Colorado Colleges and Universities: Adams State University

From community colleges to research universities, Colorado offers a variety of public-funded higher education options. Today we profile Adams State University.

Adams State, located in the San Luis Valley, was founded as a teacher’s college in 1921. Originally Adams State Normal School, it eventually became known as Adams State Teachers College and then Adams State College until 2012, when it became Adams State University. The school is named for William H. “Billy” Adams, a legislator from Alamosa. Adams served in the General Assembly for four decades (this was before term limits), from 1886 to 1926, when he was elected Governor of Colorado. During his forty years in the legislature, according to the Colorado State Archives, the only bill he introduced was the one that founded the Adams State Normal School.

Today, Adams State University has an enrollment of 3,701 students in its undergraduate and graduate degree programs. To learn about the programs offered at ASU see their Academic Catalog. To learn more about the school’s plans for the future, see their 2020 Strategic Plan. Search our library’s online catalog for more documents from Adams State University and the former Adams State College, including budgets, audit reports, financial accountability plans, self-study reports, trustee manuals, presidents’ reports, promotional materials, master plans, and more. We also have some interesting historical documents produced by the school, such as a 1980 report on migrant farmworker youth and a 1974 model for San Luis Valley community development.