Christi talks with Robin Brown, Vice President of Development for Colorado Mesa University/CEO of CMU Foundation. They talk about Robin's transition from the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, fundraising and scholarships at CMU, first generation students and a whole lot more!
Learn more about supporting CMU at www.supportingcmu.com
If you prefer to watch our podcasts, you can watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel!
Christi talks with Robin Brown, Vice President of Development for Colorado Mesa University/CEO of CMU Foundation. They talk about Robin's transition from the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, fundraising and scholarships at CMU, first generation students and a whole lot more!
Learn more about supporting CMU at www.supportingcmu.com
If you prefer to watch our podcasts, you can watch all our episodes on our YouTube channel!
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christie Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hi everyone, rusty Reese here and we are back with the Full Circle Podcast. And very excited today to welcome back our second time guest. This is the first guest that we've had come back oh, to the Full Circle podcast. Uh, you were early on in our podcast history, Robin. So thank you very much. Uh, very honored today to welcome Vice President of Development and c e o of the C M U Foundation, uh, for Colorado Macy University, Robin Brown.
Speaker 2:Thanks. Welcome. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I didn't realize I'm the first of you back twice. Yeah, it's pretty fun. That's
Speaker 1:A huge honor. Yeah.<laugh>. So thank you for joining us. Um, so we've met and talked about a lot of things in the past. Um, I'm thinking where should we start? Um, you made the transition from, uh, I think a lot of people know you from Grand Junction Economic Partnership. Yep. Uh, but you've had a lot of roles in the community besides that before that, um, talk about that transition from Grand Junction economic partnership to C M U and how did that happen?
Speaker 2:So, I was at the Grand Junction Economic Partnership for a little under four years. Um, and that job I loved, uh, cuz it was representing our community and it was a lot of promotion and relationships and recruiting companies to the area, um, making it more business friendly. Um, and then when President Marshall, uh, took over at, um, cloud de Mei University, the foundation position opened up. And so, um, at first I, and I had a few people encourage me to look at that position, but it seems, you know, I, my thought process was, I don't, that doesn't sound like much fun. I don't wanna raise money. Although, it's funny because I've been working for nonprofits now for 14 years, and all I thought is that's just, that's
Speaker 1:All you do is raise money.
Speaker 2:Money. Yeah. But when I really got to thinking about it and I looked at the mission statement of the foundation, it, I had this light bulb moment where, um, in many ways I was, it was a job that I was already doing. Um, and that again, because it's, uh, C M U was our, by far, our best partner at g jb I mean, we did not do anything that didn't involve C M U at the table. And so we were, and C m u's such an economic driver for the community
Speaker 1:That had a lot to do with Tim Foster, that he was absolutely in charge when you were at G jb.
Speaker 2:Yep. So Tim Foster was on my board at gpp. Um, and then when he retired, I do remember being panicked, like, what is gonna happen? And then, uh, John Marshall, who I'd worked with and had been at the university, um, for something like 12 years working for Tim Foster was a natural, um, successor to Tim Foster. And I, I joke that he's the kinder, gentler Tim Foster<laugh>. He's the same vision, slightly different approach, but, um, he, uh, is great to work with. And, and again, it's so exciting what's happened at C M U over the last decade. The growth, the expansion, the new buildings, the new programs, really unbelievable the partnership. I, I, I would be, I don't think there's another community that has such a strong partnership with its university. Um, and really all the programs over there have that, that have grown, are being driven by the businesses and the industries here in Western Colorado.
Speaker 1:So explain what the C M U Foundation is for those of our listeners and viewers who might not know what a, uh, university Foundation does.
Speaker 2:Yep. So the CMU Foundation is a 5 0 1[inaudible][inaudible] and the entire purpose is to raise money for the university. It's mostly done through scholarships. Um, but there's a, we also raise money for research and for departments and for athletics and a lot of things. But, um, what I think having worked for many nonprofits, you're always very pigeonholed into an area. When I raise money for the Avalon Theater, it was just for the arts. When I raised money for, um, G jpp, it was just economic development. Um, the beauty of C M U as I got to thinking about raising money for C M U is we have something for everybody. If you like frogs, we have the premier frog biologist on our staff. Wow. If you like football, we've got, you know, we can put you right, you know, at a table with the football coach, you have access to all these great athletes. Student student athletes are amazing. Um, we have all kinds of, I mean, we have something for everybody mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And that's been really fun. Um, as far as being able to connect donors to the causes that are important to them. Um, because something I figured out at Juge early on was, just because someone has money does not mean they're gonna give to your cause. And so really trying to find donors and businesses that were passionate about economic development and the growth of this community, Uhhuh<affirmative>, um, and strengthening our strengthening the economy was kind of difficult. And so it really was a small, I would say a small, very generous group of businesses and people such as yourself that were, that helped that, that helped gip, um, do that. The, the thing about CMU is there's just such a broad range of, um, of,
Speaker 1:Um, interest that people can donate towards. Cuz they can, they can specify Yep. What they want their money to
Speaker 2:Go towards. And so as I get at, you know, and I already had a lot of relationships built in this community, and so it's been really fun connecting people who are going to give their money somewhere, um, to the causes that are important to them. And that's been the most fun part of my job. Also, the thing about the foundation is all we do is raise money. It's not like we're an economic development organization that has to raise money to, to so that we survive or a a, you know, the Avalon Theater Foundation had to raise, all we do is raise money at the foundation, which is really great.
