The Liberal Arts and the Artisan Economy

Earlier today, I sent the letter below to our CC Parents regarding a recent article/video touting the benefits of a liberal arts education.

Dear CC Parent:

What a beautiful summer it is in Colorado Springs! The campus is green and lush, and the extra rain we’ve had has been a welcome change from the dry heat and fire of the past two years. I hope that you and your family have been able to take advantage of the more relaxed pace of the season.

I saw a wonderful news feature this past weekend that caught my attention because it addresses two subjects highly important to me: the value of a liberal arts education, and economics. Specifically, the feature highlights how a liberal arts education that develops critical thinking skills and creativity, and provides opportunities for innovation and collaboration — things that we do very well here at Colorado College — will be important to the future of our economy. I invite you to read more about it and view a brief video.

One of our signature programs at CC, The Big Idea, is a perfect example of what can be achieved when critical thinking, creativity, and innovation intersect. Take a moment to read about last year’s competition. The Big Idea will be back again this coming year, bigger and better than ever!

Best wishes to you and your family for the rest of the summer. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Warm regards,

Jill

Spencer Center Renovations

Yesterday, we sent out the following announcement to the campus community about the renovations in the Spencer Center. The building is looking terrific!

Campus Announcement

The pace is quickening as progress continues on the Spencer Center renovation.

Solar panels are fully installed on the rooftop; the 18-kilowatt solar array will support 20 percent of the building’s electricity needs.

Cache La Poudre will remain closed from Tejon Street to Cascade Avenue through Friday for work on a new water line to the Spencer Center. Crews are expanding the building’s north-facing landscaping, eliminating parallel parking on Cache La Poudre between Tejon Street and the Cornerstone Arts Center and providing more outdoor space and pedestrian-friendly access outside the Spencer Center.

Drywall work wraps up this week, and crews are staining the hardwood floors and installing carpet. Paint and wainscoting details also are complete throughout all four floors. See the attached photos and view ​more on the project webpage.

Move-in is scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 18. A more detailed division move-in schedule will be available next month and will mark the first in what will be a multi-tiered shuffle of offices across campus.

Want to take a look at the finished project? Members of the CC facilities team will offer weekly Spencer Center tours for small groups of up to seven people once the move-in process begins. Meet at the trailer on the west side of the Spencer Center at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays or Thursdays beginning Aug. 20.

To learn more about the project, find out which offices will be moving in, and to see updated photos of the renovation in progress, visit the Spencer Center Renovation webpage.

CC’s Block Plan highlighted by Airbnb’s Chesky

Our Block Plan was mentioned by Airbnb’s co-founder Brian Chesky as an example of the future of education at a session of the recent Aspen Ideas Festival. You can watch the session on How the Sharing Economy is Redefining the Marketplace and Our Sense of Community at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGAKYeb86Oc#t=3218 (the discussion on education and the mention of CC starts around 53:30). Thanks to Tanyu Yuba ’13 for bringing this mention to our attention.

For those of you who haven’t yet heard about Airbnb and the growth of the sharing economy, there is a good article by Tom Friedman on Airbnb and Chesky in today’s New York Times Sunday Review.

CC Attracts Students from Across the Country

Recently, a CBS News article, “Look where top students are going to college,” notes that a new study conducted by Niche discovered that “High-achieving students are much more likely to attend colleges farther away from their homes than other teenagers.” On the article’s list of the colleges and universities that attracted undergrads from farthest away, Colorado College ranked 10^th in the country. Visit here to read the article.

Our students come from across the US and, as a result, so do our alumni.  More than half of CC alumni live more than 1000 miles from campus.

CC Students Intern at KRCC

KRCC, CC’s radio station, has hired a number of student interns over the years, giving students invaluable opportunities to work with professionals. Recently, several of these student interns worked on impressive stories for KRCC.

During her time at KRCC, Sarah Stockdale ’14 produced the series, “A Sense of Place,” that covers “environmental histories and issues in southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.”

Maggie Spencer Deadrick ’14 and Martha Perez-Sanz ’14 worked on a collection of articles about the possibility that Amtrak’s Southwest Chief through Southern Colorado might be rerouted, “bypassing Western Kansas, Colorado and Northern New Mexico entirely” if upgrades to the rail line are not completed. You can find links to these articles below:

http://krcc.org/post/railroad-west-amtrak-along-santa-fe-trail

http://krcc.org/post/railroad-west-southwest-chief-faces-possible-colorado-derailment

http://krcc.org/post/railroad-west-la-junta-junction

http://krcc.org/post/railroad-west-trinidad-freight-and-passenger-rail-are-linked