Goals

MSU Denver Goals (taken from the 2012-17 Strategic Plan)

Student and Academic Success

MSU Denver is a teaching university where academic excellence in teaching and learning and student success—supported in a collegial atmosphere of academic freedom—are accorded the highest priority. We evaluate our success by utilizing measures focused on the knowledge, skills and understanding students gain during their educational experience with us. MSU Denver students, faculty and staff strive for excellence in all that they do.


Goal A: MSU Denver facilitates and enhances student success through the implementation of research--‐‑based, best--‐‑practices degree--‐‑completion strategies.

Objective A.1: Develop and implement a strategic enrollment plan that includes intentional outreach and adapts research--‐‑based retention and graduation best practices1 to MSU Denver’s diverse student body.

Objective A.2: Improve curriculum delivery.

Strategies include:

  • Expand collaborations with regional schools and community partners.
  • Engage families of traditional--‐‑aged and first--‐‑generation students during recruitment and pre--‐‑enrollment.
  • Attract a diverse pool of applicants, admits and enrolled students from the seven--‐‑county metro area.
  • Improve or develop and implement (depending on item):
  • appropriate early academic progress reports
  • absence--‐‑tracking efforts
  • course--‐‑management software tracking
  • intervention tracking
  • prescriptive degree roadmaps
  • degree--‐‑map milestones
  • local transcript--‐‑audit consultants
  • senior dropout re--‐‑enrollment outreach
  • Identify engagement opportunities that support persistence and increase student participation in those activities.
  • Ensure predictable course--‐‑offerings rotation.
  • Clearly and intentionally define and enforce course pre--‐‑requisites.
  • Engage in state--‐‑of--‐‑the--‐‑art teaching, instructional delivery methods and studentsupport.
  • Develop curriculum designed to support the academic needs of enrolled students,especially during the first year.
  • Develop and implement activities in and beyond the classroom that promote critical thinking and analytical reasoning.
  • Expand partnerships with Community College of Denver, especially for our students taking coursework there.
  • Continue and expand efforts to provide financial advising and grow this to include financial education that builds on instructional presentations and website information.
  • Continue and refine efforts to assess and improve First Year Success program.
  • Identify, develop and implement strategies to overcome “sophomore slump,” e.g., intrusive advising interventions triggered by low GPA.
  • With advent of new Associate Vice President for Student Success:
  • Work through transition of merging previously unconnected units within Academic and Student Affairs.
  • Strengthen linkages among advising, career development, career services, etc.
  • Expand retention efforts aimed at transfer students:
  • Enhance advising and ease admissions strategies in alignment with Colorado statewide articulation agreements, Pathways and other transfers fromcommunity and four--‐‑year institutions of higher education.
  • Enhance “single point of contact” advising, etc., for transfer students.
  • Expand use of Supplemental Instruction to support students’ successful move through difficult gateway courses.
  • Identify, develop and implement strategies aimed at upper--‐‑division students to facilitate graduation.
  • Complete study of Summer School and implement new strategy that serves student needs and facilitates more efficient use of campus facilities and effective deployment of faculty and staff resources.
  • Continue efforts—primarily through the Individualized Degree Program—to:
  • Identify students, both on and off campus, who are close to completing a degree and assist them in achieving that goal.
  • Assist students in earning credits for prior learning experiences.
  • Expand opportunities for students to engage in global education.
  • Engage in intentional course design to improve student success in courses with historically high “D,” “F” and Withdrawal rates.
  • Use program assessment findings to improve curriculum development and delivery.
  • Assist faculty with implementing accessible pedagogies and course materials Success measures include but are not limited to:
  • Greater predictability for all institutional sectors regarding numbers of students coming to campus and in what areas of interest.
  • Increased numbers of students concurrently enrolled in high school and MSU Denver courses.
  • Increase in first--‐‑time, full--‐‑time freshman retention rate to 75% (from 66%) and six-year graduation rate to 44% (from 21%).
  • Increase in full--‐‑time transfer student retention rate to 85% (from 74%) and six--‐‑year graduation rate to 60% (from 44%).
  • Increase in first--‐‑time, part--‐‑time student retention to 70% (from 51%).
  • Decrease the gap in first--‐‑year retention and performance between students placed in remedial courses and those who do not require remedial work.
  • Increase in number of graduates, regardless of time to complete degree.
  • Extend collaboration with University of Alaska for development of student success measurements not currently monitored by Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
  • Increased student participation in co--‐‑curricular and extra--‐‑curricular programs.
  • Increase in employment and graduate school acceptance rates. Re--‐‑visit after a year to look at retention.
  • Decrease in average number of hours at graduation.
  • Decrease in number of undeclared majors by the end of the sophomore year.
  • Increase in number of students completing their first 15 hours.
  • Decrease in the number of students in academic jeopardy from 4% to 1% of the total headcount.
  • Increase in the number of students participating in study--‐‑abroad courses.


Goal B: MSU Denver students are prepared to meet business/employer/graduate school

expectations.

Objective B.1: Create a data base of business/employer/graduate school expectations that is readily available online for student perusal/advising purposes.

Objective B.2: Embed those expectations in student learning outcomes across Academic and Student Affairs.

Objective B.3: Establish clear performance expectations for students.

Objective B.4: Hire and retain quality staff and administrators who are experts in student support and committed to MSU Denver'ʹs diverse urban mission.

