Colorado Mesa University

SUMMER 2018 VOLUME 7.3 Editor Katlin Birdsall Art Director Jeremy Smith Graphic Artist Lisa Smith Copy Editors Laura Bradley Dana Nunn Kim Williams President Tim Foster Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Michael Mansheim Director of Alumni Relations Jared Meier Board of Trustees Ray Anilionis • Betty Bechtel, Chair Tilman Bishop • Kelly Brough Kathleen Eck • Jose D.L. Marquez Stephanie Motter • Doug Quimby David Reed, Vice-Chair • Joan Ringel Robert Wilson Chad Middleton, Faculty Trustee Beau Flores, Student Trustee C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 1 8 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 The calendar says the first day of summer is June 21. In the Grand Valley, you know its summer when JUCO is over. I'm always a little surprised when people say things like, "So, I guess you have the summer off." Nope, not the case. There are no lazy days of summer at CMU. We continue teaching students enrolled in summer classes. We work on capital projects in an effort to get all the mess done while most of the students are away. We recruit. We host orientations. We clean. We prepare. We plan. One of the exciting things we are working on is building a boutique hotel on campus. We are calling it the Maverick Teaching Hotel but that's temporary. We are working on a better name. Some ideas include Hotel M, University Hotel, Juniper Inn and The Terrace. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them. We plan to break ground later this winter on the hotel with about 60 rooms. It will be in the 800-block of Kennedy Avenue, between our new engineering building, Confluence Hall, and the rugby field. The primary reason for building a campus hotel is to provide students, particularly those in our hospitality management and culinary arts programs, with real-world, practical experience. Whether that is before or after graduation, whether it is at the campus hotel or at one of the other properties managed by our partner. There will be more to come on this exciting project in the coming months! I hope you will read the cover story about the attainability of higher education in this edition of The Maverick. It speaks to some issues that are near to my heart including the low rate of high school graduates continuing their education after high school. It is a problem in western Colorado, Colorado and in the country. As a university and a very involved member of the community, it behooves us to do what we can to address the issue, whether it is by encouraging high school grads to pursue technical-vocational training, join the military or go on to college. Obviously, we would like them to choose CMU or Western Colorado Community College. But wherever and however, we want to see them gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed through postsecondary education and training. Learn more about the issues and what CMU is doing to address these concerns, starting on page 21. Read about that, about our new women's wrestling program, about a student-led effort to put laptops in the hands of student-veterans and much more in this issue. Enjoy your summer. Sincerely, Tim Foster

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