University of Denver Student Health and Counseling Center (HCC) Records

Collection

Identifier: U164

Staff Only

Abstract

The University of Denver Student Health Service began in October 1945 with the appointment of Dr. Frank O. Robertson as the first full-time Health Director for the university. The first Health Service building opened on April 7, 1947 in a war-surplus building at 2040 South Josephine Street. The collection contains administrative files, correspondence, clippings, and reports from the Student Health Service, mostly from the 1960’s through the 1980’s. Included are two large Student Health Service manuals from 1967 and 1973, each with historical overviews of the service written by the Director at the time.

Dates

1945-2010

Creator

University of Denver (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

The University of Denver Student Health Service formally began in October 1945 with the appointment of Dr. Frank O. Robertson as the first full-time Health Director for the university. Psychiatrist Dr. Lewis Barbato joined as Assistant Director in April 1946 and worked to create a mental hygiene program. Shortly after, Dr. Robertson secured a war-surplus building at 2040 South Josephine Street for the Student Health Service and furnished it almost entirely with war-surplus equipment. This location opened on April 7, 1947 and operated there until January 1978, at which point the Student Health Service moved to Centennial Halls. In the fall of 1948, the Health Service began offering health insurance to students, one of the earliest offerings of college health insurance in the country. The administrative, insurance, dental and mental hygiene offices of the Student Health Service were originally in Templin Hall but consolidated at the 2040 South Josephine Street location in 1954. The Student Health Service moved to the Richie Center in the summer of 1999 and re-branded itself as the DU Student and Community Health Center. The Health Service merged with Counseling and Behavioral Health to create the Student Health and Counseling Center (HCC) in 2005.