Speaker 1:And the monies that you collect mm-hmm.<affirmative> go towards a variety of different things, scholarships being won.
Speaker 2:So scholarships is the main, you know, we're a really, C M U is a really young university. We turned a hundred years in 2025. And, you know, for many years it was a junior college. It was, and then it was Mesa State. Um, we've only been Colorado Mesa University since I think, was that 2011? 2010 or 11. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What a huge change.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so, um, we're a young university with a young alumni base mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, and so our foundation is very young too. Um, and so our fundraising efforts, we, I mean, when you look at other, um, universities that have huge foundations and huge endowments, we are, I mean, essentially we're building it from scratch. So today we have a 50 million endowment, which is something we're very proud of. The vast majority of that money goes towards scholarships, um, for students for a wide variety of things. Whether it's athletic scholarships, um, department scholarships, like whether you want to like a certain degree, construction management, anything from, you know, we have our certificates at WCC all the way to doctorate programs at C M U, um, and then need-based as well mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And so we mostly give the scholarships. That's been the vast push that we've done over the, the course of the, um, foundation. And now we're looking at more endowing departments, endowing, um, maybe certain coaches in athletics. But there's endowing research. We do have sub endowments for research as well. We're not a research institution, but we do do some research.
Speaker 1:And so, uh, what is your role as Vice President of development for C M U and how does that differ from the foundation work? So
Speaker 2:I think that's more, instead of just straight fundraising, it's figuring out new revenue sources for the university. So higher ed funding from the state has declined and we'll continue to climb. Um, and so what a lot of universities are doing are raising tuition in order to make up that difference. We're trying to figure out a way to stay really affordable. We're the second most affordable college in Colorado.
Speaker 1:I was just gonna ask that. Yep. Uh, what is
Speaker 2:The first, I think it's Metro State.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.
Speaker 2:And so we do not want to be, um, we do not wanna raise tuition and fees and everything else. And so in, in, in our, because especially cuz our primary focus at CMU is first generation college students.
Speaker 1:Right. I think that's so amazing. It's a huge, there's, it just gives me goosebumps to think about that and how many students are in that position to take advantage of a scholarship or an opportunity. Yep. Um, it's an amazing amount of kids who are first generation college students. So
Speaker 2:Over half of our students are first in their gen Wow. First in their family to go to college. There's a really powerful moment at our, um, graduation every year where, uh, president Foster and now President Marshall asks everybody and all the whole graduating class, if you're the first in your family to go to, to graduate, please stand up. And like half the group stands up and that families go crazy and eyeball. And it is just, it's so, so powerful and it's really one of the things that we are most proud of.
Speaker 1:That's great. Yeah. So what is the enrollment at C M U and how has that grown over the last Wow. I mean, it's, it's changed so much over the last 10, 20 years. Well,
Speaker 2:And there's a caveat to that. A lot of people do not realize that W C C C, Western Colorado Community College and C M U are one school. Mm-hmm. There's, we're branded differently. There's the community college and then there's C M U. And I think when C M U first was named C M U, there was this effort to sort of legitimize us as a univer, as a higher ed institution and, and, and a, and a university. And so there was a separation of the two. But truthfully, what happens is students very often will start in a certificate program at W C C and accidentally in four or five years end up with a bachelor's from C M U and everybody that graduates from W C C graduates with a C M U degree. So what we're now doing is we're going back and we're, we're gonna rebrand Western College or Community Foundation. And I don't know what it's gonna be, but we're trying to make it more in line with C M U. So it feels like one school under one roof, where you can take certification courses and then slowly add to it over time, uhhuh as you, as your career and your family allow you to, and then eventually work your way to some sort of graduate, uh, uh, whether it's a bachelor's or something else or not. But the point is, it really is one school. And so, so what the, that a long answer to say that, um, enrollment is 11,000 students between both the community college and C M U.
Speaker 1:And you have a campus in Montrose as well? We do, yep. Yeah. And then that, what does that look like?
Speaker 2:So that's a small campus. It's about 300 students, I think. Um, and that, again, it's a limited number of courses that are really geared towards the Montrose economy. So we do have a, a peace officers Academy down there, uh, which has been successful we're, we just launched nursing down there. Um, oh, fantastic. And so it's really one of those things where, what makes sense to build out and, you know, other facilities like, um, with the equipment and the cost of everything to have down there so that their local businesses can get the workforce that they need. We're also building out hospitality that's been a really successful program. Um, and so, uh, and so that's what we're always trying to juggle what makes sense to put on the Montrose campus. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>, um, segue a little bit to the hospitality program. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> absolutely love the Maverick Hotel.
Speaker 2:Hotel.
