The future of CU Engage

Mar. 20, 2025

Dear colleagues,

Today, Interim Dean of the School of Education Fernando Rosario-Ortiz and I are announcing that the umbrella structure for CU Engage will end, effective May 31, with the majority of the programs to be retained by the School of Education or reassigned to administrative units; some programs will be discontinued.

The decisions around CU Engage were not undertaken or carried out lightly, as current funding parameters for the School of Education and the Office of the Provost make carrying all of CU Engage’s programs forward under a single umbrella structure cost prohibitive.

We engaged in careful review, heard important input from program leads and constituents, and we listened to and deliberated thoughtfully on all points. In the end, we preserved the majority of CU Engage’s programs.

Moving the functions of CU Engage into administrative units where they would have greater impact and build toward sustainability has precedent in the moves made two years ago to relocate the services carried out by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement (ODECE). We’ve learned that programs can thrive when separated and relocated within offices carrying out aligned functions and that these changes can translate into widespread impact.

CU Engage program moves: 

  • Aquetza will move to Enrollment Management.
  • CU Dialogues Program will move to the Office for Leadership Support and Programming.
  • Graduate Fellowship in Community-Based Research may continue depending on availability of funding from other campus sources and continued negotiations.   
  • Experiential Learning Design Accelerator will be retained in the School of Education for the 2025 cycle. Plans for 2026 to be determined.
  • INVST Community Studies, on pause for the past two years, will be discontinued.  
  • Leadership and Community Engagement Major and Leadership Studies Minor will be retained in the School of Education.  
  • Multicultural Leadership Scholars will be retained as a School of Education program.
  • Public Achievement, on pause for the past year, will be retained and redeveloped in the School of Education.
  • Puksta Scholars will move to the Office of Undergraduate Education for programming; Enrollment Management will award the scholarships.
  • Research Hub for Youth Organizing and Education Policy will remain a research project directed by School of Education investigators.
  • Student Worker Alliance Program (SWAP), a student-run program, will be supported by the School of Education while a transition plan is finalized.
  • Youth Participatory Action Research will remain a research project directed by School of Education investigators.

I am grateful to the faculty, staff and students who have built, sustained and implemented the programs within CU Engage. I’m also grateful to Interim Dean Fernando Rosario-Ortiz for his leadership of the School of Education during a challenging time.

Sincerely,

Russ

Russell Moore, Provost