Metropolitan State University of Denver will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with an eye toward the future as it develops new programs to meet the demands of a changing world. But its core vision remains the same: to be one of the premier urban baccalaureates in the country.
“We are fully engaged with the community. It’s our reason for being,” says MSU Denver President Stephen Jordan. “In this urban environment, we have an opportunity to put theory and practice together in real time.”
The school’s Hospitality Learning Center with the SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown hotel provides downtown hotel and conference space as well as real-world experience for students in hotel, restaurant and tourism management.
MSU Denver’s Center for Visual Art in the arts district on Santa Fe Drive provides a space for the university’s 1,000 arts majors to display their work and gives them an opportunity to meet and learn from artists who visit from around the world.
The new $20 million Regency Athletic Complex is the center for MSU Denver’s NCAA Division II teams as well as club and intramural sports. But it also was designed for the surrounding community.
The complex provides sports-related programs such as tennis and soccer for inner-city youth and has a walking path around the building that residents can use. MSU Denver will play host to between 800 and 1,000 student athletes at the Spring 2016 NCAA Division II sports festival.
MSU Denver is embarking on an innovative project that aims to integrate several disciplines to meet a growing demand for a skilled workforce that also will keep graduates in Colorado. The Aerospace and Engineering Sciences Building will combine aerospace science and engineering; industrial design; civil, mechanical and electrical engineering; and computer science and computer information systems. Some 28 new courses are planned, and classes will begin in 2016.
“Colorado has the second-largest workforce in aerospace in the private sector,” Jordan says. “But the industry can’t find the workforce. Companies like Lockheed Martin are recruiting out of state.”
MSU Denver leaders have proposed a $60 million public-private partnership with $20 million from the state, $20 million from the school and $20 million from the private sector. MSU Denver has received $5.8 million from the state for design work. Jordan says current plans are to break ground in the summer, with the building opening its doors in fall 2017.
Jordan says faculty members from the various disciplines as well as representatives from Lockheed Martin are working together to develop curriculum.
“This will fill a unique niche,” Jordan says. “It will provide a trained workforce and give students an opportunity to work and stay in Colorado at starting salaries of $60,000 to $65,000.”
The program also will continue MSU Denver’s growth in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) sciences. MSU Denver has seen a 30 percent growth in STEM, and Jordan is particularly surprised by the 68 percent growth in enrollment of students of color in this area.
In all, 34 percent of MSU Denver’s 22,000 students are students of color.
In 50 years, MSU Denver has graduated more than 80,000 students and it’s seeing an increase in the number of degrees it awards – from 2,280 10 years ago to 3,545 in 2014. And 85 percent of graduates stay in Colorado.
“We’re doing a better job of getting kids to the finish line, putting people in the workforce in meaningful ways,” Jordan says. “That’s why we created the university. We don’t have the highest ACT scores. It might take our students a little longer to complete school. But these are scrappy kids who want to change their lives.”
