Strategic Facilities Visioning

Academic Futures year 3: Moving from themes to priorities

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 15:46:51 +0000

Academic Futures year 3: Moving from themes to priorities Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/06/2020 - 08:46

The campus is continuing to engage in year three of Academic Futures—implementing the strategic initiatives’ themes and projects and transforming them into the campus’s work priorities. At the heart of this process is our commitment to furthering the public good by embracing our role as Colorado’s leading national public research university and enacting that role through shaping tomorrow’s leaders, being the top university for innovation and positively impacting humanity.

Read about our progress this year on the campus’s four priority themes, along with concurrent work on other Academic Futures themes and strategic campus projects:

Spring 2020 priority themes and projects

Interdisciplinary education, research and creative works

On Nov. 20, 2019, the Academic Futures Interdisciplinary Education, Research and Creative Works Committee submitted its final report (PDF) and the response from campus to Provost Russell Moore and former Chief Operating Officer Kelly Fox.

“While I continue to engage academic leadership on the report’s recommendations, I am asking professor Jeff Cox—convener of Academic Futures—and Emily CoBabe-Ammann, facilitator of Academic Futures—to form what we’re calling a ‘definition team’ to work through the concept of the academies, put forward in the report,” Moore said.

The definition team will look at possible structures of the academies, as well as budget requirements, implications for supporting departments and research institutes, operational challenges and a process for approval.

“The academies represent an important and innovative approach to supporting large educational themes on our campus, both our interdisciplinary and our disciplinary-based programs,” said CoBabe-Ammann. They should offer a place of innovation and opportunity for our students at all levels.”

Cox and CoBabe-Ammann plan to have the definition team in place during the coming weeks and their work concluded by summer. Stay tuned for more information on how to participate.

Creating a common student-centered approach to teaching and learning

Responding to the Foundations of Excellence initiative, the campus continues its work on a first-year advising model that embeds first-year advisors in colleges, schools and programs, networked together under a common structure and budget. Hiring for additional first-year advisors across all of CU Boulder colleges and schools is expected to be completed by July 1, 2020.

“Throughout the spring, we will continue to involve campus stakeholders in important conversations about how to honor students’ local disciplinary contexts while ensuring a consistent experience for our students across colleges and schools,” said Shelly Bacon, associate vice provost for advising and exploratory studies.

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) has appointed Becca Ciancanelli as the lead for inclusive pedagogy, a new position designed to support all campus educators as they engage students from diverse backgrounds in the learning process. Ciancanelli most recently was a STEM coordinator with the Student Academic Success Center (SASC). During the spring, CTL will hire two professional development leads, an assessment lead and a business administrator.

“We plan to have our full staff in place in May,” said Kirk Ambrose, director of CTL. “Throughout this semester, we will also continue our work with partners across campus in advancing a common student-centered approach to learning through training, workshops and one-on-one consultations."

IDEA Plan, Diversity and Inclusion Summit marked progress in making excellence inclusive

Following the Oct. 30, 2019, release of the IDEA Plan and record attendance at the Fall Diversity and Inclusion Summit, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement is now gearing up for the Spring Diversity and Inclusion Summit, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

To help provide initial guidance on IDEA Plan implementation, a transition working group—led by Vice Chancellor Bob Boswell and including Assistant Vice Chancellor and Deputy Chief HR Officer Merna Jacobsen, Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Student Success Daryl Maeda, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Kevin MacLennan and Chief Human Resources Officer for CU Boulder Katherine Erwin—has met with Moore.

Additional updates regarding the rollout of activities stemming from the IDEA Plan’s recommendations will be announced in the coming weeks, including an update on the formation of the Council for Community and Inclusion, a campus representative body that will permanently engage the campus on implementing the IDEA Plan and sustaining the campus’s inclusive excellence efforts.

New steps on Online and Distance Education soon to be announced

Moore has accepted three working group reports on online and distance education, all of which he is reviewing. The working groups focused on creating a plan to move from the current state of online education to a desired future state; on new possibilities for continuing education as a program innovator; and on creating infrastructure and resources for online/continuing education.

“During the coming weeks, we will share the next steps in mapping the combined working group recommendations to campus action,” said Robert McDonald, dean of libraries and senior vice provost of online education. “We will be meeting with key stakeholders in Continuing Education and across all areas of online education as a part of this mapping, reporting out to the faculty and to the campus at large.”

Moore said “creating a compelling online and distance approach with our faculty is vital for our campus and for our participation in any larger online and distance efforts. I look forward to unveiling the next steps in our approach for our campus community.”

While we wait for the team’s final report and HLC’s action this spring, we continue our work on initiatives that are related to and impact our accreditation, such as continued work on the IDEA plan, assessing the effectiveness of our curriculum and others.

Progress on other Academic Futures themes and campus strategic projects

Governance

We continue to develop a more robust governance ecosystem, ensuring more direct representation of faculty across campus. All schools and colleges, by the end of the spring, will have modified their governance structures to include processes for increased budget transparency and communication with their deans, more complete grievance procedures and a definitive statement on the use of faculty course questionnaires (FCQs) in their unit. Additionally, the criteria and process for the dean’s review will now be undertaken as part of faculty governance at the school or college level.

