ALAMOSA • Colorado State University is expanding its engineering and rural footprint, and David Cody and Scott Clayton are a big reason why.

The two have worked closely together over the past two years as student and instructor, with Cody graduating as part of the first mechanical engineering cohort partnership between CSU and his hometown, Adams State University.

“It’s pretty cool,” Cody said. “It’s not an easy degree to get. I’m definitely proud of myself and the other guys who are finishing with me.”

Cody participated in Saturday’s graduating ceremonies with five other students from the engineering program, along with other Adams State graduates in various degree programs.

Clayton, meanwhile, won’t be far removed from the action. Not only is he a native of the San Luis Valley area, he is also the lab-support engineer for the degree program.

“It’s a huge deal for me,” Clayton said. “I’ve really kind of been with them since the beginning when I started here. I’m involved in all of the labs, and the program is set up to be very lab-heavy because we want to make sure that our engineers have plenty of hands-on experience to take into the workforce. They get to know the difference between what happens in the classroom and what happens when you actually do it.”

With local ties to the community, both the Cody and Clayton families know each other. In fact, Clayton attended high school with one of Cody’s uncles, and Clayton’s sister knew Cody’s father.

“David’s kind of an interesting case because the Cody family name is a well-known one in the region,” Clayton said. “I knew all of his family really, really well, and his brother is going to be part of the program in the fall.”

Returning to Colorado

Cody, who is the third oldest of nine, initially had designs on leaving the area and making a name for himself outside of his hometown.

After graduating from Alamosa High School in 2023, Cody moved to Melbourne, Fla., and attended Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) for a year.

Cody would ultimately have a change of heart in part because of distance but primarily due to cost.

He had done dual enrollment his final two years of high school through Adams State, and upon learning that the mechanical engineering cohort partnership between CSU and Adams State, launched in 2022, would net a degree from CSU, he saw the writing on the wall.

“I wanted to try someplace else, so I went to Florida Tech,” Cody said. “I had a year to do some research on what program I really wanted to do out there, and I realized that CSU is a well-accredited college for engineering, and the fact that they were teaching it down (in Alamosa) was a pretty big deal for me, personally. But the biggest piece was the affordability of the program. I was able to pay in-state tuition throughout, which made it an easy decision.”

Skilled tech workers ‘badly needed’

Though affordability is a major selling point for CSU’s engineering partnership with Adams State, the primary goal of the collaboration is to strengthen the pipeline of highly skilled and technically trained workers who are “badly needed” in the remote San Luis Valley, Clayton said.

There is no other engineering program within 100 miles of the area.

“The program leverages those kinds of foundational skills that transfer easily to the world of engineering,” Clayton said. “It is a program designed to also help keep that talent in Alamosa County.”

Members of the program receive their first two years of instruction through Adams State, and then CSU provides all upper-division coursework for the program.

The face-to-face instruction that occurs in the final two years comes from CSU mechanical engineering faculty based in Alamosa. The program is housed in a $1.6 million addition to William Porter Hall at Adams State.

Starting small, but growing

While Cody’s class is small in numbers, currently six, Clayton said the drive and quality are there. The program’s momentum is also picking up.

Including Cody’s cohort, the engineering program has 56 students currently enrolled.

Additionally, Adams State is a Hispanic-serving institution, with an overall Hispanic student population of nearly 40%. The program offers clear pathways for minority students into engineering fields.

“It’s been a really fun ride with these guys,” Clayton said. “I’m super proud of them being our first cohort. They’re a special group because it’s really hard to get a program like this off the ground, but they’re really building on a really nice foundation that CSU laid out. I don’t know that we would have as much success if it weren’t for our first cohort being as exceptional as they are.”

Cody, meanwhile, once again, has his sights set on leaving his hometown. He will be heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming, after graduation, where he will work full-time as a project engineer at Southland Industries.

He’ll be leaving with a difficult degree in his back pocket — a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering — and with no shortage of confidence entering the next chapter.

“I’m definitely proud of the decision I made to go to CSU and with seeing this program through,” Cody said. “I have a lot of allegiance here.”