Adams State University

Adams State University is a state-supported liberal arts university in Alamosa, Colorado, United States. The school is located in the San Luis Valley, home to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

The university offers undergraduate programs in physical and social sciences, fine arts, business and nursing, and specializes in educator curricula in several disciplines. Adams State also offers graduate degrees in history, art, business (MBA), and educator programs, including counsellor education; the school also has a postgraduate (PhD) program in counsellor education.

The university has an active athletic program, both in participatory sports and in athletics educator training; the Adams State Grizzlies athletic teams compete under the auspices of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Adams State was founded in 1921 as a teacher's college. Billy Adams, a Colorado legislator who would later become a three-term governor of Colorado, worked for three decades before obtaining the authorization to found Adams State Normal School in 1921, to provide higher education opportunities for teachers from remote and rural areas of Colorado, such as the San Luis Valley, and see them work in those same areas.

In 1926, Harriet Dalzell Hester became the university's first graduate. She became the school's first librarian and an Alamosa County school superintendent. In 2012, the institution's name changed the name from Adams State College to Adams State University.

There are currently six on-campus apartment complexes (Houtchens, McCurry, Moffat, Petteys, Savage and Residence at the Rex) that include private bedrooms for two to three students, a kitchen/living room and private bath, in addition to three traditional dormitory halls (Conour, Coronado and Girault). Most entering freshmen are housed in Coronado and Girault Halls. The main cafeteria, La Mesa Dining Hall, in the Student Union Building is newly renovated.

There are two gyms and an indoor pool. The Rex Activity Center for student recreation includes weights, exercise bikes, a state of the art rock climbing wall, and racquetball courts. Plachy Hall includes the gym and indoor pool and field house as part of the Athletics Department.