CU

There is no doubt who is in charge of the University of Colorado Boulder's campus, and that person is CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano, who spoke to the Boulder Rotary Club last week about his job and the situation on campus.

DiStefano, also a Boulder Rotarian, brought club members up to speed on the whirlwind of developments and achievements at his campus, causing them to share his pride in how well the university is doing in spite of dire economic times.

A sampling of his many dramatic headlines:

• Enrollment is at an all-time high, with 30,196 degree-seeking students, including 5,519 freshmen, 42 percent of whom come from other states and from foreign countries.
• A major flagship initiative was launched this fall, that of housing professors in student resident halls. The head of the engineering honors program moved into Andrews Hall with his wife and two daughters. DiStefano considers this and other unique initiatives a major plus for academic enrichment.
• Heavy construction of academic facilities is in high gear on the campus, none financed from shrinking state tax dollars but rather by private fundraising and some federal stimulus dollars. Two key projects are a 300,000-square-foot biotech building and a visual arts complex, both state of the art.
• Speaking of fundraising, in spite of the bad economy this has been a record year for research grants, making CU a national leader in grant awards. Grants this year total $340 million, a $60 million increase.
• Construction is under way on the bio-tech facility, which will have 60 faculty members and 500 researchers and staff engaged in interdisciplinary research. Their targets will be a multitude of diseases and health problems, including cancer, aging, tissue engineering and vaccine development.

CU's 11th chancellor even had two words for those football fans and alumni calling for the heads of Athletic Director Mike Bohn and football coach Dan Hawkins: "Totally ridiculous," he said with disgust.

DiStefano says in evaluating athletic programs, "I don't just look at wins and losses. I look at a lot of things, including the academic record of athletes." Obviously he likes what he sees. Graduation rates for athletes are not only up, he said proudly, but the overall athletic grade point average is at new high of 2.9.




For more information on Rotary, see www.boulderrotary.org or www.rotary.org.

BOULDER ROTARY CLUB
5390 Manhattan Circle, Suite 101 Boulder, Colorado, 80303
303-554-7074 Rotary@roycearbour.com
Fax 720-304-3255 www.BoulderRotary.org


NEWS FROM BOULDER ROTARY CLUB
Contact: Sue Deans, 303-579-9580