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Workplace Experience

HR moves to new proactive, strategic model

New mission aims to foster a workplace culture of inclusion, engagement, innovation, partnership, community and growth.

Dear Roadrunners,

I’m proud to announce that Human Resources has completed a nearly three-year internal transition to a new strategic model that will allow the team to realize its HR mission: to foster a workplace culture of inclusion, engagement, innovation, partnership, community and continuous growth.   

This strategic model will allow HR professionals to be more flexible, adaptable, collaborative and proactive. It will also allow us to address short- and long-term HR goals in support of MSU Denver’s 2030 Strategic Plan as we continue to strive to be one of Colorado’s most desired places of employment.   

What has changed

When I joined MSU Denver in 2019, the Human Resources team was operating under a traditional and transactional HR model that was paper-based, manual and inefficient, resulting in errors and missed deadlines. The bright and talented HR team members were mostly consumed with data entry, policies and procedures, which prevented them from truly focusing on people. 

The Workday transition automated many business processes, allowing HR professionals more time to focus on the functions that have the biggest and most positive impact on the University. The transition also provided a prime opportunity to move to a truly proactive and strategic HR model, with a solid foundation of people, tools and processes. 

To say we have come a long way is an understatement!   

New HR Partner assignments

Moving to the strategic HR Partner model provides value-added services that support the entire employee life cycle. 

New HR partner assignments effective Sept. 11:

Student Affairs

Academic Affairs

Administration

University Advancement, President’s Office, Athletics, Communications and Marketing, Strategy, DEI

Please also see the HR Staff webpage for a full list of HR contacts.

What’s next 

While the Workday implementation is complete, we will never stop improving and enhancing our employees’ experience. Next, HR will prioritize strategic Talent Management, which includes:  

  • Leadership Competency Framework 
  • succession planning 
  • mentoring 
  • performance management 
  • goal setting 

Sharing gratitude 

Thank you for your support, patience and resilience as we continue to reimagine our HR organization. Our internal Roadrunner community has been amazing as we’ve deconstructed and rebuilt systems and processes. If you have questions and/or would like to provide feedback on HR processes, please email: [email protected].  

I’d like to give a very special thank you to the HR team for coming on this transformation journey with me. It’s been challenging, but I hope we can agree that it has been worth it.  \

Wishing you all a wonderful fall semester,

Stacy Dvergsdal, associate vice president for HR