Goodbye, Mesa State College.
The Grand Junction institute of higher learning is now officially Colorado Mesa University.
Gov. John Hickenlooper traveled to the Western Slope to sign the bill making the name-change official.
“This is the moment when the transition happens,” Hickenlooper said. “It is up to our imagination as to what Mesa State becomes.”
The new name more accurately portrays the 86-year-old institution and its growth in enrollment, academic programs and facilites, said Mesa State President Tim Foster.
Foster said the new name will give potential students from outside Colorado a better idea where the school is located.
About 250 people witnessed Monday’s bill signing, which was the culmination of more than a decade of off-and-on discussion, more than a year sifting through potential names and a war of words between Grand Junction-based Mesa State and Western State College in Gunnison.
