Strategic Planning Update: Phase 1 Report

Sent: Feb. 10, 2021

Dear CU Denver Community,

Our strategic planning process is off to a great start! More than 500 of you shared your thoughts on Our Vision for 2030 in the first phase, which wrapped up on Jan. 22. The video below does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of what Phase 1 was all about.

Our team has coalesced your suggestions and input into draft statements of CU Denver’s purpose, vision, and values, as well as the characteristics of a 2030 CU Denver graduate. All of these, along with a description of the process, are included in the Phase 1 report. We invite you to share your reactions to these statements—the first round of feedback is due by March 5. The statements will serve as a north star to guide our efforts through the remainder of our strategic planning work and as we implement our plan. 

We have now entered Phase 2 of the process, in which vision teams are working across eight focus areas to identify our greatest strengths and generate high-level strategies for how we differentiate CU Denver by 2030. Over 120 people are serving on these teams, and we’re hoping hundreds more will get involved. Each vision team will dig deep into our institution in order to bring out the very best ideas our community has to offer. I invite—and encourage!—you to share your thoughts with these teams.

For our plan to work for all of us, we all need to be active in developing it. The  strategic planning website provides information on how to give your input on the Phase 1 report and to the vision teams, as well as many more details on the overall process. 

I’m so excited about our collective strategic planning effort, one that I truly believe will put us on the right path toward a clearer future of impact for this university, which holds so much promise. 

Michelle Marks
Chancellor