CSU Pueblo Hosts Launch of Colorado's New Postsecondary Talent Development System
Governor Jared Polis and Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie joined campus and state leaders for the two-day kickoff of House Bill 26-1317, a new effort to connect Colorado's education, training, and job systems into one.
Colorado State University Pueblo opened its doors this week to state leaders, legislators, college presidents, and business executives for a meeting that organizers say will reshape how Colorado connects education, training, and jobs. The two-day summit, held June 22 and 23 at the Occhiato Student Center, marked the official kickoff of the Postsecondary Talent Development System, a new model created through House Bill 26-1317.
Governor Jared Polis and Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Julie McCluskie traveled to Pueblo to address the room, joined by CSU Pueblo President Rhonda Epper, who welcomed attendees to campus.
Epper opened the gathering with a look back at her own path through Colorado higher education, a career that spans nearly three decades and includes roles at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, the Colorado Department of Higher Education, the Community College of Denver, and Trinidad State, before she arrived at CSU Pueblo.
She told the room that the questions facing Colorado's education and workforce systems have not changed much over the years. How do colleges build clearer pathways for students? How do they remove the barriers between talent and opportunity? How do they connect classrooms to the economic future of the communities they serve?
"Outside the urban corridor, colleges serve as engines of workforce training and economic development. In some towns, the local college is the only path many residents see toward a better future."
Dr. Rhonda Epper · President, CSU Pueblo
Epper pointed to Pueblo's own history as a city built by people who came looking for opportunity and worked to create something lasting. She argued that regional comprehensive universities like CSU Pueblo play a role that differs from their counterparts in the Denver metro area.
Polis used his remarks to lay out the scale of the problem the new system aims to solve. Seven state agencies currently oversee more than 20 divisions and offices tied to education, training, and employment, he said, spanning 110 separate programs with different eligibility rules, different outcome measures, and different applications. Polis said even he, as governor, cannot name them all.
House Bill 26-1317 sets out to build what Polis called a one-stop shop, a single system that gives learners of every kind, from high school students to displaced workers, a clear path through degrees, certificates, and apprenticeships, with shared metrics that let the state track what works and shift away from what does not.
Polis thanked the bill's sponsors, including McCluskie, Senator Frizzell, Senator Bridges, and Representative Taggart, along with a list of elected officials and county commissioners who attended. He also recognized leaders from the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the Department of Labor and Employment who helped shape the bill.
McCluskie followed Polis and traced the legislation back to an executive order Polis issued roughly a year and a half ago, which set off months of conversations with workforce directors, labor leaders, faculty, students, and employers. She said the bill created a Transition Advisory Committee, or TAC, with 27 seats at the table, and that the committee officially launched at the Pueblo meeting.
McCluskie said she understands the anxiety that surfaces when systems change, and she credited the people in the room for showing up to a hard conversation. She closed by tying the work to something larger than policy, the hope that every Coloradan can still reach what she called the Colorado dream, a job that pays enough to build a life on.
The Pueblo meeting marks the first of several sessions planned over the coming months as the Transition Advisory Committee gathers input from across the state. CSU Pueblo's role as host reflects its standing as a regional comprehensive university built to serve Southern Colorado's students, employers, and communities, the same mission Epper described as central to the work ahead.
