FLC is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, with additional program-level accreditations in Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, and Marketing; Athletic Training; Chemistry; Engineering Physics; Music; and Teacher Education. The college offers 30 bachelor's degrees through its four academic units.
Because of its unique origins as a military fort turned Indian boarding school turned state public school, Fort Lewis College also follows a 1911 mandate to provide a tuition-free education for qualified Native Americans. Fort Lewis College awards approximately 16 percent of the baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American students in the nation. In 2008, FLC was designated as one of six Native American-serving, non-tribal colleges by the U.S. Department of Education.
The first Fort Lewis army post was constructed in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in 1878, and was relocated in 1880 to Hesperus, Colorado, on the southern slopes of the La Plata Mountains. In 1891, Fort Lewis was decommissioned and converted into a federal, off-reservation Indian boarding school.
In 1911, the fort's property and buildings in Hesperus were transferred to the state of Colorado to establish an "agricultural and mechanic arts high school." That deed came with two conditions: that the land would be used for an educational institution, and "to be maintained as an institution of learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality with white students" in perpetuity (Act of 61st Congress, 1911). Both conditions have been the missions and guides for the Fort Lewis school's various incarnations over the past century.
In the 1930s, the Fort Lewis high school expanded into a two-year college, and in 1948 became Fort Lewis A&M College, under control of State Board of Agriculture. The "Aggies" studying at the Fort Lewis Branch of the Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanics could choose from courses including agriculture, forestry, engineering, veterinary science, and home economics.
Fort Lewis College underwent another period of growth and changes starting in 1956, when the college moved from its long-time home in Hesperus to its present location, 18 miles east, atop what was then known as Reservoir Hill, overlooking Durango. Here, FLC became a four-year institution, awarding its first baccalaureate degrees in 1964.
Also in 1964, the college dropped the "A&M" moniker. At that time, the new Fort Lewis College also changed its mascot from "Aggies" to the "Raiders," and changed the school's colors from the green and yellow of the Colorado State University system it had been affiliated with to the blue and gold it still sports today.
In recent history: In 1994, the college's mascot became the Skyhawks, retaining the blue and gold. In 1995, Fort Lewis College joined the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, and in 2002, the College became independent of the Colorado State University system, and formed its own governing Board of Trustees.
The 247-acre Fort Lewis College campus is in southwestern Colorado is situated at 6,872 feet atop a mesa overlooking the Animas River Valley and downtown Durango. A network of trails as well as city bus service (free to students with FLC IDs) connects the campus and town.
The campus' distinctive architectural theme utilizes locally quarried sandstone to acknowledge the region's Native puebloan building style and evoke the Four Corners landscape and colors. The style was crafted by prominent Boulder architect James M. Hunter, who was contracted to establish a campus building plan by the college in the late 1950s, following the college's move from Hesperus, Colorado, to its Durango location.
Today, on-campus housing is in six residence halls and two apartment buildings, with singles, doubles, and suites. Also on campus are 14 academic buildings, as well as a Student Life Center, Aquatic Center, and Student Union. On-campus athletic facilities include Ray Dennison Memorial Field, Dirks Field, the Softball Complex, Whalen Gymnasium, and the Factory Trails, an off-road bicycling race course.
The new Student Union opened in Fall 2011, and now hosts the college's cultural centers, the Native American Center and El Centro de Muchos Colores, as well as student government, the Environmental Center, the post office, and the bookstore. The new Student Union also offers several dining options, and houses both a Leadership Center and a Media Center that includes the college's news magazine, literary journal, and KDUR radio station.
The Student Union building was awarded LEED Gold status in August by the U.S. Green Building Council for its sustainability features. It is the third LEED Gold building on campus, along with the Berndt Hall Biology Wing and the residential Animas Hall. Those environmental awards helped FLC be named one of "America's Coolest Schools" by Sierra magazine, the official publication of the Sierra Club, in 2011.
Through the Common Reading Experience, students, faculty, and Durango community members explore ideas together by reading and discussing the same book and the issues it highlights. Since its creation in 2006, the Common Reading Experience has examined books including Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir; Mountains beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World; Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother; Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference; and The Heart & the Fist: The education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy seal.
The Center for Civic Engagement's Community Based Learning & Research program supports faculty and students in constructing their civic-engagement learning experiences. The program oversees all course, project, and independent work to see they meet the standards of best practice as approved by campus and community reviewers.
The program also compiles a Civic Engagement Transcript students can receive after graduation. The transcript is separate from but augments the college's standard transcript by supplying an officially recognized and quantified listing of experiences in participatory community work both in and out of classes. The transcript also includes a brief description of each activity to serve as a guide for employers or institutions that later refer to the record. The transcript records five areas of civic-engagement experience and accomplishment.
