A standing-room only crowd, along with an online audience, joined campus leadership for the Oct. 13 State of the Campus event. The fall address has traditionally been delivered in a lecture style, and this year Chancellor DiStefano decided to 鈥渇lip鈥� this approach, assigning a pre-event briefing document to the campus community and using the event to answer questions from CU-麻豆影院 faculty, staff and students. 听
Discussion focused on the chancellor鈥檚 three strategic priorities for the campus: student success, revenue diversification and reputation. The briefing document was distributed along with a topic interest survey and the opportunity to submit questions in advance, preparing the campus audience for this new, 鈥渇lipped鈥� discussion hosted by moderators Daryl Maeda, chair and associate professor of Ethnic Studies and Boneth Ahaneku, president of internal affairs for CUSG.
DiStefano, Provost Russ Moore and Senior Vice Chancellor and campus CFO Kelly Fox dove straight in with a discussion about the goal of an 80 percent undergraduate six-year graduation rate.
鈥淲hen we decided on 80 percent鈥攁nd right now we鈥檙e roughly at 71 percent鈥攚e said that with the incoming class last year that by 2020 we would get our six-year graduation rate to 80 percent, that鈥檚 a stretch goal,鈥� DiStefano said. 鈥淭his is not a goal that is easily achieved, and I didn鈥檛 want it to be easily achieved鈥� I think it鈥檚 important to have stretch goals, and work with the faculty, staff and students to make sure we鈥檙e moving that needle forward.鈥�
The discussion continued with Moore sharing many of the new initiatives designed to engage and welcome our new students to campus in an effort to affect the persistence rate between the freshman and sophomore years, which had recently improved from 84 to 86 percent.
Moore explained that the variety of initiatives around academic advising and new student welcome are designed to build stronger relationships with our students and meet them where they are, whether that鈥檚 with new technology or making sure we have services available during the hours that are convenient to them.
DiStefano also shared that about 25 percent of the students who are leaving CU-麻豆影院 during that first transition year are leaving with a GPA of 3.0 or better.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a group we really want to take a look at and say 鈥榳hy are they leaving?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淛ust think if we were able to retain a significant percentage of that group鈥� Let鈥檚 think about how we can work together to figure out why these students are leaving and what we can do to keep them here.鈥�
Moore cited statistics indicating that students are more likely to persist and succeed if they have a relationship with a responsible adult.
鈥淚nterestingly, there鈥檚 some statistics on campus that show that work study students persist at a higher rate than a similarly academically qualified student who does not do work study,鈥� said Moore. 鈥淎nd the data would suggest that that has to do with creating a relationship with a responsible adult鈥� so that鈥檚 one way that we can do this.鈥�
The discussion then moved on to a topic that is top-of-mind for many people on the campus: Boneth Ahaneku asked the chancellor how hosting the Oct. 28 Republican presidential candidate debate at the Coors Events Center will further any of the chancellor鈥檚 three strategic goals.
DiStefano first shared how the campus reputation will benefit from the event, with 500 national and international journalists on campus that day, broadcasting live from CU-麻豆影院, talking about human interest work going on at CU, as well as our research.
鈥淗aving those 500 national and international journalists reporting here, I think, is going to raise the reputation of the university,鈥� he said.
He went on to add that the upcoming national event has already inspired discourse on campus, and that many events hosted in association with the debate will provide multiple opportunities for engagement, learning and discussion among the campus community.
Fox also shared that the university is not using student tuition or fees to pay for the costs associated with the event.
The panel then moved on to a discussion of some of the revenue diversification plans, from growing our endowment, creating new and high-quality online programs and improving the campus use of space.
鈥淲e see opportunities for improving space utilization in the coming years,鈥� Fox said. 鈥淢y expectation is that there is a future building we don鈥檛 need to build... and we can reinvest those dollars in the academic mission.鈥�
Speaking of space, the panel then moved on to a discussion of the Grand Challenge, 鈥淥ur Space. Our Future鈥� and how it can not only help with revenue diversification but our campus reputation.
Moore shared that the purpose of the Grand Challenge is to position the campus to solve some great problems that face humanity and society.
鈥淚f you look what鈥檚 happened to society in the last two decades鈥� wireless technology has changed the way we live our lives鈥� we鈥檙e now at the cusp of the real commercialization of space,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can really position CU-麻豆影院 that we will be the university that helps us adapt to such a rapidly changing future and to not only cope with it but to thrive in it.鈥�
Deepening the exploration of CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 reputation and its value, the panel shared many statistics of how the university is nationally and internationally ranked, yet our reputation lags behind these statistically-driven indicators.
鈥淲e all own the success of this university,鈥� said Moore. 鈥淲e all have to know who we are so that we can communicate that effectively, because I think we do provide high value not only to our students but also to our local and regional and national economy.鈥�
It was clear that there were more topics to discuss than time available, and the panel opened up the end of the discussion to several questions from the audience - touching on topics as diverse as community engagement, mentoring students and keeping college affordable.
Community questions that were not addressed will be shared (with answers) in a future edition of CU-麻豆影院 Today and on the chancellor鈥檚 website. Campus leadership is also developing a series of in-person campus conversations around the three strategic priorities.
Watch the entire online, and to inform future campus conversations and presentations.