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October 10, 2025
Since its opening day in 1965, Metropolitan State University of Denver’s mission has been to provide accessible education and transformative opportunities to a diverse student population and meet the needs of industry leaders seeking workforce-ready graduates.
One way they’ve achieved this is with the Classroom to Career Hub. The C2 Hub engages students, faculty and industry partners, empowering students to make meaningful career connections, participate in invaluable opportunities through intentional career guidance and address the demand for diverse talent in an ever-evolving job market.
For students like Sanaa Walker, the C2 Hub has offered a wealth of professional tools and services.
“The C2 Hub is an amazing resource,” said the Events and Meetings Management major. “I’ve been able to take advantage of resume support, mock interviews, career fairs and more – it’s all so helpful in planning for my future.”
The C2 Hub is currently undergoing an exciting transformation, including a change of scenery, made possible because of donors like MSU Denver Foundation Board of Directors Vice Chair, Marti Awad.
In addition to establishing a planned gift that will shape the future of the C2 Hub, Awad, Senior Vice President/Financial Advisor of Wealth Enhancement Group, has made a gift of $100,000 supporting the C2 Hub capital project, enabling her to utilize the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit.
The EZ Tax Credit is a state of Colorado initiative to encourage area revitalizations, job growth and public-private partnerships. Donors who participate in the program (after consulting with a tax professional) can make a gift and have a lower after-tax/out-of-pocket cost than with other gifts.
For Awad, it opened a door for her to amplify her impact on Roadrunners.
“The EZ Tax Credit means that the gift I made goes further, incentivizing donors like me to make an even bigger gift – in my case, to the C2 Hub,” said Awad, a longtime champion of the University. “It’s an opportunity for me to help more MSU Denver students access career resources and guidance that prepare them to reach their career goals.”
In September, MSU Denver celebrated the groundbreaking of Summit House, the C2 Hub’s future home and the first on-campus student housing complex in the University’s 60-year history. Scheduled to open in 2027, the 12-story building will also provide 550 student beds, as well as dining and retail space.
The new state-of-the-art space brings together the career programs and services scattered across campus so that 100% of the nearly 23,000 students attending MSU Denver and Community College of Denver will have a centralized location where they can meet with employers, advisors and peer mentors, participate in professional networking events and more.
Awad recognizes how lucky she is to have had parents who paid for and guided her through her higher education journey; she wants to help close the achievement gap by equipping students who haven’t had that luxury with the tools to achieve academic and professional success.
“It’s not enough to get an education. You also need to be ready to enter the workforce and present yourself in a way that you get a good job – that’s where the C2 Hub comes in,” she said. “Some kids have parents who can afford tutoring, help them get internships and interviews, buy interview clothes … if you don’t come from that, you have another hurdle,”
“When you’ve received so much [as I have], it’s only fair to try and level the playing field.”
Learn more about the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit and how you can support the Classroom to Career Hub by contacting the MSU Denver University Advancement at [email protected] or 303-615-0065.