CU Boulder’s Center of the American West was founded in 1986 by Patty Limerick and Colorado Law Professor Charles Wilkinson.

The Center of the American West serves as a forum committed to the civil, respectful, and problem-solving exploration of important and often contentious public issues. In an era of political polarization and contention, the Center strives to bring out “the better angels of our nature” by appealing to our common loyalties and hopes as Westerners.

We believe that an understanding of the historical origins of the West’s problems, an emphasis on the common interests of all parties, and a dose of good humor are essential to constructive public discussion. As part of our mission, we strive to increase awareness and knowledge about a variety of issues we face as Westerners by hosting a diverse array of public events each year. Recent luminaries for our Wallace Steger Award and Humor Initiative include Ken Burns, Timothy Egan, and Senators Alan and Pete Simpson and their wives Ann & Lynn and for our Modern Indian Identity series, Charlotte Roderique.

In our Academic Programs, we sponsor a wide range of opportunities, giving students the chance to venture beyond classrooms and textbooks and to interact with leading scholars, writers, public servants, and faculty members. These opportunities include our Western American Studies Certificate Program, Grace Kempton Student Dinners, Internships, Hoffman Scholars, Thompson Awards for Western American Writing, and the Beardsley Family Scholarship.

Recently, the Center of the American West was awarded an $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for an Applied History training program tying historical understanding to real-world solutions for modern problems.

The Center of the American West works on a variety of regional issues as diverse as the West itself. They include energy, immigration, public lands, water, wildfire, and much more! We have a library of Resources to help the public navigate the often complicated underlying issues we face.

In addition, the Center has published numerous books, including A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water, a history of water in Denver, the influential Atlas of the New West, and a series of lively, balanced, and to-the-point reports on compelling Western issues, including The Nation Possessed,  Hydraulic Fracturing Glossary, Glosario del Fracturamiento Hidráulico, What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy, Cleaning Up Abandoned Hardrock Mines in the West, K-12 Education Resource Sets and What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy Efficiency and Conservation. Our film, The Lover’s Guide to the West, chronicles the past, present, and future of America’s love affair with energy. Limerick and Center staff are currently working on several projects, including a book about the role of the Department of the Interior in the West, based on the “Inside Interior” series of interviews previously hosted by the Center of the American West.  To learn more visit our website.

• A Commemoration honoring the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of Vine Deloria, Jr.’s, Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  9/13/2019 - 9/13/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Special Stegner Award & Humor Initiative event with Sheriff Dave Ward

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  10/3/2019 - 10/3/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Redemption and Reconciliation: The West in Words and Images

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  10/15/2019 - 10/15/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Immigrant Workers, Roads, and Nation Building: Legacies of the Transcontinental Railroad on its 150th Anniversary

  Additional Info

  Program held in the British Studies Room in Norlin

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  10/30/2019 - 10/30/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Rescuing the West and the Nation: How Thinking Like a Historian Can Save Us From Ourselves

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  11/15/2019 - 11/15/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Bipartisanship (and friendship) happen! An evening with Congressman Bob Beauprez and Senator Mark Udall

  Additional Info

  Program held in the Glenn Miller Ballroom in the UMC.

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  12/10/2019 - 12/10/2019

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Shoebox Stories Live: UndocuAmerica Series

  Additional Info

  Dairy Center in partnership with Motus Theater
  

  ---

  Location

  in colorado

  Boulder

  Dates

  1/15/2020 - 1/15/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  Yes

• Why are we stuck on dealing with climate change and how do we get ‘unstuck’?

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  2/6/2020 - 2/6/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Americaville screening with Adam Smith

  Additional Info

  Co sponsored with Center for Asian Studies
  

  ---

  Location

  on campus

  Dates

  3/12/2020 - 3/12/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Water and Energy in Colorado: Emulsifying Two Great Challenges in Four Parts

  Additional Info

  Co sponsored with the Colorado Scientific Society and The Denver Museum of Nature and Science
  

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  8/11/2020 - 8/20/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Lunch with Limerick – Rescuing a Nation: Advice from a “Turnaround Artist

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  9/18/2020 - 9/18/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Lunch with Limerick – “Bipartisanship Happens”: How Western Governors Set an Example for the Nation’s Leaders

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  9/25/2020 - 9/25/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Lunch with Limerick – Getting Sick and Getting Well: How Americans Have Understood Disease and Health

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  10/1/2020 - 10/1/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Lunch with Limerick – The Post Office’s Central Role in American Life: An Advocate for 21st Century Voting by Mail and a Historian of the 19th Century U. S. Post Get Acquainted

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  10/2/2020 - 10/2/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• The Party of Practicality: An Innovative and Pragmatic Conversation on Immigration, Part I

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  10/6/2020 - 10/6/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• The Party of Practicality: An Innovative and Pragmatic Conversation on Immigration, Part II

  ---

  Location

  online resource

  Dates

  11/13/2020 - 11/13/2020

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program