Western Colorado Community College (WCCC) rebranded itself as Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Tech on Aug.1, 2023. This decision was one of many that resulted from last year’s Forming the Future Committee where students, faculty and administration all gave input for what direction they would like to see the school headed.
The school decided that “CMU Tech” better reflects the variety of technical career and vocational programs the two-year campus offers, rather than just your typical community college as the original name implied.
CMU, formerly known as Grand Junction Community College and Mesa State College, has a long history of rebranding. The change of its technical campus to CMU Tech is just another example of CMU evolving with community needs.
“When we became a four-year institution in 1974, it was really important to our community that we also maintained the two-year admission. So, we became one of the first dual-enrolled institutions around. Fast forward to the mid- 2000s, and it was increasingly important for us to separate Mesa State College from our two-year admission, which became known as WCCC. Now, with the most recent name change, we view it as an opportunity to better reflect the work we’re doing with our career technical and vocational programming,” CMU President John Marshall said.
Marshall went on to elaborate how the school also looked at similar examples that other schools have done, such as Wichita State University and Oklahoma State University implementing WSU and OSU Tech respectively.
University administration and the Board of Trustees emphasized that the rebrand will not take away from any of the day-to-day workings and programs that CMU Tech offers.
“The name represents who CMU is becoming. But while the name changed, the commitment to students is still as strong as ever […] I think It’s going to have a positive impact on the programs, and The name CMU Tech is very clear about the types of programs that are offered,” Chair of the CMU Board of Trustees Alison Griffin said.
The administration also expects the clearer name will allow for more opportunities for the types of classes and programs CMU Tech will offer
“We hope that this name change will also expand programming, if anything, instead of changing or taking away anything,” Marshall said.
The university officially unveiled the new name on campus during an Aug. 17 celebration with Marshall, the Board of Trustees and the CMU community to commemorate the new name.
