CAM LIVING LEARNING COMMUNITIES
The College of Arts & Media (CAM) offers two Living Learning Communities (LLC's) at the CU Denver City Heights residence hall for the 2025-26 academic year. The LLC's are for first year students majoring in a program in either our Music & Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) Department or our Visual Arts Department.
CAM LLC members have distinct academic, residential, and co-curricular
experiences to enhance community and connections for first year students. The CAM LLC students take two first semester courses together and have rooms that are clustered together at the City Heights Residence Hall. Incoming freshmen for the 2025-26 academic year may opt-in to applying for one of the CAM LLC's through when completing the 2025-26 CU Denver Housing Contract. We anticipate having about 30 students in each of the CAM LLC's.
Learn More About the CAM LLC's
The Learning Learning Community is a way for CAM freshmen in Music & Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) and Visual Arts (VA) programs to connect with other CAM students, faculty, and staff on campus. Any CAM freshmen studying in MEIS or VA programs who will be staying at the City Heights Residence Hall for the 2025-26 academic year can opt-in to applying for the CAM LLC. Students who are selected for one of the LLC's receive:
- A CAM LLC roommate - Most students selected for one of the 2025-26 LLC's will be paired with a roommate(s) who is also in their LLC. While the vast majority of LLC students will receive a roommate(s) in the LLC, it's possible that not everyone will due to room type selections.
- A room at City Heights that is clustered near the rooms of the other LLC students.
- Socializing and networking with other LLC students.
- Specific LLC events.
- A faculty mentor from their department of study.
- Students in the MEIS LLC will have access to a CAM music room at City Heights.
- A monthly LLC newsletter highlighting arts and music events on and near campus.
- A specific UNIV 1110 class for only first semester students in their LLC. This tuition-free one credit hour class prepares students for college success.
- Students will take a major specific first semester course with their LLC cohort; MEIS LLC students will take Introduction to Music Business and VA LLC students will take Art History I.
How to Apply to a CAM LLC for the 2025-26 Academic Year
Incoming CAM freshman for Fall 2025 should first accept their CU Denver admission in their application portal. They can then apply to CU Denver Housing. On the housing contract, students can opt-in to applying for one of our CAM LLC's. Applicants will write a short statement describing why they'd like to be in a LLC. Students will be selected for a LLC and notified on a rolling basis beginning in April.
Once students have completed the housing contract and applied for a LLC, they should check their email regularly for information from CU Denver Housing & Dining Services and the College of Arts & Media. If an incoming student did not initially indicate that they'd like to join a CAM LLC when they completed their Housing contract, they can still apply to join a LLC by applying here. Interested students are encouraged to apply by May 15th.
The First-Year Experience
First-Year Experience (FYE) courses are designed to ease students transition to university life and guide them towards college success. Members of CAM LLC are required to register for a CAM UNIV 1110 classes specific to their LLC. Admitted LLC students will be notified about how to register for their specific CAM UNIV 1100 course section. The CAM-UNIV is a required, one-credit course for all LLC members. This is a tuition free first semester, one credit hour course!
LLC Faculty Mentors
Each CAM LLC student will be matched with a College of Arts & Media Faculty Mentor from the MEIS or VA departments. The faculty mentors are additional resources for students entering their first year of college. Students in the LLCs are encouraged to meet with their faculty mentor once a month to check-in. Our faculty mentors regularly reach out to their LLC students with on and off campus happenings, ways to get involved, and more.
The CAM LLC Staff
Todd Reid
Principal Instructor
- Music and Entertainment Studies (CAM)
Email Address:todd.reid@ucdenver.edu
Todd Reid has been active as a jazz musician since childhood, sitting in with jazz groups beginning at age nine. After graduating from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with both a Bachelor of Music in Jazz & Studio Music (1983) and a Masters of Music in Percussion (1986), Todd moved to New York City, where he worked with such jazz artists as Gerry Mulligan, Dr. Billy Taylor, Jim McNeely, “Big Nick” Nicholas, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Richmond, vocalist Marlene VerPlank and numerous others.
In 1992, Todd moved to Denver and settled into the jazz scene, working in the house band at El Chapultepec and has appeared & recorded with such jazz artists as Jon Hendricks, Mose Allison, David Liebman, Bob Dorough, Eddie Daniels, David “Fathead” Newman, Richie Cole, Lew Tabackin, Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson, Eddie Harris, Nick Brignola, Rickey Woodard, Teddy Edwards, Red Holloway, Bobby Shew, Carl Saunders, Javon Jackson, Roberta Gambarini, Darius Rucker, and a host of others.
As a Senior Instructor in the University of Colorado Denver’s Music & Entertainment Industry Studies department, Todd teaches drumset, Electronic Digital Instruments and upper-level music history classes in Electronic Music and Jazz, as well as coaching the CU Denver Mobile Device Ensemble. He also is very active in the Colorado jazz scene and is in demand as a clinician/performer in the U.S. and Europe.
Areas of Expertise
Drumkit
Electronic Digital Instrument Performance
Education, Licensure & Certifications
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
MM; Percussion
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
BM; Jazz and Studio Music
Affiliations
Percussive Arts Society,
Jazz Education Network,
College Music Society