Campus success: Physical and financial resources

Strategic Facilities Visioning’s year-long effort has culminated in a data-rich facilities planning tool to help our campus leadership make the most effective infrastructure decisions in support of the campus mission and priorities. The completed visioning effort, along with the recommendations from the housing, transportation and energy master plans, will all inform the 2021 Campus Master Plan update, which is slated to begin this spring.

What it means to be a public university today

This initiative theme, embedded in Academic Futures, is integrated in our daily activities of research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. These activities further the public good by providing new knowledge, discoveries and creative works that directly serve communities. Progress on this initiative will be announced in the spring semester.

Accreditation update

As a part of CU Boulder’s comprehensive evaluation for reaffirmation of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a team of peer reviewers from HLC visited campus on Dec. 9 and 10, 2019. The team’s purpose was to review the university’s continued compliance with HLC’s criteria for accreditation and to provide recommendations on our continued work on institutional improvements.

The campus is continuing to engage in year three of Academic Futures—implementing the strategic initiatives’ themes and projects and transforming them into the campus’s work priorities.

Off

Traditional

White

Academic Futures year 3: Progress on our priorities

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 19:24:16 +0000

Academic Futures year 3: Progress on our priorities Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/10/2019 - 12:24

At the start of the fall semester, campus kicked off year three of Academic Futures by integrating the strategic initiatives into the implementation of our priority themes and projects. At the heart of this process is our commitment to furthering the public good by embracing our role as Colorado’s leading national public research university.

Read about the progress so far this year on the campus’s four priority themes and projects, along with concurrent work on other Academic Futures themes and projects.

Fall 2019 priority themes and projects

Interdisciplinary education, research and creative works

On Nov. 20, the Academic Futures Interdisciplinary Education, Research and Creative Works Committee submitted its final report (PDF) and the response from campus to Provost Russell Moore.

Both are currently under review by the provost and Chief Operating Officer Kelly Fox.

“The report has some compelling ideas and suggestions for moving ahead in an area in which we have a long record of doing exciting work,” said Moore. “The campus response gives us just a taste of the faculty’s strong appetite for engaging in interdisciplinary research, teaching and scholarship in new ways, as well as by enhancing existing efforts.”

Moore said he and Fox would announce early in the spring semester a path forward on the report’s recommendations.

Creating a common student-centered approach to teaching and learning

Responding to the Foundations of Excellence initiative, the campus is implementing a first-year advising model, under Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Mary Kraus, that embeds first-year advisors in colleges, schools and programs, networked together under a common structure and budget. Hiring is underway to add more first-year advisors across all of CU Boulder colleges and schools, and implementation will be complete as of July 1, 2020. CU Boulder leadership continues to consider the recommendations of the First-Year Experience Committee report for funding and implementation.

Associate Vice Provost for Advising and Exploratory Studies Shelly Bacon says the first-year advising model is one of several advising-related initiatives that are underway.

“As we work toward implementation, we are involving campus stakeholders in important conversations about how best to honor students’ local disciplinary contexts while ensuring a consistent experience for our students across colleges and schools,” Bacon said.

“It’s wonderful to see advising being valued as a key contributor to student success, and I look forward to the progress I know we’ll make as an advising community over the next few years,” said Bacon.

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), which will soon announce a lead for inclusive pedagogy, is offering workshops to build inclusive communities of practice in partnership with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).

CTL’s pilot projects this spring include a series for faculty on graduate student mentoring co-sponsored with the Graduate School and a conference for graduate students on career paths, including the entrepreneurial path, with the Research & Innovation Office (RIO).

“I am very excited to see that our strategic vision announced back in October is really taking shape and serving our campus community,” said Kirk Ambrose, director of CTL. “This spring, I look forward to having our full staff team in place and to continuing our work with partners across campus in advancing a common student-centered approach to learning through new and innovative offerings.”

IDEA Plan, Diversity and Inclusion Summit marked progress in making excellence inclusive

The fall 2019 semester saw several milestones in the work of making excellence inclusive campuswide. The publication of the finalized version of the IDEA Plan took place Oct. 30, marking the first comprehensive diversity plan of its scope for CU Boulder.

Following the momentum of the IDEA Plan’s release, the campus saw record attendance at the 29th annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit. The event featured two days of workshops and campus addresses focused on building community, fostering diversity and inclusion. Allied student groups partnered with the Diversity and Inclusion Summit Planning Committee to coordinate several sessions, including the Leadership Unplugged conversation at which diverse members of the campus community engaged in honest dialogue.

Following a well-attended fall summit, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement is now gearing up for the spring summit, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020.

Save the date

Spring 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Summit is Feb. 25.

“This is an exciting time,” said Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Bob Boswell. “We recognize that the activities we’ve been engaged in are bringing more people together than ever before, helping us to move toward making excellence inclusive. During the spring semester, departments and units across campus will move from inspiration to action as they tailor the IDEA Plan to their localized units.”

To help provide initial guidance on IDEA Plan implementation, a transition working group, led by Vice Chancellor Bob Boswell, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Deputy Chief HR Officer Merna Jacobsen and Arts & Sciences Associate Dean for Student Success Daryl Maeda, held its first meeting in November.

Additional updates regarding the rollout of activities stemming from the IDEA Plan’s recommendations will be forthcoming in the spring semester.

