Mark VanDriel

Mark VanDriel

Republican Party

University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

2

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Northern Colorado, 2009

Ph.D

University of South Carolina, 2017

Personal

Birthplace

Greeley, Colo.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Educator

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Mark VanDriel (Republican Party) is a member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, representing District 8. He assumed office on January 5, 2023. His current term ends in 2029.

VanDriel (Republican Party) ran for election to the University of Colorado Board of Regents to represent District 8. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

VanDriel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Mark VanDriel was born in Greeley, Colorado. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 2009. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2017. His career experience includes working as an educator.

Elections

2022

See also: Colorado State Board of Regents election, 2022

General election

General election for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Mark VanDriel defeated Yolanda Ortega in the general election for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark VanDriel (R)	51.7	120,151
	Submit photo	Yolanda Ortega (D)	48.3	112,328

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 232,479
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Yolanda Ortega defeated Rosanna Reyes in the Democratic primary for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Yolanda Ortega	56.0	23,230
	Submit photo	Rosanna Reyes	44.0	18,274

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,504
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Mark VanDriel defeated Eric Rinard in the Republican primary for University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8 on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark VanDriel	52.6	25,929
		Eric Rinard	47.4	23,393

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,322
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mark VanDriel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by VanDriel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am Mark VanDriel, Republican candidate for CU Regent. I was born raised in Greeley and went to the University of Colorado. Prior to my senior year, I moved to Arequipa, Peru where I taught English and Math to impoverished seventh and eighth graders. I discovered that I loved educating, and I returned to the United States to continue teaching. I have been an educator for thirteen years.

After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I attended the University of South Carolina where I earned a PhD in American History. I taught undergraduates at USC for a decade. During my time at USC, I was heavily involved in campus administration. I sponsored a major healthcare initiative and built consensus from all levels of administration and ultimately the board of trustees for its successful implementation. My favorite part of my role was mentoring students. I strove to create systems to help my students access their available resources and succeed in college. In 2020 I founded a mentoring business to help undergraduates across the country achieve success in higher education. This happily allowed my family to return to northern Colorado. My spouse is a music teacher and percussionist. We have three young children.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Accessibility: Increasing access to quality higher education is my first priority. I know how hard it is for the unfamiliar to overcome the barriers to collegiate success, and I will work to decrease and eliminate these barriers. A big part of college success is in finding good mentors, and as a Regent I will work to increase mentorship opportunities for students. Universities are large communities and tend to develop their own cultures. The culture of CU must genuinely value all students. Free speech is essential to this accessibility. Current Regent Law provides a good start, but policy must be lived to be meaningful. As a Regent I will always push the campuses of CU to live up to our long-held ideals.
• Affordability: Since I started at CU in 2004, tuition has more than tripled. Skyrocketing tuition costs justifiably make frequent headlines, but this understates the problems of college affordability. I will fight against rising tuition, but also against rising student fees, housing and dining costs, book costs and especially inflation in the time to degree. When students are able to graduate faster, it will make Colorado stronger.
• Accountability: The University of Colorado was founded in 1876 to serve the people of Colorado. It is important that CU be governed with that goal in mind. While Student and Alumni, Faculty and Staff are all especially important to the present of CU, I believe that the Regents must be mindful that the University system exists for all of Colorado, and to govern it with the long-term interests of all Coloradoans in mind. For the Regents to be able to hold the university accountable to the people, they need to understand of how universities work. I have spent a decade doing working inside higher education highly engaged with university administration. I have the experience and expertise to hold CU accountable to the people of Colorado.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I care most about education. I am an educator, as is my spouse. I have seen the enormous benefit that students can gain from a quality education, and I want more students to experience these benefits. Secondly I care about children and parenting. The overwhelming majority of the research for my Doctorate in history was on the history of parenting. I believe families are the backbone of society and that we need to embrace and acknowledge this in our public policy decisions.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

CU is the only public institution in Colorado where the people of Colorado elect their own governance. This means that CU and especially the Regents, have a particular responsibility to boldly lead the state

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

Experience in politics can be a slight advantage in communication with constituents, but it is an extremely marginal benefit.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

The most important quality for an effective regent is a thorough understanding of higher education administration. Higher education governance has unique considerations and a unique administrative vocabulary that gives the uninitiated large obstacles to effectively fulfilling their positions. The second most important experience is in collaborative governance. Understanding how board meetings work is similarly prerequisite to being an effective Regent. This experience can come from government, but it can also come from the private or non-profit sectors.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Website

Officeholder

University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8

Website

Personal

Facebook

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	University of Colorado Board of Regents District 8 2023-Present	Succeeded by -