A common thread during the Sept. 23 Chancellor Forum was that CU Denver must continue looking for ways to innovate and grow to attract and retain students amidst a rapidly changing higher education landscape. The university’s refreshed 2030 Strategic Plan aims to do just that. “It is more direct in the actions we need to take to get to where we need to be,” Chancellor Kenneth T. Christensen, PhD, said to more than 300 employees and students who joined in person or virtually. “If we lean into this plan, we are going to find long-term success.”
Christensen kicked off the event with a reflection of the past year. He noted the challenges in the areas of federal regulations, state funding, and enrollment; a four-month strategic plan refresh process in which more than 1,000 pieces of feedback were collected across more than 50 university-wide and unit-level gatherings; new initiatives to expand access and opportunity such as CU Denver Direct; and a continued commitment to CU Denver’s public service obligation. “We started using the word obligation about a year ago, rather than mission. Obligation implies there is a higher level of responsibility,” Christensen said. “We can’t fail, for our students, for the Denver metro area, and for all of you.”
He also shared an overview of the four core principles of the refreshed strategic plan, and how CU Denver will measure success by 2030. The four principles are Learner Success, Discovery and Impact, Organizational Excellence and Innovation, and Belonging and Meaningful Work. Some measures of success include the goal to reach a retention rate of 90% for transfer students, and for first-time, full-time undergraduate students, from first-to-second fall term. Another goal is to maintain CU Denver’s current population of 50% of all degree-seeking undergraduates who are first-generation. Learn more about the core principles and measures of success here.
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer St. Peter provided an update on budget and enrollment and stressed the importance of reaching an 80% rate for overall student retention to help close the university’s budget gap of $8.4 million, which is the result of a decline of 320 nonresident students and a smaller than anticipated increase in resident students. Christensen underscored the power and responsibility all CU Denver employees have to support retention. “Every single one of us is responsible for retention,” he said. “Retention happens in the classroom, in advising, when one of us sees a student in distress and leans in and says, ‘Can I help you?’ … Here’s the challenge, there’s the answer.”
He also provided an update on initiatives underway to support additional revenue streams and opportunities for learners. Independence Plaza on 16th Street—which CU Denver now owns and operates—will provide students and local employers with the synergistic opportunity to co-locate, helping Denver businesses to drive innovation and cultivate needed talent while making experiential learning and workforce pathways more available to CU Denver students. The university’s exploration of launching a location in Hyderabad, India, would create new pathways for students across India and Southeast Asia that would generate revenue to further support student success. CU Denver Direct, which provides guaranteed admission to eligible students from seven surrounding school districts, has seen a 35% increase in students from Aurora Public Schools and a combined 12% increase in enrollments from Denver Public Schools, Jeffco Public Schools, and Aurora Public Schools.
Christensen closed with a powerful message for employees: Be comfortable with the uncomfortable and remain committed to the university’s mission. “This is a time when we have to evolve,” he said. “I know you all believe in the mission of this university and what it does. I ask you to believe in that now more than ever.”