President Stearns served from 1939 to 1953.

Bob Stearns was the first native Coloradan, the first alumnus (BA’14, DhL’54), and the first dean to become President of CU.

During the first years of his administration, Stearns, the Law School Dean from 1931-1939, faced budget deficits while the storms of World War II were gathering.

Like Norlin, Stearns was a strong Jeffersonian democrat who believed an educated populace was necessary to withstand the appeals of demagogues like Hitler. Although willing to adjust to the national needs during the war by introducing national defense activities to campus, Stearns was insistent that educational goals not be compromised ant that war-time changes were only temporary.

For two of the war years, Stearns, a World War I veteran then 52, was on leave to serve the Air Force as a civilian operations analyst in the South Pacific. He returned with honors from General MacArthur in 1945.

The largest building program in university history followed the war and the influx of veterans under the GI Bill. Stearns oversaw a student population that nearly doubled to over 11,000 by 1948.

Stearns was stalwart in defense of academic freedoms in the face of the “red scare” of the Cold War and the McCarthy era. Communist youth organizations, religion on campus, “radical” professors and other real and rumored issues put Stearns to the test. His fights for academic freedoms won the strong support of faculty and students.

Regarded as one of the most distinguished and popular CU administrations, the Stearns years came to an end in 1953 when he resigned to become president of the Boettcher Foundation. He served on several national defense boards, including the one which brought the Air Force Academy to Colorado. He died in 1977. Stearns Tower in Williams Village was named in his honor, as was the Robert L. Stearns Award which has annually been presented to outstanding faculty and staff members since 1953.

Read more about President Stearns and the history of the University of Colorado in Glory Colorado! Volume 1, by William E. Davis.