Boulder & Community

Capturing Campus Life

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:34:02 +0000

Capturing Campus Life Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:34

Julia MacLean

Glenn Asakawa (Jour’86), 1986 CU Boulder yearbook editor, took this photo his senior year during move-in day. Now a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, Asakawa serves as the university’s lead photographer and multimedia producer.

Looking back, he recalls the unique spirit of CU Boulder in the mid-1980s.

“CU Boulder was its own universe, where legendary throwdowns like the Trivia Bowl, Alferd Packer Days or any of the amazing Program Council con - certs mattered more than politics,” Asakawa said.

He recalled big changes, too, such as Coach McCartney taking the Buffs to the 1985 Freedom Bowl football game versus Baylor, Gordon Gee becoming the university president and the loss of astronaut Ellison Onizuka (Aero’69; MS’69; HonDocSci’03) aboard the Challenger space shuttle.

“Still, the campus was brightening up,” Asakawa said. “Boulder had more open space and quirky local spots, like Naoki’s on The Hill or the LA Diner, where you could get liver and onions, which I actually ordered from time to time!”

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Photo by Glenn Asakawa

Glenn Asakawa reflects on his senior year in 1986, recalling the campus spirit, iconic events and local Boulder culture.

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Saving Colorado Landmarks

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:30:51 +0000

Saving Colorado Landmarks Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:30

Julia MacLean

Preservation planning for Florence, Colorado’s Orecchio Block.

From iconic hotels to community landmarks, the Colorado Historical Foundation works to protect the state’s most meaningful places — and Catherine Stroh (Art’95) is leading the effort. A Colorado native and longtime Boulder resident, Stroh blends an appreciation for design and architecture with a passion for Colorado history as the foundation’s president and CEO.

How do you best describe the Colorado Historical Foundation?

We have many different tools to preserve historic places in Colorado. One of the ways we do that is through conservation easements on physical buildings, structures and cultural landscapes. This prevents them from being demolished or severely altered, so that they can essentially look the same as they did during their significant period of history. We also operate a low-interest loan program to help people repair and revitalize historic buildings. We also operate a low-interest loan program to help people repair and revitalize historic buildings.

What are some of the foundation’s projects right now?

The Fort, a well-known restaurant in Morrison, is modeled after Bent’s Old Fort (a fur trading post built in 1833) in Southeast Colorado and protected by one of our conservation easements. We also have an easement on the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. And in Boulder, we provided a low-interest loan to help support the rehabilitation of the Mary H. Galey Cottage within the nationally landmarked Colorado Chautauqua property.

What should Buffs know about Colorado history?

There is so much history centered in Colorado. The story of the state is really a convergence of so many different stories, from indigenous populations who were here originally to the pioneers who came in when it was a Spanish Territory. There are many different influences throughout the state and a lot of history to continually uncover.

What’s your favorite historic place you’ve worked on?

The old Smiley Junior High School in Durango has been turned into a commercial space with a lot of unique offices, creative spaces and even apartments. On the first floor, there’s a coffee shop and an art market retail area. To see that building activated in such a new way while still retaining its schoolhouse properties, is really cool.

How have you seen Colorado change over time?

I think the biggest change that we see is just the continual population growth and how that influences the shape of towns, especially the merging and blending of communities along the Front Range. We are losing some of the open space that I think a lot of us grew up with, but this also brings in a lot of new and interesting people and opportunities.

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Photo courtesy Colorado Historical Foundation

Catherine Stroh leads efforts to preserve the state’s historic buildings and landmarks.

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Rockin' Folsom with the Doobie Brothers

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:28:52 +0000

Rockin' Folsom with the Doobie Brothers Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:28

Julia MacLean

The Doobie Brothers in 1975 in Folsom Field.

The summer of 1975, the Doobie Brothers lit up Folsom Field in a concert that has become a legendary piece of CU Boulder’s musical history. Photographer Dan Fong (Mktg’70), who documented the show, recalled Boulder’s then-mayor introducing the group, setting the stage for a performance that brought the entire crowd to its feet.