Strategies include:

  • Expand partnerships with various Chambers of Commerce, professional organizations and local/regional businesses to identify business and employer expectations.
  • Work with faculty to establish easily understood graduate school expectations by discipline.
  • Provide academic and career advising for all students within their first semester at MSU Denver.
  • Expand opportunities for students to participate in internships, service learning courses, undergraduate research projects and community volunteerism.
  • Utilize industry advisory boards effectively.

  • Gather qualitative and quantitative data related to future employer needs to align workforce needs with MSU Denver’s curriculum.
  • Cultivate and develop relationships with a broader range of employers, including nonprofits and governmental agencies as well as for--‐‑profit entities.
  • Continue efforts to identify and assess meaningful student learning outcomeswithin academic departments, Academic Affairs entities (e.g., centers and programs) and Student Affairs units.
  • Embed student learning outcomes review/assessment into program review.

  • Continued intentional recruitment and retention of student affairs professionals with proven expertise in supporting diverse, urban students.

Success measures include but are not limited to:

  • Increased employer satisfaction with recent hires and interns as demonstrated in the results of a needs--‐‑assessment and a satisfaction survey.
  • Increased student participation in internship, service learning, undergraduate research and community volunteering opportunities.
  • Increased employment and graduate school acceptance rates.
  • Increased number of partnerships with companies and civic organizations.
  • Increased number of paid internships across disciplines.
  • Improved access to regional labor market information for faculty and students.

Goal C: MSU Denver hires and retains quality faculty who are excellent teachers and

productive scholars who contribute to our communities.

Objective C.1: Sustain and enhance “telling MSU Denver’s story” to draw

significant pools of highly qualified applicants.

Objective C.2: Ensure that faculty hires reflect the demographics of the region.

Objective C.3: Sustain and expand programs to support faculty in adopting state--‐‑of--‐‑the--‐‑art pedagogy, engaging in scholarly activities and contributing service to our multiple communities, including the global community.

Objective C.4: Continue to work on providing competitive salary and benefits packages.

Objective C.5: Establish clear performance expectations for faculty.

Strategies include:

  • Continue and possibly expand visibility in The Chronicle for Higher Education in collaboration with Marketing and Communications office.
  • Refocus efforts on using current Target of Opportunity (TOPS) and Faculty Recruitment Incentive Program (FRIP) instruments to hire diverse faculty, including faculty of color.
  • Continue and expand support to the Center for Faculty Development.

  • Partner with Advancement and External Relations to increase support to the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs to provide support to faculty seeking to write grants and engage in public/private partnership contracts.
  • Continue to develop and implement mentoring/coaching programs to support faculty in successfully negotiating the tenure and promotion processes.
  • Continue to revisit appropriate College and University Professionals Association (CUPA) comparators for salaries.
  • Finalize and implement the work of the Faculty Evaluation Task Force to improve the faculty evaluation process.
  • Ensure meaningful and equitable departmental guidelines for critical faculty milestones, e.g., earning tenure, promotion to associate and professor rank, and post--‐‑tenure review.
  • Proactively develop a database of qualified candidates of color and relationships with institutions that produce Ph.D. graduates of color in disciplines at MSU Denver and use these resources in faculty searches.
  • During the recruitment process, highlight resources available to faculty through the Center for Faculty Development.
  • Encourage the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Community--‐‑Based research to link faculty scholarly interests with student and community success.
  • Consider providing one course reassigned time to tenure--‐‑track faculty in each of the first two years of their appointment.

Success measures include but are not limited to:

  • Large pools of qualified faculty for hire opportunities.
  • Fewer “no’s” to job offers; fewer “failed searches.”
  • Faculty reflects the demographics of the region—to the extent possible.
  • Faculty earns tenure and promotion in a timely fashion.
  • Increase in successful grant writing and publication.
  • Sustained student ratings of instruction quality.
  • Enhanced recognition and engagement of MSU Denver faculty as resources in the community.
  • Improved faculty satisfaction with the performance evaluation system in the next climate survey.

Goal D: MSU Denver continues to seek and sustain innovative resources for student and

academic success.

Objective D.1: Partner with Divisions of Advancement and External Relations and

Administration, Finance and Facilities to expand public/private

partnership opportunities. (See Community Engagement and Regional

Stewardship, page 18.)

Objective D.2: Utilize alumni more effectively as connections for fundraising,

donations of critical equipment and similar opportunities.

Strategies include:

  • Increase relevant training opportunities for faculty and administrators to learn about best practices in creating development opportunities.
  • Establish departmental/programmatic liaisons to work with Advancement and External Relations and Alumni Relations.
  • Provide access to development and alumni software.

  • Expand efforts to develop financial support—e.g., scholarships—for low--‐‑income, first--‐‑generation and under--‐‑represented students.
  • Expand efforts to develop financial support for space, equipment and software necessary to provide quality education.
  • Develop external funding for student research and participation in academic conferences.

Success measures include but are not limited to:

  • Overall increased revenues/resources from non--‐‑state entities.
  • Establishment and achievement of annual benchmarks for increased number and/or scope of public/private/partnerships that involve either joint financial investments or joint investments of physical and/or human capital for the mutual benefit of MSU Denver and the community.
  • Establishment and achievement of annual benchmarks related to donations, grants and fee--‐‑for--‐‑service work.
  • Establishment and achievement of annual benchmarks related to alumni support, including financial support and engagement in alumni activities.
  • Continual evaluation of budget processes to assure efficient work streams.
  • Improved fundraising performance against benchmarks from similar institutions in Colorado and beyond.