Colorado has the highest avalanche-related death toll in the nation. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, almost 300 people have died from being caught in Colorado avalanches over the past 70 years. FLC's Outdoor Pursuits program is trying to mitigate that, offering a PRO 1 Avalanche Course in collaboration with the American Avalanche Institute.
Members of FLC’s Strategies for Ecological Education, Diversity & Sustainability Club, or SEEDS, spent January 8-12, 2023, exploring Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. The student-led study abroad experience shed light on the ecological diversity of a destination known for its pineapple drinks and banana boats.
The FLC men's basketball team climbed the Division II rankings to claim a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title and capture the RMAC Tournament championship. The team received the No. 2 seed for the South-Central Regional Tournament at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Colorado U.S. Representative Jason Crow introduced the Protect the West Act to make a $60 billion investment in Western forests. Julie Korb, professor of Biology, spoke in favor of the bill, saying that lawmakers "can no longer wait to invest in restoring and creating resilient forests and watersheds across the West."
The Performing Arts Department will put on Songs for a New World, a challenging mix of 15 different set pieces worthy of 15 musicals. Written by Jason Robert Brown, Songs has been described as a song cycle, a musical revue, and an abstract musical.
Charles Hakes, a senior lecturer of Physics & Engineering, shares his stargazing knowledge of the most recognizable constellation in the night sky: Orion's Belt. The triad constellation was named after Western mythology's great hunter, who battled a scorpion sent by the gods.
Andrew Gulliford, professor of History, dedicated the last 20 years to studying the Bears Ears region. His research culminated with the publication of Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance in 2022. The pandemic allowed Gulliford to stay in the writer's seat and finish the publication, a love letter to the Monument.
FLC committed to the housing security of its faculty and staff by launching the Employee Mortgage Assistance Program, or EMAP. In partnership with the HomesFund, a certified Community Development Financial Institute and HUD-approved housing counseling agency, FLC will finance below-market loans for qualifying staff and faculty.
FLC President Tom Stritikus and CU President Todd Saliman penned an op-ed in The Durango Herald on the innovative nursing program. Stritikus and Saliman expressed their shared vision to build a nursing workforce in the Four Corners region that will serve rural and Indigenous populations.