Creative Work, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
1876–1892: The Founding Era
Ivers Phillips Arts Collection - University Libraries' archives.
In 1892, Ivers Phillips and his wife, Abigail, donated $1,000 to the Latin Department and later made another $1,500 donation specifically for an art collection for a total of roughly $92,000 today. Phillips recognized that students studying European history and literature lacked quality art references for their studies. The collection was made up of reproductions of famous paintings and sculptures by European masters. The paintings were autotype reproductions created by Adolphe Braun, an artist and photographer from the Alsace region in France. Braun specialized in producing large-scale photographic reproductions of fine art. He used carbon printing techniques to produce images that kept similar details to the original works of art. Initially in Old Main, the collection moved to Macky Auditorium in 1913. By the 1950s some of the artworks became part of the Department of Fine Arts, while others were moved to Norlin Library. Today, part of the original collection is still in Norlin Library’s Archives.Ěý
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Photo credit: Photo by J. Raymond Brackett, 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
Nellie Rust, Real Estate Entrepreneur
In 1892, at just 23 years old, Nellie Rust began her career in real estate during a time when few women were running their own businesses. A student at CU’s Preparatory School in the 1880s, Nellie left school in 1888, around the time of her father’s death. After her mother’s passing a few years later, she oversaw the management of the land her parents had acquired. Making her first sale in 1892, Nellie embraced her new role, gradually expanding her services to include buying land, renting and selling homes, loaning money and offering fire insurance. She was also very involved in Boulder’s community, participating in various activities, community service and philanthropic efforts. Generous in life and in death, she used her small fortune to help others. Her lasting legacy, the Nellie Rust Trust Fund, still provides small grants to Boulder groups engaged in cultural programs, mental health initiatives and educational opportunities for young people.
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Photo credit: Nellie Rust's home and real estate office at 602 Spruce Street. Carngie Library for Local History
1892–1914: Expanding Horizons
Hale Science Building
Toward the end of Horace Hale’s university presidency, the need for more academic space on campus grew tremendously, and in 1891, the construction of a second academic building began. Designed to be one of the most advanced science labs in the country, half of the original building was constructed with brass screws, platings and construction material to allow radio testing. The building opened as Hale Sciences in April 1894. The first floor had four physics labs, the second floor was dedicated to math, law and engineering, the third floor was biology and the fourth held a small geology lab and museum that later became the Museum of Natural History. Extensions to Hale in 1910 created a home for physics, engineering and math until Cold War funding brought together the northeast part of campus. Hale was remodeled in the 1990s and has provided a home for the Anthropology Department since.Ěý
Source: Coloradan Magazine
Photo credit: J. Raymond Brackett, CU University Libraries, Rare and Distinctive Collections.
Daniels Leaves His Mark on Denver’s Skyline
Major William Cooke Daniels, 1899 alum, was the son of William Bradley Daniels of Daniels & Fisher (D&F) department store, inheriting the business in 1897. His publication, “The Department Store System” discussed the operations and processes behind large department stores and mass marketing that made D&F so prosperous and had revolutionized retail in the state. In 1910, capitalizing on the company’s growing success, Daniel’s bought out adjacent buildings at the corner of Sixteenth and Arapahoe to build a large tower modeled after St. Mark’s campanile in Venice, to serve as a physical advertisement for D&F. The construction made it one of the tallest buildings between the Mississippi River and California at the time. While the store no longer remains and much of the area was demolished during the 1970s urban renewal project, the D&F Tower still stands, a landmark of Denver’s central business district.Ěý
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Photo credit: Daniels & Fisher Tower, pre-1920. Library of Congress.
Composing the Colorado State Song
Dr. Arthur John Fynn earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tufts College and his doctorate degree from the University of Colorado in 1898 before beginning a career in education. An educator, author and composer, Fynn is best remembered for writing Colorado’s first state song, “Where the Columbines Grow.” He composed the song’s first three verses in 1909, inspired by Colorado’s mountain landscape and its state flower, the columbine. It was first performed publicly in 1911 and legally adopted as the state song in 1915. Though repeatedly challenged in the 20th century, Fynn’s composition has remained the official state song and was joined by John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” in 2007.