“Even the kids in the audience went crazy,” Fong said. “Age didn’t matter. It was good music.”

At the time, Fong was working full-time for the Doobie Brothers and had assumed a new role as the band’s media coordinator. He was in charge of their worldwide photo requests and oversaw interviews and promotional events. He knew how to capture their spirit both on and offstage.

“This concert was the Michael McDonald [lead vocalist] era, and I was in charge of the album cover for ‘Takin’ It To The Streets,’ absolutely their most famous album to date,” Fong said proudly.

But the concert wasn’t just about the Doobie Brothers. The Memphis Horns — an American horn section who played with artists ranging from Elvis Presley to Stephen Stills — were traveling and playing exclusively with the Doobie Brothers, making it an unrivaled experience.

Today, Fong’s photographs from that night are part of a collection he has worked to preserve with the help of CU Boulder archivists. The collection documents his career as a photographer beginning in 1962, with a special emphasis on his photography of the Colorado music scene. When he attended CU from 1966 to 1970, he worked for a company that specialized in photographing fraternity and sorority parties.

“Most of the collection has images no one’s ever seen,” Fong said.

In recent years, CU Boulder has brought a few concerts back to Boulder. Dead & Company played Folsom for several summers starting in 2016 and, most recently, Phish came to Folsom in July. The band was the first to play on the field’s new artificial turf, which CU installed in mid-June.

CU plans to feature more concerts at Folsom Field. On Oct. 18, DJ and songwriter John Summit played the first concert of the academic year.

The Dan Fong Collection is available to the public by appointment.

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Photo courtesy Dan Fong

The Doobie Brothers played a legendary concert at Folsom Field in 1975, captured by photographer Dan Fong, whose archival collection is on campus.

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Helping Rural Communities Thrive

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:27:13 +0000

Helping Rural Communities Thrive Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:27

In rural Colorado, outdoor recreation is a powerful tool for economic development as it encourages visitors to spend more time and money in local communities. But developing these assets can be an arduous process.

The Rural Technical Assistance program (RTAP) provides pro bono assistance to these small towns with the help of graduate students and faculty in CU Boulder’s Masters of the Environment (MENV) program, federal and state agencies and other higher education partners. Together, they offer community workshops and goal-oriented action plans centered on boosting outdoor recreation.

In the close-knit Colorado community of Beulah, located southwest of Pueblo, neighbors Linda Overlin (Edu’71) and Joel David May (Arch’80) saw the potential of outdoor recreation to enliven their 600-resident town. Supported by the RTAP program, including a two-day graduate student-facilitated workshop, the community prioritized ways to develop its outdoor recreation economy.

Already, they’ve created partnerships with a land conservancy and private landowners to explore how conservation easements and trail developments could help preserve Beulah’s rural ranchlands. The goal is to provide greater connectivity between downtown and Pueblo Mountain Park, which consistently draws many tourists and visitors.

Eight other communities — Keystone, La Junta, Huerfano County, Lake City, Rangely and Dinosaur, Leadville, Hayden, and Cripple Creek — have participated in RTAP.

“Beulah has taught me so much about what ‘community’ means,” said Emily Glass (MEnv’25). “When designed meaningfully,community-engaged work is an opportunity to weave together different perspectives, ideas and expertise that otherwise may not have come together.”

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Photo courtesy Raven Maps & Images

Outdoor recreation can bring more people to small Colorado towns.

CU Boulder’s Rural Technical Assistance Program helps small Colorado towns like Beulah leverage outdoor recreation to boost their local economies.

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Honoring Outstanding Buffs

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:25:17 +0000

Honoring Outstanding Buffs Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:25

April Driver

CU Boulder’s Alumni Awards celebrate the university’s most inspiring leaders and changemakers.

Dave Sheanin guides individuals with disabilities in triathlons.

Dave Sheanin (MBA’99), receiving the Alumni Recognition Award this spring, is among the next slate of standout Forever Buffs.

