Colorado State University

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Colorado State University

Motto	"Knowledge to go Places"
Established	1870
Type	Public
Endowment	US$193 million
President	Larry Penley
Faculty	1,403
Undergraduates	21,884
Postgraduates	4,534
Location	Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
Campus	Urban
Nickname	Rams
Mascot	Cam the Ram
Website	www.colostate.edu

Colorado State University is a public land grant institution of higher learning located in Fort Collins, Colorado in the United States. The current enrollment is approximately 25,000 students. The university has approximately 1,400 faculty in eight colleges and 55 academic departments.

[edit] History

The act to create the university was signed by Colorado Territory governor Edward M. McCook in 1870 arising from the Morrill Act. During the first years of its official existence, the university existed only on paper. A board of 12 trustees was formed to "purchase and manage property, erect buildings, establish basic rules for governing the institutions and employ buildings." But the near complete lack of funding by the territorial legislature for this mission severely hampered progress.

The first 30-acre (120,000 m²) parcel of land for the campus was deeded in 1871 by Robert Dazell. In 1872, the Larimer County Land Improvement Company contributed a second 80-acre (320,000 m²) parcel. The first $1000 to erect buildings was finally allocated by the territorial legislature in 1874. The funds were not sufficient, however, and trustees were required to find a matching amount, which they eventually obtained from local citizens and businesses.

Among the institutions which donated matching funds was the local Grange, which was heavily involved in the early establishment of the university. As part of this effort, in the spring of 1874 Grange No. 7 held a picnic and planting event at the corner of College Avenue and West Laurel Street, and later plowed and seeded 20 acres (80,000 m²) of wheat on a nearby field. Within several months, the university's first building, a 16-foot-by-24-foot red brick building nicknamed the "Claim Shanty" was finished, providing the first tangible presence of the institution in Fort Collins.

After Colorado achieved statehood in 1876, the territorial law establishing the university was required to be reauthorized. In 1877, the state legislature created the eight-member State Board of Agriculture to govern the school. The legislature also authorized a railroad right-of-way across the campus, and mill levy to raise money for construction of the campus' first main building, Old Main, which was completed in December 1878. Despite wall cracks and other structural problems during the first year, the building was opened in time for the welcoming of the first five students on September 1, 1879 by university president Elijah Evan Edwards.

The university has operated under four different names:

• 1879: Agricultural College of Colorado
• 1935: Colorado College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts (Colorado A&M)
• 1944: Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College (Colorado A&M)
• 1957: Colorado State University

[edit] Sports

The team's names are the Rams, The Mascot's name is Cam the Ram and the colors are green and gold. The CSU fight song can be found here.

Colorado State University's athletic teams compete in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and sponsors Division I-A football.

Colorado State has three major rivalries. The Rams' football team plays the University of Colorado every year in either Denver or Boulder in a game called the "Rocky Mountain Showdown" (also known as the Centennial Bowl). Within the Mountain West, Colorado State has a big rivalry with Air Force. The winner of the CSU-Air Force football game receives the Ram-Falcon Trophy. Colorado State also has an intraconference rivalry with Wyoming (the Border War), with the winner of the annual football game receiving the Bronze Boot. The CSU-Wyoming rivalry is the second oldest interstate rivalry west of the Mississippi, behind only the "Border Showdown" (formerly "Border War") of Missouri and Kansas.

Since Sonny Lubick took control over the Rams as head coach in 1992, the Rams have gone on to make seven bowl appearances. The Rams had a losing season in 2004, and finished 6-6 (5-3 in Mountain West Conference play) in the 2005 season.

in 2004, The Rams Womens' Volleyball team under coach Tom Hilbert made it to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament. In 2006, they won the Mountain West Conference tournament to make the first round of the NCAA tournament.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Wayne Allard, politician
• John Amos, actor
• David Anderson (football), professional football player
• Al "Bubba" Baker, professional football player
• Mike Bell, professional football player 2nd overall draft pick in 1979 NFL Draft
• Jim Benemann, Denver television news anchor
• Randy Beverly, professional football player
• Baxter Black, cowboy poet
• Leslie Brown, graphic designer
• Susan Butcher, dog-sled racer
• Mary L. Cleave, astronaut
• Dominique Dunne, actress
• Martin J. Fettman, astronaut
• Clark Haggans, professional football player, member of 2006 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers
• Becky Hammon, professional basketball player
• John Howell, professional football player
• Stan Matsunaka, politician
• Thurman "Fum" McGraw, Hall of Fame Football Player
• Mike Montgomery, professional basketball coach
• Sean Moran, professional football player
• Marilyn Musgrave, politician
• Greg Myers (football), professional football player Jim Thorpe Award winner (1995)
• Angie Paccione, politician
• Erik Pears, professional football player
• Joey Porter, professional football player, member of 2006 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers
• Bill Ritter, Colorado District Attorney, politician
• Roy R. Romer, former Colorado governor
• Kent Rominger, astronaut
• Cecil Sapp, professional football player

Jim Sheeler, Pulitzer prize winner

• Brady Smith, professional football player
• Amy Van Dyken, Olympic swimmer and gold medalist
• James Van Hoften, astronaut
• Bradlee Van Pelt, professional football player
• Carol Voisin, ethics professor and former candidate for Congress

[edit] Notable faculty

• Raj Chandra Bose, statistician
• William M. Gray, atmospheric sciences
• Temple Grandin, animal sciences
• Thomas Sutherland, hostage in Lebanon
• Holmes Rolston III, father of environmental ethics
• Karolin Luger, biochemistry
• Laurence Belfiore, innovator of transport phenomena, leader of the vector-tensor gymnastics movement

[edit] See also

• Innovative Vector Control Consortium

[edit] External links

• Official site
• History of CSU
• University Libraries
• Official CSU athletics site
• CSU Archery site. Home of Intercollegiate Archery Champion, Brian Christensen
• RamLine.com (Historical site for CSU athletics)
• RamNation.com Home of everything CSU Rams
• Colorado State University on Placeopedia

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