Provost, COO reviewing working group reports on online and distance education

Provost Russell Moore has received three working group reports on online and distance education.

The first two reports—on creating a plan to move from the current state of online education to a desired future state and to consider new possibilities for continuing education as a program innovator—were submitted to campus leadership in October.

The third report—to create infrastructure and resources for online/continuing education—was submitted on Friday, Dec. 6, and is under review.

“Putting these recommendations together will help us chart a course of action on online and distance education that will begin to take shape in the spring semester,” said Moore.

Other Academic Futures themes and projects move forward

Accreditation site team visits this week

The university’s evaluation for reaffirmation of accreditation is underway with an external review team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on campus holding drop-in sessions and open forums for faculty, staff and students.

“As we complete our site visit with HLC this week, I want to thank everyone for their input and support,” said Katherine Eggert, senior vice provost for academic planning and assessment. “This was a full-campus lift, and I am proud of our collective accomplishment.”

HLC will take action on the university’s reaccreditation in early 2020.

Governance

We continue to work with schools and colleges to develop a more robust governance ecosystem, ensuring more direct representation of faculty across campus.

Campus success: Innovative ‘PREVIEW’ tool marks culmination of Strategic Facilities Visioning

The efforts of the Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV) team have culminated with the delivery of a dynamic digital planning tool, PREVIEW, that is on the cutting edge for facilities evaluation in institutions of higher education. This tool will prove integral in helping campus leadership make the most meaningful and impactful infrastructure investment decisions in support of the campus mission and priorities emanating from Academic Futures.

PREVIEW (Planning for Research and Education: Visioning Information Explorer WebApp) is the final deliverable of the 15-month SFV process. SFV, informed by the other major campus strategic initiatives, drew collaborative input from more than 180 “visionaries” representing 30-plus colleges, schools, institutes and major support units across campus.

The tool implements the future vision for space types and functions articulated by these visionaries and incorporates a wealth of campus data on space and programming, enabling campus planners to test different planning scenarios for leadership.

The Office of Planning, Design and Construction is now in the process of integrating the tool into its workflows as the university prepares to embark on creation of the next campus master plan due in 2021.

“PREVIEW comes at a pivotal time for our campus as we plan for the future, and it represents a truly innovative approach to space planning in higher education,” said David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability. “Shaped by the thoughtful work of our SFV visionaries, the tool will bring an unprecedented level of data validation to our infrastructure decisions.”

The goal of PREVIEW is multi-faceted and will enable leadership to do the following:

Understand the true capacity and condition of our campus spaces
Forecast space needs based on population projections, changing demographics, campus facilities vision and an evolving higher-education and research landscape
Anticipate and respond to future facilities requirements in ways that best enable our campus mission

While aggregating a wealth of data sources from across campus into its functionality is a key component of PREVIEW, the form and intent of the tool were driven largely by the work of the SFV visionaries during the scenario planning phase.

Scenario planning entailed visionaries working in interdisciplinary groups to develop and test future infrastructure scenarios relating to identified university requirements and the evolving landscape of education and research. While each of the six teams focused on distinct topics, their proposed strategies and goals aimed for alignment with the chancellor’s strategic imperatives and ultimately converged on a vision of human-centered campus planning.

Key findings across the scenario planning teams articulated the spatial components and strategies necessary to achieve university strategic goals. That phase culminated in the development of building templates for unique building typologies across campus, each of which applies a mixed-use approach to campus programming to facilitate an enhanced experience for all students, faculty and staff.

“Our scenario planning teams ultimately created a vision for the campus on the building, neighborhood, campus and university scales that helped mold the PREVIEW tool,” Kang said.

The result is a tool that helps ensure future space decisions meet programmatic needs while also meeting the holistic, university-first vision for campus infrastructure.

Colorado statutes require CU Boulder update its campus master plan every 10 years, with the next due in 2021. Housing and transportation master planning efforts to help inform the next campus master plan are currently underway, and an energy master plan initiative with the same aims will begin soon.

What it means to be a public university today

This initiative, embedded in Academic Futures, is integrated in our daily activities of research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. These activities further the public good by providing new knowledge, discoveries and creative works that directly serve communities. Progress on this initiative will be announced in the spring semester.

Sustaining, supporting and inspiring our community

Under the IDEA Plan, we are creating commitments to diversity, equity and inclusive excellence that will sustain, support and inspire our research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. Through Strategic Facilities Visioning, we are transforming the university’s physical infrastructure to support learning, teaching, research and community interaction.

This fall marked year three of Academic Futures. Read about the progress so far this year on the campus’s four priority themes and projects, along with concurrent work on other Academic Futures themes and projects.

Off

Traditional

White

Other Academic Futures project updates

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 21:22:52 +0000

Other Academic Futures project updates Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/03/2019 - 15:22

Throughout the year, we will continue to make progress on the other Academic Futures’ themes and projects:

Governance

The Academic Futures Report, reflecting a campus desire for stronger and more clearly defined governance structures, called for every school and college to review its governance structure to ensure that it was meeting the needs of faculty, staff and students.

To that end, over the 2019-20 academic year, Provost Russ Moore charged CU Boulder’s deans with developing more comprehensive governance structures in their schools and colleges. The goal is to develop more unified governance approaches at the college and school level, develop a governance ecosystem where units can learn from each other, and together find opportunities to support the important work of the Boulder Faculty Assembly.

