Adams State University

Adams State University is a public university in Alamosa, Colorado. The university's Adams State Grizzlies athletic teams compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. History 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. The school adopted the name Adams State College in 1946, corresponding with the expansion of its undergraduate and graduate programs. In 2012, the institution's name changed again, to Adams State University. The university gained some national attention in 2016 when its online classes came under scrutiny. The university's regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, placed the university on probation. In 2018, the probation was lifted and the university's status was restored to "Accredited."