Fort Lewis College#History

The first Fort Lewis army post was constructed in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in 1878, and was relocated in 1880 to Hesperus, Colorado, on the southern slopes of the La Plata Mountains. In 1891, Fort Lewis was decommissioned and converted into a federal, off-reservation Indian boarding school.

In 1911, the fort's property and buildings in Hesperus were transferred to the state of Colorado to establish an "agricultural and mechanic arts high school." That deed came with two conditions: that the land would be used for an educational institution, and "to be maintained as an institution of learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality with white students" in perpetuity.{{Cite news |last=Sieg |first=Stina |date=January 3, 2023 |title=Once a boarding school, a college now aims to reclaim education for Native people |language=en |work=NPR News |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/01/03/1146780998/once-a-boarding-school-a-college-now-aims-to-reclaim-education-for-native-people#storytext |access-date=2023-01-04}}Act of the US Congress of April 4, 1910, chapter 140, {{USPL|61|114}}, {{USStat|36|269}}, section 5 at 274, {{USBill|61|HR|19028}}. Act of the Colorado General Assembly of January 25, 1911, Laws 1911, Page 39. Both conditions have been the missions and guides for the Fort Lewis school's various incarnations over the past century.

The Fort Lewis high school expanded into a two-year college in the 1930s, and in 1948 it became Fort Lewis A&M College, under the State Board of Agriculture's control. The "Aggies" studying at the Fort Lewis Branch of the Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanics could take courses in agriculture, forestry, engineering, veterinary science, and home economics.

File:Fort Lewis in Hesperus 1880s.jpg

Fort Lewis College began another period of growth and changes in 1956, when the college moved from its longtime home in Hesperus to its present location, {{convert|18 |miles}} east, atop what was then known as Reservoir Hill, overlooking Durango. Here, FLC became a four-year institution, awarding its first baccalaureate degrees in 1964.

Also in 1964, the college dropped the "A&M" moniker, changed its mascot from the Aggies to the Raiders, and changed the school's colors from the green and yellow of the Colorado State University system it had been affiliated with to blue and gold.{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Duane|title=Sacred Trust: The birth and development of Fort Lewis College|year=1991|publisher=University Press of Colorado|isbn=978-0-87081-234-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sacredtrustbirth0000smit}} In 1994, the college's mascot became the Skyhawks. In 1995, FLC joined the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, and in 2002, it became independent of the Colorado State University system and formed its own governing Board of Trustees.

In 2019, Fort Lewis College formed the Committee on FLC History to examine its connection to the federal Indian boarding school system. The college has since undertaken initiatives including listening sessions, community engagement, and institutional changes aimed at reconciliation. In partnership with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, FLC supported legislation{{Citation |last=Coram |first=Don |title=Native American Boarding Schools |issue=HB22-1327 |url=https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb22-1327 |access-date=2024-12-10 |last2=Moreno |first2=Dominick |last3=McLachlan |first3=Barbara |last4=Herod |first4=Leslie}} investigating the impacts of federal Indian boarding schools in Colorado. The Board of Trustees reaffirmed its commitment to reconciliation in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Commitment to Reconciliation {{!}} Board of Trustees {{!}} Fort Lewis College |url=https://www.fortlewis.edu/about-flc/leadership/board-of-trustees/agendas-minutes/resolutions/commitment-to-reconciliation |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=www.fortlewis.edu}}

In 2025, the Fort Lewis College Board of Trustees named Heather Shotton the new college president, making her the first Indigenous person to hold the position. Shotton, who is Cheyenne and Kiowa and a citizen of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes, had previously served as FLC's Vice President of Diversity Affairs.{{cite web |first1=Clark |last1=Adomatis |date=April 28, 2025 |title=Fort Lewis College names its first Indigenous president |url=https://www.ksjd.org/2025-04-28/fort-lewis-college-names-its-first-indigenous-president |website=ksjd.org |publisher=Four Corners Public Radio}}

The 247-acre Fort Lewis College campus is in southwestern Colorado, 6,872 feet atop a mesa overlooking the Animas River Valley and downtown Durango, Colorado. A network of trails as well as city bus service (free to students with FLC IDs) connects the campus and town.

