A chat with Brad Bohlander

You grew up in Cañon City, Colorado, known for its natural beauty, white water rafting, Gold Rush-era history—and multiple correctional facilities. What was it like growing up there?

Cañon City was a wonderful place to grow up—it's very community oriented. It had only about 13,000 people, so everybody kind of looked out for everybody else. I was always outside, on my bike, tubing on the river, hiking around the hogbacks and exploring caves. The maximum-security prison was at the end of Main Street. If you heard one long whistle, it meant someone escaped. That was the only time you went in and locked your door. When you heard three short whistles, that meant they were caught. That happened maybe three or four times a year. My grandfather was a guard—that’s how that side of my family ended up there. But you didn’t really notice the presence of the prisons on a daily basis; it was mostly just an outdoors town.

What college class had the greatest impact on you?

I think it was called Introduction to News Writing. I was a technical journalism major, and I had this tough professor, Dr. Donna Rouner, at CSU. One time, I got a paper back with a score of 40%—I had made the same AP style error several times. I thought that was unfair, so I put a note on the paper telling her that and handed it back. That night, she called me at home—which was unheard of—and said, I want to see you in my office tomorrow. And so I went to her office, and she took the time to teach me how to edit correctly. She also taught me how to write in that class—it was something I had always loved to do but didn’t know how to do very well. She became my favorite professor and my academic counselor, and she made such a difference in my life.

What’s one book that has had an influence on you?

“When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box” by John Ortberg. He uses board games as a metaphor—you may win the game, but when it’s over, everything goes back in the box. The tokens, the chips, the cards. You don’t keep anything that you’ve won. So, the idea is to think about what’s temporary and what’s permanent and to focus on what really matters in life, what’s left when all your things are in the box.

Since starting in May, what has been a highlight of your time at DU so far?

One thing that stands out is the undergraduate commencement ceremony. Many of those students didn’t have an opportunity to have their high school graduation ceremonies in 2020 due to COVID, so it was really a special moment for them and their families. It was a good reminder that this is why we do what we do: to see students succeeding and their families proud and happy.

What is one thing that you're looking forward to in your new role?

I’m really looking forward to getting to know people across the institution, including leadership in central administration and in the colleges—as well as the communications and marketing professionals across campus—and figuring out how we can be more strategic and collaborative and work together better to elevate the University. I think there's so much opportunity for this great university to be even more successful and impactful moving forward, and it's going to take all of us working in the same direction to empower DU to reach its potential.

What do you want people to think of when they think of DU?

To me, it comes down to excellence and impact—academic excellence, research excellence, innovation—and the impact we make on students’ lives, on families and on communities in the Denver Metro area, across the country and throughout the world. We have a bigger impact than most people realize. Education, I believe, is transformative. As a first-generation college student, it made a huge difference in my life and my family's life.

If you had an unexpected day off, what would you do?

Get up in the mountains, for sure. My first choice would be to go hiking with my family. But, if they couldn’t join me, I would probably go mountain biking. I did a lot of that when I was younger and am getting back into it, but I’m not as aggressive or brave as I used to be. It’s a great activity—you’re outside and it’s beautiful, but it’s also challenging. You really need to pay attention to what you’re doing. My favorite part is climbing uphill. Going down is harder—and it hurts more when I fall these days.