A longtime coach for the University of Colorado Triathlon Team, Sheanin helped lead the team to seven consecutive combined and 15 individual national championships. In 2021, he was named the USA Triathlon Community Impact Coach of the Year. Whether working with elite athletes or teaching beginners to swim, his inspiration comes from the students.

“I fell in love with the students’ spirit and enthusiasm,” said Sheanin. “I love seeing young people reach their potential.”

Outside of the university, he volunteers with Athletes in Tandem, guiding individuals with disabilities in triathlon competitions.

“Helping athletes with disabilities experience the same racecourse as the elite competitors has been one of the most meaningful parts of my journey,” he said.

Even with his many contributions and successes, he remains humble.

“I feel like I get back more than I give,” he said. “I’m built to want to make an impact; that’s the kind of life I want to lead.”

Sheanin’s story joins the larger history of alumni impact across generations. Eight other outstanding alumni, faculty, staff and students will be recognized at the Alumni Awards Ceremony as part of Alumni Weekend, April 10–13, 2026. (The event previously was held during Homecoming Weekend.)

The winners include Susan Taylor Mayne (Chem’82) for the George Norlin Award, Russell L. Moore and David Martinez for the Robert L. Stearns Award, Dave Sheanin (MBA’99) for the Alumni Recognition Award, Stephen Kissler (ApMath’14; MA’14) for the Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Graduate Award, Dale Farrand (AeroEngr’93) for the Leanne Skupa-Lee Award, and Camden Dempsey (Fin, Mktg’25) and Aaditya Pore (AeroEngr, CompSci’25) for the Forever Buffs Student Award.

Award honorees represent the breadth of Buffs excellence, and, for many, CU is at the heart of their stories.

Learn more at colorado.edu/alumni/awards.

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Photo courtesy Dave Sheanin

CU Boulder’s 2026 Alumni Awards celebrated outstanding alumni, faculty, staff and students.

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Spruce Gulch: Grounds for Discovery

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:23:57 +0000

Spruce Gulch: Grounds for Discovery Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:23

Jess Winterley

It was a hot summer day in the early 1990s when Linda Holubar Sanabria (A&S’67) spied the enemy. Tall and deceptively pretty, bearing its hallmark lavender-colored, black-tipped flowers: the spotted knapweed. This noxious weed had quietly claimed Holubar’s family ranch as its home, and she soon discovered it was taking up residence on at least 50 acres of the sprawling 493-acre property — of which 476 acres are now known as the Spruce Gulch Wildlife and Research Reserve — which Holubar inherited from her family in 1994.

For the next 15 years, Holubar dedicated the quiet of dawn and the cool of dusk to eradicating the invasive plant, which arrived via contaminated batches of grass seed dispersed by the U.S. Forest Service after a 1988 fire. Leaving the knapweed unchecked was not an option for Holubar and her spouse, Sergio Sanabria (A&S’66; Arch’70; MArtHist’75), as they knew this would result in soil erosion, displaced vegetation and overall devastation to the land. So, for thousands of hours, Holubar labored over the acreage.

“At first, I felt very small as I began removing one plant after another from an endless sea of them,” said Holubar. “They ranged from taller than me to tiny seedlings.”

Though she made substantial progress, the effort needed a boost — not from harmful herbicides, which would contaminate the water and land, but from a more creative (and hungry) solution: weevils.

A Symbiotic Friendship

In 2001, during the thick of her weeding efforts, Holubar learned about a successful experiment at CU Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). The project demonstrated that biocontrol insects (in this case, weevils) could greatly reduce densities of an invasive knapweed — similar to the unwelcome foe on Holubar’s land.

Putting her hope in these knapweed-eating weevils, she called the lead scholar of the experiment, ecology and evolutionary biology professor (now emeritus) Tim Seastedt.

“Field ecologists don’t pass up opportunities to leverage a new field site, and Spruce Gulch is special,” said Seastedt. He noted that the innovative insect approach, in addition to preserving good vegetation, could save landowners thousands of dollars in management costs.

