2007-2008 Catalog (PDF) - Colorado State University-Pueblo

CSU-Pueblo
THE UNIVERSITY
HISTORY
Since its incorporation in 1933 as Southern Colorado
Junior College to its new designation as a regional,
comprehensive university, CSU-Pueblo has served the
changing needs of the citizens of Colorado.
In 1933, the institution was incorporated as The
Southern Colorado Junior College. Classes took place
on the top floor of the Pueblo County Courthouse. The
“Class of '35” graduated 17 students. In 1936, the first
building on the Orman Avenue campus site was
donated by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation.
One year later, local citizens decided to support the
institution with county taxes; they organized the Pueblo
County Junior College District, and the institution was
renamed Pueblo Junior College. In 1951, PJC became
the first accredited junior college in Colorado.
A decade later, Colorado’s General Assembly enacted
legislation, effective in 1963, changing PJC to a fouryear
institution -- Southern Colorado State College --
to be governed by the Board of Trustees of State
Colleges. SCSC received accreditation in 1966.
By then, four buildings had been erected on the new
campus north of Pueblo’s Belmont residential district.
On July 1, 1975, the state legislature granted the
institution university status. Three years later, the State
Board of Agriculture assumed governance of the
University. In 1986, USC, Colorado State University
and Fort Lewis College joined to form the Colorado
State University System.
Over the next 15 years, USC and CSU increasingly
collaborated to bring more educational resources to
southern Colorado. In spring 2002, Colorado’s General
Assembly passed legislation that changed the name of
the University’s governing board to “Board of
Governors of the Colorado State University System,”
designated Fort Lewis College as independent of the
System, renamed USC “Colorado State University-
Pueblo,” and approved a new mission for the
University. The name and mission changes became
official on July 1, 2003.
MISSION
The state of Colorado established and continues to
recognize the University through state statutes:
There is hereby established a University at
Pueblo, to be known as Colorado State
University-Pueblo, which shall be a regional,
comprehensive university with moderately
selective admissions standards. The University
shall offer a broad array of baccalaureate
programs with a strong professional focus and a
firm grounding in the liberal arts and sciences.
The University shall also offer selected masters
level graduate programs. (Colorado Statutes
23-55-101)
In April, 2005 the Board of Governors of the Colorado
State University System adopted a complementary,
focused mission statement for the University that
stresses its distinctiveness and central commitments:
Colorado State University-Pueblo is committed
to excellence, setting the standard for regional
comprehensive universities in teaching,
research and service by providing leadership
and access for its region while maintaining its
commitment to diversity.
Both of these statements guide the University in all
that it does.
As a comprehensive university, CSU-Pueblo offers a
wide array of undergraduate degree programs in the
humanities, social sciences, sciences and math,
education, engineering, nursing, business, and other
professional areas. The University’s educational focus
on preparing graduates for professional careers is
grounded in the traditional liberal arts and sciences,
and so addresses students’ immediate and long-term
educational needs. Students graduate with the
knowledge necessary to enter their professions and
with the learning skills (e.g., problem solving, critical
thinking, research, and communication) required to
keep current in those professions into the future. The
broad professional and civic activities of our graduates
also demonstrate the importance of learning how to
engage more broadly in productive, meaningful and
responsible commitments while attaining economic
success. These outcomes stem from the University’s
simultaneous emphasis on liberal arts and sciences
and professional coursework.
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