Colorado Mesa University was previously named Mesa State College. According to the sign on the parking garage, it still is. Michael Mansheim, the executive director of marketing and communications at CMU, stated there are no plans to change that because it honors the past.
“The decision to leave was three-pronged.” Mansheim said. “First, to honor our heritage. Many schools have gone through name changes over the years. One good example are teachers colleges, which were once known as ‘Normal’ schools.”
According to Mansheim, when looking around these “Normal” schools, their old school name is often seen etched in old buildings that have not yet been renovated or demolished. By keeping some of these vintage details to CMU’s campus, such as past school names,CMU President Tim Foster is demonstrating his honor towards the young adult community in Mesa County.
CMU has a long history of growth and innovation in Grand Junction, Colo. The university first began as a junior college in 1925 with only 39 students enrolled. However, every year the college was striving to reach greater opportunities for the young adults of Colorado. According to the CMU website, in 1937 the school had became known as “Mesa College.”
CMU proudly began expanding their facilities and wanted to reflect that to the public. So in 1988, they chose to name the school “Mesa State College” when it began to offer its first master’s program opportunity for students in Grand Junction.
With this continuous growth to what once started out as a small university, further advances developing as a learning community and student enrollment increasing over the years, CMU felt it had created an empire to be proud of. The university permanently changed its name to Colorado Mesa University in 2011.
Leading up to the name change in 2011, the CMU Marketing Office worked with several colleagues across campus to audit items with the MSC logo.
“We changed signage we felt would have a significant impact on students, prospective students, and alumni,” Manshiem said. “Changing the parking garage was something that we didn’t feel was as critical to change as, say, the signs on the edges of campus, or changing the signage on the College Center to read ‘University Center.’”
With there being no future plans in place for CMU to change the sign on the parking garage, student and community members will continue to have visual proof of the growth the university has experienced throughout its history.
