2020 Strategic Plan released with expansion as focus

Feb. 11, 2013

Samantha Morley
[email protected]

Changes are in store for the university as it continues to expand, including a tuition hike across eight years.

Last summer, UCCS adopted a 74-page strategic plan formally detailing goals that aim to improve key university values from 2012 to 2020.

Tom Hutton, executive director of the Office of Media Relations and Internal Communication, described the document via email as a “roadmap for the next few years in such key areas such as academic programs, student enrollment and student facilities.”

The construction of the plan started in the summer of 2011. The CU Board of Regents continually reviewed the document until its finalization last year. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members aided with the development of the plan.

“There were also open sessions where literally hundreds of people offered their thoughts or ideas or simply asked questions, an important part of the plan’s development,” Hutton wrote.

There are 12 overall strategic goals within the plan. Each goal consists of a chart detailing desired actions, measurable outcomes and what area should be responsible for the goal.

For example, the first goal is to “foster academic programs that serve diverse communities and develop intellectually curious and globally, culturally competent graduates,” to be handled by Academic Affairs.

Within the first few pages of the plan, Chancellor Pamela Shockley-Zalabak dedicates a letter to readers stating that “we live in exciting times” and “in the coming eight years, we plan to accomplish great things.” The letter goes on to explain how the plan will be implemented and what effects it will have on the school.

The letter also touches on economic assumptions regarding the Colorado Opportunity Fund, tuition rates, faculty and administrative (F&A) reimbursements and various other financial topics.

For tuition rates, the document states that the “plan over the first four years would project a 6 percent annual increase in rates for resident students and a 3 percent annual cost increase for non-resident students over the base year rates.”

Hutton states that the “economic impact of UCCS on Colorado Springs could be as much as $750 million annually by the time this strategic plan in completed.”

Over the next eight years, students, faculty, alumni and the overall community of Colorado Springs will work together in order to achieve these goals.

According to Hutton, Chancellor Shockley-Zalabak often says that “Colorado Springs cannot be a great community without a strong university. And UCCS cannot be a great university without a strong community.”

The 2020 Strategic Plan may be found online in PDF form (uccs.edu/chancellor/strategic-planning-2020.html) or in hard copy format in Hutton’s office.