One of the main colleges in the Colorado Springs area is University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), and it has been undergoing some remarkable growth and changes over the past few years—making our city a future contender with other university areas in Colorado.
The University of Colorado was teaching classes in Colorado Springs from as early as the 1920s, but it wasn’t until 1964 that a permanent establishment of a University of Colorado in Colorado Springs was established. Since then, UCCS used to be only a commuter school—it had no dorms or living situations housed therein. However, the school has been gradually changing to accommodate more and more dorms and on-campus residents. It has grown over 50% within the last 10 years with over 12,400 yearly students, and it continues to become a distinguished academic feature with the community.
UCCS is recently developing the ENT Center for the Arts, a 90,000 square foot venue with a 700-seat theater/concert hall. This will mark the beginning of a much-anticipated relationship between the university and local arts organizations—and the scheduled completion of the center is in January 2018. Arts and culture will flourish even more with such a large, centrally located center for the arts in the city.
Another new center for UCCS that is in the works is the William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center, an estimated 72,000-square-foot building that will offer sports medicine and human performance clinical, testing, and counseling services—as well as more instructional and research opportunities. This building will be completed by the end of 2019, and it’s a highly anticipated addition to our budding UCCS campus.
In short, UCCSS is becoming a significant research university, along with a growing arts & culture scene, and it will continue to expand over the years and be a true hub of academic and artistic innovation within the city.