Ensuring that campus maintains governance bodies that are recognized by faculty as representative of their ideas, concerns and input are touchstones of successful shared governance and work toward greater openness—values that serve the public good.

Campus success: physical resources

Strategic Facilities Visioning provides the foundation for physical infrastructure planning needed for CU Boulder to carry out its mission, serve its constituents, and successfully execute on all of the priority themes and projects from Academic Futures.

The work of the Strategic Facilities Visioning team over the past year is culminating this fall in the development and refinement of a data-rich planning tool that will help our campus leadership make the most meaningful and impactful infrastructure investment decisions in support of the campus mission and the strategic priorities emanating from Academic Futures.

This tool will also play a vital role in testing and evaluating different facilities scenarios as we embark on creation of the next Campus Master Plan over the next two years.

What it means to be a public university today

What it means to be a public university today is a question deeply embedded in Academic Futures and in our daily activities of research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service.

It finds meaning in the questions of faculty surrounding shared governance, research, and outreach and engagement with the public. It is a core question for students, relating to affordability, and the value and utility of a public research university degree. It is found in the questions of staff regarding openness, transparency, partnership and fulfillment in daily work, and most certainly, in the questions of a skeptical public on affordability, purpose and return on investment.

Throughout the third year of Academic Futures, the campus will address this theme in its input to leadership on initiatives such as Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research, and Creative Work; in the faculty discussions and responses to re-envisioning governance; and in administrative statements on policy and programmatic directions.

Later this year, Academic Futures will submit to the campus a new proposal to revitalize and re-envision the engagement of faculty, staff and students with communities, demonstrating the values of the university community, the value of its people, and the potential of a public university in elevating the public good.

Sustaining, supporting and inspiring our community

Under the IDEA Plan, we are creating commitments to diversity, equity and inclusive excellence that will sustain, support, and inspire our research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service.

These efforts will also have direct benefits for diverse communities and individuals outside the university, improving their access to CU Boulder resources, programs and communities of expertise and practice, furthering the public’s faith in the university, its engagement with the university, and its confidence that the university is representative of the public it represents.

For example, innovations such as the Center for Teaching and Learning, called for in Academic Futures, Foundations of Excellence, and the IDEA Plan, will support and inspire our community with resources and opportunities to hone teaching skills, practices and holistic growth.

Internationalizing our campus

Unifying the university’s efforts around international education, learning, research and scholarship is a recommended project of Academic Futures, with benefits for students, faculty, and local and international publics. Look for next steps on this project later this year.

Learn more about projects including governance; campus success; what it means to be a public university; sustaining, supporting and inspiring our community; and internationalizing the campus.

Off

Traditional

White

Academic Futures year-3 implementation: Enacting our commitment to furthering public good

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 20:02:37 +0000

Academic Futures year-3 implementation: Enacting our commitment to furthering public good Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/03/2019 - 14:02

As CU Boulder enters into year three of the Academic Futures initiative, our implementation begins in earnest. Campus will experience the integration of our strategic initiatives—Foundations of Excellence, IDEA Plan, Strategic Facilities Visioning—into Academic Futures’ projects and themes, driving toward the central theme of Enacting Our Commitment to Furthering the Public Good. 

Financial Futures will continue to be a complementary initiative, as its purpose is to support the mission of CU Boulder through strategic financial alignment.

Our focus this year is on four priority projects: 

Creating a common student-centered approach to teaching and learning
Making excellence inclusive

Teaching and technology, online and distance education
Interdisciplinary teaching, research and creative works

We will also continue to make progress on the other themes and projects in the Academic Futures report, including how our Strategic Facilities Visioning initiative will provide the physical infrastructure support needed to successfully execute the priority themes and projects. 

As the third year of Academic Futures progresses, campus is encouraged to help rethink the future of learning and discovery:

Visit the Strategic Initiatives webpage  
Read updates on Academic Futures, Financial Futures and related strategic initiatives in CU Boulder Today
Watch for special events, town halls and other opportunities to engage in person

Off

Traditional

White

Strategic Facilities Visioning: Teams developing, testing future infrastructure options

Anonymous — Wed, 01 May 2019 22:17:18 +0000

Strategic Facilities Visioning: Teams developing, testing future infrastructure options Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/01/2019 - 16:17

CU Boulder’s Strategic Facilities Visioning project team is getting set to compile and analyze the insights generated by each of six Phase 2 scenario planning teams over the past three months as the initiative moves closer to development of a digital planning tool for facilities and infrastructure.

The scenario planning teams wrapped up their final working sessions last week, developing and testing future facilities and infrastructure options in relation to a variety of identified university requirements centered around the ever-evolving landscape of education and research and informed by the campus’s multiple strategic initiatives.

Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV), which aims to create a framework for facilities decision-making for the next 30 years, has engaged more than 130 “visionaries”—faculty, staff, students and shared governance representatives from every college, school, research institute and major support unit on campus—in the scenario planning phase. While the initial deep-dive phase last fall aimed to gain a holistic view of individual program visions, the scenario planning phase has built upon those insights by reshuffling visionaries into interdisciplinary teams to look at key common themes that arose.

