Larry Penley’s First Day as Colorado State’s Leader

Larry Penley’s first day as Colorado State University’s leader will be a busy one.

Below is the schedule of events, open to media attendance, for the Aug. 1 start of Penley’s leadership at the university:

• 8:30 — Meeting with student leadership in the Associated Students of Colorado State University offices on the southwest corner of the Lory Student Center on campus.
• 9:15 a.m. — Tour of the Human Performance Clinical/Research Laboratory on the south side of the Moby Arena complex
• 10 a.m. — Tour of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital on Drake Road.
• Noon — Lunch with community leaders in Ammons Hall, on the northwest corner of the Oval on campus.
• 1:30 p.m. — Brief introduction to Cam the Ram, the university’s mascot on the Oval.
• 3 p.m. — Meeting with the executive committee of the Faculty Council, in the president’s office.
• 4:30 p.m. — Meeting with Sonny Lubick, football coach, and interim athletic direction Christine Susemihl and brief tour of athletic facilities at the McGraw Athletic Center.

Attached is more information on the schedule of events, including program information and background materials. For directions or additional information, please call Jennifer Dimas at (970) 491-1543.

Associated Students of Colorado State University is Colorado State’s student government. It works as a liaison between the administration, faculty and students to promote student interests. ASCSU is the voice of Colorado State students and works to create diverse experiences for the student by promoting academic, athletic, and cultural events for all students. ASCSU oversees the allocation of over $16 million in student fees throughout the year to support student services like the Student Recreation Center, Lory Student Center, Hartshorn Health Center and a variety of other departments. In addition, ASCSU uses fees to support student organizations and programming. Through lobbying and communication efforts, ASCSU serves as an advocate for student issues and presents the student perspective to campus administration and faculty; local, state and national governments; and university college councils.

The Human Performance Clinical/Research Laboratory (HPCRL) is in the Department of Health and Exercise Science and promotes hands-on learning experiences for students, providing a forum for research, while promoting the benefits of healthy lifestyles to citizens in the community. The major outreach program offered by the HPCRL is the Heart Disease Prevention Program. This program provides an opportunity for individuals to be screened for all the risk factors for heart disease including an extensive personal and family history, a maximal treadmill ECG test, cardio-respiratory exam by a physician, blood lipid analysis, body composition analysis and much more. This program is designed to assist individuals in decreasing their risk of heart disease as they age.

The James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a full-service hospital, divided into small and large animal clinics. The hospital is equipped with the latest in veterinary technology and boasts clients from local communities and around the nation. The hospital treats more than 16,000 horses, cattle, dogs, cats, birds, snakes, rabbits, llamas, sheep, pigs, and many more living creatures needing health care and special services each year. The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is premier research college with 5 of the 12 University Distinguished Professors and 5 of the 14 programs of Research and Scholarly Excellence. The college and hospital expands existing research on infectious disease, including diseases that infect humans, in new lab facilities. The university’s Animal Cancer Center is the largest single resource in the world fighting cancer in animals and many of the breakthroughs and unique cancer treatments developed at the center are applicable to human cancers. The hospital also houses the Argus Institute, a unique branch to veterinary medicine that works to prepare veterinary teams to successfully meet the emotional needs of pet-owners and implement a practice model that makes the emotional support of people as much a priority as the medical care of pets.

Cam-the Ram – Before 1947 Colorado A & M did not have a permanent mascot – that year the student body voted to make the Rambouillet Ram the official mascot of the university because the breed resembled the big horn and the animal sciences program kept Rambouillets at the university. The students also voted to name him CAM (Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical). The formal Cam-the Ram program, which involves student handlers who must meet high academic qualifications, was not started until 1990. The program is wholly funded by sponsorships which make up about $12,000 to pay for the expenses of the mascot and handlers. Cam-the-Ram has not missed a bowl game since the official program began in 1990. The current Cam is #19. Three rams are in waiting behind the current Cam.

The Faculty Council was established by the faculty in 1915. The Faculty Council acts as a representative body for the academic faculty and performs those duties delegated to the faculty by acts of the legislature. Faculty government is an instrument by which the collective intelligence of the institution, through direct and representative participation, can do effective work in establishing policies which result in: curricula suited to the needs of the state as well as to regional, national and international concerns; the best possible teaching, research, and extension activities; and, conditions in which both faculty members and students can learn and develop according to their individual interests and aptitudes.

The Faculty Council consists of members elected from academic departments, the libraries, and the colleges, the Chairperson of the Faculty Council, the Vice Chairperson of Faculty Council, the Faculty Council representative to the Board and ex officio members. Each academic department and the Libraries elect one representative. An additional number of representatives, equal approximately to one-third of the number of representatives elected from the departments and the libraries, are elected at large by and from the colleges and the libraries as required to achieve membership proportional to the number of regular, regular part time, and transitional academic faculty members in the colleges and Libraries. All faculty representatives to the Faculty Council hold regular full time, regular part time, or transitional appointments above the rank of instructor and shall not hold an administrative appointment of more than half time at the level of assistant/associate dean or above.

Coach Sonny Lubick – Colorado State’s football program is among only a handful of those across the broad landscape of NCAA Division I institutions that have enjoyed the success that Head Coach Sonny Lubick has engineered in Fort Collins. Lubick, the 15th head coach in Rams’ football history, has established a long-lasting legacy of success at Colorado State. He has achieved more than any other coach in school history, and has the well-deserved and hard-earned reputation as one of the nation’s premier coaches. According to the Colorado State University Athletic Department, during Lubick’s tenure at Colorado State, the Rams have:

• Earned six bowl invitations in nine seasons, more than any other MWC team and among the most nationally;
• Won or shared five conference titles between 1994 and 2000, more than any other program nationally except Florida State over the same span;
• Colorado State has won more conference games since 1994 than any other current MWC program;
• The Rams rank among the top 15 programs nationally in total victories since 1994, ahead of such programs as Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Alabama.
• Six times since 1994, the team has won eight or more games in a season. Three times – the only three seasons in school history – the Rams have won 10 (twice) or more (11) games in a season.

Lubick has brought success and much more not just to the Rams football fortunes, but to the entire athletic department and university community. The Rams have appeared in more nationally and regionally televised games than any other member of the MWC, thanks in large part to Colorado State’s continued success and program attractiveness. Since 1999, the Rams have eight times been featured on prime time Thursday night telecasts on ESPN or ESPN2, the most by any school in the nation. Attendance during Lubick’s tenure is at an all-time high. The top eight season attendance records for home games have come during Lubick’s career at Colorado State.