Through a combination of hungry weevils and volunteer weeding efforts, the project proved successful over time and demonstrated the effectiveness that non-chemical methods can have on an invasive plant species.

The experiment also opened the door for additional ecology projects on the property — marking the start of what would become a 24-year symbiotic friendship between the university and land, and what would eventually result in a landmark gift.

Volunteers from a co-sponsored U.S. Forest Service event remove invasive spotted knapweed from an upland meadow on the Spruce Gulch Reserve.

Inheriting a Legacy

Holubar’s connection to the wildlife reserve began nearly a century ago, when her maternal grandmother, Irma Freudenberg, purchased part of it in 1927. With the help of her children, Freudenberg established a ranch on the picturesque land that Holubar’s parents, Alice (A&S’33) and LeRoy Holubar (ElEngr’36), later expanded in 1962.

Boulder’s mountainous terrain fostered the family’s passion for the outdoors. Holubar’s parents were pioneers in developing and sourcing climbing and expedition gear through their business, Holubar Mountaineering (which an interim owner later sold to The North Face). LeRoy Holubar, a CU mathematics professor, also helped establish the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group and the first Boulder climbing school.

Upon Freudenberg’s death, Holubar’s parents inherited part of the land and expanded it to what is now the Spruce Gulch Reserve. The site has been sculpted by history — from serving as hunting grounds for Indigenous peoples like the Arapaho, to sustaining mining and logging operations, grazing and agriculture, plus wildfires and floods.

“Having grown up on this land and having it be a part of my family for almost a century, I view it as my heart and soul and want nothing more than to protect it,” said Holubar.

Her love for the reserve and dedication to conservation meant diligently seeking out its next caretaker — a role that, after withstanding weeds and weevils together, CU Boulder was ready to undertake.

Acres for Academics

Primed to steward Holubar’s family legacy of environmentalism into the future, CU Boulder assumed ownership of Spruce Gulch in June of 2025. Holubar’s generous 476-acre land donation was accompanied by endowment funds, as well as a conservation easement with Boulder County.

The site and funds, valued at a combined $10.4 million, are managed by INSTAAR and support studies across the sciences, humanities and fine arts. From biologists to visual artists, the reserve and its endowment will enrich and support studies by academics from many departments, opening new educational possibilities across disciplines.

“Sergio and I wanted to discourage an inevitable disciplinary blindness by opening the site to as many different worldviews as possible,” said Holubar.

For her commitment to conservation and ensuring the protection of the wildlife reserve, Holubar received Boulder County’s 2025 Land Conservation Award. And, for their outstanding community partnership and collaboration on the Spruce Gulch project, Boulder County Parks & Open Space was awarded the Blue Grama Award by the Colorado Open Space Alliance.

A living laboratory, Spruce Gulch features canyons and cliffs intermixed with forest, savanna and prairie meadows. Its abundance of research opportunities has already aided CU faculty and students in producing 29 scholarly publications, plus chapters in six doctoral dissertations, three master’s theses and four undergraduate honors theses.

“The acquisition of Spruce Gulch allows us to pursue essential science relevant to the grasslands and foothills region, where most of us live,” said Seastedt, director of the reserve. “Therein lies the magnitude of this gift.”

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Photos courtesy Tim Seastedt

Ecology and evolutionary biology professor (now emeritus) Tim Seastedt.

Linda Holubar Sanabria gave a $10.4 million donation to CU Boulder, creating a 476-acre wildlife and research reserve.

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Fruits of History and Sustainability

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:22:49 +0000

Fruits of History and Sustainability Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:22

April Driver

The seeds of history took root in the Boulder Apple Tree Project and are now blossoming in the Buffs Backyard Orchard.