The campus's distinctive architectural theme utilizes locally quarried sandstone to acknowledge the region's Native pueblo building style and evoke the Four Corners landscape and colors. The style was crafted by Boulder architect James M. Hunter, whom the college contracted to establish a campus building plan in the late 1950s, after its move from Hesperus to Durango.

Today, on-campus housing is in six residence halls and two apartment buildings, with singles, doubles, and suites. Also on campus are 14 academic buildings, as well as a Student Life Center, Aquatic Center, and Student Union. On-campus athletic facilities include Ray Dennison Memorial Field, Dirks Field, the Softball Complex, Whalen Gymnasium, and the Factory Trails, an off-road bicycling race course.

File:Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado.jpeg

The new Student Union opened in 2011, and hosts the college's cultural centers, the Native American Center and El Centro de Muchos Colores, student government, the Environmental Center, the post office, and the bookstore. The Student Union also offers several dining options, and houses both a Leadership Center and a Media Center that includes the college's news magazine, literary journal, and KDUR radio station.

The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the Student Union LEED Gold status for its sustainability features. It is the third LEED Gold building on campus, along with the Berndt Hall Biology Wing and Animas Hall. Those environmental awards helped FLC be named one of "America's Coolest Schools" by Sierra magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, in 2011.[http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201109/coolschools/ Sierra "Cool Schools 2011"]

Fort Lewis College is divided into three academic units: the School of Arts & Sciences, the Katz School of Business, and the School of Education. These units collectively offer 60 undergraduate majors, 47 minors, and 23 certificates. The college also provides five graduate programs and four graduate certificates in education. Additionally, Fort Lewis College offers two "3+2" master's programs in social work and public history, in partnership with the University of Colorado-Denver and the University of Denver, respectively.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fortlewis.edu/majorsandprograms/UndergraduateMajorsandPrograms.aspx |title=Undergraduate Majors and Programs | Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado |access-date=2017-07-25 |archive-date=2017-12-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227121838/https://www.fortlewis.edu/majorsandprograms/UndergraduateMajorsandPrograms.aspx |url-status=dead }}

The institution is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Specific programs are also accredited by relevant professional bodies,{{Cite web |title=Accreditations {{!}} About FLC {{!}} Durango, Colorado |url=https://www.fortlewis.edu/about-flc/accreditations |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=www.fortlewis.edu}} including:

• Engineering: ABET
• Katz School of Business: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, covering degree programs in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, and Marketing
• Music: National Association of Schools of Music

The college's education programs are also approved by the Colorado Department of Education.

{{main|Fort Lewis Skyhawks}}

The college's athletic teams, the Skyhawks, compete in the NCAA at the Division II level as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC); as well as the Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (WILA) for women's lacrosse and a nationally ranked cycling program that competes at the Division I level of USA Collegiate Cycling.{{cite news|last=Meyer|first=Matt|publisher=Gran Junction Sentinel|url=http://www.gjsentinel.com/special_sections/articles/mavericks-modeling-cycling-program-after-fort-lewi|title=Mavericks modeling cycling program after Fort Lewis|date=October 6, 2012|access-date=January 20, 2013|archive-date=July 30, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730200851/http://www.gjsentinel.com/special_sections/articles/mavericks-modeling-cycling-program-after-fort-lewi|url-status=dead}} In 2017, FLC's cycling program won its 23rd national championship at the 2017 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in Missoula, Montana.{{cite news|last1=Livingston|first1=John|title=Fort Lewis College cycling claims 23rd national championship|url=https://durangoherald.com/articles/190618|access-date=19 December 2017|work=The Durango Herald|issue=23 October 2017|publisher=Ballantine Communications|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052105/https://durangoherald.com/articles/190618|url-status=dead}}