Speaker 1:I know. And the restaurant. And I think one of the great things about it is when you go to the restaurant, you see a view of the campus Yep. That is phenomenal. And you see new buildings, uh, you see the, the pump track down below Yep. And lots of activities going on. What has that meant for C M U? So
Speaker 2:It, it's funny because it started as just sort of this business idea, this public-private partnership where, um, C M U owns and built the building. We contract management out to a hotel group called Charlestown that manages hotels. And then our hospitality students and our culinary students get the cycle through there and work so they get job experience. And so
Speaker 1:It's amazing. So
Speaker 2:It's really a cool concept. We did not expect it to generate so much revenue. It's been very, very successful for the university. That's great. And going back to that whole vice president development piece, like trying to figure out other ways to bring in revenue, that's a really great example, um, is up for the Hotel Maverick. And so in fact, it's been so successful. The hotel group is looking at doubling the number of rooms. We'll add ano eventually add another wing. We also get asked for a lot of conference space, Uhhuh<affirmative>, um, like in the hotel. And so I think that'll be a part of it. What's really been exciting is when we announced our theater project, um, which we're in the middle of a capital campaign for a, a state-of-the-art, um, theater for C M U. We're going to put it directly across the street from the Hotel Maverick. So that's gonna end up,
Speaker 1:And that was a big change, right? Because it was meant to go Yep. Where the Robinson Theater is now. Yep.
Speaker 2:We, the original, um, pitch was to renovate the Moss Performing Heart center and build a theater in with on top of Rob, the old Robinson Theater. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, what it be. It was, it's funny, we had a series of meetings over the last summer where we kept, they were trying to jam everything in and it ju and parking and that 12th Street is so congested already. It is. Yes. And nothing was fitting. And how do you get tractor trailers in there? And on and on and on. And finally one day the architects came and they were a nervous wreck. And they said, well, we're gonna pitch something that we haven't talked about at all. And what they did was they pulled out the theater and put it on, on land that we already own. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> near the Hotel Maverick. And they renovated, um, the Moss Performing Arts Center into adding some spaces that we need renovating the Robinson Theater into a smaller but more intimate theater. So we get to keep it, which a lot of people were very upset about getting rid of Robinson Theater mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And so it's, we all looked at it and it solved all the problems. And it was like this light bulb moment where we all said, yes, that's the project that we need. But what, what putting the theater there did is it sort of, it's gonna be this anchor for this larger scale commercial development that we're calling, um, the Formation District, which will have restaurant retail, more housing, and this big long pedestrian mall that takes you from the hotel down to the theater,
Speaker 1:More student housing. Um,
Speaker 2:Well that's up. It's debatable. We're actually in the middle of a building a residence hall right now. Uh, what we need is more like faculty, staff housing. Yeah. And so that's, it has not been decided, but I think we're leaning more towards sort of like professional housing for faculty and staff apartments. You know, we hire people in and they can't, you know, this, they can't, I do have any place to live.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Rental rental situation is tough here.
Speaker 2:Yes. And so I think that it will gear towards more towards that, but that's not, I don't, I don't know how it'll end up. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>, one of the things that I've really noticed is how C M U has done outreach to community members. So, because I'm not an alumni, but I get invited to a lot of things to come to on the C M U campus. And that makes me really happy cuz I'm getting to know the campus and the community and the people that work there and the students that attend there. And I feel more a part Yep. Of that whole ecosystem. Would, do you guys have a plan that you have Yeah.
Speaker 2:Outlined? So, it's funny because, um, I feel the same way. I moved here and my family and I moved here in 2010. I'm not from here. Um, but it's, it didn't take very long before I thought, well this is where I'm gonna raise my kids. We're not going any, this is my home. Uhhuh<affirmative>. And I think we have a lot of people like that in Grand Junction. And I've always thought, you don't actually have to be from here to fit in here as long as you work hard and, you know, kind of throw yourself into public projects, people, um, accept you. And so I think CMU is very much the same way. We have more our, our do our donations. We have far more donations from non-alumni than alumni, which is not the case for, I can't, I don't know if there's another college out there that can claim that. Right. Yeah. But it's our business community. It's, um, and it's the people that live here that give the most to C M U and it's not necessarily alumni again because they're so young. So we talk a lot as, cuz the Alumni Association falls under the foundation. And we always are talking about is there an opportunity for a friends of C M U membership for the alumni association because so many people have adopted this as their home and adopted C M U as their sort of university of choice, but they're not actual alumni. So Yeah, we have, we talk about that all the time. But yeah. The vast majority of people who attend our biggest sports, you know, fanatics Yeah. Are not necessarily alumni either.
Speaker 1:Well, it's really nice to, uh, live here and be able to attend so many different sporting events. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 2:I well we have all the sports,
Speaker 1:Right? We do. It's unbelievable. And you just, there was a rodeo Yep. Last
Speaker 2:Week. Oh, the rodeo is so fun. You know, something that I brag about a lot that we never really talk about. So, um, if you, CSU has, Cal State has about 300 NCAA athletes. C M U has 800 NCAA athletes. Yes. So we have added, I mean, if there is a sport out there, and this was driven by President Foster, we added the sport because student, we believe so much in student athletes. And so, um, also we, we provide a unique experience where, like we have students in our engineering school who are athletes. And that is very, very difficult. And most schools won't allow engineers or certain, um, study certain, uh, degree programs to also be athletes. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> cuz the load is too heavy. Right. But we believe so strong name student athletes, we make it work. We were the first university in Colorado to add women's wrestling, which is, we have a national champion now, Marissa Gallegos. She's amazing. Um, and so that's, those type of things are really, really fun. So part of the problem with hiring a new athletic director this past year was most of the athletic directors that we interviewed said the first thing I would do is cut athletics. It's too big of a program.
Speaker 1:<laugh>,<laugh>. And you and you all went, well,
Speaker 2:Not happening. No<laugh>. So yeah, we have I think 29 NCAA sports. And then our club programs are huge as well.