ĚýSource: CU American Music Research Center
Photo credit: Image of A.J. Fynn. W.F. Stone, History of Colorado, Vol. 4 (Chicago: Clarke, 1918-19), 277.
1914–1939: The Great War, Depression & New Deal
A CU Grad Takes the Stage at the Metropolitan Opera
Josephine Antoine, a 1929 CU graduate, joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1935 and made her debut in a leading role the following year. Over the next decade, she performed with major opera companies across the country, building a national career in performance. She was awarded an honorary master’s degree in music from 91´«Ă˝ in 1935 and performed “With Verdure Clad” from Hayden’s “The Creation” at commencement.Ěý
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Photo credit: Josephine Antoine (left) with Alexander Grant and Maria Mansfield. Photo by Floyd G. Walters, 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
Muriel Sibell Wolle
Muriel Sibell Wolle came to 91´«Ă˝ in 1926, and soon after became the head of the Department of Fine Arts which saw considerable growth under her tenure. With a background in costume design, she worked closely with the University Theatre to create costumes and sets for productions by Francis Wolle, her eventual husband. While an expert costume-maker, she is nationally recognized and remembered for her sketches and watercolors of the forgotten and lost ghost towns of the West which she fell in love with during her first years in Colorado. Her free time was spent documenting their existence before they vanished, often relying on rides from students into the mountains, horses and her own two feet. In 1975, Muriel earned the Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities for her large body of work that continues to live on and preserve a history that otherwise would have been lost.
Source:ĚýColoradan Magazine
Photo credit: Wolle pictured with her lithograph “Gladstone, Colorado." Photo by Floyd Walters. 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
A CU-Trained Artist Contributes to Modernist Painting Rooted in the Colorado Landscape
Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Eve Drewelowe’s fondness of nature would come to influence her artistic legacy. Despite not receiving art education in her youth, she pursued a master’s degree in art, becoming the first graduate of the program at the University of Iowa. When her husband Jacob Van Ek took an assistant professor position at CU, the couple moved west to Colorado — home to the landscapes her paintings would become renowned for. Eve took classes, taught in the fine arts department and was a charter member of the Boulder Arts Guild, briefly serving as president. While “Van Ek” legally, she only used it professionally until 1950, when a reporter miscredited “Mr. Van Ek” for her painting. She went by Drewelowe thereafter. Eve Drewelowe has become a staple of postmodern impressionism and abstraction in the American West.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Eve Drewelowe wedding portrait. 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.Ěý
Finding Its Rhythm: Dance at CU
Initially offered as part of the curriculum for the physical education program, dance took on a more interpretive tilt with the formation of the modern dance group Orchesis in 1921. Outside of spring concerts, dance struggled to find opportunities on the science- and research-driven university of those early days. As interest among students increased, the physical education department offered a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in dance in 1946 and by 1962 dance became a standalone program, with a master’s degree available shortly after. When the Department of Theatre & Dance formed, dance found a home in the Charlotte York Irey Theatre, a newly finished wing named in honor of the director of the program. Over the years, CU Dance has built strong community ties throughout Boulder and Colorado with performances at festivals, the Boulder Jazz Dance Workshop, student dance groups and the Roser Visiting Artist program.Ěý
Source:ĚýCU Theatre & Dance
Photo credit: Orchesis performance, 1961. 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
A Long-Running Performance Series Brings International Artists to Campus
In the mid-1930s, the Artist Series started to bring talented performers from beyond Colorado to Boulder. Throughout the program’s history, focus on performances has shifted — beginning with solo vocalists and plays, to a jazz craze during the mid-century, to an increase in dance and a broadening of cultural influences in the latter half. Despite its natural evolution to the cultural curiosities of the time, orchestral performances and skilled solo instrumentalists have remained the bread and butter of the program. The Artist Series continues to boast an eclectic selection of acts from classical to contemporary with performances from emerging artists to well-established performers such as Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins and Take 6.
