Mechanical Engineering Professor Elected Mayor of Fort Collins

Dr. Troxell featured above in 1978.
Dr. Troxell featured above in 1978.

Mechanical engineering associate professor Wade Troxell has green and gold running through his veins. He was not only born in Fort Collins, Colorado, but grew up next to the Colorado State University campus, attended Poudre School District, attended CSU for his bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees, was a CSU student-athlete, has been a mechanical engineering professor at CSU for 30 years, served on the Fort Collins city council for 8 years, and was recently elected mayor of Fort Collins.

During his early days at CSU, Mayor Troxell was the long snapper on the Ram football team. He snapped the then-longest field goal in NCAA history, 63 yards, against the University of Arizona. His leadership skills grew apparent when he became starting center and co-captain of the team his senior year. “One of my favorite football memories was when we were playing against the University of Wyoming in the Border War my sophomore year. The University of Wyoming middle linebacker, Paul Nunu, was an All-American that year. Two weeks prior to that game, he was National Defensive Player of the Week. During the game, I kept him to only a couple of tackles and we won the game. I received the game ball as Offensive Player of the Game for my play against him. “

Along with football, Mayor Troxell excelled academically in CSU’s engineering program and graduated in 1980. He went on to complete his masters and doctorate at CSU, and in 1987, he attended Edinburgh University for a post-doc degree for a year. In 1981 while he was completing his masters degree, he taught his first class – Mechanics of Machines laboratory (ME 324L) – little did he know, that would be the first of many. “I enjoy discussions with students in my graduate level courses when they are challenged with new concepts and the “light bulb goes off” to a whole new way of thinking about the intelligent control of robots.”

1976 CSU Football team. Dr. Troxell is number 55.
1976 CSU Football team. Dr. Troxell is number 55.

Mayor Troxell’s commitment to improving Fort Collins led him to serving on the city council for many years, following in his father’s footsteps. In April 2015, he was elected Mayor. “Fort Collins is great place to live, work, play, raise a family, start a company, do business, to learn or do research, and enjoy a great community – and this I know from experience! Fort Collins makes a lot of “best of” lists and we are on the cusp of our golden era. I look forward to what the future will bring to this great city.”

Please join us in congratulating our faculty member on his fantastic achievements in this great city!