In 2017, the Boulder Apple Tree Project began as a way to locate, catalog and preserve the rich apple history of the city, dating to before the turn of the twentieth century, when Colorado ranked as one of the top apple-producing states. To support the project, community members share the location and photos of Boulder apple trees through an app, and the information is cataloged in an online database, complemented by an interactive map.

Within a year of launching, students and researchers identified more than 200 types of apples in Boulder, and each species was sequenced using the trees’ DNA.

Today, the project has grown. “We have sequenced another 75 apple specimens, with a big push this summer to add 200 more,” said Katherine Suding, CU Boulder ecology professor. “I am also proud that we have tagged over 1,200 trees from the area in our database.”

This effort provides training for CU Boulder’s budding scientists. Over the past eight years, 160 students have contributed to the project, ranging from first-year science students to those completing honors theses and several graduate students.

Last spring, students inspired by the project obtained a $93,000 sustainability grant that has funded the Buffs Backyard Orchard at CU Boulder’s 30th Street greenhouse. The vision for the orchard, which was planted by volunteers, is to create a living lab combining history and sustainability by conserving heirloom trees and developing regenerative orchard systems. The orchard is home to 15 varieties of apples, according to Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, including Wolf River and Colorado Orange.

For Suding, the core of the project is the people.

“Having students and community members jointly doing research reflects a shared commitment to ecological stewardship,” she said. “It has been a lesson in the power of people working together.”

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Photo courtesy Matt Talarico

The Boulder Apple Tree Project has grown into the Buffs Backyard Orchard, a student- and community-driven living lab.

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From Rooftop to Relic

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:21:42 +0000

From Rooftop to Relic Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:21

Christie Sounart

CU Boulder’s red clay roof tiles are iconic.

More than a century ago, however, other roof tiles — made from glass — could be spotted on campus.

In 1990, Dennis Scheel was selling tools to the CU Boulder maintenance department when he noticed two unique roof tiles stacked under a workbench. The foreman explained that they once belonged to a campus engineering building before the university eventually replaced them with clay. The foreman offered him the pair as a campus storage facility contained more of them.

“I did take them,” said Scheel, who lives in Centennial, Colorado. “I was cu - curious when these were used. I assumed before 1921.”

Scheel donated the tiles to the CU Heritage Center in July. Mona Lambrecht, Heritage Center interim director and curator, researched the tiles and discovered they had been used to create a 4-foot-long by 60-foot-wide skylight for the Engineering Shops building, which opened in 1908 and was later known as Hunter Sciences until it was demolished in 2002. The skylight illuminated a second-floor drafting room with 100 drawing desks and several geometry models.

“The interlocking design of the glass allowed the tiles to link to each other and the surrounding clay tiles, stay waterproof, and offer natural light,” said Lambrecht.

Sunlight reacting with a manganese additive in the once-clear glass caused the tiles to develop a purple hue over time.

The tile’s German designer, Wilhelm Ludowici, was part of a family-run, Chicago-based roofing tile manufacturer prominent in the U.S. starting in the late 1800s.

The Hunter Sciences Building
Previously the Engineering Shops building, which opened in 1908, was demolished in 2002.

We want to know! Do you remember these roof tiles or the drawing room?

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Photo by Mona Lambrecht (roof tile)

Factoids:

Color Reaction
Sunlight reacting with a manganese additive in the once clear glass caused the tiles to develop a purple hue over time.

Dimensions
6 lbs, 14 oz each, and they measure 9” W x 16.25” L x 2” D

Patent No. 283,126; Design from 1883

The Heritage Center received a donation of a purple-hued glass roof tile, originally installed in 1908 to create a skylight for the Engineering Shops building.

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CU Boulder Wellness in Action

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:18:28 +0000

CU Boulder Wellness in Action Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:18

Christie Sounart

On a clear, 60-degree night in mid-August, 40 incoming first-year students slept under the stars. The Flatirons were visible, but not from a wilderness perspective. Instead, dozens of sleeping bags dotted the roof of the CU Rec Center.

