The Telluride Association is a non-profit organization that creates and fosters educational communities that rely upon democratic participation. Telluride aims to foster an everyday synthesis of self-governance and intellectual inquiry that enables students to develop their potential for leadership and public service.

Lucien L. Nunn founded the Association in 1911 after building the first Telluride House at Cornell University in 1910. The house originally provided room and board for electrical engineers who had worked for Nunn and were studying at Cornell.

Today the house is populated by a diverse group of graduate students and undergraduates. Students participate in a year-round public speaking program and plan academic seminars. The house is entirely self-governed; students take on responsibilities such as hiring House employees, maintaining and renovating the House, and inviting faculty guests to live at the house. Past faculty guests have included Michel Foucault, Richard Feynman, and Linus Pauling.

Telluride Houses have also been founded at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago. Both of these branches closed down shortly after opening.

In 1999, another House was established at the University of Michigan.

The Association consists of about 100 members. Members are elected to membership, usually while in their early 20's, on the basis of demonstrated leadership and commitment to Telluride's educational goals. All applicants have had previous experience living in a Telluride House or Deep Springs College, a separate two-year college also founded by Nunn in 1917.

In a few cases members can be elected on the basis of having attended the Telluride Association Summer Program, an academically rigorous program for high school juniors founded in 1954. Paul Wolfowitz and Francis Fukuyama are alumni.

For its programs, Telluride Association seeks out young people with the desire and the ability to contribute to society, and helps them develop intellectually and as community members. Telluride Association promotes no particular political or religious viewpoint.

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