It’s been several years in the process, but Mesa State College is going through the motions of a name change. On March 31, Mesa State released the results from the surveys that over 2,600 students, faculty, staff, alumni and Grand Junction residents participated in. According to the results, 80.6% agree that Mesa State should consider a name change. The question is no longer “if” but “when” the name change occurs.

The research process, conducted mostly through surveys, included email announcements, post card announcements and a tele-conference during a town meeting. “The overwhelming majority of our stakeholders believe the time is right for us to change our name,” said President Tim Foster.

The goal of changing Mesa State’s name is to acquire something that, according to President Foster, “accurately reflects who we are, what we do, and where we are located,” As an unspoken rule, supported by 92.1% of the survey participants, the word “university” has more prestige than “college,” and looks better on a resume. The change also aims to address the geographical location of the institution.

Some of the names up for consideration are Colorado Canyons University, Colorado West University, Colorado Mesa University, University of Western Colorado and Mesa University of Western Colorado.

“The world ‘Mesa’ appears in many of the name options,” said Rick Taggart, the Acting Executive Director of Marketing and Recruitment. According to the survey sent out to the public, 94.6% said that a university can remain committed to teaching, and 77.3% believe a university can still have small class sizes.

So, despite a name change, the identity of Mesa as a small, personable community will not change. “The character of this institution will not change with a new name,” said President Foster. “Character is built by the people,” Those people’s opinion was sought out, heard and valued deeply by the staff heading up the discussion.

So what’s next in the process? A new survey has recently been released asking students, faculty, staff, and alumni to rate 20 names on a scale from one to five to indicate their preference. The survey can be found at www.mesastate.edu/namesurvey.

The results of the survey, along with a letter from President Foster can be found in full on www.mesastate.edu/namechange.

Mesa State is charging forward in the process of changing its name. “Will things start to evolve by next spring?” said Taggart, “The answer is obviously yes.”