Home football games and lacrosse matches are hosted at Ray Dennison Memorial Field, which can accommodate 4,000 - 6,000 spectators.{{Cite web |title=Ray Dennison Memorial Field, City of Durango |url=https://cityseeker.com/durango-co/1147268-ray-dennison-memorial-field |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=cityseeker |language=en}} The field was named in honor of Fort Lewis A&M College football player Ray Dennison, a 26-year-old married father of three who died as a result of an on-field collision while playing in a football game vs. Trinidad Junior College in September of 1955. Following his death, his widow filed a claim for death benefits with the Colorado Industrial Commission. The commission approved the claim which was affirmed on appeal by a Colorado district court. However, Fort Lewis College together with the State Compensation Insurance Fund appealed the claim to the Colorado Supreme Court. In 1957, the court ruled that his widow was not entitled to death benefits because football players are "student-athletes" and the employer-employee relationship does not exist. This ruling was foundational to defining the legal relationship between the colleges and their athletes and one of the earliest known uses of the term student-athlete.{{Cite web |last=Slothower |first=Chuck |title=Fort Lewis’ first ‘student-athlete’ |url=https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/fort-lewis-first-student-athlete/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Durango Herald |language=en-US}}{{cite news |last=Branch |first=Taylor |author-link1=Taylor Branch |date=October 2011 |title=The Shame of College Sports |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/?single_page=true |accessdate=January 7, 2022 |publisher=The Atlantic}}{{Col-begin|width=auto}}

{{Col-break}}

Men's sports:

• Basketball
• Cross country
• Cycling
• Football
• Golf
• Soccer

{{Col-break|gap=5em}}

Women's sports:

• Basketball
• Cross country
• Cycling
• Lacrosse
• Soccer
• Softball
• Volleyball

{{col-end}}

• Linden Ashby (attended) – actor
• David M. Beazley – Python developer and author
• Chris Camozzi (attended) – competed in wrestling and rugby; professional mixed martial artist{{cite web|title=Chris Camozzi UFC Bio|url=https://www.ufc.com/athlete/chris-camozzi|access-date=2014-01-01}}
• Eric Coble – playwright and screenwriter
• Salifu Jatta – professional footballer
• Myron Lizer – politician and businessman
• Nicco Montaño{{Cite web |url=http://www.niccomontano.net/ |title=Official Website of Nicco Montaño |access-date=2018-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722055305/http://www.niccomontano.net/ |archive-date=2018-07-22 |url-status=dead }} – professional mixed martial artist, inaugural and current UFC Flyweight Champion;{{Cite web|url=https://www.ufcespanol.com/athlete/nicco-montano|title = Nicco Montano | UFC|date = 14 September 2018}} first UFC Champion of Navajo descent{{Cite web|url=https://www.nhonews.com/news/2018/jan/30/navajo-nation-honors-ufc-champion-nicco-montano/|title = Navajo Nation honors UFC champion Nicco Montano}}
• Pamela Neary – politician[https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?ID=10447 Minnesota Legislators: Past & Present-Pamela Neary]
• Brianne Nelson – distance runner
• Scott Stamper – professional football player{{cite news |author=Langford, Mark |title=When the USFL San Antonio Gunslingers and the Oakland... |agency=UPI |date=March 23, 1984 |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/23/When-the-USFL-San-Antonio-Gunslingers-and-the-Oakland/3062448866000/ |access-date=January 19, 2016}}{{cite news |title=Transactions |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 2, 1983 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/02/sports/transactions-205210.html |access-date=January 19, 2016}}
• Scott Tipton – politician

{{Reflist}}

{{ccat}}

• {{oweb}}
• [https://goskyhawks.com/ Athletics website]

{{Public colleges and universities in Colorado}}

{{Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference navbox}}

{{ColoCol}}

{{Forts in Colorado}}

{{authority control}}

{{Portal bar|Colorado}}

Lewis

Category:Liberal arts colleges in Colorado

Category:Public universities and colleges in Colorado

Category:Buildings and structures in La Plata County, Colorado

Category:Colorado Western Slope

Category:Durango, Colorado

Category:Education in La Plata County, Colorado

Category:Educational institutions established in 1911

Category:1911 establishments in Colorado

Category:Tourist attractions in La Plata County, Colorado

Category:Public liberal arts colleges in the United States

Category:Universities and colleges accredited by the Higher Learning Commission