Major Assumptions of the Strategic Plan

In launching a new strategic planning process in Spring 2004, President Larry E. Penley, Cabinet members, deans and faculty leadership discussed challenges and opportunities facing Colorado State. These are expressed here as assumptions that underlie the planning process.

• CSU has especially great strength as a research institution with very high levels of external funding, especially federal, for its research.
• CSU faculty demonstrates a high commitment to quality teaching throughout the campus.
• CSU possesses a loyal and entrepreneurial faculty and staff.
• CSU students are generally highly positive about their experience.
• CSU’s research strengths align with national and global challenges (food and nutrition, environment, health and use of technology) – and most of these great global challenges are multidisciplinary.
• As a public research university, Colorado State is well-suited to work closely with the state and private sector on economic development (new ideas and graduates) and quality-of-life issues.
• All states, including Colorado, will face increasing difficulty in funding public higher education as a result of growing demands on state budgets. These demands result from the large size of the baby-boom echo group’s impact on enrollments in K-12, the baby boomers’ very likely enrollment in Medicaid over the next decades, and the probable growth in prison beds due to demographic changes in the number of most likely offenders.
• Colorado – and other states – have a growing need to address the substantially increased number of non-white young people who disproportionately fail to complete high school and fail to enroll in research universities.
• CSU – and other research universities – face a declining ability to attract non-U.S. graduate students as a result of changes in U.S. visa-processing, availability of research educational opportunities abroad, and more negative perceptions of the U.S.
• A nationwide disjunction between K-12 and higher education – in teacher and student preparation – limits students’ ability to succeed in colleges and universities.
• The increasing rate of change in society provides for a growing need for adult reeducation
• There is a substantial lack of factual knowledge about Colorado State among the general public, academics, and prospective students, probably attributable to past limitations on marketing.
• With among the lowest of expenditures on administrative costs, CSU substantially limits its flexibility, invites risk, and may miss opportunities.