A note: The Criterion has republished this article due to errors and inconsistencies in the article. The writer has done the work to fix these mistakes and the editors have republished the correct piece.
Tim Foster has accomplished a lot in his life and has no plan to stop.
Foster grew up in Grand Junction. In 1980, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics with honors from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He went to Colorado School of Mines in 1982, where he completed graduate coursework for a master’s degree in mineral economics in 1984. Foster earned a juris doctorate from the University of Denver – School of Law in 1984.
Foster grew up in a family of seven, including two younger brothers he helped raise after his father passed.
He was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives and, starting in 1988, served four terms in the state legislature, two as house majority leader.
“It was a different place before term limits and so you had a lot of people who served for a long time,” Foster said. “So it was unusual for someone in their third term to be a majority leader. Usually, it was their third, fourth, fifth or well into their careers.”
Foster served as the house’s majority leader from 1993 to 1996. During this time he received numerous awards from a number of diverse groups. Two of the groups were Ducks Unlimited and the Iron Skillet award from the Colorado Restaurant Association.
In 1999, Foster was appointed executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens.
Prior to 2003, a single board governed all four state colleges in Colorado: Mesa State College, Metropolitan State, Adams State College and Western State.
The “focus was not on Mesa,” Foster said.
Though Mesa was growing, some of the other schools were not. The governing board focused its attention on those that were not getting the attention they deserved or the funds. When Mesa’s growth generated new revenue the revenue was used to stabilize the struggling schools.
New legislation passed that gave each of the state colleges its own governing board. Foster supported the change and saw that it was for Mesa’s advantage.
“As this opening came, I applied,” Foster said. “went through the search with a lot of other candidates and ended up getting this job, so then we moved back from Denver to Grand Junction,” Foster said.
Thus, in March 2004, began the journey for Foster as the college president. Bob Wilson, who is now a Colorado Mesa University trustee, taught Foster management by walking around.
“A lot of execs just sit in their office. His theory was that you got to go out and see what’s going on. It’s amazing what you find out and you feel and hear about as you’re out.” Foster said. “It’s one of the reasons I teach a class. It drags me out of this office and I have go over and talk to students. Otherwise, I could stay in this office, have meetings, do emails and talk on the phone.”
If Foster didn’t lead the campus that way, he could be doing a job that allowed for him to stay in his office all day. Not do anything but meetings, phone calls and emails. Which that was not what Foster wanted out of his life he wanted more and he wanted to give back to the students any way that he could.
Foster does this firsthand experiences on campus to allow him to see what works and what needs to be fixed. Him doing this is helping to make the school a better experience for the students.
“My most memorable memory is [time] spent with students, whether with the band or teaching a class or getting to know students out and about […]” Foster said. “The personal connection is nice.”
