Real estate brokerage owner Brian Allen, a 1969 graduate of Yampa Valley College, was surprised to find out he is being inducted into Colorado Mountain College's Hall of Fame.
“He was very shocked,” said Charlie Eckstrom, a 1968 graduate of the school, a member of the CMC Alumni Advisory Board and one of Allen’s nominators.
What: CMC Hall of Fame induction ceremony
When: 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 7
Where: Allbright Family Auditorium, in the academic and student center, 1330 Bob Adams Drive, Steamboat
Cost: Free
Eckstrom, who once shared a dorm room with Allen, nominated him for the honor because of his success as a real estate broker and the impressive philanthropic work Allen’s company supports.
“I feel that he is an example of someone who has been successful and given back to his community,” Eckstrom said.
Allen will be honored alongside former Alpine Campus faculty member George Bagwell, who retired in 2013, and five others with ties to CMC campuses across the state.
The Hall of Fame ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at the CMC Alpine Campus, 1330 Bob Adams Drive in Steamboat.
Steamboat’s higher education institute was known as Yampa Valley College when Allen first enrolled in 1965. After dropping out to live in Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, Allen later returned to graduate from the college in 1969.
He then lived in a 300-member commune in Seattle until the 1980s when he began a general contracting company that later became a real estate brokerage.
In the late 1990s, Allen and his wife purchased a Portland, Oregon-area real estate company under the Windermere franchise, and today, the couple owns 11 Windermere offices.
The offices’ 450 brokers donate a portion of their commission from each transaction to the Windermere Foundation. The money is then given to local nonprofits, an effort that has topped more than $2 million over the years, according to Eckstrom.
“They have a very strong philosophy to give back to the community,” Eckstrom said.
This is the second year CMC has inducted former students or employees into the Hall of Fame. Inductees are honored for either their positive impact on the college or throughout their own communities.
George Bagwell, the second Steamboat honoree being inducted Saturday, was hired as a full-time faculty member at the college’s Leadville campus in 1974 and later became dean of the Steamboat campus in 1985.
Bagwell then returned to the faculty ranks as an anthropology professor, serving as team leader of the Senior Faculty Academic Assessment Team and the school’s representative on the State Faculty Curriculum Committee.
According to a biography provided by CMC, Bagwell was a “pioneer” in distance education, developing one of the first online and distance education classes at the college.
He’s also been honored as faculty of the year for the Alpine Campus and overall faculty of the year for all CMC campuses.
Other 2014 inductees are 2007 Spring Valley alumna Yesenia Arreola, 1999 Breckenridge alumna Amy Jackson, 1976 Spring Valley alumna Janice Kauvar, 1974 Spring Valley alumnus George Jardine and CMC founder David Delaplane.
Following Saturday’s event, attendees are invited to stay on campus to view Winter Carnival events, including fireworks and the Lighted Man on Howelsen Hill, from a viewing area on the third floor of the college academic building.
The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP contact Crystal Schiller at 970-947-8361 or cschiller@coloradomtn.edu.
To reach Teresa Ristow, call 970-871-4206, email tristow@SteamboatToday.com or follow her on Twitter @TeresaRistow