A Commitment to a People-Centered Workplace 

From our frontline workers who interact with learners daily to those who work behind the scenes to ensure our buildings function, employees are the backbone of CU Denver. Over the past five years, our university has made strides in becoming a workplace where those employees feel the value they bring to our campus and, most importantly, to our students. 

To help meet our employees where they are, Goal Five of the Strategic Plan has guided several key initiatives dedicated to faculty and staff. Those include the launch of a search advocate training program to promote equitable hiring practices, the implementation of exit interviews to inform continuous improvement with employee satisfaction, the creation of a professional development training to help supervisors develop leadership skills, and a revamp of in-person, new employee orientation sessions post COVID-19. “These efforts collectively enhance our campus culture and contribute to a more supportive environment for student learning and success,” said Tawnya Boulier, director for strategic people operations in CU Denver’s Human Resources. 

Another area of focus has been on career development. And Diddiery Santana, BA ’23, MA ’25, knows all too well the importance of opportunity in the workplace. While earning her undergraduate degree in communications from CU Denver, she held a student worker position as a writer in the College of Engineering, Design and Computing. She then worked for University Communications as a student writer for two years, until graduation. One semester later, she started her master’s degree in communication at CU Denver and worked as a teaching assistant.  

Today, Santana is a full-time staffer in the Graduate Admissions Department. She credits ample information and support for her robust career path to date. “I escalated through a lot of different positions in the last five or so years,” Santana said. “And I would say a big reason behind that was just the support from the faculty and the staff … being able to make me feel very seen as a first-generation student [and] an undergraduate student who didn’t really know what they wanted to do.”