Role and Mission
MSU Denver is a comprehensive, baccalaureate- and master’s-degree granting urban university that offers arts and sciences, professional and business courses and programs to a diverse student population in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Excellence in teaching and learning is MSU Denver’s primary objective.
MSU Denver’s mission is to provide a high-quality, accessible, enriching education that prepares students for successful careers, post-graduate education, and lifelong learning in a multicultural, global, and technological society. To fulfill its mission, MSU Denver’s diverse university community engages the community at large in scholarly inquiry, creative activity and the application of knowledge.
The Campus
Metropolitan State University of Denver is located at the Auraria Higher Education Center, a 127-acre campus in downtown Denver at Auraria Parkway and Speer Boulevard. The Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver share the facilities with MSU Denver. The campus includes more than one million square feet of space for classrooms, laboratories, and offices.
University Recognition and Awards
Seal of Excelencia
- Excelencia in Education, a research organization focused on the higher education of Latino students, certified MSU Denver as of September 2023 with the Seal of Excelencia for the University’s long record of serving this growing group of undergrads.
- MSU Denver is one of just nine universities or colleges nationwide to become newly certified with the seal in 2023. It is the only institution of higher learning in Colorado to earn the seal, which is valid for three years (before institutions must apply for recertification).
Additional recent awards:
- 2025 John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
- Colorado Association of Black Journalists: 2024 Top Large University
- 2024 SUCCESS Institutional Leadership Award: The Presidents’ Alliance, TheDream.US, Immigrants Rising
- 2024 Leaders in Diversity: Denver Business Journal
- 2024 Outstanding Woman in Business - Janine Davidson: Denver Business Journal
- Dan L. King Award for Outstanding College/University Trustee Leadership - Russell Noles: American Association of University Administrators
- Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Impact Practice Award - Michael Benitez: Colorado Coalition for the Educational Advancement of Latinos
- 2024 Bernie Valdez Award: Colorado Latino Leadership Advocacy & Research Organization
- Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award (2021 marked the 11th consecutive year receiving this honor)
- 2024 Alianza Award, Colorado Latino Leadership Advocacy & Research Organization
- Aerobatics National Champions: MSU Denver is the reigning national champion in collegiate aerobatics! Our student aviators repeated as national champs, and under the direction of aerobatic team coach and instructor, Dagmar Kress, our student aviators have won four championships in just six years of competing.
- Leading Fulbright-producing Institution: MSU Denver was also recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars in 22-23, and we were one of just six master’s-level institutions in the country to have three or more scholars this year - a demonstration of our commitment to faculty excellence.
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