Source:ĚýCU Presents
Photo credit: Artist Series flyer, 1974. 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
Charles M. Annan
Scottish-born artist Charles M. Annan Jr. immigrated to the U.S. in 1928 at the age of 15 and settled with his family in Detroit, Michigan. Enlisting in the Army during World War II, he still painted whenever he had free time, even while stationed abroad. He moved to Boulder with his wife, where he taught fine art at the CU in the late 1940s and 1950s and exhibited his own work, including a one-man show at Norlin Library. By the early 1950s he gained national recognition, and his pieces were exhibited alongside other famous contemporary artists, such as Andrew Wyeth, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He later taught art at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Although his life was cut short in 1956, Annan’s career reflects a strong commitment to both artistic practice and mentorship.Ěý
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Annan, Charles. Untitled. 1956. CU Art Museum.
1939–1954: WWII, Cold War & Expansion
Venture Partners at 91´«Ă˝
In 1954, CU engineering professor George Löf was granted U.S. Patent 2,680,565 for a solar heating system — recognized as the first patent associated with the University of Colorado. Filed in 1945, the invention reflected early work to translate research into practical application. Decades before formal technology transfer systems existed, it marked a moment when discoveries made at CU began to be recorded and protected beyond the campus.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Fig. 1 of the solar heating apparatus and method, invented by George O.G. Löf. Patent US2680565.
LASP
In 1953, researchers in CU’s Upper Air Laboratory — later the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics — launched one of the first rockets to observe the sun’s ultraviolet radiation above Earth’s atmosphere. The work reflected growing efforts to study space using new technologies and experimental methods. In the years that followed, collaborations between CU researchers and industry contributed to the founding of Ball Aerospace in 1956, illustrating how research conducted at the university began to connect with emerging aerospace industries.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: UAL succeeded in launching a rocket to observe the Sun's ultraviolet radiation above Earth’s atmosphere. LASP.
Program Council
Program Council has been enriching campus life with student-focused entertainment since 1953. Historical events included the Trivia Bowl, Alferd Packer Day, the Hairy Bacon Bowl games and memorable concerts at Folsom Field like Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones. Today, Program Council curates a mix of film screenings, comedy performances and unique special events, while also offering production support to campus groups and organizations. Over its 75-year history, it has evolved from a self-sustaining, student-led organization to one supported by student fees, allowing it to provide free entertainment to the CU community. But more than its structure, it is the people behind it who define its impact. Driven by a passionate and diverse team of students with interests spanning concerts, film, production and marketing, the organization continues to grow, transforming ideas into experiences that shape campus life and prepare the next generation of industry leaders.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: 2017 WelcomeFest. Program Council.
1954-1974: Civil Rights, Vietnam & Social Change
Betty Woodman and Ceramics as a Fine Art
Betty Woodman helped expand ceramics at the university and in Boulder, launched the Boulder Pottery Lab in 1954 that grew from a handful of students to hundreds. Through her teaching and artistic work, she contributed to changing perceptions of pottery from functional craft to a form of fine art. Her teaching and influence helped shape a ceramics program at 91´«Ă˝ that is now recognized among the top in the nation.
Source:ĚýColoradan Magazine
Photo credit: Betty Woodman with her work, c. 1977, Boulder, Colorado. Woodman Family Foundation Archive. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Designing New Ways to Communicate for People with Limited Mobility
In 1956, students and faculty at 91´«Ă˝ developed the Rhovac typewriter system designed for quadriplegic individuals. The invention represents one example of how researchers and students were experimenting with ways to expand access to communication through design. The system worked by using a board in which lights moved across letters and symbols, and the device allowed users to select characters through small movements — such as those of the mouth, eyelids or fingers. The Polio Foundation provided and supervised use of the typewriter and the invention was displayed during October 1956’s “Employ the Handicapped” week in Colorado. While similar approaches to assistive communication were being explored elsewhere, the CU device reflects mid-20th-century efforts to apply emerging technologies to practical human needs.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Electrical engineering professor Jack Collins demonstrates operation of Rhovac typewriter with use of wand in his mouth. Photo by Fred Shelton, Daily Camera. 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
A Performance Tradition Becomes the Colorado Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare has had a home in Boulder nearly as long as the university has existed, with a history of performances dating back to the late 19th century. Student productions of his works began in the 1890s as part of a set of class performances. They later became an outdoor spectacle with the construction of the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre in 1939. By the mid 1940s, Shakespeare was being performed annually under the stars, establishing a distinct tradition that culminated in the official Colorado Shakespeare Festival in 1958. The long-standing festival has completed the entire Shakespeare canon twice, the first in 1975 and again in 2017. What began as a modest production with a rather small budget has grown into a major cultural gathering that directly reflects 91´«Ă˝â€™s commitment to the performing arts.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Photo by Jerry Stowall, 91´«Ă˝ Heritage Center.