Speaker 1:And are you looking to, are there any that are, you know, you're chasing right now
Speaker 2:At this point? I don't think so. Um, we, you know, and there's a couple programs that are really small and growing. Like triathlon is pretty new. Um, and that's a really small program, but growing, um, so no, I don't, I'm, I am unaware of new programs that we're adding. We've, we have enough to handle right now.<laugh>, you know what's really been hard this past year is with all the inflation costs, um, the travel budget for our athletes is really, really, really high. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And because we have these obscure programs that don't necessarily exist in the rac, we have to fly to places like women's Wrestling's been hard, they have to fly everywhere cuz there's so few women's wrestling programs. Right. That's changing quickly. I think next year, three schools in the RAC will have, um, women's wrestling, but triathlon's the same way. They have to fly places. Beach volleyball is another one.
Speaker 1:I saw you added beach volleyball.
Speaker 2:Well, and they're national champions too. So amazing. It's pretty fun. The success of our programs, which, you know, raises a lot of discussion like the D one, D two discussion, which comes up all the time mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But we are very dedicated to D two. We will not become a D one program.
Speaker 1:And why
Speaker 2:The cost is just too much and it's a completely different business plan. So it becomes more about the, um, you know, those are athlete students, non student athletes. And we believe very strongly in student athletes. We would, our goal is to be a D two national powerhouse.
Speaker 1:And does the university have a plan for growth of the student population? Is that on the radar? So happy with what's the population now or
Speaker 2:I think we want to grow. Um, so John Marshall refers often, he calls it a human scale university. And that is where we remain in touch with all of our students. We know them, we know their names, they know their professors. We'll never be one of those universities that has, you know, stadium style, um, stadium seating classrooms mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And that again is something we're very dedicated. And so what that means is we'll grow as long as we can maintain, um, that sort of relationship between students and their professors. Um, and so, I don't know. I would say there's not, we don't have a goal, like remember if a couple years ago there was the C M U 20,000 campaign and there is this goal to get to 15,000 students. I would say that's not the geese today. I think we'll grow as long as we can continue to hire professors in to maintain small classroom sizes. Um, and that's really hard right now is hiring. Um, and then also, uh, the, we require, um, freshmen to live on campus mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So having the rooms for them, that's really, really important.
Speaker 1:Um, and you're building a new residence hall now?
Speaker 2:We have a new residence hall under con or under construction right now. The, the success rate of our students, if they live on campus, they're freshman here, is I, it's much, much, much higher.
Speaker 1:Yeah. What about the old residence halls over there on 12th? Are those slated to be renovated, torn down? I mean, um, there's a market difference just from the outside. I've not been in,
Speaker 2:Well, and they provided a more affordable option mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So the, the cost, it's funny, I'm sort of amazed and, and you know, I haven't been around academia at all, uh, since I went to college. And so, you know, when I went to college, you squeezed two people in every room and, you know, you all shared a, it was like not nice, such a
Speaker 1:Small room. Oh my
Speaker 2:Gosh. And that nowadays, their, their kids want options. And I'm amazed by the amount of options that we give them. And so there's lots of singles that have their own bathrooms and kitchens and all the, so we do have to, one thing we've found is we have to provide a wide variety. And that comes with a very different, um, that's why it's so hard to figure, like, what is the cost of tuition? Tuition's easy, but room and board that is anything from$8,000 a year to$20,000 a year depending on what you live
Speaker 1:In. And we're seeing on the real estate side still a huge demand for student housing around the campus. I mean Yeah. It seems like we just can't get enough.
Speaker 2:Nope. And it's, um, you know, when the, when there was so much pressure on the rental market, a lot of families moved into what used to be student housing mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And then we really were at a shortage of where to put our students. And that's still kind of a problem. And why you find like 10 kids crammed into a house off campus. But, um, there's still not enough housing. Although I do think that the market is finally meeting demand there. We're just about two years behind.
Speaker 1:Well, with all the apartments that we've got coming up. Yeah. Hopefully that will Yep. Sift things out a little bit. Um, can you talk about the, the expansion of the campus itself? Yep. And, um, did you call it the formation
Speaker 2:District? The Formation
Speaker 1:District, yeah. Um, and how that translates and, and transfers that transition zone into seventh Street Yep. And, and what that's gonna look like in the next few years.
Speaker 2:So, um, C M U has been buying one house at a time for, I mean, decades mm-hmm.<affirmative>, and slowly as they come, you know, available market rate. As you know, there's a variety. And so there's a sort of a checker board. And the idea was we would grow to from seventh to 12th and then, um, north or the one right above north bunting to Orchard Avenue. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And that's sort of the footprint of the university. And so slowly we, and that's what has allowed us to put this formation district is essentially Kennedy to bunting. So two blocks, and then all the way to seventh eventually. And we own the vast majority of those houses, like two holdouts that at some point hopefully we'll sell to us or not. And we'll just build, you know, there's a couple, it'll be like, um, that movie with the up up, the one little house right in the middle of campus mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But, um, and so that, and, and the city, I should say the city of Grand Junction and the county have been very supportive and, and help us buy those houses as well. And so that has allowed it, that's where we're going to put this formation district. We did also recently purchase the Albertsons on 12th Street. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, which was just a key piece of property. We already use it for, um, parking. And so if someone else was gonna buy that and develop it, that was gonna put a real strain on our parking situation. Um, but we were able to secure it. Um, and we don't, there's actually not a plan yet. It's trying to figure out what is the best use for that space. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, is it another athletic facility? Is it housing? Is it, um, you know, we've sort of thrown the idea around a health sciences campus across the street from the nursing school. So I don't know, we'll see, uh, what comes a bit. But it was a big deal to finally get that building.
