After a full year of 2030 strategic planning campus conversations – over coffee and lunch, during Town Hall sessions, through surveys and emails and listening sessions – seven core strategies have emerged as the driving forces behind the next decade of success at UCCS.
Communique will inform you weekly about each of the seven core strategies, which are not prioritized in any way. These updates will culminate at the Chancellor’s Town Hall on September 3, to which the entire campus community is invited.
This week, Communique will give an overview on university partnerships and outreach. This core strategy working group was championed by senior vice chancellor of university advancement Martin Wood. Laura Emmot, investigator for the Office of Institutional Equity, and Melinda Hagemann, assistant vice chancellor of university advancement, served as team leads.
The names of the team members, all of whom volunteered for the working group, are provided here.
University partnerships and outreach
The charge of the seventh core strategy in the UCCS 2030 Strategic Plan: To pursue mutually-beneficial partnerships and outreach and to create opportunities for faculty, staff, students and alumni to enhance the community UCCS serves.
”UCCS will pursue mutually-beneficial partnerships and outreach and create opportunities for faculty, staff, students and alumni to enhance the community we serve.”
Working group
After Chancellor Venkat Reddy’s Town Hall sessions in March, faculty, staff and students formed and joined working groups for each of the plan’s seven core strategies. Core strategy working groups were tasked with identifying the priorities, initiatives, anticipated outcomes and measures of success for each of the strategic themes.
Wood took charge of the core strategy working group, with Emmot and Hagemann serving as team leads. Faculty, staff and student volunteers rounded out the group.
According to Emmot and Hagemann,
“UCCS has experienced tremendous growth and had a positive impact on the Colorado Springs community over the last several years. We are excited to support this effort because we know it is about providing opportunities for each of us to engage, in our own unique ways, to expanding and sustaining our beautiful community through public and private partnerships that are good for the university and our partners.
It is indisputable that strategic partnerships have made this growth and impact possible. The key word here is “strategic.” The interests and passions of UCCS students, faculty, staff, and alumni are limitless and equally noble, and we should all be compelled to find ways to realize these dreams! A simultaneous truth – there is a time for everything and everything cannot happen all at once.
The University Partnerships and Outreach group worked diligently to ensure all voices were heard and represented, and now we, UCCS, have the exciting opportunity before us to determine how we will implement this core strategy. The group focused on building the framework for a team of university employees to cultivate partnerships with individuals and organizations which align with UCCS’ core mission and values. UCCS is fortunate to have so many faculty, staff and students with an entrepreneurial spirit; our goal was to allow that same spirit to thrive through the framework of the strategy recommendation.“
Outcomes
By pursuing university partnerships and outreach, the core strategy working group envisions the following outcomes:
- Increasing donor base to grow fundraising dollars to accomplish university mission of supporting students, faculty, staff, alumni and community
- Investing in public and private partnerships vital to Colorado’s economy that enable us to accomplish our mission in ways we could not do alone, stimulate additional stakeholder opportunities that drive innovation and pave the way for the university of future generations
- Owning the reputation of being the first choice for meaningful partnerships in our region and state because of our strong educational and research focus
- Creating a culture of service and outreach within the campus community that benefits Colorado and beyond
Measures of success
As the strategy moves into implementation, the core strategy working group will measure success by the following criteria:
- To grow annual fundraising to $25M by 2023
- UCCS initiates and fosters a growing number and breadth of effective partnerships
- UCCS regularly conducts market perception surveys which show increasing positive reputation for university participation, presence and opportunities for partnerships among targeted demographics
- Progress is made on defined benchmarks
Initiatives
To translate vision into practice, the core strategy working group recommends the following initiatives:
- The UCCS Cabinet establishes a working committee comprised of representatives from each area with vice chancellor representation to evaluate and assess best practices in public-private partnerships, modeled after higher education thought leaders. This working committee will recommend to campus a structured model to staff and resource a dedicated department to best position UCCS for success with future public-private partnerships, a rubric to evaluate whether or not future public-private partnerships should be implemented, and an operations budget to enhance the participation and performance in key outreach efforts for faculty, staff and students.
- The UCCS Cabinet establishes a dedicated unit to manage public-private partnerships that are mutually beneficial for all involved parties.
- UCCS partners with alumni, donors and industry to maximize the Essential CU and UCCS Fuels Success philanthropic campaigns and future philanthropic efforts to build funding resources and grow endowed funds to exceed $100 million in support of the campus population.
- UCCS assesses and creates a program to encourage, support and reward campus volunteerism on community boards and other targeted outreach initiatives that align with the UCCS mission.
Next steps
With a draft strategy in place, there are limited opportunities for further refinement. Campus community members with thoughts on how to fine-tune the existing strategy are welcome to submit suggestions on the strategic plan website. They will be passed to the designated core strategy working group for review, and appropriate changes will made.
Faculty, staff and students will have additional opportunities to participate in the strategic planning process as teams tasked to each core strategy form in the fall semester. Continue to check the strategic plan website for updates.
Chancellor Venkat Reddy is grateful to the active participation of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members in helping to shape the future of the UCCS campus.
Read additional deep dives:
Strategic Plan Deep Dive Week 1: Excellence in research and creative works
Strategic Plan Deep Dive Week 3: Learning, engagement and inclusive belonging
Strategic Plan Deep Dive Week 4: Optimization of capabilities
Strategic Plan Deep Dive Week 5: Intentional revenue viability
Strategic Plan Deep Dive Week 6: Competitive programs of distinction
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