Alumni Profiles
Michael Picco’s time at Western was nothing short of transformative. A painter, playwright, and columnist, he threw himself into every opportunity. From his role...
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The Westerner
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On a vacant lot beside the main road running through Gothic, Colorado, the abandoned 19th-century mining town that’s now home to the Rocky Mountain...
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Western students help build Gunnison’s newest solar array For years, the six-acre lot beside Country Road 17, west of Gunnison, sat mostly empty, tucked...
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Western students contribute to a study that could change the game for water in the thirsty West It’s just after 9:30 in the morning,...
Alumni Profiles
Many students usually wait until high school to decide where they are going to college, maybe after a visit to campus, or once they...
Athletics
Chasing dreams from Alaska to Aveiro Long before Rachel Cockman led the Mountaineers women’s basketball team to the RMAC semifinals, she was racing across the remote...
University Updates
Western Colorado University Launches New School of the Arts Starting in the Fall of 2025, Western will bring its Art, Graphic Design, Music, Theatre,...
University Updates
Western graduate student Chloe Beaupré’s research reveals that elk avoid trails—particularly within approximately 600–655 meters—whereas mule deer are more frequently found near busy trail...
Athletics
Western Colorado athletics proudly announced its 2025 Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame class, featuring Chaumont Bouknight, Alicja Konieczek, Lane Stuht, Don Mundell, and the...
University Updates
The last day of May was warm when geology professor Dr. Elizabeth Petrie and 10 students set out to start the third week of...
Alumni Profiles
Western alumnus Ross McGee (’13) was named Colorado’s 2025 Wildlife Officer of the Year for his dedication to conservation and community.
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Western Colorado University is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Alumni Awards for Excellence. Each year, this prestigious honor is given to...
University Updates
Western Colorado University’s new Nursing Education Program is gaining momentum this spring, with major funding support and a new director. The Program received a...
University Updates
Neurodiverse patrons will soon have more support and access to resources at Western’s Leslie J. Savage Library thanks to a $10,000 grant from the...
University Updates
Western Colorado University staff contacted around 200 former Western students who met the requirements the Colorado Re-Engaged (CORE) Initiative, which allows four-year colleges to...
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Worm Moon Reprise By Mackenzie Sains One day, soon, the catkins will reappear: pendulous on pale aspen arms. Then– the wind, carrying pollination with...
Alumni Profiles
It’s a beautiful spring day in the Gunnison Valley, and I can hardly believe the semester is already winding down. Soon, we’ll welcome a...
Alumni Profiles
Innovator, visionary, and difference-maker Lyle Richard (Dick) Bratton (1932–2025) was a devoted community leader, renowned attorney, and champion of education and water rights in...
University Updates
Dr. Sharoni Little will become the new dean of Western Colorado University’s School of Business starting in March 2025. With a career spanning academia, corporate leadership,...
Alumni Profiles
Coming from Orange County California, it is fair to say Heather Hughes was out of her element when she first arrived on the campus...
Alumni Profiles
It is not uncommon to meet people in college that you become close with for life. In some cases, that person might end up...
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Dr. Suzanne Taylor’s quest to find new worlds in the final frontier. There might be as many as 400 billion stars in our galaxy....
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The leaves in the forest here hang limp and motionless as the dry season comes to a close in this far corner of Belize....
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Wynn Martens grew up connected to the land. On her family’s Monument Divide ranch northeast of Colorado Springs, miles of shortgrass prairie rolled out...
Athletics
For the last 75 years, Mountaineer Bowl has served as Western’s largest venue and the Gunnison Country’s meeting place. As we prepare to celebrate...
Athletics
When the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced its 2023-24 Brechler Awards winners in July, Western walked away with four honors for the first...
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The Western Mountain Rescue Team carries on a Homecoming tradition For years, on the Friday night of Western’s Homecoming weekend, the Western Mountain Rescue...
University Updates
To help meet the future engineering needs in Colorado and beyond, the Western Colorado University—University of Colorado Boulder Partnership Program is launching biomedical and...
Alumni Profiles
This spring, Krystal Brown (Biology ‘17) learned she would receive the 2024 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency....
Athletics
Throughout the years, skiing at Western Colorado University has undergone significant transformations. It all began with the establishment of the ski team in the...
Alumni Profiles
Cheryl Cwelich is not your traditional student. After working in the accounting field for over a decade, Cheryl went back to school and was...
Alumni Profiles
It is 1998, the sun is shining, and the air is hot and humid with a slight breeze coming off the ocean. Soft sand...
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Western plans program focused on rural nursing On a nondescript Tuesday in the med-surg unit at Gunnison Valley Hospital (GVH), things are pretty quiet....
Alumni Profiles
Samantha Coleman has always loved basketball. For her, it isn’t just a sport; it’s a big part of who she is. So, after playing...
Alumni Profiles
Given the topography around Western Colorado University, it isn’t surprising that a lot of Mountaineers are avid trail runners. But one of Western’s most...
Athletics
“If I could be the difference … I would be incredibly happy” A lot of people don’t realize living in Paradise can be hard....
University Updates
We are excited to begin to use this grant to support diverse student involvement with cutting-edge research in ecology and environmental sciences in the...
Alumni Profiles
When Scott Borden and Mallory Logan became friends, they never imagined, in their wildest dreams they would one day be working together to release...
Alumni Profiles
Graduating from Western Colorado University during the height of a global pandemic made diving into a career an uncertain pursuit. As the world opened...
Alumni Profiles
For 34 years, SonofaGunn has been a Gunnison tradition. It has also been a Western tradition. One of the biggest fundraisers for the Gunnison...
Alumni Profiles
Mark Walker’s journey isn’t like most people’s. As a young man attending Western Colorado University during a time of turmoil and protests, it was...
Athletics
Historically, the cheer program at Western had been a club-sport offering until its move to the athletics department with the hiring of head coach...
Athletics
Western’s Mountain Sports program is a unique collegiate athletics program with competitive teams in Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, ski mountaineering, freeride ski and snowboarding,...
Alumni Profiles
“Tom has helped grow the Club by being a part of it for over 50 years. He has so much Boxing knowledge and is...
Athletics
Western Wrestling took fourth place at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship competition in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 11, 2023. It was the best...
Athletics
Western’s Nordic team went to Mammoth Lakes, California, March 6-11, looking to claim a title that eluded them last year. When they came home,...
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We’ve turned away from the planet and even our human landscape. If we turned back to that and learned to love all of it,...
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An art professor embarks on a project to paint portraits of the women in the Gunnison Valley who are connected to the land through...
Alumni Profiles
Editor’s Note: We had a wonderful and wide-ranging conversation with Stan. The transcribed interview here has been edited for length. After growing up in...
University Updates
Western earned the reaffirmation of its accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission in July 2023. The vote was a recognition of the University’s commitment...
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The love held for Western Colorado University by alums, students, staff, and faculty is deep and true. For decades, Mountaineers have gone to great...
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Chris Miller wasn’t expecting to find a piece of film history in her friend’s storage unit. Yet there it was, hidden away in 36...
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When it came time for President Brad Baca to select a cabinet to help bring his vision for Western to life, he knew he...
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Western’s Adult Degree Completion program is giving non-traditional students with unfinished business Of the nearly 500 students who walked across the commencement stage at...
University Updates