The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Print Edition
Letter to the editor submissions
Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.
Follow Us on Twitter
Crypto Exchange Listing: Types of Exchanges and Compliance Requirements
March 25, 2024

The crypto industry continues to evolve, fueled by the increasing institutional adoption of crypto. Today, numerous companies are entering the...

CSU collects diverse community ideas for upcoming strategic plan

The Colorado State University Center for Public Deliberation put community ideas for the CSU strategic plan into an interactive Kumu map which can be filtered and examined by the public. (Image courtesy of the Center for Public Deliberation)

Colorado State University’s next strategic plan is in the works, and the University is trying everything to make it a plan they can actually follow.

University communications have been gathering input from a myriad of campus and local community sources this fall in order to inform the upcoming CSU strategic plan. This included two community forums hosted by the CSU Center for Public Deliberation, which allowed participants to share and develop their ideas for CSU’s future with others on campus.

Ad

Ideas pitched so far include “Put students over profits” and “Less Neomarxists in Clark.” Many priorities mention improving inclusivity and diversity in the community.

A final strategic plan was originally scheduled for the spring vice provost for planning and effectiveness Laura Jensen said. With the announcement of President Tony Frank’s departure, however, the data collected will now be synthesized and given to the new University president to inform their creation of a strategic plan.

In the past, the University’s strategic plans have done little more than “sit on a shelf,” Jensen said. CSU has not been great about actually using the plans, to the point they are not sure how well past plans have panned out if at all.

The upcoming strategic plan will hopefully be an improvement over that.

“We want to create a different type of planning process and a different type of plan that we revisit annually to see how we’re doing, to check in on our progress,” Jensen said. “So, I think we’re very intentionally trying to do it different this time.”

CSU, so far, has done multiple small community dinners, open forums and contracted with a consultant all to access a large diversity of perspectives.

Several dozen participants of students, faculty and staff attended the two CPD forums. One forum in late October was held at night and attracted more students, while the one held on the morning of Nov. 5 attracted more faculty and staff, Program Coordinator Kalie McMonagle said.

Participants talked in small-group discussions about what they would like to see for CSU, what trends are currently in place, and how the University may need to adapt to achieve those goals.

“This is an opportunity for people to be able to hear the wide variety of different ideas that are coming out across the university and what we want to see for our community,” McMonagle said.

Ad

The discussions went for an hour but felt very brief due to the extensiveness of the subject, said Jessica Hunter, research project manager in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.

“It’s important that they tap so many resources in requesting our feedback,” Hunter said.

Hunter’s table discussed climate change, funding and employee retention, but other tables dove into other topics like student mental health, facilities maintenance and affordability (both in the city and for tuition).

Individuals each contributed three strategic goals they considered priority by the end of the forum. Final ideas get uploaded to a public interactive planning map where users can filter ideas by department and keywords.

For those who could not make the forums, ideas can still be submitted on the CPD website. There will also be two more forums in the spring.

Samantha Ye can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @samxye4.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.
All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *