Big Ideas Make Us Boulder

The 12 individuals who make up the Big Ideas working group reviewed nearly 800 ideas so far. Given the breadth of ideas, it was most effective to identify common themes and then identify opportunities and possibilities within each one.

Within each big idea, there are many smaller ideas, questions and opportunities to explore. Our next step is to identify which of those hold the greatest potential—and, most importantly, where CU Boulder has the distinctive strengths, expertise and capabilities to make a meaningful difference.

We will assemble teams to explore each of these big ideas. Those teams may include people who submitted ideas within a particular theme, faculty experts, researchers, students and others across campus whose perspectives and expertise can help move the conversation forward.

The goal is for each team to explore the ideas within the theme and the specific ways CU Boulder might make a meaningful impact. From there, the groups will begin working through questions of feasibility: What could this look like in practice? What expertise, resources and capabilities do we already have? What additional resources or partnerships might we need?

As those proposals take shape, we will begin to see which opportunities are most compelling, most feasible and most uniquely suited to CU Boulder.

The Big Ideas of now or the future do not replace existing priorities. They support them and, in many cases, they give us new ways to advance them.

We anticipate that our Big Ideas will have a long arc of impact, just as quantum and sustainability have. Yet we also see ways these Big Ideas can strengthen and accelerate our ongoing priorities. 

This is just the beginning of Big Ideas. We want to keep hearing the bold, ambitious, even unconventional ideas coming from people across our campus. So keep sharing your ideas using this form. 

All students, faculty and staff at CU Boulder are encouraged to submit their ideas.

Yes, we are committed to crediting the person/people who helped shape these ideas, unless anonymity is specifically requested. 

Yes, students, faculty and staff whose ideas advance will have the opportunity to remain involved in the process. 

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, Director, Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and Professor, Geography
• 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