The group was taking part in CU in the Rockies, a pre-semester trip with the CU Rec Center’s Outdoor Pursuits program. The students used the night to practice camping with their gear before embarking on a backpacking trip in State Forest State Park, located about 110 miles northwest of campus. Few knew each other.

When they returned a week later, many had forged close friendships in the mountains.

“What I’ve seen is people eventually live together, do dinners, hang out,” said Sammy Fitterman (Geog’26), who has served as a trip leader and student medical support over the last three years. “When you’re camping with someone and sharing a tent, you really get close.”

The experience offered the students immediate, meaningful connections. As they started their college careers and pursued avenues for physical and mental wellness, they could choose more activities like it — or something completely different.

Well-being is a top priority for CU Boulder. From rock climbing to backpacking, students can join active communities on campus

Well-Being First

Well-being is a top priority for the university. In 2023, CU Boulder adopted the Okanagan Charter, which strengthened efforts to embed health and wellness into all aspects of university life. And, in spring 2025, Chancellor Justin Schwartz announced the Student Mental Health, Wellness and Flourishing Initiative to strengthen programs and policies to further help students thrive.

Through the student health and well-being unit within the university’s Division of Student Life, students can engage in everything from mental health workshops and peer wellness coaching to a collegiate recovery community. And through options like Outdoor Pursuits and the Rec Center’s FitWell program, students can pursue wellness in nature-based or exercise-focused experiences.

“We know students show up to college wanting to live a full and meaningful life,” said Amanda Scates-Preisinger, director of the university’s Health Promotion office. “It’s important they have access to information and experiences that help continually build skills to support their well-being.”

Climbing, Backcountry Skiing — and Dessert

Fitterman, a senior, became involved with Outdoor Pursuits after a CU climbing trip as a first-year student. Now he runs workshops — such as ski and snowboard wax classes — and works at the rec center’s climbing gym and gear rental center, which equips interested students with outdoor gear ranging from tents and hiking poles to rain jackets and headlamps.

He also is president of the CU Backcountry Club, which organizes about six student backcountry skiing trips in Colorado mountain towns during the spring semester.

“We stay in an AirBnB and cook family-style dinners for everyone,” said Fitterman, who’s from Santa Monica, California. “Those weekend trips are a really great opportunity to connect.”

During his first year at CU, Aidan Azar (ElEngr’27), from Philadelphia, went on the CU in the Rockies trip with Fitterman. He quickly jumped at the chance to join Outdoor Pursuits’ student board, eager to connect with other Buffs in nature.

“I came to Colorado to try something new,” he said. “I loved the outdoors and the mountains, and when I went on that trip, I met some of my best friends.”

Last spring, Azar led a workshop on backcountry cooking. The theme was desserts, and the class made funnel cakes out of pancake batter to minimize the amount of ingredients and equipment that would be hauled through the forest on a backcountry camping trip. He said this type of enjoyment takes priority over his rigorous engineering schedule.

“I make sure I’m setting specific times to climb or hike with my friends, even in the middle of a busy week,” he said.

Anya Keena (Anth, Geol’26), from Detroit,finds her outdoor community helps her “let loose” after days in the geology library. Though she and her friends are in different majors, they have bonded over a shared love of the outdoors. When she came to CU, she was afraid of heights, but now she finds herself rock climbing regularly after learning skills of the sport with other climbing students. She also enjoys hiking and completed a wilderness first responder course last summer.

“We don’t have a ton of things connecting us academically,” she said. “I’m always interested to hear about what they’re doing, but at the end of the day, the thing that connects us is the outdoor curiosity.”

Each spring, the CU Rec Center offers goat yoga sessions to help students unwind during a busy time of year. It is a favorite for many, including for Treyanna Brown, left.

Events for Connection

Sometimes a one-off event can bring students mental or physical respite from their daily grind.

Sarah Laughlin (IntPhys, Soc’26), from Newton, Massachusetts, works for CU’s Health Promotion office, where she helps plan student events focused on physical, emotional, financial or spiritual well-being. Last spring, for instance, she helped coordinate a 120-person spa night that included nail painting, aromatherapy and plant-related crafts.

