University of Denver Spring 2025

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University College becomes the College of Professional S tudies On March 11, University College, DU’s highly

with DU. Furthermore, current students said they often felt a need to explain the college’s identity to peers and employers. “It comes down to doing away with some of the confusion to help potential students, current students and our alumni more easily identify with us and who we are as a college,” he says. Though the name has changed, the college’s diverse programming—including undergraduate- and graduate level degree programs, noncredit professionally focused courses, and noncredit enrichment courses— is staying the same. As McGuire says, “This is the direction that this space within higher education is moving, as the types of programming we have traditionally offered become more and more valued and in demand on campuses around the country.” in 1952. It continued to flourish and, after moving around to several off-campus locations, it found its permanent home at the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts when it opened in 2002. In its first 100 years, Lamont has grown from a modest conservatory into a school of national prominence. Today, its outstanding faculty and alumni enjoy success around the globe in classical music, jazz composition, conducting, recording and production, scholarship and music business.

successful school of professional and continuing studies, officially became the College of Professional Studies. The name change, several years in the making, is the result of a desire to strengthen the college’s identity and name recognition; clarify the college’s mission and purpose; and align with higher education naming conventions. University College was established in 1938, one of several similar programs with the same name at institutions around the U.S.—most of which have updated their names in recent years. Michael McGuire, dean of the College of Professional Studies, explains that research they conducted showed its name recognition was low, and potential students and the wider community struggled to understand its relationship

Lamont S chool of Music turns 1 00

The Lamont School of Music celebrated its 100th anniversary this academic year, marking the milestone with—of course—music. A commemorative concert last fall featured works that premiered in the year of its founding,

performed by current students, faculty and alumni, and three concerts this spring debuted world premiere compositions by faculty. Florence Lamont Hinman (left) founded the school in 1924 as a private academy.

Born in Michigan, she had studied music at the London (Ontario) conservatory and came to Colorado as a teenage tuberculosis patient

and stayed on after her recovery, becoming a nationally known singer and accompanist. The school became a fixture on Denver’s arts scene in the 1920s and 30s. It merged with DU in 1941, with Hinman operating the school out of a mansion at the corner of 9th and Grant streets until she retired

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER MAGAZINE | SPRING 2025