Todd Saliman, who is seeking to become the next president of the University of Colorado, laid out his plan for changing how Coloradans view higher education institutions during a public forum Tuesday at CU Denver.

Saliman said building and regaining trust across the state will help address and improve his five core “buckets”: education and student succession; research; diversity, equity and inclusion; connecting to the community; and health care.

“I want our campuses to be the best and what does that mean in terms of those five buckets?” Saliman said. “It means CU reflects the diversity of our great state.”

Saliman, who was named interim president in June and is the sole finalist in the school’s presidential search, said this means the system’s four campuses are a place where people of all races, religions and political ideologies can come together and grow. 

He said this applies to students as well as faculty and staff members.

University of Colorado names Todd Saliman sole finalist for president

We need to “attract more people to our student population, to our faculty and to our staff to reflect our great state,” Saliman said. “We actually have to have a community where they feel they belong. Not welcome, because that implies they’re a guest.”

Saliman said making each campus more inviting to all and giving people a sense of belonging will help increase funding to higher education. He said Colorado receives nearly $1 billion less in public funds compared to other states. 

Changing the perception and narrative surrounding higher education would benefit all students, staff and faculty members, as well as all Coloradans, Saliman said.

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He said his vision is only achievable by changing the way the school does its outreach, and he emphasized the importance of listening to Coloradans’ needs and concerns. 

He said he hasn’t made changes to the school’s outreach since becoming interim president because he didn’t want to change something and then have someone else modify it several months later. 

“I’ve been waiting honestly because it might not have been me (picked as the finalist),” Saliman said. “That other person might have had a different vision for how to communicate to Colorado, so we’ve (pressed pause) a little bit. … Now I’m ready to embrace that work and engage in that outreach.”

Anthony Maes, a music business major at CU Denver, said he appreciated hearing Saliman talk about his vision.

“He said a lot of changes will not be effective immediately, but over time will be very effective,” Maes said. “We’ve heard this all before, but I think this time it might be more affective. But we’ll have to see.”

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The university’s board named Saliman the finalist last week. The search began with 39 candidates, including 13 women, 26 men and 13 Black, Indigenous and people of color, according to the university.

Ten of these candidates were selected for interviews before Saliman was named the finalist. 

Saliman has worked for the university for 10 years, serving as its chief financial officer and vice president for government relations and strategy since 2012.

He served in the Colorado House of Representative from 1995 to 2003 and then served in Cabinet-level positions for Govs. Bill Ritter and John Hickenlooper. 

The board is scheduled to vote on Saliman’s appointment next week. If named president, he will oversee around 65,000 students at campuses in Boulder, Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs.