Strategic Vision

Accelerate Our Research Impact

We will be a world-class research institution that provides technical solutions to pressing societal challenges; brings colleagues together in interdisciplinary collaborative spaces to spark innovation and accelerate discovery; develops faculty with an entrepreneurial mindset, significantly increasing the college’s research expenditures; increases the number of PhD graduates to move into the top 10 doctoral degree-granting engineering colleges in the nation; and cultivates strategic partnerships with industry and national labs that enable future innovation. Highlights include:

Being home to the faculty members who shape our national research agenda.
Being a premier destination for top U.S. and international graduate students.
Being internationally recognized as a top innovative research ecosystem.
Significantly expanding our shared research facilities in areas where our strengths align with global research challenges.

Strategy

Identify 4-6 interdisciplinary research themes that build off our strengths, align with future opportunities and will provide transformational impact in a manner consistent with our vision.
Actively recruit and hire 20 outstanding mid-career faculty who align with our research vision and will have an immediate impact across campus, the state and the nation.
Provide resources, strategies and tools for faculty to seek, win and manage large (over $10 million) interdisciplinary research awards and operate shared laboratory spaces in support of our research vision.
Develop a strategy to attract, retain, prepare and graduate top PhD students, including providing a four-year guarantee of support for all accepted PhD students in good standing.
Diversify the college’s federal research portfolio and grow industry support to be on par with that provided by National Science Foundation.
Incorporate entrepreneurial measures of creative works and intellectual property (e.g., creation of new companies, patents, technology licenses, software distribution) in college performance metrics.
Develop a communications strategy to actively promote the impact of our high-value research to the general public, industry, federal and state government stakeholders.
Place at least 10 percent of the college faculty on assignments that shape the national agenda.
Identify and engage appropriate personnel at Boulder national laboratories for joint appointments in the college. Increase our research engagement with Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, JILA, the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research and the BioFrontiers Institute.
Create an endowed program and provide appropriate space through which scholars from across the globe choose to spend their sabbaticals at CU Boulder.

Embrace Our Public Education Mission

We will be the premier destination for every engineering student in the state of Colorado while attracting outstanding students from across the nation and the world; grow our undergraduate and graduate programs at the rate needed to drive and support economic growth of the state; foster a collaborative environment with industry that generates students ready for success in the global workplace, including an appreciation for working in diverse teams; and produce ethical, resilient, and creative engineers experienced in innovation and entrepreneurship. Highlights include:

Being the first public engineering college with a 50 percent women undergraduate population while reflecting the demographics of our state’s high school graduates.
Continually improving persistence and graduation rates, ultimately achieving an 80 percent graduation rate for all college freshmen.
Being a world leader in engineering education through continued innovation in active, project-based and experiential learning.
Partnering with the Boulder innovation community, to provide entrepreneurship opportunities for all interested engineering students.
Producing well-rounded engineers with knowledge and skills in ethics, leadership, business and communication who are prepared to tackle the most pressing problems of the state of Colorado with the ability to deploy these engineering solutions globally.

Strategy

Adopt strategies to boost the number of female, underrepresented minorities and transfer students in our college, including increasing the pool of applicants, offering scholarship packages that meet financial need, developing a network of strong STEM-oriented partner schools, and conducting an annual Colorado road show.
Improve flexibility and breadth in undergraduate engineering curricula. Among other options, consider a core freshman year, increase the number of decisions individual students make during their program of study, and increase the number of core classes taught in multiple semesters (including summer) while fostering collaboration across departments with similar course offerings. Adopt approaches to increase exposure of students to computing, statistics, ethics, business, leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation and team skills within undergraduate curriculum, and support their own personal and professional development.
Support the professional development of faculty to become expert educators that are well versed in methods to support student academic success, persistence in engineering, and the promotion of a professional and inclusive classroom environment. Facilitate the professional development of staff in support of student academic success.
Invest in student success by providing students with the timely and relevant support services needed (advising and coaching, mentoring, tutoring, career services, BOLD Center). Hold all students, staff and faculty accountable for student persistence and graduation progress.
Increase the award amount of merit-based undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships to incentivize highly qualified students to commit to CU Boulder.
Develop a communications strategy and grow programs to actively promote our national thought leadership in active, project-based and experiential engineering education.
Develop and communicate metrics that show the college’s impact on the state of Colorado.