Speaker 1:How many people are involved in this kind of decision making process in, in expansion and growth? I, I, I, when I interviewed Tim Foster, I, I tried to get the root of how have you done what you've done, but it's really hard to put your finger on. I mean, it's, it's a lot of energy. It's a lot of people. Yeah. It's a lot of networking. Um, I was, I was amazed, especially during the economic climate that we had during Tim Foster's tenure, that he did what he did.
Speaker 2:So there's no question in my mind that we, the re our recovery from the 2008 recession, which took a full decade, was led by the construction and the growth at C M U. I agree. Because for so many years, that was the only place where any positive action was happening. And so, you know, we declined from 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, we declined again. 15. And finally, I think we flattened out in 16. And through all that time, uh, CMU was building, building, adding programs. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> growing positions, adding jobs, um, which I think was what pulled us out of the, it helped, it was a major piece of what got pulled us out of the recession. Also connecting, um, the programs of study with the jobs that were available here. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So it was so hard to recruit. So like the engineering programs a great example. We had so many companies here that could not recruit engineers into the area. And um, I don't know if you know Blaine Buck from Bighorn Consulting about 10 years ago, he went to Tim Bo and said, I can't hire engineers. I need engineers. And so that's what launched sort of the partnership with CU for our engineering school. So you attend C M U for four years, um, and you graduate with a CU engineering degree. It's a really cool study. It was cool partnership. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, and so 10 years after the fact, Wayne Buck walked in our office last fall and said over half of my engineers are now C M U grads and he started a scholarship for engineers. So it's really neat. You know, these games are long, these are long-term strategies, but, but it's really fulfilling and exciting when they work<laugh>, so. Absolutely. So yeah. So
Speaker 1:What are your long-term goals in your position?
Speaker 2:So, I like, my goal is I really want our endowment to hit a hundred, a hundred million dollars. Um, which seems really daunting. And you have to, when you think of how much that actually is, it's overwhelming. Uhhuh<affirmative>. But you think of it in chunks. Um,
Speaker 1:Do you have a timeline like by when Uhhuh<affirmative> you
Speaker 2:Not gonna, I mean, while I'm here, I guess<laugh><laugh>. Um, and then, I mean, it's a daunting goal, but I think that 25 years ago, if you said we were gonna have a 50 million end dollar endowment, people would say it's impossible. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Um, the other major goal is to fully fund athletics. And so we are, um, well behind, um, both mines and CSU Pueblo who are huge competitors in the rac, they are fully funded. And so they pro there's, so there's caps on how many scholarships you can provide by sport, and that's in the amount of money. Yeah. You can get use to recruit student athletes. We are only about 70%, um, of that, that we we're only funding about 70% of that. Whereas our competitors are fund have so much more money to provide, to recruit better athletes. Why is that? We just don't have the money. So the university provides quite a bit of money and then the rest is button raised. Okay. Um, but fully funding athletics means we need to have available in scholarships about 2 million more a year. That's a huge number. And if we do that as an endowment, it's, it's a really big number. But that is absolutely one of our goals is to fully fund athletics and then just to continue the capital improvements. So, um, the thing that keeps me up at night right now is, um, raising the 8 million for our theater. That's a hard and a heavy lift for Western Colorado, but it's going to be an unbelievable project. It's a 55 million, um, state of the art stunning theater that will be unlike any other theater between Denver and Salt Lake. Um, the renderings are very, very beautiful and it's gonna have everything and we'll be able to bring in traveling shows. Um, it is not at all out of the realm that we could get something like the Lion King here. And then it also provides an unbelievable opportunity for our students and the kids that are raised here to see all kinds of things. And also performing in, in a, a, you know, world class facility. It's a 55 million project. The state gave us an unprecedented, uh, unprecedented 39 million. It's the largest investment they've ever made in C M U.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Um, and then the university's putting in six and we need to raise another eight. Um, with the cost of construction right now we're about 10 million over. And so we need to figure, sort of figure that out. We did break ground and then we hope to be open fall of 2024.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's soon. Wow.
Speaker 2:But raising$8 million for a theater is very, very
Speaker 1:Hard. And, and you all have built some other buildings recently? I mean the, the engineering school and the nursing school,
Speaker 2:Well, essentially everything out by the hotel has been built in the last five to six years. So the engineering school, um, was like maybe 17, I think that was built. Um, and it's, we've already outgrown that and there's a second building that we need to ba to add to that, which is a great problem to have. Um, and then we built, uh, the, um, center for Reflection, which is our version of a chapel, which was a really cool project. Completely led by donors who just thought we should have a, um, some sort of, uh, chapel or place of worship on campus. Uhhuh<affirmative>. And that's been a really neat facility as well. Um, and then we built the hotel, um, which opened June of 2020. Terrible time to open, but it actually had a, it's done so well for the university. And then the last piece on that end of campus, along with all that housing that's gone in there, the residence house Uhhuh is the St. Mary's Medical Education Center. Uhhuh, which is our PA P T and OT program. And that's been a great ad as well. And so that I think was finished last fall. We opened that mm-hmm.<affirmative>, which has been really exciting. So
Speaker 1:Did you have to do fundraising to get those built as well?