1974–2000: Modernization & Globalization
CU’s First Patent To Become a Billion-Dollar “Unicorn”
The Bayh Dole Act of 1980 enabled universities to hold patents for federally funded inventions as long as efforts were made to commercialize the inventions for the benefit of the public. The campus received its first patent in 1984 from research conducted under funding from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Patent U.S. 4,458,066 was co-invented by distinguished professor of biochemistry Marv Caruthers and graduate student Mark Matteucci and details a process for preparing polynucleotides which continues to revolutionize medical care to this day.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Process for preparing polynucleotides, invented by Marv Caruthers and Mark Matteucci. Patent US4458066.
Takács Quartet
Takács Quartet, founded in 1975 by four students at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, has become one of the world’s leading string quartets. The musicians are known for their interpretations of composers such as Beethoven and Bartok, seeking to blend European roots with long-standing academic traditions in the United States. The quartet’s residence at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1983 has shaped the lives of musicians for generations through seminars and active international performances. Despite changes in membership over the decades, including the departure of the founders Gábor Takács-Nagy, Gábor Ormai and, most recently, András FejĂ©r, the group has sustained its identity and reputation. Its accolades include both a Grammy Award as well as the Wigmore Hall Medal, all of which reflect technical and interpretive excellence. In 2025, they celebrated their 50th anniversary.Ěý
Source:ĚýTakács Quartet
Photo credit: Amanda Tipton
STEP 3
Students Begin Operating NASA Missions
After LASP’s Mission Operations Center opened in 1981, the institute trained the first team of 91´«Ă˝ students to operate NASA and other spacecraft. Fifteen CU students would be among the first outside of NASA to operate the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) designed and built by LASP in cooperation with Ball Aerospace as part of the university’s ongoing effort to study solar radiation. The students were trained for 12 weeks and, under guidance from NASA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, made the SME mission an eight-year success. Today, the program has had over 250 student flight operators on numerous missions and currently operates NASA’s IXPE satellite.
Source:ĚýColoradan Magazine
Photo credit: Students working in the Mission Operations Center. LASP.
STEP 4
Marvin Caruthers and the Post-Genomic Era
Marvin H. Caruthers, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at 91´«Ă˝, transformed modern chemical biology through his pioneering work on the chemical synthesis of DNA and RNA. In the 1980s, the Iowa State and Northwestern-educated scientist, then a professor at CU, developed efficient methods for producing short DNA sequences, or oligonucleotides, reducing a lengthy process that took months down to just a few hours. This breakthrough laid the groundwork for human genome research and the emergent post-genomic era. Several of his key patents in custom DNA and RNA production helped launch the biotechnology industry. In this domain, Caruthers co-founded Applied Biosystems, helping bridge academic research and the biotech industry with his “Gene Machine” that enables rapid DNA synthesis in labs nationwide. Of his numerous awards, one of the most distinguished of them was the U.S. National Medal of Science awarded to Caruthers in 2006.
Source:ĚýCU Biochemistry
Photo credit: Marv Caruthers in his office, University of Colorado Boulder.
