A memorial service for former University of Colorado President Roland Rautenstraus is set for Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 4 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel on the CU-Boulder campus.
Chancellor Richard L. Byyny is hosting the service and a reception immediately afterward in the Heritage Center on the third floor of Old Main. Both events are open to the public and to all CU-Boulder faculty and staff.
Rautenstraus, known throughout the university community as "Raut," was a popular professor of civil engineering who rose through the administrative ranks at CU to become its 12th president, a post he held from 1974 to 1980. As president, Rautenstraus was known for his affability and wit, and his strong advocacy of CU, to which he devoted his academic career over 50 years.
Rautenstraus earned his bachelor聮s degree in civil engineering from CU-Boulder in 1947 and his master聮s in 1949. He was a CU naval cadet, serving in the Pacific during World War II, before returning to CU-Boulder's College of Engineering as an instructor after the war.
He served as chair of the department of civil engineering from 1959 to 1964 and associate dean of faculties from 1964 to 1968. In 1968 he was named vice president for educational and student relations, a post he held until 1970, and in 1973 he was named vice president for university relations under President Fred Thieme. In April 1974, Rautenstraus succeeded Thieme as interim president and was later named to the post following a national search.