Speaker 2:It's a combination of asking the state. So the state has this capital development fund that they, um, they dole out every year. We would what, what's a Tim? Good Tim Foster story is that PA building, which the state was saying we need more PA programs. So we said, okay, we'll add a PA program. Um, and so we kept putting in our number one priority and when the, they would prioritize the list cuz everyone has lobbyists and they're all lobbying for their projects. Uhhuh<affirmative>, we got, we were always below the line, like to be like, Hey, this is how much we had to fund. And it would be like the top 10 projects and we'd be number 11. And I think three years in a row that PA program got bumped. And so Tim Foster finally got fed up and said, screw you, we'll go figure it out ourselves. And that's when he went to community hospital and St. Mary's. And, and it was essentially completely funded by the university in private funders. Amazing. I do think that some guilt on the state side of not funding that project, um, has led
Speaker 1:To some
Speaker 2:Things. Helped us get the funding for the theater, Uhhuh<affirmative>. Um, but yeah, that's essentially, it's always cobbling together capital development funds from the state university funds and, um, private donations.
Speaker 1:One of the things we talk about in a lot of our podcasts with community leaders that we have here in town is the collaboration that's going on. And yes. You just, um, mentioned the collaboration with the two hospitals in town. Yep. Tell us about that, um, current situation and what do you see in the future as potential collaborations that maybe, you know, you're just working on now?
Speaker 2:So, um, healthcare is our largest employer. It's our largest field of study at C M U. I mean, without a doubt, our relationships with our hospitals and I, we have four hospitals in, in Western Colorado. People don't quite, and I should say in Mesa County, people always forget the VA hospital. And then of course, um, Colorado Canyons as well. So having four hospitals, um, we partner with all of them. They are wonderful supporters of us. Uh, and it mostly is because we're providing the nurses and the cme Yeah. And the medical assistance and everything else that they need. Uh, so they're great partnerships. Um, and even though there's always some, you know, competition between, especially St. Mary's and, and community hospital, they always come together very well in support of CM U. And so between athletics, athletic training, sponsorships of events, um, they just, they support us in a lot of ways. They step ways. Guilty. Yep. Yeah. Another one that we, a great program that we're supported really well by the industry is construction. So we have a great construction management program. Um, and of course F C I and Shaw are very, um, supportive of C M U and give a lot of sponsorships as well and hire a lot of our students. So those type of, um, synergies between industries and companies that hire from us have been really, really valuable. The business school, so the Davis School of Business mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, that we have a great relationship with the banks who hire out of their, with a lot of, um, accounting firms. Um, and then financial advisors as well. And so our biggest problem is we can't put out enough accountants. Right. Accountants right now, that's for sure. It's huge. We get it all the time and especially internships. And so, um, we're trying to grow those programs as fast as we can.
Speaker 1:Wow. It's a lot to take on. And, um, what do you think is when you're trying to recruit students to C M U? I know we talked a little bit about, because I have a senior in high school and he, um, was accepted to C M U and, um, you know, we, we've definitely had a long talk about do you wanna stay here in Grand Junction? But it's challenging for a lot of kids. They think they want to go out and we hear it all same time, something different. But then it, it's kinda like the people that they wanna sell their real estate and they don't, you know, take the dirt<laugh>,
Speaker 2:<laugh>.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then they end up coming back Yeah. Because they realize how great this community is. But sometimes you have to leave Yep. In order to, to understand that. Yes.
Speaker 2:So we, there is a stigma among local students, um, from our four high schools about staying here. And I think there's sort of a feeling that you need to leave or you wanna leave cuz you know, no matter where you grew up, you wanna have to get outta there. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, however, the cost of CM U is so much more affordable. Um, we're the second most affordable university in the state. Um, and we're very, very dedicated to keeping those costs low. Um, that we actually are the number one we graduate, our graduates have the least amount of debt of any university in this, in the state as well. And so knowing that we just are, we keep, we're, we're actually going to, um, launch a marketing campaign to the high schools about the advantages of staying here. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, and you can leave after college if you want want mm-hmm.<affirmative>, but you will start off in your life significant in a significantly better place if you come to cmu simply because of the lack of debt, um, when you leave. The other thing though is the, um, the other, we're a small school. We have small classes. There's a very, there's a lot of wraparound services because of our, um, commitment to first generation students. Our students actually cost a lot more money because we provide so many wraparound services. There's actually like a date, um, I don't know exactly what, but it's sometime in the spring of sophomore year where we know if we can get the first generation students to that date, their likelihood of graduation is huge. But those first generation college kids are hard to get through their first two years mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And it requires a lot of work. Um, but, and that's why we stay small. That's why the relationships matter. And so people have a really, um, great experience. I think students do when they, they come to C M
Speaker 1:U. We talked a little bit about student debt and I Oh yeah. Mentioned that, uh, I'd read an article about, um, people's regrets about college and, and the biggest one was carrying too much debt and they wish they had gone somewhere else. Um, so keep that in mind when you're thinking about your kids going to college, that really being saddled with debt. It doesn't matter where you go, if you go to Harvard or somewhere else, if, if you're just uh, yep. Reeling under that, it's gonna change your life. Well,
Speaker 2:And another, you know, I love my stats<laugh>. That's my, I hold over for my Juju days<laugh>. But we are, C M U is also the, we have the largest number of transfer, transfer of students that transfer into our school. And that's because, and it's mostly driven by local students who leave and go somewhere else. And for whatever reason it doesn't work out. They're just not happy. They didn't fit in it. The, they got lost in the shuffle. It was too expensive. We have a lot of students who go, um, to schools and then they just can't afford their se their second year. And, and so then they end up coming back. And so that, um, if we could avoid people having to leave and figure that out and come back, it'd be great. But it does, we, we get a lot of transfer ins.
