President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., opened the January meeting of the President’s Cabinet by thanking all employees who helped ensure a safe and well-communicated weather closure last week.
Davidson also provided some high-level updates from the recent Senior Leadership Team. Members gathered this month to align priorities for the new semester, focusing on Stuff That Works; prioritizing nontraditional students and flexibility; alignment with the state on work-based learning; budget as strategy; diversity issues; and more.
Legislative update
Davidson presented Metropolitan State University of Denver’s funding request to the state’s Joint Budget Committee this month. MSU Denver and its fellow Colorado colleges and universities are requesting $144 million in state operating funding and 4% in tuition authority. Combined, these requests would cover base core minimum cost increases, accounting for inflation and including compensation increases.
“For MSU Denver, this translates to an increase of about $13 million in our base funding if we have comparable enrollment data to last year,” Davidson said. “This would be the largest percentage increase of any college or university in Colorado, similar to the past two years.”
The University has also requested capital funding for the expansion of the Health Institute and Classroom to Career Hub, plus some Information Technology Services funding requests.
Day of Giving
The 2023 MSU Denver Day of Giving will take place March 30, with a goal of reaching 1,200 donors. This year’s theme is “Arcade: Get in the Game,” and the Advancement team is accepting project submissions through March 1. Projects will be open to donors March 9-30.
Last year’s event raised $221,545 from 1,144 donors. The event includes match and challenge gifts as well as social-media advocacy and a daylong telethon.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners Athletics Giving Challenge will pit sports teams against one another to raise funds, with bonuses for the most donors and dollars.
Employees can get involved by submitting project proposals, sharing the event on social media, attending day-of events, watching or joining in the telethon, making a matching gift or challenge gift, or starting or increasing payroll deductions.
University Planning and Budget Advisory Committee and Process
Cabinet members also heard a presentation regarding budget governance and the development of a new University Planning and Budget Advisory Committee. The body will serve as an advisory group to the president and Senior Leadership Team, which will include reviewing planning assumptions, providing perspectives of respective constituencies on budget programming and policy, monitoring budget execution and informing constituencies on the University’s budget and associated planning. Membership of the University Planning and Budget Advisory Committee includes a representative from each branch.
The group’s multiyear strategic budget-planning process will focus first on budget-plan execution and current-year needs and in the second fiscal year will move to budget planning for the next fiscal year. Years 3-5 will prioritize strategic multiyear budget priority-setting and projections as well as strategic focus and guidance from the Board of Trustees.
Workday launch
MSU Denver officially transitioned to Workday on Jan. 4, and to date more than 2,200 employees have logged in to the system. Some challenges have arisen with security permissions, integrations, onboarding and ensuring data consistency, and the transition team is working diligently to reconcile all challenges and support tickets. For January, the team will prioritize addressing critical items such as payroll or issues that could affect courses as well as identifying and filling training or documentation gaps.
For February and beyond, the team will tackle adaptive budget planning, talent management, Learning and Development and funding decisions for the student-system transformation.
Employees can explore Workday and submit support requests via msudenver.edu/workday.
The Workday team thanks all Roadrunners for their continued patience and partnership through this significant transition.
Leadership and staffing updates
- Jerry Glick and Olivia Mendoza have been nominated to be trustees by Gov. Jared Polis, pending confirmation by the state’s Senate Education Committee.
- Polis reappointed Board of Trustees Chair Russell Noles and member Marissa Molina, pending confirmation by the Senate Education Committee.
- Mohammed (Mo) Lotif is the new senior director for Strategic Infrastructure and Development within the Office of Strategy.
- Taylor Tackett, new associate vice president for Student Engagement and Wellness/dean of students, will join MSU Denver on Feb. 8.
- Grant Ignizio, Ph.D., professor of Spanish, will serve as the 2023 Faculty Fellow.
- Catherine Kleier, Ph.D., will serve as associate vice president for Faculty Affairs beginning in April.
- See recent Faculty Affairs and Online Learning leadership updates.
Announcements
- Celebrate January’s Roadrunner Shoutout Award winners.
- University Advancement has $27.3 million in gifts in the pipeline.
- The Student Government Task Force is focusing on scholarship accessibility, green purchasing, campus housing, safety and mental-health efforts as well as establishing Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a recognized holiday.
- The first Faculty Senate meeting of 2023 will be Feb. 1. Guests are welcome.
- See the Early Bird’s Staff Senate update for information on a new book club and restructuring efforts.
- New-student applications are up 26% year-over-year. The University has admitted 23% more students than at this time last year and has enrolled 12% more students than at this time last year. However, retention challenges have reduced total undergraduate head count to 14,323. Total graduate-student head count is 1,007.
- Stay tuned for information on network improvements to the PE/Events Center.
- Remember to explore the GROW, LAUNCH and LEAD professional-development programs.
- See the Early Bird’s recent Family and Medical Leave Insurance program article.
Save the date
- President’s Spring Update: March 2, King Center
- Rachel B. Noel Professorship events: March 7-8, Tivoli Turnhalle and Shorter Community AME Church
- Roadrunners Who Soar: April 6, Tivoli Turnhalle
- Commencement: May 12, Denver Coliseum