Vision & Mission

EAS Initiative:  Our People

UCCS Strategy

Goal P1: Increase gender diversity amongst faculty ranks from 23% to at least 33% by 2030.

Learning Engagement and Belonging

Financial Strength

Deliberate Investment

Strategy:

• Consider diversity while forming search committees
• Implicit bias training as part of the search committee charge

• Increase job posting visibility to female and minority groups

Goal P2:  Increase salaries to the 50th percentile by discipline amongst R2 institutions (similar university or college size).

Strategy: 

• Establish salary peer groups
• Establish 50^th percentile per rank by discipline for faculty and staff
• Work towards increasing salaries (starting and existing) and start up packages gradually over 10 years

Goal P3:  Ensure staff support commensurate with faculty size and student enrollment

Strategy: 

• Provide right sized staffing at college and departmental levels based on work load studies
• Provide cross training of staff
• Provide professional development opportunities for staff

Goal P4:  Continuously improve teaching effectiveness

Strategy: 

• Provide training and development opportunities
• Provide mentoring opportunities for new faculty
• Share best practices among all college faculty
• Explore more comprehensive teaching evaluation tools

EAS Initiative:  Our Students

UCCS Strategy

Goal S1: Increase gender and racial diversity amongst our students to exceed local demographics by 2030.

Learning, Engagement and Belonging

Retention and Graduation

Financial Strength

Deliberate Investment

Partnerships and Outreach

Strategy:

• Target marketing to increase international student enrollment
• Increase recruiting efforts in diversely populated areas
• Enable opportunities for increased participation in K-12 STEM education initiatives
• Build diversity through scholarships

Goal S2:  Increase 2^nd to 3^rd year retention rates.

Strategy: 

• Identify reasons why students leave programs, create strategies based on this data
• Enhance the student experience, clubs, mentoring, advising
• Become a school of choice for higher performing high school students
• Create early intervention programs to help struggling students

Goal S3:  Increase 4 and 6 year undergraduate graduation rates

Strategy: 

• Identify and eliminate barriers to progressing through programs
• Better understand why students aren’t graduating sooner including why students take time off

Goal S4:  Increase financial support for students

Strategy: 

• Increase scholarship opportunities
• Provide more opportunities for student employment
• Explore other ways to offer tuition support – fellowship, department employment programs

EAS Initiative:  Student Growth and New Academic Programs

UCCS Strategy

Goal G1a:  Responsibly grow our current undergraduate student population in existing programs by 3% per year

Retention and Graduation

Distinctive Programs

Deliberate Investment

Partnerships and Outreach

Strategy:

• Increase recruiting efforts in partnership with admissions
• Establish clear pathways for community college students
• Targeted marketing
• Increase K-12 outreach
• Creation of tracks within degrees

Goal G1b:  Responsibly grow our current Master’s student population in existing programs by 3% per year

Strategy:

• Examine best practices used in Master’s programs
• Identify and eliminate barriers to completion
• Increase number and quality of Master’s applicants

Goal G2:  Create two new in-person degree programs by 2030

Strategy:

• Identify growing degree programs nationally
• Leverage faculty expertise/internal resources analysis

Goal G3:  Create two new online and/or hybrid programs by 2030

Strategy:

• Leverage new teaching modes in developing new programs
• Identify market for online/hybrid degrees
• Leverage faculty expertise
• Leverage professional expertise in SE Colorado
• Poll industry/Research in demand programs (state, region, etc)

Goal G4:  Create one new department by 2030

Strategy: 

• Evaluate need for new department
• Identify growing degree programs
• Leverage faculty expertise

EAS Initiative:  Research and Doctoral Programs

UCCS Strategy

Goal R1:  Increase college yearly research expenditures from $65k/TTF/yr to $130k/TTF/yr by 2030

Research and Creative Excellence

Financial Strength

Partnerships and Outreach

Strategy:

• Celebrate individual, department and college successes
• Seek new grant opportunities and partnerships
• Encourage attendance at grant writing workshops
• Seek collaborations (internal and external)

Goal R2:  Increase the number of students graduating with a PhD from 17/yr to 25/yr by 2030

Strategy:

• Explore new international partnerships
• Increase recruitment with targeted marketing
• Better understand student progress through PhD programs
• Increase funding for PhD students

Goal R3:  Increase research opportunities for undergraduate students

Strategy: 

• Explore potential for reviving scholar program for EAS students
• Undergraduate inclusion in grant writing
• Expand participation in NSF undergrad research experience
• Market undergraduate research opportunities

EAS Initiative:  Expand our Facilities Base

UCCS Strategy

Goal F1:  Remodel the UCCS Cybersecurity Building to broaden research and increase student population in cybersecurity.

Deliberate Investment

Partnerships and Outreach

Strategy:

• Use EDA money and matching gifts to remodel the facility in phase 3 to expand cybersecurity efforts and solve crowding issues in the current EAS complex.
• Establish a program plan and raise money for phase 4
• Establish resident partnerships with government and industry in the Cybersecurity building to broaden student and faculty opportunities.
• Leverage state of the art learning spaces to attract students to cybersecurity

Goal F2: Create an Engineering Annex to accommodate student and program growth

Strategy:

• Establish need for space by projected growth over the next 10 years
• Raise $8M in gifts with a match of $8M from the endowment

Goal F3:  Modernize the Engineering building while solving safety and code issues.

Strategy: 

• Seek $28M in state capital money for the project matched with $6M in gifts

EAS Initiative: Community Partnerships

UCCS Strategy

Goal C1:  Increase alumni engagement 

Partnerships and Outreach

Strategy: 

• Market alumni successes
• Fundraising
• Improve connections to alumni

Goal C2:  Increase community partnership investment in UCCS EAS

Strategy: 

• Broaden our Engineering Leadership Council from 48 to 60 companies
• Increase internship opportunities
• Increase industry sponsored research, mentoring, and speakers
• Increase involvement/exposure in senior projects

Goal C3:  Increase UCCS EAS standing/reputation in community

Strategy: 

• Service initiatives for community impact
• Expand research footprint
• Increase number of on campus activities for public