The Latin root of the word "pueblo" is "people" and historians at Colorado State University-Pueblo say in the late 1800s, the city of Pueblo was referred to as "the people’s town."

“So the name of our county, the name of our community and the name of our university at its root, Pueblo equals people,” said Timothy Mottet, president of Colorado State University-Pueblo. “And our vision is to make this the people’s university of the Southwest United States.”

CSU-Pueblo’s vision to become just that by 2028 got a huge boost recently from the CSU System Board of Governors, which unanimously agreed to contribute $7.8 million over the next two years to the school.

“It’s the single largest investment that the system has made to a university in the CSU System. I want to acknowledge our board of governors and thank our board of governors and our chancellor for their support,” Mottet said.

"Today, this investment signals the CSU System’s belief in CSU-Pueblo’s future, but it also represents the commitment the system has to Pueblo and the Southern Colorado Region. We are excited.”

Two Puebloans serve on the board of governors — Jane Robbe Rhodes of Pueblo West and Russell DeSalvo III.

“They were both strong advocates for the vision process moving forward,” Mottet said.

Mottet explained that the vision honors regional histories, a commitment to work and the need to establish new and innovative campus learning and support systems to better serve students and Southern Colorado.

Mottet spoke with staff and faculty Monday during a two-hour convocation address at which he recognized employees, spoke about all of the school’s accomplishments last year and laid out what is ahead. He also explained what it means to be the people’s university.

“The people’s university is a concept. It’s an idea that we have. At its root, it is providing the people of our community with opportunities to help them to reposition their families. It can provide an education that allows that opportunity,” Mottet said.

The first two years of Vision 2028 implementation will include a focus on external partnerships and new revenue streams that will continue to drive innovation on the Belmont campus.

Mottet explained how the funding from the $7.8 million investment will be used.

“The first area for funding is around investing in areas where we can continue to generate revenue for the university. These are gift officers, grant writers and investing in our athletic facilities,” Mottet said.

“That allows us to use our athletic facilities to help generate revenue for the university and our athletic program.”

Mottet said the money also will be used to develop a different undergraduate student experience.

“The higher education marketplace in Southern Colorado is very competitive and we are working to create an undergraduate experience that is differentiated from other universities,” Mottet said.

The president said the differentiated experience will include clusters of components.

“One is an expanded work-study program, which allows our students to fund their education. Another one is more intensive academic advising. The other is around interdisciplinary learning through capstone and internship experiences.” Mottet said.

Mottet also talked about enrollment drivers moving forward.

“We are going to market ourselves as providing a different experience for our undergrad students. We also want to increase our graduate programing. We see ourselves increasing our graduate programing — primarily in an online market — in education, social services and in health and wellness,” Mottet said.

Mottet said 15% of Pueblo citizens have a baccalaureate degree compared to 25% in the state of Colorado.

He said the other enrollment driver is continuing education.

“Twenty-four percent of Pueblo citizens 25 years of age and older have some college but no degree. With that data, we have an opportunity to provide programming for a population to get them back into college to get them a degree or to upscale them with a graduate degree to help drive the economy in Pueblo and Southern Colorado,” Mottet said.

Part of the vision also is to connect the community with the campus.

Vision 2028 also establishes a downtown presence for CSU-Pueblo at Watertower Place, an emerging Downtown Pueblo project spearheaded by Ryan McWilliams, a CSU-Pueblo alum, and a member of the CSU-Pueblo President’s Citizen’s Advisory Board.

Mottet explained that a Downtown office will create an opportunity to expand campus collaborations with local businesses, industry and ongoing economic and social innovations for the region.

The university also has played a role in the new K-3 charter Villa Bella School, which has plans to offer more grades in the near future, on the perimeter of the campus. CSU-Pueblo faculty will use it as a lab school for the education program. CSU-Pueblo also is heavily involved in the Pueblo Food Project as well as the Pueblo Better Together Initiative. It also has plans to offer more grades in the near future, also is active with the Boys and Girls Club.

“We also will be heavily involved with the Colorado State Fair,” Mottet said.

amestas@chieftain.com

Twitter: @mestas3517