Announcement: CU Denver is Celebrating 50 Years
Whether you’re an alumnus, current student, member of the faculty and staff, donor, or neighbor, you’re a valuable part of the CU Denver community. Help us celebrate the last 50 years and a future that works for all.
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CU Denver’s Alma Mater
A song for our future that honors our past.
At CU Denver—a place where education works for all—students are empowered to create their own paths to success. As the university celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, the university honored those students by collecting memories, stories, and creating an alma mater, a school anthem. The idea, the brainchild of Mark Rabideau, College of Arts & Media’s Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Music & Entertainment Studies (DMA), came to fruition thanks to support from Chancellor Michelle Marks and Provost Constancio Nakuma and was created with the help of more than 80 students.
Mark Rabideau (pictured) assembled a team that included Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Becca Stevens and Music & Entertainment Studies faculty member Andrew Pettit, PhD, to create CU Denver’s first alma mater.
The Making of the Alma Mater
Students were a crucial part of creating the alma mater through writing, composing, performing, recording, and video production. Four musicians—a group consisting of two current music students, Verena Fuentes, Finn O’Sullivan, spring graduate Genevieve Glimp, and Katharine Yeager ’22, an alum and CAM staff member—helped teach the song to the CU Denver community in a series of videos. Click below to watch and learn how to sing the verses and chorus.
CU Denver Alma Mater Lyrics
VERSE 1
Underneath a canopy of stars tonight
The mile high city reaches up to touch the sky
Closer to the heavens means we’re closer to our dreams
Stone by stone we pave the way for every voice to speak
Brick by brick we build a
future bright!
And mighty like the walls of Tivoli
VERSE 2
Mighty like the walls of Tivoli we strive
To hold each other up and journey inward side by side
Tethered to each other through the beauty and the pain
Swaying to the music in communal pride we sing
With every voice together we
can climb!
Higher than the rocky mountainside
VERSE 3
Higher than the rocky mountainside we rise
And revel in identities that move & intertwine
Forging brighter futures with a light upon the past
Differences unite and build a partnership that lasts
Bring your truth and passion
to the fight
Auraria we see you
CHORUS
When the snow is fallin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
When the land is callin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
When the people need liftin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
And voices need listenin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
VERSE 4
Cradled by the golden plains and mountain pines
Gazing up at stars and out at Denver city lights
Different worlds together blend like herbs over the fire
Blossom from the ruins ‘neath the Colorado sky
Basking in three hundred
days of sun
Our voices ring together now as one
VERSE 5
Voices ring together now as one in pride
With Milo standing guard of who we truly are inside
Here we make our mark like branching roots beneath the ground
Feel the beat of those before, and carry on their sound
CHORUS
When the snow is fallin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
When the land is callin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
When the people need liftin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
And their voices need listenin’ (We see you, CU Denver)
CLOSING CHORUS
Cuando cae la nieve (Te vemos, CU Denver)
Y la tierra llama (Te vemos, CU Denver)
Cuando el pueblo quiere (Te vemos, CU Denver)
Que lo escuchen y eleven (Te vemos, CU Denver)
CU Denver
CU Denver
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1201 Larimer Street
Denver, CO 80204
(303) 315-5969
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