Scenario planning teams and their areas of focus included:

Future demographics: Develop and test scenarios around different student enrollment breakdowns and their impacts on space and facilities requirements across campus
Portfolio of pedagogy: Develop and test scenarios that investigate the relationship between different learning modalities and their impacts on space and facilities requirements across campus
Federated flexibility: Driven by academic units, student life and administrative functions, develop and test scenarios regarding the degree to which facilities and services can be shared
Research and innovation ecosystem: Develop and test scenarios that investigate the relationship between the diversity and growth of existing and new research areas and their impacts on space and facilities requirements across campus
Resilient asset management: Identify opportunities for infrastructure investments based on building condition and critical operational needs
Integrative facilities: Develop and test scenarios that investigate how different learning, research, service, auxiliary, community and external partnership functions can be integrated to create various forms and themes for development

Part of this work has resulted in identifying the core building blocks for future facilities—from learning, housing and administrative spaces to different types of research and specialized facilities—that will fuel student success and teaching and research excellence in the coming decades.

The SFV project team has been coordinating closely with the project leads of other initiatives like Academic Futures, Financial Futures, Foundations of Excellence and the IDEA Plan to ensure that the long-term course for facilities decision-making can support the collective visions and goals of these other vital efforts. The leads from each of the other initiatives have been involved in SFV as either executive committee members or visionaries, providing their input and perspectives from the start.

SFV’s ultimate goals are to articulate a strategic campus-wide facilities vision, identify opportunities for investment to support the vision, develop a planning tool to enable short-, medium- and long-term decision-making, and create the foundation for the next campus master plan due in 2021.

“As we listen to and collaborate with the other strategic initiatives, as well as process the productive conversations taking place among SFV visionaries, it’s exciting to start to get a sense for the opportunities that lie ahead and how we can support these visions through resilient and sustainable facilities and infrastructure,” said David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability.

“Collaborative spaces, flexible learning spaces that facilitate multiple modalities for teaching and learning, easy access to critical student support services. All of these are among the values we’re seeing rise to the surface as we look to the future of our built environment on campus.”

When students and faculty return for the fall semester, the SFV team will report out on key findings from the scenario planning teams’ work. Over the summer, meanwhile, phase 3 vision strategy work will begin in May as the SFV project team utilizes findings from the deep dive and scenario planning phases to dive into digital development of the planning tool, establish key performance indicators for infrastructure requirements, incorporate space and operational standards, and perform a risk and delivery analysis.

The digital planning tool will take into account supply of space on campus, along with demand based on requirements of the university, to test future initiatives and opportunities. During the vision strategy phase, a tool development working group of key visionaries from several units on campus will begin developing the functionality of the digital planning tool, as well as how the tool will be utilized, managed and kept current with the most up-to-date campus data over time.

This will feed into the operations planning phase in the fall where the SFV project team zeroes in on refining the campus facilities vision and tool prototype. In parallel with the current Transportation Master Plan and Housing Master Plan efforts and the upcoming Energy Master Plan, SFV will inform the creation of the next Campus Master Plan, a process projected to begin in late 2019 or early 2020.

Stay tuned for progress updates in CU Boulder Today or visit the strategic initiatives webpage to learn more about each of the initiatives and to see schedules for town halls, meetings and other engagement opportunities. You can provide feedback on the strategic initiatives to the provost and senior vice chancellor by sending an email to vcaa@colorado.edu.

The project team is getting set to compile and analyze insights from scenario planning teams as the initiative moves closer to development of a digital planning tool for facilities and infrastructure.

Off

Traditional

White

Strategic initiatives in high gear with semester’s end in sight

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 15:37:23 +0000

Strategic initiatives in high gear with semester’s end in sight Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/02/2019 - 09:37

CU Boulder’s strategic initiatives continue to move ahead, integrate and come together. Read below for the monthly update, including information on Academic Futures, Financial Futures, the IDEA Plan, Foundations of Excellence and more.

Academic Futures

The Academic Futures-Financial Futures Online Strategy Working Group is developing a digital education roadmap that integrates recommendations from the Academic Futures and Financial Futures strategic initiatives. The Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research and Creative Working Group is exploring how the campus can effectively embrace interdisciplinarity in both education and scholarship.

The campus community is encouraged to attend one of the four remaining town halls of the semester for updates and progress and an opportunity to share your input and have your questions answered.

Financial Futures

Financial Futures continues to identify opportunities to increase CU Boulder’s financial resiliency and align our resources to our mission. Workstreams focused on research and portfolio review are launching. Faculty, staff and students interested in contributing ideas to these and other areas are encouraged to attend upcoming town halls on April 29 and May 2 and to submit ideas online.

Foundations of Excellence

After receiving extensive stakeholder feedback, the Foundations of Excellence Advising Committee submitted the final report and key recommendations to Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Mary Kraus. The report outlines recommended improvements to CU Boulder’s campuswide advising structure.

The First-Year Transition Committee submitted a draft report on expanding first-year academic experiences for undergraduate students to Provost Russ Moore. That report is on the website for campus input; the final report will be submitted to Provost Moore by May 7.

IDEA Plan

The spring Diversity and Inclusion Summit drew more than 150 people to two sessions that discussed the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan; more engagement opportunities related to the plan will be scheduled in April.

