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CU President Todd Saliman with Amy Moreno-Sherwood, senior director of the Campos Student Center. Moreno-Sherwood won the 2025 President's Inclusive Excellence Award for Staff.

At the heart of the Campos Student Center in CU �Ǹ�Թ�’s College of Engineering & Applied Science (CEAS) is a powerful truth: when committed staff and generous philanthropy come together, students’ lives change in extraordinary ways.��

Guided by senior director Amy Moreno-Sherwood, the center has become a place where future engineers discover confidence, community and opportunity. Through deep partnerships with the Campos Foundation, staff have turned bold ideas into life‑shaping programs — from scholarships and research pathways to career advising and national conference access — ensuring that every student who walks through the center’s doors feels supported and capable of achieving more than they imagined.��

During a recent student staff training at the Campos Student Center, students reflected on their pivotal moments in the center: Networking with professionals and students. Finding a community of belonging. Having financial support to finish college. The students’ experiences reflected some of the Campos Student Center’s highest priorities.

Formerly known as the BOLD Center — and originally founded as the Multicultural Engineering Program and Women in Engineering Program — the Campos Student Center was renamed in August 2025 in honor of alum Marco Campos (CivEngr’98). Because of the Campos Foundation’s $5 million gift, the center has more resources to provide leadership development and programming for engineering students from all backgrounds.��

For Moreno-Sherwood, the work in the Campos Student Center is an extension of her own educational experience. As a first-generation college student and a woman of color who studied in a STEM field, she fully understands the impact that education and leadership training opportunities can have on today’s students.

“I’ve lived a first-gen undergraduate and graduate experience,” she says. “I know how mentoring, education and community can provide the meaningful opportunities and support that positively impact someone’s life trajectory.”��

Since taking on leadership of the center nearly four years ago, Moreno-Sherwood and her staff have worked closely with the Campos Foundation, which is led by Marco’s sibling Deanna Campos Miller (Jour, Span’99). They’ve welcomed professionals from other universities to learn about the work occurring in the center, hosted visits with the Denver School of Science and Technology scholars program and supported the center’s students to volunteer at Campos Foundation events in the local community.��

These efforts all share commitment to removing barriers and creating opportunities through education. For Moreno-Sherwood, that commitment often lies in envisioning how philanthropy can enhance a program to make a lasting difference for students’ educational and career aspirations.��

With the Campos Foundation’s visionary generosity and Moreno-Sherwood and her team’s dedicated leadership, students gain access to professional engineering and STEM societies, student success programming, scholarships and academic services at the Campos Student Center. Some of the center’s most recent impact includes:��

• 127 student society members funded to attend national or regional conferences for professional development and networking with companies for internships and jobs

• 91% second-fall retention rate for BOLD scholars��

• 77% six-year graduation rate from the College of Engineering & Applied Science and 85% six-year graduation rate from CU �Ǹ�Թ� for the most recent cohort of scholars

• 104 BOLD scholars graduated in the 2024-25 academic year

Philanthropy fuels such achievements, and it often does so in response to needs identified by faculty and staff. A new introductory research class, Fundamentals of Undergraduate Research, and new career advising pilot programming are two examples — both supported through Campos’ gift to meet a staff-identified need.������

Keith Molennar, Deanna Campos-Miller, Caleb Woldemichael, Marco Campos, and Chancellor Justin Schwartz at the Campos Center ribbon cutting ceremony (Credit: Jesse Petersen)

Campos’ investment in student success began long before the Foundation’s transformational investment in the Campos Student Center. .��

Amanda Parker, CEAS senior director of enrollment management, reflects on their decade-long collaboration that started with a program for high school students.

“We began to work together on EngiNearMe, which gives high schoolers in the summer between 11th and 12th grades a chance to experience engineering and get excited about it,” she says. “That kind of experience was central to Marco’s college success, and with his investment, EngiNearMe has become one of our biggest recruiting tools.”

Then, a few years ago, college leadership noticed something troubling. The retention rate for first-generation, Pell-eligible students from Colorado was far below the college’s average, and they were determined to address it. Collaborating with staff and faculty across the college and campus, Parker and a team of colleagues spearheaded the Lattice Scholars Program also with backing from Campos. In the first year of the program, which provides financial and robust community support, second-fall retention of first-generation, Pell-eligible students from Colorado increased from 70% to 95%. This success built upon years of collaboration among CEAS staff and faculty. Campos was the lead donor to the program — and he encouraged other donors to give, too.��