Breaking Ground in Higher Education
In the summer of 1925, Mary Rait, a teacher at Grand Junction High School, received some unexpected news. The state legislature had approved a new junior college in Grand Junction, and it was set to open in a matter of weeks. In support of the new college, the local school district planned to donate the part-time services of four high school teachers, Mary Rait among them.
“We started in the fall of 1925, with nothing but a short notice. The legislature passed some sort of an acting bill,” Rait recalled during an interview recorded in 1968. “The city gave us a site where the hospital now is. I didn’t know until the summer that I’d be teaching a course in the college, and of course it scared me to death.”
As frightened as she may have been, Rait projected an aura of confidence and dignity, not only during those earliest years but also throughout her career at Mesa College. Her legacy is one of academic rigor, combined with efforts to raise the social tenor for students at an upstart college on the far edge of Colorado.
Don MacKendrick, who joined the Mesa College faculty in 1956, remembers Rait as an excellent educator, the leader of the campus International Relations Club, and a role model and mentor for students and faculty.
“She was a stately person, and the students loved her. But boy did she work them hard,” he said in 2024.
Bill Hanks, who took Rait’s Western European History course in the mid-1950s, credits her with inspiring him to be a better student, recalling that she got him “going down the right track.” Jack Brophy, who enrolled in 1946 and admittedly preferred math and science, lit up with enthusiasm when asked about Rait during an interview in 2024. “She was a good teacher, she really was. She made you learn. I loved her.”
As an original faculty member on loan from the school district, Rait taught one class each day at Grand Junction Junior College, with the rest of her teaching load at Grand Junction High School. When she began teaching at the junior college in 1925, there were thirty-nine students enrolled and the cost of an education was twenty-five dollars per quarter, per student. The curriculum was traditional, focused on the liberal arts, and the goal was to provide students with both the necessary credits and the educational foundation to transfer to a four-year institution to complete their degrees. Rait’s courses included modern European history, US history, economic history of England and the US, government, and economics.
In 1933, Rait became a full-time college instructor and was named dean of women. In 1937, she became one of the first, if not the first, female college vice president in Colorado. She held this position until her retirement in 1960.
Rait was born in Kansas in 1894 and passed away in Grand Junction in 1989. When she was a young girl, her family relocated to Palisade, where she did her schooling. She graduated from the University of Colorado (CU) with a degree in arts and sciences in 1922, and a master of arts in 1931. In 1954, Rait received the CU Alumni Recognition Award, and in May 1983, Mesa awarded her an honorary doctorate of letters, among other honors during her lifetime.
“I warn you right now, if you are employed by a small, new, and growing college, you will find yourself doing all sorts of things before you are through with it. And some of them, I’m sure, are things that you would have thought you would not, or could not, do, but they come up and one way or another you take care of them,” said Rait while reflecting on her career during a 1980 Museum of Western Colorado interview. “It has been a most worthwhile and most challenging experience.”
A Story 100 Years in the Making
Want to learn more about CMU's history? On August 16th, The Maverick store will launch a pre-sale for Colorado Mesa University - A Century of the Maverick Spirit, written by Amber J. D'Ambrosio and Kristen Lummis. The 192-page book chronicles CMU's 100-year journey of growth, resilience and community impact, celebrating the people and moments that shaped our Maverick history.
CMU's Century Project honors one hundred years of Colorado Mesa University's rich history - celebrating the people, milestones and spirit that have shaped our enduring legacy. As we reflect on this meaningful milestone, proceeds from the commemorative Century Book and events throughout the year will benefit the Century Scholarship, ensuring that future generations of CMU students can continue to grow, learn, and carry the CMU legacy forward.
Pre-sale will be available on August 16th.