The revision committee delivered the final draft of the IDEA Plan to Vice Chancellor Robert Boswell on Friday, March 1. Boswell is expected to submit the IDEA Plan to the chancellor’s cabinet in early to mid-April.

Strategic Facilities Visioning, master planning projects

Strategic Facilities Visioning is halfway through the scenario planning phase, as interdisciplinary groups of visionaries continue to develop and test future facilities and infrastructure scenarios, with a forward-looking approach to the changing education and research landscape. Town halls on April 4 and April 10 offer in-person updates on the SFV process from the project leads.

Separately, the Housing Master Plan and Transportation Master Plan initiatives continue to engage the campus through upcoming surveys and in-person engagement opportunities.

Complementary campus- and unit-based initiatives, committees and projects

Academic re-organization

CU Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore announced on March 22 that he intends to form, by next week, three working groups of campus subject matter experts to examine the structural, budgetary and governance challenges of reorganizing the College of Arts and Sciences, per the recommendations of the Provost’s Committee on Academic Reorganization.

The working groups will deliver their analyses at the close of the 2019 calendar year and determine, in Moore’s words, “what it will take to move forward with a proposed new structure for the college.”

Accreditation

Since the accreditation process was announced, working groups made up of faculty, staff and graduate and undergraduate students have been meeting to discuss how CU Boulder fulfills the five criteria by which the university is accredited.

In late May, the steering committee will submit a report that will be made available to the campus community for feedback and suggestions through the end of August. The office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment will facilitate input to the report throughout the summer, so look for future announcements on how this process will work.

Get involved

For a list of the initiatives and to pinpoint ways you can become engaged, via town halls and open forums or in other ways, visit the initiatives webpage.

CU Boulder’s strategic initiatives continue to move ahead, integrate and come together. Read the monthly update, including information on Academic Futures, Financial Futures, the IDEA Plan and more.

Off

Traditional

White

Strategic initiatives moving ahead

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 17:59:57 +0000

Strategic initiatives moving ahead Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/05/2019 - 10:59

What’s happening with our strategic initiatives? Read below for the monthly update, including information on Academic Futures, Financial Futures, the IDEA Plan, Foundations of Excellence and more.

Academic Futures town halls

Thursday, March 14
1:30–3 p.m. UMC 384

Thursday, March 21
2:30–4 p.m. UMC 386

Thursday, April 4
12:30–2 p.m. UMC 247

Wednesday, April 10
10–11:30 a.m. ECAD 109

Wednesday, April 17
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. UMC 386

Monday, April 22
9:30–11 a.m. Hellems 196

Monday, April 29
9:30–11 a.m. UMC 245

Financial Futures town halls

Monday, April 1
1–2 p.m. Rec Center, Ice Overlook Large Meeting Room

Tuesday, April 2
8:30–9:30 a.m. UMC 247

Academic Futures

The Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research and Creative Working Group was named on Feb. 26, and this week added two new members of our arts and humanities faculty. It will explore what the campus needs in order to effectively embrace interdisciplinarity in both education and scholarship.

Town halls for the remainder of the semester have also been posted.

Financial Futures

Projects focusing on enrollment, summer and evening programs, procurement and gift funds are being reviewed with potential for implementation as early as summer 2019. A second wave of initiative priorities, or workstreams, including research and portfolio review, launches this month.

Learn more online and at town halls April 1 and April 2.

Foundations of Excellence

Last month, Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Mary Kraus announced the Foundations of Excellence (FoE) Advising Committee had produced a draft report outlining recommended improvements to CU Boulder’s campuswide advising structure. The draft executive summary of the report is available for campus review until Thursday, March 7.

IDEA Plan

The spring Diversity and Inclusion Summit drew more than 150 people to two sessions that discussed the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan, and more engagement opportunities related to the plan will be scheduled in April.

Strategic Facilities Visioning, master planning projects

Strategic Facilities Visioning phase two work is underway, with the six Scenario Planning teams convening for the first time in late February. The teams will continue to meet in March and April as they work to develop and test future facilities and infrastructure options for leadership consideration.

In preparation for the Campus Master Plan update due in 2021, the university has also launched housing and transportation master plan initiatives. The Housing Master Plan and Transportation Master Plan will culminate in overarching guiding principles for how the university approaches housing and transportation, as well as recommended options to be integrated into the Campus Master Plan.

What’s happening with our strategic initiatives? Get the monthly update, including information on Academic Futures, Financial Futures, the IDEA Plan, Foundations of Excellence and more.

Off

Traditional

White

‘Deep dive’ insights set course for coming Strategic Facilities Visioning work

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 16:34:36 +0000

‘Deep dive’ insights set course for coming Strategic Facilities Visioning work Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/05/2019 - 09:34

CU Boulder’s Strategic Facilities Visioning project team has completed its initial deep dive phase, gaining valuable insights from units across campus and setting the stage for the scenario planning discussions to come next.

Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV), which will create a framework for facilities decision-making for the next 30 years, began in September with the project team meeting with “visionaries”—more than 130 faculty, staff, students and shared governance representatives from every college, school, research institute and major support unit on campus—to gain a holistic view of individual program visions.

The deep dive phase was rooted in understanding CU Boulder’s current state and the path to achieving a 30-year facilities vision. Specifically, the SFV team focused the deep dive around three investigative questions that enable simultaneous understanding of the university’s future plans and their implications on campus spaces:

In other news

Academic Futures moves ahead, defines progress

With the semester well underway, progress is being made on the various projects set forth in the Academic Futures report.

