Strategic Planning Process

The 2018 strategic planning process was an enormous effort—one that sought to meaningfully engage all voices from the College of Arts and Sciences community and to thoughtfully consider and synthesize their input. The process spanned the academic year from October 2017 through the summer of 2018.

This page, while no longer updated, documents the planning process for the strategic plan.

The current version of the plan, including current updates on implementation, can be found on the strategic plan webpage.

CU Boulder Arts and Sciences: Where Buffs and big ideas roam

At the beginning of the 2017-18 academic year, the College of Arts and Sciences began its strategic visioning process for the next 10 years.

This process will be completed under the auspices of an Arts and Sciences Council (ASC) Strategic Planning Committee, which embodies "shared governance"—the concept that the university is run by faculty, students, administration and staff, each with a defined role. 

Note: This page is no longer updated. The current version of the plan, including current updates on implementation, can be found on the strategic plan webpage.

Draft Strategic Plan & Vision

The Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee is now collecting comments on its working draft of the vision and strategic imperatives for the college.

These imperatives should create a shared vision for the college and a standard for measuring future success, foster a strong culture of academic freedom, and coordinate efforts to demonstrate our value to various constituencies. 

You can read a full draft of the strategic plan here (the full draft will be submitted to the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Chair of the Arts and Sciences Council on July 1, 2018), and respond to questions via this web form. All comments will be sent to the Strategic Planning Committee chair.

Please note: This is a separate strategic process from the campus-wide Academic Futures initiative.

 Strategic Plan,
Full Draft

 Information on
Strategic Plan Process

 Strategic Plan Draft
Request for Feedback

The Vision

"The College of Arts and Sciences cultivates critical, creative, and compassionate thinkers"

The College of Arts and Sciences' Strategic Planning process and vision, which is for the next ten years and will be finalized at the end of the 2017-2018 academic year, stems from a few key motivations:

  • The Core Revision Process
  • The aging of the Flagship 2030 Initiative:
    • Shape tomorrow’s leaders;
    • Be the top University for innovation;
    • Positively impact humanity.
  • The new budget system and opportunities to utilize funds in new ways
  • The campus is growing and the distribution of majors is shifting
  • The campus is at the beginning of a major building renovation/renewal process
  • We are richer in data than before and can address issues that the college couldn't without the help of data

The People

Each member of the committee was nominated by the dean or other colleagues, and all were reviewed and approved by the Arts and Sciences Council Executive Committee.

  • Jean Balch — MCDB (staff)
  • Maureen McNamara — Student
  • Jane Marsh — Development
  • Boswell Wing — Geological Sciences
  • Laura Michaelis-Cummings — Linguistics
  • Terra McKinnish — Economics
  • Barbara Demmig-Adams — EBIO
  • Joanna Lambert — Anthropology/ENVS
  • David Brown — Political Science
  • Allison Sedey — Advising
  • Lisa Barlow — Baker RAP
  • Lori Peek — IBS & Sociology
  • Anthony Kelly — Student
  • Masano Yamashita (Fall) — French & Italian
  • Markus Pflaum — Math
  • Erika Randall — Theater & Dance
  • Roy Parker — Chemistry
  • Nils Halverson — Astrophysics
  • Peter Elmore (Spring) — Spanish & Portuguese
  • Erin Espelie — Film Studies
 

The Process

The Strategic Planning Committee has one year, beginning in August, 2017, to determine what the College of Arts and Sciences is passionate about, what it is best at and how best to "get there." 

You can view the evolution of this process on a Google document managed by the Strategic Planning Committee.

October 1: Rough drafts of Phase 1 presented to SPC

November 1:  Present reports to SPC

December 1: Present findings to college: C&D meeting, ASC

Between December and February, use the statements to find out what initiatives will help move in a particular direction.

Between February 1 and April 1, nail down how we are going to reach those goals

April 1: fully developed tactics and plans for assessment will be presented to the SPC for review.

May 1: final draft of Strategic Plan will be presented to the Committee for review

June 1: Final draft of the Strategic Plan will be presented to the Dean and ASC