2000–2026: The 21st Century
CU Orbits Mars
Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) is the second of NASA’s Mars Scout Program. Its purpose is to document Mars’ atmosphere and compare the findings against researchers’ hypothesis that the Red Planet once had a much warmer, wetter climate billions of years ago. 91´«Ă˝â€™s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) put forward the strongest proposal in 2008 and was selected to lead the $458 million mission, which was the largest research contract the campus had received. Five years later, MAVEN was launched out of Cape Canaveral, reaching orbit a year later. Over a decade later, the project has been collecting data on solar flares, auroras and seasons and continues to unlock the secrets of Mars’ atmosphere, from right here in Boulder’s LASP.
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: MAVEN launch in 2013. Photo by Casey A. Cass, University of Colorado.
Marc Herzberger Reimagines Sustainable and Customizable Sandals
Marc Herzberger, Leeds Business School alum, led The Hype Company through a complete rebranding effort, turning the small Denver-based sustainable shoe brand into an innovative new player in footwear with their Slydr sandals. Marc himself had previously worked at Crocs for 11 years and had an inside perspective of the business; he recognized that non-professional sports teams wanted to display their logos on slide-on sandals worn before and after games. He soon expanded to other groups as well. To maximize customization without compromising affordability, Hype developed a modular shoe design with interchangeable straps and bases, allowing for endless combinations. The company sought recognition on the show “Shark Tank,” where it received investment from Barabara Corcoran and a huge increase in sales. Marc advises aspiring business students and entrepreneurs to build strong teams and stay committed to their ideas through moments of hardship.
Source:ĚýLeeds School of Business
Photo credit: Mark Herzberger.
Eliminating Global Vaccine Barriers
Vitrivax, founded by professors Bob Garcea and Ted W. Randolph, is a biotechnology company that seeks to reduce barriers to global vaccination and develop a novel stabilization and delivery platform for vaccines and therapeutics. The vision was partly born from Randolph’s volunteer work in Latin America, where maintaining vaccines within the right temperature range was a persistent challenge without reliable access to electricity or refrigeration. The team received a $1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop next-generation vaccines that would require no refrigeration and defend against infectious diseases with a single shot. Vitrivax developed new nanoparticles using CU-developed atomic layer deposition technology to produce vaccines that are not only single shot and heat stable, but also low-cost and highly effective. Disease targets range from Rabies to HPV with impact of these next gen vaccines especially profound for low income and medically underserved communities.
Source:ĚýCU Venture Partners
Photo credit: Ted Randolph and Bob Garcea infront of the Vitrivax logo. BioFrontiers Institute.
LASP Operates Kepler in its Search for Earth-Like Planets
The Kepler Space Telescope launched in 2009 with a goal to discover the exoplanets in or near the habitable zone in our region of the Milky Way galaxy. The NASA-led mission had several partners in addition to CU, including Ball Aerospace and the SETI Institute, among others. Under the supervision of mission control professionals, students hired and trained by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) sent commands to the satellite and downlinked the data it collected. Through their efforts, not only was the existence of exoplanets further proved, but the rate at which they were discovered exponentially increased. While only a few hundred exoplanets were known prior to the launch, over its nine years of operation, the mission discovered more than 2,600 such exoplanets including hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets. The treasure trove of data collected by Kepler will continue to allow us to learn more about our place within the galaxy.Ěý
Source:Ěý
Photo credit: Bill Possel and Matt Lenda go through a mock flight test for Kepler in 2010. Photo by Glenn J. Asakawa, University of Colorado.
Deming Center for Entrepreneurship
The Deming Center for Entrepreneurship programs support every stage of the entrepreneurial journey — from student startups to pioneering initiatives like Buffs with a Brand, the Rural Colorado Workshop Series, the inaugural Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Conference and the Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, among others. In recognition of this impact, the Deming Center has been ranked among the top programs in the world by several organizations and in 2023, earned the Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education award by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. For more than 40 years, the Deming Center has served the Leeds community and beyond, offering opportunities inside and outside the classroom to develop entrepreneurial thinkers and leaders.
Source:ĚýLeeds School of Business
Photo credit: Erick Mueller speaking at the NVC Womens Founders Competition. Leeds School of Business.Ěý