Bruce D. Benson
| Bruce Benson | |
|---|---|
| 21st President of the University of Colorado | |
|
Assumed office March 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Hank Brown |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Bruce Davey Benson July 4, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Marcy Benson |
| Alma mater | University of Colorado, Boulder |
Bruce Davey Benson became president of the University of Colorado (CU) in March 2008. The CU university system encompasses four campuses: CU-Boulder, CU Denver, CU Colorado Springs and CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo.
Benson was a successful businessman who was active in a variety of educational, civic and political activities at the state and national levels. In 1965, he founded Benson Mineral Group, an oil and gas exploration and production company.
Since then, his business interests have expanded to include banking, mortgage servicing, real estate development and management, geothermal power, manufacturing, trucking, restaurants and cable television. In 2009 he was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.
Benson has sat on boards of directors of dozens of companies, including United States Exploration, American Land Lease Corporation, Western Capital Investment Corporation and First Interstate Bank of Denver.
Three different Colorado governors have named Benson to educational initiatives and governing boards, all of which he chaired: the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (1985–89), Metropolitan State College Board of Trustees (2003–07), P-20 Education Coordinating Council (2007–08) and the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel for Higher Education (2001–03). Outside Colorado, he was board chair of the Berkshire School in Massachusetts (1984–94) and also served on the board of Smith College (1988–95).
Nationally, Benson was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Park Service and was confirmed by the US Senate as a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
During Benson’s tenure, CU’s research funding has reached record levels in each of the past several years (including a best-ever $884 million in 2010-11), supporting the university’s research strengths in biotechnology, health care, renewable and sustainable energy, and aerospace engineering, among others. He has led efforts to promote cross-campus collaboration that have resulted in cooperative academic programs and research initiatives, most notably CU’s Biofrontiers Institute, led by Nobel laureate Tom Cech.
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