The CU Business School beneath the flatirons
Elliott Hood and Family walk near Old Main
CU Denver building among Denver's skyline

The CU Regents govern Colorado’s largest university system.

Colorado’s founders established the University of Colorado as the state's flagship university with a nine-member Board of Regents to govern it (Colo. Const. Art. 9, Sec. 12-13). Today, CU spans four campuses in Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora (Anschutz), making it Colorado’s largest university system, the third-largest employer, and contributing $17 billion annually to the state’s economy.

The Regents are responsible for passing CU’s budget, which last year totaled over $6 billion, hiring and managing the University’s President, establishing policies and laws that apply across the CU system, approving tenure recommendations, and much more. The Regents operate as a policy governance board much like local school boards.

Eight of the nine Regents are elected by congressional district, while one Regent is elected statewide (at-large). 

The at-large seat is currently open because incumbent Regent At-Large Lesley Smith is running for the state house of representatives and is therefore not seeking reelection to the Board of Regents.