CU's new president has money on his mind.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: COTE'S - University of Colorado's Bruce Benson

The announcement last spring that oil and gas industry magnate Bruce Benson was the next president of the University of Colorado was met with disdain in some circles.

Hey, this guy doesn't have research experience, some academics cried. And Benson's reputation as a conservative Republican didn't enamor him with the more liberal-minded students and faculty in Boulder.

Then there were those of us who are putting our kids through CU.

With tuition increases of 10 percent becoming an annual ordeal, what caught our attention was the part of Benson's resume touting that he had helped his alma mater by chairing CU's multi-campus $1 billion fundraising campaign.

When your state is next to last nationwide in funding higher education, you can't afford to let ideology drive your decisions. You need someone who knows how to run a business and raise money.

Ask Benson what he hopes to accomplish during his tenure and he doesn't hesitate: increase funding.

"It's just like running a business. You can have a great plan, but if you don't know how to fund it, nothing is going to happen," he said during a recent interview at his CU office in downtown Denver.

Benson's primary goal is to improve the funding mix for CU, including private philanthropy, state sources, federal government and "whatever else we can think of"--as well as push for dedicated funding sources for higher education.

The 22nd president of the University of Colorado oversees a $2 billion system that serves 52,000 under-graduate and graduate students on three campuses at four locations, including CU-Boulder, UCCS in Colorado Springs, UC Denver's downtown Denver campus and the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

Over the years, the president and owner of Benson Mineral Group has branched into real estate, banking, mortgage servicing, cable television and other fields--experience Benson says helped prepare him to manage a research institution.

"I've run so many different kinds of businesses that I don't know anything about," said Benson, 70. "If you're going to run a mortgage servicing company or a bank, you better make sure you have some really smart top people running it. And basically, that's what we're doing here at the university."

Benson has a long history of supporting education, including a stint as a board member of the Metropolitan State College of Denver Foundation.

"Frankly I have a lot more experience in higher...