Senior leaders and academic deans gathered June 20-21 to discuss progress and next steps regarding Metropolitan State University of Denver’s 2030 Strategic Plan. The strategic-planning session will set the stage for the coming fiscal year and help ensure that University priorities are supported across branches.
President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., launched the session, emphasizing the importance of aligning goals, systems and resources.
“Strategic plans are usually more of a vision, reinforcing the mission, but then the hard work comes after that,” said Davidson. “Before last year, we were lacking the system and process to map how we’d reach our goals. Now, we have a framework to move ideas into action.”
That framework uses the Objectives and Key Results methodology, which was integrated in 2023 to track priorities and progress on 2030 Strategic Plan goals. Davidson also cited the public Rowdy Dash — which tracks enrollment, retention, completion and compositional diversity — and challenged leaders to create systems within their branches that support University priorities.
To help steward the Strategic Plan, senior leaders were assigned as sponsors for each pillar and goal. Sponsors reviewed key initiatives from the past year, noting which will be recalibrated or reframed and where support may be needed.
Pillars I and II: Student Success and Academic Excellence
Laura Niesen de Abruña, Ph.D., provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, and Will Simpkins, Ed.D., vice president for Student Affairs, shared the key accomplishments of the last academic year’s Student Success Launch. Among other initiatives, the team created Major Milestones (formerly known as experiential major maps) across all academic departments to help students make informed coursework decisions, encourage integration of complementary experiences and drive engagement at opportune moments on their pathways to degrees.
Upcoming Launch priorities include new working groups focused on:
- Equity gaps
- Transfer-student experience
- First-year retention
Pillar III: Civic and Economic Catalyst
Chief Strategy Officer James Mejía shared progress toward obtaining the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, a monthslong effort to compile and highlight Universitywide civic and community-outreach work. Kaycee Gerhart, vice president of Government Affairs, also explained the University’s progress toward becoming the state’s flagship institution for career-connected education pathways as part of Gov. Jared Polis’ “Big Blur” initiative. Next academic year, work on the Blur will involve clarifying and aligning the framework for new and existing microcredential offerings and piloting industry partnerships.
Pillar IV: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
People, programs and data framed the vision of Michael Benitez, Ph.D., vice president of Diversity and Inclusion. DEI priorities for the next academic year include further developing employee affinity groups and recruitment strategies.
Pillar V: Organizational Agility and Sustainability
- Goal 1: Implementation prioritizes equitable faculty workload alongside employee compensation.
- Goal 2: Christine Márquez-Hudson, vice president of Advancement, unveiled an ambitious plan to raise the goal for the Roadrunners Rise capital campaign to $100 million. Jim Carpenter, chief financial officer, shared priorities that build on last year’s improvements by using the University’s new return-on-investment tool; moving to a decentralized, multiyear budget model; and supporting ongoing training of fiscal and budget staff.
- Goal 3: Larry Sampler, vice president of Administration and chief operating officer, and Mejía shared upcoming work on new infrastructure projects as well as maintenance and stewardship plans for existing buildings.
Athletics Director Todd Thurman and Andrea Smith and Whei Wong, associate vice presidents of University Communications and Marketing, also led sessions on new advertising and mass-communication policies and about Athletics’ renewed focus on programs and policies supporting student-athletes.
Next steps:
Leaders of pillar working groups will meet with other branches this summer to finalize support needed for next year’s implementation, then convert priorities into measurable objectives and key results by the start of the fall semester.
Regular updates will take place at President’s Cabinet and shared-governance meetings through University communications and will be available on a newly revamped Strategic Plan website. At the January offsite meeting, senior leaders will review the academic year’s priorities and refresh as needed.
To learn more about the strategic-planning process, please contact Meredith Jeffers, Ph.D., director of University Strategy.
