News of prestigious accolades for University of Colorado faculty and staff drew readers to CU Connections throughout 2025. Details of impressive measures of CU’s impact within the state and across the nation also proved popular reading. Revisit these highlights by exploring our Top 10 list of the most-read features from the past year.
When Alexes Hernandez moved from New Mexico to Colorado Springs, college was the plan. She didn’t expect to also become a business owner with a growing online following. But with support from UCCS entrepreneurship resources, her product now reaches thousands across TikTok and Instagram. Hernandez’s story is part of the recently published CU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Impact Report for 2024-25. Alongside facts and figures demonstrating the power of CU’s innovation engine, the report features several profiles of student entrepreneurs across the four campuses.
CU students shouldn’t have to face this painful question: Can I afford to eat today? Interruptions to SNAP benefits, depleted food banks and other intensified needs during the holiday season have increased the strain on many students. To help, CU’s donors and leadership are stepping up to support food pantries and other essential-needs programs on all four campuses — including generous matches by the CU system, its campuses and the CU Foundation.
Seven educators at the University of Colorado are being added to the roster of Distinguished Professors, CU’s highest honor for faculty across the four-campus system: Kristen Carpenter, J.D.; Russell Cropanzano, Ph.D.; Marcia Douglas, Ph.D.; Noah Finkelstein, Ph.D.; Karl Linden, Ph.D.; Jade Morton, Ph.D.; and Marc Moss, M.D.
The University of Colorado system generated $12.2 billion in economic impact across Colorado last year, highlighting CU’s growing role in the state’s economy through education, research, innovation and health care, according to a new economic study. This is growth of more than half a billion dollars over 2024.