Colorado Mesa University

The dog days of summer are upon us and I, for one, am looking forward to fall for a little respite from the heat as well as for the return of our students. But before we launch too far into the future, it behooves us to take a minute to celebrate the immediate past. The cover story in this issue of The Maverick does just that. As some of you may know, spring is an exceptionally busy time at CMU. As we prepared for the spring commencement ceremonies in May, there were several other important end-of- the-semester events as well. The annual Student Showcase, Entrepreneurship Day, the Maverick Stampede Rodeo, Unity Fest and the season finale from the Theatre Arts department all occurred in April. In this issue, you'll learn about six of our extraordinary students who participated in these observances of accomplishment, be it barrel racing, inventing an app or shining on center stage. I hope you will find this story and others illuminating and entertaining. We have a faculty member who decided to do a senior thesis right along with the students in his senior thesis class, an approach that some saw as brilliant and others viewed as insane. We have physics students who successfully launched two payloads into space as part of a challenge issued by the NASA-funded Colorado Space Grant Consortium. We have details about our newest addition to our NCAA-sponsored sports – triathlon. Did you know we are the first Colorado university to have a women's varsity triathlon team? I want to mention a new initiative recently launched I suspect you will be hearing and reading about. It is called CMU 20,000. Spearheaded by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, it is our community partners stepping up to help the university grow to 15,000 students. It comes in recognition of the significant role CMU plays on the West Slope in terms of economic impact, workforce development, attracting new businesses and enhancing the quality of life. The effort is in the planning stages and there will be more to come. Enjoy the summer and all that it entails for you. Don't forget that I am always interested in your thoughts, ideas and questions. Feel free to drop me a line at tfoster@coloradomesa.edu, give me a call at 970.248.1498 or, if you're in town, stop by during my open office hour on Mondays at 2pm. Go Mavs! Sincerely, Tim Foster SUMMER 2017 VOLUME 6.3 President Tim Foster Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Kimberly Williams Director of Marketing Michael Mansheim Creative Content and Social Media Manager Katlin Birdsall Director of Media Relations Dana Nunn Senior Graphic Artist and Creative Projects Manager Jeremy Smith Graphic Artist and Creative Projects Coordinator Lisa Smith Director of Alumni Relations Jared Meier Board of Trustees Betty Bechtel, Vice-Chair • Tilman Bishop Kelly Brough • Kathleen Eck Jose D.L. Marquez Ray Martinez • Doug Quimby, Chair David Reed • Joan Ringel Dan Robinson • Robert Wilson Aparna Palmer, Faculty Trustee Lucy Benoit, Student Trustee C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 1 7 T h e M av er ic k All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission is strictly prohibited. C o l o r a d o M e s a U n i v e r s i t y 1 1 0 0 N o r t h Av e n u e G r a n d J u n c t i o n , C O 8 1 5 0 1 - 3 1 2 2 9 7 0 . 2 4 8 . 1 2 7 7 c o l o r a d o m e s a . e d u / m a v e r i c k m a v e r i c k @ c o l o r a d o m e s a . e d u STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY

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