The Bresnahan-Halstead Center for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities was established in 1994 as the result of a major donation made to the University of Northern Colorado by the late Charles Bresnahan and his wife, Mary, in honor of their grandson, Trent Halstead. Halstead, who died in 1993 at the age of 33, had Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited abnormality of the X chromosome, causing disabilities ranging from varying degrees of learning problems to mental retardation.

The Symposia are sponsored by the Bresnahan-Halstead and Kephart Centers within the School of Special Education and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado.