Fort Lewis College
Durango, CO
Durango, CO
You know who you are. Come see what you can do.
Nestled in Southwest Colorado, Fort Lewis College resides on the homelands of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes. FLC’s lively campus overlooks the San Juan Mountains and the Animas River running through downtown Durango’s myriad cultural delights. On any given day, the clocktower chimes, deer graze, and the seasons present a rotating backdrop of white snow, quaking aspens, and a classic Colorado blue sky.
After more than a century of adaptation and growth, FLC is currently defined by its powerful connection to the region's landscape and culture and diverse student body. More than half of the student body identify as students of color, while Native American students make up 41% of the student population. These students come from 177 American Indian tribes and Native Alaskan villages, introducing a vast array of remarkable heritages central to the heart of FLC.
These days, learning at 6,872 feet above sea level happens as much out of the classroom as it does within. Studies are pulled beyond books into more than 2.3 million acres of public lands where natural laboratories help shape FLC’s dynamic academic programs through field trips, lab work, undergraduate research, and service learning opportunities that are usually only offered in graduate school.
With just over 3,300 students, small classes are taught by PhD-holding faculty, who know students by name. With the support of FLC’s network of resources from the Leadership Center to the Counseling Center, every Skyhawk experiences equal access to their definition of success and boundless opportunities to soar into their futures with not only a college degree but the confidence to tackle the greatest challenges of our times.
Ranked among the top 200 "Colleges for Indigenous Students" | American Indian Science & Engineering Society, 2019–2020, 2021–2021 |
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Ranked #9 for "Campus Ethnic Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges" | U.S. News & World Report, 2021 |
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Ranked among the "Best Outdoor Colleges" | Best Value School, 2020 |
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Ranked #117 among the "Top Colleges in the West" | Forbes, 2019 |
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Ranked #12 among the "Coolest Towns in the US" | Matador Network, 2018 |
With mountains, rivers, and canyons sprawling from campus, Fort Lewis College is a place to explore your wildest dreams while you work toward your degree. Learn alongside a diverse student body represented mostly by students of color. Find purpose as you change the world before graduation.
FLC’s most popular programs include Engineering, Teacher Education, Environmental Studies, Business Administration, Biology, Psychology, and the Health Sciences. All majors incorporate interdisciplinary course study and boundless experiential learning opportunities. Small classes ensure that FLC’s faculty know each student’s name and goals, providing the structure you need to soar.
"As a Biochemistry major at FLC, I was able to achieve goals I never dreamed of. The faculty genuinely care about the students' education, and I will always cherish our close-knit community.”
“Working on FLC’s sustainability efforts grounds me in the context of personal responsibility, social change, regenerative systems, and compassionate imagination; it helps give meaning to my life in our ever-changing, shared world.”
“Not only did I find the space to explore my passions, I was also given the chance to form powerful relationships with my professors and mentors, who helped me become the person I am.”
“We’re learning about anthropology, but so much more— This program teaches us to be better educators. We learn by doing in this program, so we learn self-confidence.”