Speaker 1:Oh, what percentage of the students are from Colorado? Oh.
Speaker 2:Um, it's a high, I, I don't know the exact number. What's the, the interesting number there though is not from Colorado cuz it's the vast majority of our students are from Colorado. I'd say I think 20% maybe are from out of state. But what's happening is where we used to be predominantly Western Slope students, I think about, we're now about over half of our students come from outside of the area, mostly the front range. And that's a real shift cuz what's happening is it's students that want, they're from the front range. They want something different than CU at C ssu mm-hmm.<affirmative> and they're choosing C M U mm-hmm<affirmative> the lifestyle it offers. Um, and be, and for all the reasons that we're different than CU and C ssu. And it's really cool because those students stay after graduation, which is really great for us as well. Yeah. So, um, instead of growing up here and wanting to leave, which is normal, those students come here and they wanna stay and they get into our workforce.
Speaker 1:So what do you think are the, the next pieces of the puzzle to make C M U even more attractive? I mean, are you polling students that come here and say, you know, asking, why did you choose to come here? And obviously recreation and lifestyle is a big part. How much does, um, the, the team spirit, the, the university spirit and the community and how they join together, how much of a role does that play and how can we improve that?
Speaker 2:So we're in, we're doing that work right now. So one, we are doing a huge, our strategic plan for the university. Um, and it's like, you know, the next, what does the next 20 years look like? But a big piece of that is the student experience. Um, and so we've, we finished a big survey of our students and the, the results were both surprising and unsurprising. Unsurprising in that, um, students repeatedly say they feel very welcome on campus. They feel, um, they found their group of friends, um, they feel very connected to the university, they feel cared for. It's, it's funny cuz one of the, we're doing these values and one of the values that we've chosen, which<laugh> at first made me very uncomfortable, but is the word love, which the students loved the word love<laugh>, but they feel loved on our campus. The other part though, that was really, um, kind of, um, well surprising and also very sad, was that those same students did not feel welcome necessarily in the community. So they feel really welcome on our campus, but then they go out into the community and they don't necessarily feel as welcomed. So I think that's part of, you know, I've been preaching for probably 10 years that we're a college town that doesn't know where a college town.
Speaker 1:I a hundred percent agree.
Speaker 2:And so I, and that's definitely changing. Um, but I think the more that we really feel like a college town and, um, and, and people embrace our students a little more, I think that that's, we have work to do there. And we've actually, president Marshall has called in a number of community leaders and business owners and people that hire our students and have explained this, this phenomenon to them in an effort to get them to reach out more and be more welcoming to students. And, and so we need to change that culture.
Speaker 1:Well I'd be happy to participate in any of that. Is I, you know, I was just thinking to myself, um, in, in the college towns that I've lived in, uh, you know, you got a sticker on every door. Yes. Students welcome here, discounts, uh, come on in. You know, it's really supportive and I think that we have a ways to go here. I think even you just cross the street Yes. From the campus. You know, it's different.
Speaker 2:So, um, you know, when I, so traditionally all of cm, U'S marketing dollars have been spent on admissions and so we're recruiting directly to students and none of that actually was spent locally. And so over the last year and a half, we've begun to do like we did the, um, we are CM U campaign, uhhuh<affirmative>, which you might have seen in billboards and ads and things like that. And it's really let's introduce campus to the community. So maybe you, you don't go to CMU or you don't know someone and you don't work there, you have no reason to go on campus. Let's start talking about what's, so that was the we. R C C M U is all about our professors that are doing great work, our students that are doing really cool things. And it's been a really great campaign. Um, and I think we're gonna see that expand mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, and also with athletics, which is sort of, of a great way to get people onto campus and come have some fun mm-hmm.<affirmative> and really get into C M U. That's, so we're really looking at how to change our athletics ticketing and all of that and the, the, the fan experience to get more people to come to our, um, people who have no affiliation with C M U to come to our athletic events. Yep. You know, the last two years the football attendance has been awesome at Stoker Stadium, like far greater than we've seen. And now of course with Miles Coach Jabar coming back, he's a hometown boy now our football coach. That's been really, really great. Yeah. And so I expect great things out of that. Um, so there are certain things happening in that regard and there's a lot more, I think, um, marketing that's happening directly to just raise awareness of C M U. And there's no, um, I don't wanna give too much away, but we may soon have a, a uh, sort of a presence on Main Street. Like, you know, for 10 years people said, where can I buy a C M U T-shirt on Main Street? And you can't, you have to go to campus. So we're, that might change here in the next couple months. So you heard it here, there's some fun, exciting things happening that
Speaker 1:Is really,
Speaker 2:It's just about outreach. You know, the football team and the rowdy go to the high schools and they go to the middle schools, they read the kids in the elementary. So the more we can get our students out and and interacting with, with, um, with our youth, that's a great thing as well. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> summer camps, that's another one that we could, we are improving.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well there's, there's so much more I know we could talk about, um, in kind of, uh, wrapping up, what, what do you wanna share about your and John Marshall's vision for C M U and, and what you're excited about in the next year, three years, five years?
