Big Ideas Make Us Boulder

CU Boulder has a 150 year legacy of transformative impact across Colorado, the globe, and even beyond planet Earth. As we take time to commemorate and appreciate the university’s history, we are also turning to the future to consider what comes next. 

We are fortunate to have a campus community full of brilliant and creative thinkers, and we want you to share your big ideas that can shape CU Boulder’s next era of impact. What bold, forward-thinking ideas will position us as a global leader in research and innovation, student success and societal impact for decades to come? Your ideas will guide how we invest in and implement transformative initiatives. 

Today’s Big Ideas will become tomorrow’s CU Boulder legacy.

What's Your Big Idea?

FAQs

A: All students, faculty and staff at CU Boulder are welcome and encouraged to submit their ideas. No idea is too small. 

A: Once an idea is submitted, the Big Ideas working group will collect entries and evaluate them according to criteria, such as impact, feasibility and alignment with CU Boulder’s mission and vision. Ideas that are prioritized will be advanced to executive leadership for further consideration. Individuals whose ideas progress to the next stage will receive follow-up communication, typically once their idea is selected for advancement. The working group has also been tasked with defining the process to move ideas forward.

A: The working group consists of faculty and staff members bringing a diversity of perspectives from across the CU Boulder campus. The group is accountable to and reports directly to Chancellor Schwartz.

Executive Leadership

  • Ann Stevens, Provost, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
  • Massimo Ruzzene, Senior Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation Office (RIO)

Co-Chairs

  • Waleed Abdalati, Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
  • Stefanie Johnson, Professor, Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics and Director, Center for Leadership, Leeds School of Business

Members

  • Nils Halverson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Resource Management. College of Arts and Sciences
  • Grace Leslie, Assistant Professor, Music Technology, College of Music
  • Jess Morris, Program Director, Employee Health and Well-Being
  • Karrie Pitzer, Senior Director, Strategic Relations and Communications
  • Samuel Ramsey, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Karen Regan, Associate Vice Chancellor, Research Development and Strategic Initiatives, RIO
  • Sandra Ristovska, Associate Professor, Media Studies, College of Communication, Media, Design and Information
  • Amanda Jean Stevenson, Associate Professor, Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Lane Washington, Senior Advisor to the Vice Chancellor and Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Life, Division of Student Life