Happy Valentine’s Day, Colorado!

At CU, our love for our state isn’t limited to a single day; it’s at the heart of everything we do every day of the year. This Valentine’s Day, I want to take a moment to celebrate what drives us to work hard for the people and places we cherish. WE LOVE YOU, COLORADO! And we’ll shout it from the mountain tops to the eastern plains and beyond.

We love Colorado so much, in fact, that last year on Colorado Day, we started a dialogue with Coloradans to find out what they love most about our state, because chances are, there’s someone at CU doing something to make it possible.  
 
We heard all kinds of answers from people all over the state. We even heard from a cow named Dottie.  

• Enrique told us he loved Colorado’s music scene. And he’s not alone. That’s why we foster Colorado’s up-and-coming high school music talent at CU Denver’s summer Lynx Camps. Colorado teens get the chance to work with local music professionals – from songwriters to sound engineers – and learn more about their intended career path.  
   
• Jacqueline told us she loves outdoor adventures. To help keep Jacqueline moving, CU Anschutz and UCCS are making physical therapy programs more accessible to all Coloradans with a hybrid model. Students study from their homes and come to our UCCS campus for hands-on learning experiences. We even help place them in jobs to make sure every corner of our state has healthcare professionals so Coloradans stay healthy and exploring. 
   
• Latrice told us she loved Colorado’s local businesses. And because we know how daunting starting a business can be, CU Boulder’s Erick Mueller, professor and executive director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, has led the Rural Entrepreneurship Workshop Series for the last 10 years. The center’s faculty and students partner with Coloradans across the state to make their business dreams a reality within five years. 
   
• Dottie, the cow, said she loved “mooooooooooo.” And while we haven’t found an exact translation, we did detect some methane in her mooing. Fortunately, LongPath Technologies, a startup spun out of CU Boulder’s Venture Partners program, has developed a groundbreaking system that detects methane leaks in real time. It saves businesses money and improves our air quality and public health.  

These are just a handful of the stories that highlight the important ways our campuses serve all Coloradans and their passions, whether it’s a love of green chiles, our military community, fly-fishing, or rodeos and rock climbing. Everything we do is driven by our love for our state.  

So, join me in celebrating Valentine’s Day by sharing what you love about Colorado at LoveColorado.com, and we’ll continue to share with you how our people are helping to build a brighter future for all Coloradans and our great state.    

And if you haven’t already, see some of the crazy awesome things we do for love in our Valentine’s Day video. 

Sincerely,  

Todd Saliman, President