DENVER — The University of Denver (DU) announced plans for a campus expansion in a new area of the state during a news conference on Tuesday.
DU Chancellor Jeremy Haefner announced the university had acquired 724 acres of land in Larimer County and plans to open the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus.
“We are taking a dramatic leap forward in our commitment to providing a transformational four-dimensional experience for our students, one that emphasizes advancing intellectual growth, exploring character, promoting well-being, and pursuing careers and lives of purpose,” Haefner said. “By the time they graduate, every DU undergraduate and graduate student will have had the opportunity to learn and grow at this remarkable place.”
At the mountain campus, students will learn, reflect, recreate, connect with others and reconnect with themselves and their values.
The site also lends itself to faculty-led research projects for students interested in sustainability, the environmental sciences and geography, as well as those focusing on ethics and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Students will have short opportunities to visit the mountain campus beginning this fall, the university said. Longer stays with structured programming will start next fall.
The land that DU acquired was formerly the Magic Sky Ranch, a property owned and used by the Girl Scouts of Colorado (GSCO) and was primarily used as a summer camp, according to DU.
GSCO will continue to lease a portion of the property for six weeks during the summer.
The purchase of the property was $11.25 million and was made possible by a $26 million gift from DU alumnus James C. Kennedy, for whom the campus will be named.
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