Speaker 2:Um, it's so, I was so nervous about leaving GEP cuz I was excited about where our community was going and I was excited about that job. And it's funny now because looking back, my new, my job now at C M U is I'm, it's so exciting Uhhuh<affirmative> and there's so much possibility. And it's funny because higher ed across the country is sort of declining and they're have, everyone's having this existential crisis of like, do you really need higher ed? Do I need to go to college? Does it matter anymore? And so I think we are answering that question cuz we, we have a leadership meeting every Monday morning with all the VPs and we, we dig deep into these discussions and we really talk about what is our value? What is it worth? Why are we important? How are we helping our community? And so I think as long as we stay true to raising the educational attainment and improving the economy in Western Colorado, uh, I think that we will win. And I think the leadership, the leadership team now is, is as dedicated as the previous leadership team. Um, and so it's really just an exciting thing to be a part of. And I really do believe we'll reach those goals that I, that seem very daunting and impossible. I think that we will get an endowment of a hundred million dollars, which will just provide stability for the university as it grows
Speaker 1:And the community.
Speaker 2:Yep. Yeah. And I think our, I think our uh, uh, student body will continue to grow as people find something different at C M U. Um, so yeah, I think that's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:One of the things that my son and I looked at when we were, were looking at schools was the strength of the alumni throughout the country and, you know, realizing that those are people that you could be connected to for your life and that you should be able to rely on. And it's exciting to think about the alumni for C M U growing and spreading across the country and supporting each other. Well,
Speaker 2:And it is fun because if you, you know, if I, this is a perfect example. I, there's a, there's a dad, um, who has a daughter on my daughter's soccer team. And I showed up to a game one day and he was wearing a C M U T-shirt and I said, oh, are you a C M U alum? And he said, yeah, actually. He said, I, this is the first I haven't had a C M U, I haven't, I graduated from Mesa. He said, I didn't, I haven't owned anything. And then I walked around campus and it was so cool. It's this the first T-shirt I bought in like 20 years and he was proud of CMU and he hadn't been proud in 20, you know what I mean? Yeah. There's this shift happening and our students now, you walk across campus and every other student is wearing MESA gear and there's this huge amount of pride, um, and it's young and it's new. Yeah. And they graduate and the, the, you know, this graduating class is gonna be so much more active in giving back and being involved than maybe the students 20 years ago were, but it's also very, um, it's contagious cuz what's happening is when there's that pride with the young alumni than then, than, you know, maybe the guy that graduated 10 years ago from what he considered more of a commuter college suddenly feels pride in his alma mater as well. So we have a lot of work to do to grow that, but it's, um, the only way to go is up. I I think there's gonna be a lot of great opportunities among our alumni and building the alumni association out. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's so exciting. And I think that the growth of C M U along with our community and all the great things are happening are just going together so nicely. And I've no doubt that you're gonna reach your goals and I can't think of a better person to lead this than you. Robin. Congratulations. Well, thank you
Speaker 2:Christie. Yeah. I really, really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Really proud of you and the work that you've done and thankful that you've are a part of our community and, and embrace everything so strongly. Well thanks, you do here.
Speaker 2:Thanks for giving me the opportunity to come talk about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, uh, if people want to know more about CMU Yep. Uh, website they can go to, to, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we have two, the Colorado mesa.edu is CM U'S website that has all the information you need about the university and then supporting cmu.com or.org. We have both of them is the foundation and they're linked. But, um, if you, you know, that's where the donation pages are in the campaigns. We're actually about to revamp all of it. But, um, as of today, Colorado mesa.edu and supporting cmu.edu
Speaker 1:Well, last little thing about, um, funding and, and fundraising. Um, I know that tuitions are considered high and you said that, uh, CMU is one of the lowest in the state, but, um, universities cannot support themselves on tuition alone.
Speaker 2:That's absolutely
Speaker 1:True. So I think that even though people perceive that, uh, education is so expensive, we do have to fundraise in order to have this, this wonderful, um, organization and facility right here in the middle of our community. Yeah,
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. Um, and you know, everyone's having trouble hiring right now and so, um, when we look at salaries, I think we underpay, uh, at C M U and so we're looking at salary adjustments, but that costs money, but that's how we get great professors. And so it's, there's a lot of challenges right now. Um, but we're sort of waiting through them day by day and figuring out what we can and can't do. Yeah. What's possible and what's not possible. But the finances of higher ed are really complicated and difficult and really what ha the easy way to fix it is to raise your tuition. And we are just really working hard to not do that. Yep.
Speaker 1:Right on.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you Robin Brown. Uh, go Babs. Go
Speaker 2:MAbs.
Speaker 1:Right<laugh>. Everybody doing this all the time. So yeah. Let's get it done. Um, thank you for being our guest today on the Full Circle podcast. Uh, it's been our pleasure to have you, um, make sure you follow us online and on social media and we have great guests like Robin Brown from C M U and we'll see you next time on the full full on the Full Circle podcast. Bye. Thanks for listening. This is Christie Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.