Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends of Colorado College,

I love the fall! Not only is the campus incredibly beautiful, but we also welcome many wonderful guests for Family and Friends Weekend and Homecoming. CC attracts original thinkers who are drawn to our location in the West and our unconventional Block Plan. These two weekends are great reminders of the strength and talents of our community, which you don’t find just anywhere.

Doing everything we can to foster creativity, curiosity, and perseverance in our students is at the center of our mission. In this issue of the Bulletin, we feature stories on some of the opportunities that nurture that sense of possibility in our students and some clear evidence — the many contributions of our alumni — that it is working.

For example, our immersive and engaged method of providing a liberal arts education sparks our students’ curiosity and often motivates them to further pursue an idea. That might require a research trip, a conference, or a work experience. Over the past decade, the Keller Family Venture Grants have supported such experiences for more than 1,000 students and we have seen their influence. With that inspiration, this fall the college created the Funding Opportunities for Students web portal to get resources into students’ hands openly and transparently, remove red tape, and enable them to move from dream to reality with fewer obstacles.

Opportunities to interact with our alumni and parents also inspire our students. We are proud and excited to welcome Dez Stone Menendez ’02 as the new director of Innovation at CC; Dez began work in September. The stories in our Faces of Innovation feature some of the trails alumni have blazed. This issue also celebrates several special members of the CC community: hockey legends Ron Hartwell ’52 and Andy Gambucci ’53, and long-time German Professor Dirk Baay, who all passed away in recent months. They each had a significant impact on the college.

Finally, Ed Robson ’54 credits CC Hockey Coach Cheddy Thompson for having that sort of impact on his life. This issue shares great news about Ed’s generous $8 million gift that will transform the experience of our hockey student athletes. Breaking ground during the 2018-19 academic year, the new Edward J. Robson Arena will be the practice ice for our varsity team, as well as intramural, club, and community teams once it opens.

When we encourage our students to act on the original ways they look at the world — be it through new programs and initiatives, powerful role models, or inspiring stories of our history — we are building on a great CC tradition. These are opportunities that our students embrace, and it is inspiring and exciting to be a part of it!

With warm regards,

Jill Tiefenthaler