Other events included late-night sober party alternatives and a “non-violent rage room,” Laughlin said, where students could draw on walls or throw colorful streamers.

“You get students who are just passing by, or people who hear about them and are so grateful to do these things for free,” said Laughlin.

Laughlin, who hopes for a career in public health, said her favorite wellness outlet is playing for CU’s Ultimate Frisbee sport club team, one of 30 teams offered through the university’s Sport Club program.

Goats and Giggles

Sometimes, though, wellness simply is fostered through an hour of spontaneous giggles — and animal snuggles.

Each spring, CU Rec Center student employee Treyanna Brown (CompSci’27), who is from Albuquerque, plans her favorite student event on campus: goat yoga. Brown loves carrying the two-week-old goats from their farm’s truck to the rec center yoga room, bottle feeding them, and giving them extra cuddles once they get sleepy after the yoga sessions.

The four-session event, which often serves around 30 people per session, is less about yoga and more about joy, Brown said.

“It’s a really good stress-reliever,” she said. “You can’t be thinking about everything you need to get done because you have a baby goat in your lap.”

Beyond the laughter, friendships and long list of new things to try, CU Boulder proves the path to wellness can be fun — and meaningful.

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Photo by Glenn Asakawa (rock climbing); courtesy Sarah Laughlin (gratitude garden); courtesy Treyanna Brown (goat yoga)

Wellness initiatives help students build friendships, develop skills and support mental and physical well-being.

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The Hill in Boulder, Reimagined

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:09:14 +0000

The Hill in Boulder, Reimagined Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:09

Aimee Heckel

Limelight Hotel

Boulder has been the backdrop of nearly every milestone in my daughter Betty Anne’s life. She was born at Boulder Community Hospital and raised on Pearl Street Mall; her dad pushed her up and down its brick paths while I juggled deadlines at the Daily Camera. As she grew, I taught her she was beautiful like the Flatirons — wild, magical, enduring. Now a high school sophomore, Betty dreams of going to CU Boulder, ready to trade her first steps as a toddler downtown for her first steps into adulthood on The Hill.

And as fate would have it, The Hill seems to be growing up alongside her. Two new hotels — the spirited Moxy and the freshly opened Limelight — are reimagining the neighborhood, not just as a late-night student hub, but as a destination for families, visitors and locals alike.

The Moxy Boulder, which opened May 2024 at 1247 Pleasant St., greets guests with cocktails at check-in and offers social spaces alive with music, trivia and the buzz of CU energy. It’s as bold and welcoming as Boulder itself, with cozy rooms that encourage guests to drop their bags and leave to explore the city and nature. Michael DiMaria, operating partner, said the Moxy was designed to be “the living room” of The Hill neighborhood.

Moxy Boulder

The Limelight Hotel and Conference Center, which opened its doors at 1295 University Ave. this August, brings one of the state’s largest ballrooms, flexible gathering spaces and unobstructed views of the Flatirons. Even more fitting for its location: CU professor Wil Srubar’s company, Prometheus Materials, provided sustainable cement for its construction.

Together, the Moxy and Limelight are helping revitalize The Hill year-round, giving surrounding businesses a boost even in the summer months when students scatter.

“This really helps reshape The Hill as a destination and a launching point, a focal point in addition to Pearl Street,” said Joe Steiskel, property general manager.

For alumni returning after decades, these hotels offer something new: a welcoming home base just steps from campus.

For me, they offer the possibility that my sweet Betty’s next milestones — move-in day, graduation, maybe even a wedding — might continue to be celebrated right here with the wild and magical Flatirons.

Growth can feel strange, but as Boulder teaches, strange can be beautiful, too.

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Photo courtesy Aspen Hospitality (Limelight photos) Courtsey of Moxy Boulder (Moxy)

Two new hotels are transforming Boulder’s historic Hill neighborhood into a destination for families, visitors and locals.

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