A review of the UCCS news over the past year

May 9, 2016

Rachel Librach
[email protected]

While students may not believe UCCS to be the hotspot for exciting events and breaking news, the past year has proved otherwise.

What happened this past year includes the university’s recognition in advanced cyber security efforts, student elections, new degrees, campus construction projects and the tragic death of one of our own campus police officers.

Here’s a summary of all that’s happened in the past year:

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced on Jan. 15 that the National Cybersecurity Intelligence Center would be moving to our city, meaning that Colorado Springs would be the country’s leading authority on cyber security, research development and training.

To prepare students for this growing industry, over the last 10 years UCCS has produced more than 30 Ph.D. graduates.

Cyber clubs on campus are excelling in their field and in 2014, the UCCS team, Peak Chaos, placed 16th among 125 teams worldwide and fourth among the teams in the U.S. in the iCTF Cyber War Competition.

The SGA elections took place March 14-18 and saw a successful turnout rate of 2,160 students. For the executive branch, Sam Elliot and Tamara Marshall were elected as the new president and vice president, and Joseph Conrad was elected as the Director of Finance.

The new Senator of Business is Jacob Hopkins, the Senator of Engineering is Victoria Crowley, the Senator of Graduate School is Christian Fazel, and the Senator of Letters, Arts and Sciences is Carlene Gray.

The new Senator of Nursing is Shelby Rank, the Senator of Public Affairs is Serena Ahmad, the Senator of Sustainability is Jeremy Nelson, and the Senator of Multicultural Affairs is Okiaof Ikimalo.

The new Senators at Large are Kimia Ahmadian, Kemay Clark, Collin McDowel, Spencer Davis, Clairelise Post, Derek Beitle and Shawn Hendrickson. The educator of the year was Sabine Allenspach.

The two bills that passed were the University Center fee sunset referendum and the Athletic Fee referendum. The first bill removed the sunset on the University Center fee which pays for the UC building bond and for new projects and initiatives.

The second bill increased the UCCS Intercollegiate Athletics fee to include the addition of women’s lacrosse, men’s baseball and an expansion of the track and field program.

Fall 2015 introduced two new degree programs, a Master’s program for accounting majors and a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

At the time, UCCS was the only college in Colorado to incorporate the BA program for Elementary Education and UCCS was the only public university to be AACSB accredited south of Denver to host the MSA program.

UCCS has seen a lot of expansion of the campus in recent years including the grand opening of the Roaring Fork dining facility, additions to student housing with Alpine Village, the Health and Wellness Center and the Ent Center for the Arts.

The Health and Wellness Center has incorporated new strength and conditioning equipment to accommodate the athletic clubs and provide a more convenient space for the weight room.

The center is also among the growing universities and colleges that incorporated a Health Center, Counseling Center and nutritional counseling in one central location while working hand in hand with the Recreation Center’s activities for fitness and physical wellness.

The Ent Center for the Arts will house both the performing and visual arts, creating a closer community between VAPA majors. The 92,000 square feet building will provide space for classrooms, Theatreworks productions, the Osborne Theater, and sculpture rooms, which is scheduled finish in 2018.

Nov. 27, 2015 was a tragic day for Colorado Springs and the UCCS community. UCCS Police Officer Garrett Swasey lost his life in the line of duty when responding to an off-campus shooting at Planned
Parenthood.

A candlelight vigil was held Nov. 28 and the funeral took place in the first week of December. UCCS created the Swasey scholarship hoping to raise $100,000 in his memory.