The Maverick magazine is a great way to stay in touch with current events at your alma mater, old classmates and the bright future of Colorado Mesa University.
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19 FALL 2018 • VOLUME 8.1 COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY building, but the body farm itself was not. The conversation though officially ruled out UT for Oher, but it sparked the idea that became CMU's Forensic Investigation Research Station (FIRS). CMU President Tim Foster said the body farm scene made him curious. "I wondered what a body farm was, how it worked, how many there were and where they were." "We have a law enforcement program, students who want to go to medical school, become nurses and students who study biology," Foster said, realizing students in numerous majors and programs could benefit from the knowledge derived from such a research facility. Construction of CMU's current Forensic Investigation Research Station was started in 2012 in rural Mesa County. It is primarily an outdoor facility where research and teaching centers around the decomposition of human remains. The first human donation was received in 2013 with approximately 75 donations since. The facility is part of CMU's Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and has been under the direction of Melissa Connor, PhD, since 2013. CMU's Forensic Investigation Research Center is one of only a handful operating in the U.S. "We're the only such facility west of the Rockies, and we're the highest in elevation and most arid climate of any facility," Connor said. Most students who learn and work at the FIRS are pursuing a minor in forensic anthropology or majoring in biology, anthropology and geography, or criminal justice. "This is an unusual facility for a small university," Connor said, adding it's also unusual for this course of study to be taught at the bachelor's level. "We are teaching a multi-disciplinary program that's more often at the graduate level." Awareness of the work conducted at FIRS has spread, attracting students from well outside the arid southwestern U.S. "Last year we had two international students, studying anthropology and archeology," Connor said. These students from the UK decided on CMU because of the reputation and focus of the FIRS and the overall affordability of the university. FIRS also hosts summer interns. "Almost every summer we have students from outside the area. We've had students from coast to coast, from Santa Cruz, California, to New York City. Numerous students have said they came to CMU specifically because of this facility," Connor said. FORENSIC INVESTIGATION RESEARCH STATION In the popular 2009 movie The Blind Side, a tutor played by actress Kathy Bates discourages football star Michael Oher from attending the University of Tennessee (UT) in favor of her alma mater, the University of Mississippi. She tells him human remains used for research in UT's forensic investigation research facility, known as a body farm, are stored under the school's football stadium. At that time in real life, the university's anthropology department and skeletal remains were in the stadium