Financial Futures gains momentum as projects for generating resources begin to take shape

Financial Futures, responsible for discovering and uncovering ways to support Academic Futures and other key strategic initiatives, is now in the solution design phase.

IDEA Plan to be unveiled this spring

This spring, CU Boulder will see its first-ever comprehensive diversity, inclusion and equity plan delivered to the campus.

What does the university want to accomplish?
How does the university want to accomplish it?
How will we measure success?

Eight themes (people, operations, experience, brand/reputation, innovation, collaboration, impact and community), each linked to one of the chancellor’s strategic imperatives of lead, innovate and impact, provided the structure for organizing stakeholder feedback and unit strategic plans. Through more than 90 deep dive sessions with visionaries from individual units, each conversation was mapped to these themes to discover which topics arose across multiple departments. Highlights from this synthesis included:

Anticipated student demographic changes are a driving factor in future strategies to create a positive, student-centered experience for a diverse population.
Most units desire greater collaboration, improved sharing of facilities and resources, and resource optimization to enable them to better reach their goals.
Although deep dive work sessions were conducted at the unit level, there is significant emphasis on facilities transformation at the university scale, reinforcing a university-first mindset for how space is provided, managed and operated.

Throughout the SFV process, the project team has worked with Academic Futures, Financial Futures, Foundations of Excellence and the IDEA Plan to ensure the direction of SFV is aligned with these high-priority campus planning initiatives.

“The deep dive discussions provided a wealth of knowledge and insight, in addition to creating the context for the SFV approach,” said David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability. “The topics and key themes that emerged now form the basis for future investigation as we move forward with the SFV initiative.”

The culmination of the deep dive phase is the arrangement of six scenario planning teams: Future Demographics, Federated Flexibility, Resilient Asset Management, Portfolio of Pedagogy, Research and Innovation Ecosystem, and Integrative Facilities. Composed of an interdisciplinary mix of SFV visionaries, each team will work to develop and test future facilities and infrastructure options in relation to a variety of university requirements and opportunities.

Initial work is also beginning on development of a digital planning tool that will help inform impactful strategic facilities investments in the coming decades. Development of this tool will continue into the future vision strategy and operations plan phases of SFV.

“One of the key goals of SFV is to identify opportunities for infrastructure, real estate and facilities investments that support a strategic campuswide vision for the evolving educational and research landscape,” Kang said. “The planning tool will be flexible, adaptable and dynamic, utilizing a spectrum of data to aid us in evaluating those opportunities.”

The scenario planning phase is slated to begin later this month and run through the spring semester, with vision strategy and operations plan phases following during the summer and fall. Ultimately, the unified strategic facilities vision and planning tool established by SFV will help inform the next campus master plan due in 2021.

The Strategic Facilities Visioning project team has completed its initial deep dive phase, gaining valuable insights and setting the stage for the scenario planning discussions to come.

Off

Traditional

White

Strategic initiatives: Committee nominations, town halls and more

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 18:54:56 +0000

Strategic initiatives: Committee nominations, town halls and more Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/15/2019 - 11:54

Correction Jan. 28, 2019: This article previously stated the wrong date (Feb. 14) for the Academic Futures town hall that in fact will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

Beginning today, the campus is launching a new schedule of updates on its strategic initiatives. At the beginning and close of each semester, there will be a special edition of CU Boulder Today reviewing the progress of the campus’s strategic initiatives. Additionally, there will be monthly articles in CU Boulder Today in the fall and spring semesters, giving updates on the progress of the initiatives, including Academic Futures, Financial Futures, Foundations of Excellence, the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan and Strategic Facilities Visioning, among others.

Visit the Strategic Initiatives webpage to understand each of the initiatives, their relationship to one another, and their strategic purpose and value to the university.

Academic Futures town halls

Monday, Feb. 4
9–10:30 a.m. UMC 247

Thursday, Feb. 13*
8–9:30 a.m. UMC 247
*Note: This date previously was incorrectly posted as Feb. 14.

Financial Futures listening sessions, town halls

Summer and Evening Listening Session
Tuesday, Jan. 22
3:30–4:30 p.m. UMC 386

Online Programs Listening Session
Wednesday, Jan. 23
9–10 a.m. Center for British and Irish Studies

Freshmen/Transfer Enrollment Listening Session
Thursday, Jan. 24
10–11 a.m. CASE E422

Town hall,
Friday, Jan. 25
2–3 p.m. Rec Center Ice Rink Overlook Large Room

Retention Listening Session
Wednesday, Jan. 30
1–2 p.m. Kittredge Central Multipurpose Rooms, B, C & D

Town hall
Wednesday, Jan. 30
4–5 p.m. Rec Center Ice Rink Overlook Large Room

Gifts Listening Session
Friday, Feb. 1
10–11 a.m. UMC 247

Procurement Listening Session
Tuesday, Feb. 5
1–2 p.m. UMC 415–17

Academic Futures

Provost Russell Moore and Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox are asking for volunteers and nominations for a project-specific working group on interdisciplinarity.