Increase Our Global Engagement

We will develop engineers and technical solutions with global reach to impact humanity; attract scholars from around the world; utilize Colorado as a testbed for the production of technical solutions that can be exported globally to impact the world’s economy, security and quality of life; provide an opportunity for every engineering student to have a global experience; and strategically promote the college’s professional master’s degree programs to attract talented students from around the globe. Highlights include:

Being the leading public university in international project-based learning and research with a focus on developing communities.
Establishing and leveraging strategic international partnerships that promote global research collaborations, dual degree programs and study abroad opportunities for students. Ensuring geographic and socioeconomic diversity of partnerships, including collaborations with top research universities as well as with institutions in the developing world. Establishing a physical presence internationally.
Connecting and engaging alumni from across the world in lifelong learning and service opportunities that align with our research and educational mission.
Fostering a global community across the college that celebrates the international diversity of our student body and faculty, promotes global solutions to local issues and is known for international impact.

Strategy

Establish an endowment to fund global program development, faculty and graduate student exchanges with international partner universities, on-campus support for visiting professors (e.g. office space, housing) and scholarships for students with high need.
Expand international partnerships with institutions abroad with whom CU Boulder could exchange faculty and students within the constraints of our engineering curricula and schedule. Develop innovative, trans-institutional projects that foster collaboration among CU students and faculty members with their counterparts abroad. Establish a physical presence internationally.
Make the engineering curricula more flexible so that students can study abroad without losing ground toward graduation; ensure students in all majors have study abroad programming available in their field of study
Create global seminars and global intensives that provide international experience within Maymester, summer session, spring break, or winter terms.
Develop projects that are global in reach by expanding international partnerships and global industry connections while engaging overseas alumni and visiting faculty members. Engage collaboratively with other units on campus.
Become a destination for an increasing number of international undergraduate and graduate students
Develop a communications strategy, that focuses on the college’s global impact through the production of solutions to major societal challenges and actively promotes our national thought leadership in the area of engineering for developing communities.

Enrich Our Professional Environment

We will be a community that values respect, inclusion and engagement as we grow together in excellence. We will conduct ourselves in a manner that starts with an open mind, assumes good intent and builds trust. We will appreciate the benefits of diversity and commit to its growth. We will recognize the intrinsic value and beneficial role of all members and stakeholders of our community. While distributed across campus, we will create a unified community and physical environment where people want to be. Highlights include:

Being the employer of choice on the Boulder campus and across the state.
Providing opportunities and encouraging professional development to grow each individual and their contribution to our community.
Holding all community members accountable for improving professional climate and transparent communication.
Having a faculty, staff and student population that reflects the diversity of our state.

Strategy

Conduct a comprehensive biannual college climate survey for all faculty, staff and students as well as share results across the college each year.
Conduct salary survey for all college staff and faculty relative to other CU colleges and peer group.
Develop an integrated 10-year growth plan for the college footprint.
Invest in creating spaces where faculty and staff can collaborate.
Host events at least twice a year around interdisciplinary themes to encourage informal interaction and camaraderie among faculty, staff and students.
Consider organizational models that empower departments and department chairs, making such positions more stable and more responsible for long-term strategic growth. As needed, consider external searches for future department chairs.
Celebrate success across college as well as with alumni and external stakeholders.
Improve reliability, continuity and transparency of communications across the college.
Cultivate shared ownership and responsibility in diversity and inclusion programs.
Invest in professional development opportunities across the college and discuss professional growth plans for each faculty and staff member as part of the annual review cycle.
Evaluate and document work-life balance policies.
Host major alumni events around homecoming and graduation, and engage alumni in student programs.

Strategic Vision

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Strategic Vision

Progress Reports

Departments

Programs

Affiliates & Partners