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Join the School of Education and campus leadership for the official opening of the Ofelia Miramontes and Leonard M. Baca Education Building on Friday, Oct. 4, from 3:30 to 6 p.m.

Complete with live mariachi music, the School of Education Building Dedication and Open House event will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to honor the building namesakes and their families and the donors and campus leaders who helped bring the School of Education’s momentous building move and renovation to fruition.

A family-friendly open house follows from 4:30 to 6 p.m. From engaging STEM lessons to a literacy corner complete with green-screen photography, the open house is designed to spark creativity and joy while celebrating and uplifting the power of educators.

Attendees will learn more about the School of Education’s research, student work, community impact and more through several interactive stations throughout the building.

“This project is about more than a building—it’s about celebrating the foundational work that leaders like Ofelia and Leonard laid and the power of education past and present to open doors of opportunity,” said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, interim dean of education. “We are looking forward to bringing everyone together.”

In 2019, the School of Education launched a renovation and fundraising initiative to move to a newly renovated campus home in what was then known as the Fleming Building. In 2023 the regents approved the renaming of the building to honor Miramontes and Baca, two exceptional mentors, leaders and educators when they were active education faculty members.

For many involved, the long-awaited project represents sustained university support and new opportunities to uplift the School of Education’s impact by providing ample collaborative spaces and technologically smart, flexible classrooms that reflect current understandings about how classrooms support learning and growth.

As an alumna and long-time donor who named a classroom in the Miramontes Baca Education Building, Trish Shapiro is grateful for Dean Emerita Kathy Schultz’s leadership and vision for the project.

Shapiro felt that supporting this project was a way to honor the importance of the field of education and the essential role that quality facilities can play in attracting, retaining and engaging excellent faculty and future educators.

“I have seen the university grow, build and expand in wonderful ways, but the (former) School of Education building was older than most of Colorado’s elementary schools. As an educator and alumna, that bothered me,” she said. “Without education, where would we be?

“Our new facilities will serve as a beacon of teacher education and embodies the expansive, wonderful, contributory work that is done in the School of Education on the Boulder campus.”