Moore has asked Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences Jim White to lead a campus conversation on how the campus can engage in Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research, and Creative Work and the value in doing so. Moore is asking that nominations for the interdisciplinarity committee be made by the end of business on Friday, Feb. 1, and that the committee begin work by early to mid-February.

Two town hall meetings also have been scheduled to continue the discussions on how Academic Futures is integrating with the other initiatives. Other town halls will be scheduled and announced to update the community on the work of the interdisciplinarity committee.

Very soon, Moore and Fox also will announce a path forward on the Academic Futures project Teaching and Technology, Online and Distance Learning.

Financial Futures

Financial Futures completed its initial diagnostic phase this fall and identified ideas and opportunities for generating resources in support of Academic Futures and other key strategic initiatives. In the current phase, solution design, workstream sponsors and leads are working with focus groups and Financial Futures leadership to review the ideas that have been generated and to prioritize ideas with the greatest “return on mission.”

Over the next several weeks, members of the CU community can attend town halls and workstream-specific listening sessions designed to answer questions about the Financial Futures process and to solicit vital community feedback on the ideas generated so far.

CU students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in either the Jan. 25 or the Jan. 30 town hall, the listening sessions, and to send questions, comments or ideas through the Financial Futures contact page.

IDEA Plan

The Revising Committee for the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan is diligently working through more than 50 submissions received online during the open feedback period November–December last fall, as well as feedback from 12 open town hall sessions. Minor changes, clarifications and additions to the draft of the plan are underway.

The committee will submit its revised plan to Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Bob Boswell and the chancellor's cabinet for feedback and acceptance, with a target completion of February 2019.

The upcoming spring 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Summit on Tuesday, Feb. 12, will include a session about the IDEA Plan and how individuals can connect to the plan's goals and have a personal impact in their respective communities.

Strategic Facilities Visioning

Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV), which will create a framework for facilities decision-making for the next 30 years, in recent weeks wrapped up the interview portion of its initial deep dive phase.

During this phase, the project team has been meeting with “visionaries” from every college, school, research institute and major support unit on campus to gain a holistic view of individual program visions. The SFV project team will continue this month to synthesize results from these valuable sessions, mapping each conversation to key themes that have begun to emerge to discover which topics arose across multiple departments.

In the next phase of SFV, Scenario Planning, visionaries will be working in interdisciplinary groups to develop and test future facilities and infrastructure options in relation to a variety of identified university requirements centered around our ever-evolving landscape of education and research, informed by the campus’s multiple strategic initiatives.

In this and future phases, SFV is ultimately building toward creation of a facilities planning tool that will help inform the campus in making the most meaningful and impactful facilities and infrastructure investments in the coming decades. This effort also will create the foundation for our next campus master plan update in 2021.

You can get the latest information and engagement opportunities on all of our strategic initiatives at the “Strategic Initiatives” webpage.

What’s happening with our strategic initiatives? Academic Futures is calling for committee nominations and Financial Futures is seeking campus community input, plus more.

Off

Traditional

White

Strategic Facilities Visioning ‘deep dive’ setting foundation for work to come

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 19:44:15 +0000

Strategic Facilities Visioning ‘deep dive’ setting foundation for work to come Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/13/2018 - 12:44

CU Boulder’s Strategic Facilities Visioning project team continues to gather invaluable insights from campus stakeholders about where university departments see themselves in the future and how facilities can help them get there in an evolving education and research landscape.

The Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV) initiative, which will create a framework for facilities decision-making for the next 30 years, has been meeting since September with “visionaries” from every college, school and major support unit on campus—more than two dozen groups in all—as part of the effort’s initial deep dive phase.

The goal of the deep dive has been to gain a holistic view of individual program visions. The phase is rooted in understanding CU Boulder’s current state and the path to achieve a 30-year vision. Specifically, the SFV team has been working to understand what the university wants to accomplish, how stakeholders want to accomplish it, and how success will be measured.

As deep dive sessions with individual colleges, schools and support units unfold, some key themes are starting to emerge. Each conversation will be mapped to these themes to discover which topics arise across multiple departments and how they link to the chancellor’s strategic imperatives of lead, innovate and impact.

The SFV team is also working with the Academic Futures and Financial Futures teams to ensure that the direction of SFV is aligned with these high-priority campus planning initiatives.

“We’re thrilled with the insights we’re gaining and themes we’re starting to see emerge as we meet with more and more units across the campus,” said Bill Haverly, campus architect and project lead for the SFV effort. “These themes will prove invaluable in shaping our discussions as we move into the scenario planning phase in spring semester 2019.”

Scenario planning will be the next phase of SFV. During scenario planning, visionaries will work in interdisciplinary groups to develop and test future facilities and infrastructure options in relation to a variety of university growth and change opportunities. Those efforts will feed into the future vision strategy and operations plan phases that will follow later in 2019.

Key to the SFV initiative going forward, the deep dive phase is also helping lay the groundwork for creation of a facilities planning tool that will help inform impactful strategic investments in the coming decades. This decision-making tool will be one of the key outputs of the SFV efforts.

“Ultimately, all of this work is building toward articulating a strategic campus-wide vision that will be the foundation for our next campus master plan,” Haverly said.

The project team continues to gather invaluable insights from campus stakeholders about where university departments see themselves in the future and how facilities can help them get there.

Off

Traditional

White