"A Good Place to Be"
Rick Adleman will happily tell you that he wasn’t focused in high school. “I graduated from Delta High School in 1985, and after working for six months, I decided I should probably go to college,” his story began.
And while he wanted to move to Boulder, his grades were lackluster. “I thought I’d come to Mesa, get my grades up and go to CU,” he explained.
But on his first day of class in January 1986, something happened, and nearly forty years later, he is still at Colorado Mesa University, currently as the associate director of development at the CMU Foundation.
“I fell in love with my wife,” he explained. “I met her the first day of class, in the first class that I had, and then I fell in love with the school, and I’ve been here on and off ever since.”
Adleman’s long tenure provides him with a unique insight into the many changes in leadership and structure that CMU has seen over the years. Interacting with donors and alumni provides him with “a perspective across a spectrum—from the class of 1927 to working with our current students today. It’s been fun to see that whole university perspective and all the changes.”
When asked to point to the most pivotal moments, Adleman reflects on the tenure of President Ted Albers, who took Mesa from a junior college to a four-year college.
“He was the guy that took the gamble and really pushed to get us a four-year institution. And, I think, he suffered the brunt of that,” said Adleman.
Additionally, Adleman points to the period when Mesa State College left the state college consortium, which was rife with politics and funding disputes.
“It wasn’t really until President Foster got here that we chose our own path and quit being a whipping boy to some of the institutions in the state,” said Adleman. “Would we become an appendage of CU or CSU? Or do we become our own institution? That’s the road we took, and it was the right one.”
The growth of Colorado Mesa University since becoming independent has been profound in terms of classes and degrees, the student body, athletics, campus facilities, and visibility within the local community, state, and nation.
The CMU Foundation, where Adleman works, has grown, too.
“I think when I first got here, $2 million was how much we were raising in a good year, and we had maybe $2 or $4 million in our endowment. And now in 2024, we have $65 million in our endowment. To see this community and individuals who believe in what we’re doing keep giving back is just amazing,” he exuded.
Remembering countless stories from alumni, Adleman points to what might be most critical in his love for CMU and the university’s success. It is a story shared by many people from the class of 1927 onward, he explained.
“They came here for one reason or another. Mostly because life brought them here. Which is fine. But then when they got here, it was a good place to be, because there were good faculty here, good staff here. Because this place was raised from the community."