President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., kicked off the Sept. 14 meeting of the President’s Cabinet with an overview of the Aug. 31 Fall Welcome Back event.  

The event marked the launch of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Student Success initiative and the operationalizing of Pillars I and II of the 2030 Strategic Plan to align systems, processes, policies and incentive structures toward student success. The initiative focuses on MSU Denver’s founding mission as a student-centered teaching university to develop Colorado’s workforce. 

“We will reaffirm and continuously track our bold goals and our supporting metrics for completion, enrollment and postgraduate success. And, most urgently, we will focus like a laser across all our branches, colleges, departments and supporting functions on student retention,” Davidson said.

Enrollment and employee-stipend update 

Long Huyhn, chief enrollment officer, presented an overview of fall enrollment numbers, which show growth in important areas such as new-student enrollment. A 16% boost in new students put the University in a position to reward employees for their hard work. As stated in the Early Bird this month, full-time, nonclassified employees will receive a one-time stipend of $800 this fall.  Overall, MSU Denver’s undergraduate population is 16,307 students, an increase of 2.89% over last year. 

“These new enrollment numbers are proof that our strategy is working, and they show what we can do when we follow the flight plan and work together as a team,” Davidson said. 

2030 Strategic Plan update

Meredith Jeffers, Ph.D., director of Strategy, gave members a first look at the new Rowdy Dash, a dashboard containing the University’s key performance indicators and top-line metrics related to areas such as student success, enrollment, retention and postgraduate outcomes that measure and track overall organizational health and performance. She also provided an overview of the new University’s Objectives and Key Results framework. This strategy-execution framework allows the University to align goals with owners and key milestones. It also helps determine what needs to be achieved regarding 2030 Strategic Plan goals, which are paired with three to five success measures to determine when a goal is progressing and has been reached. The approach will increase alignment, transparency and collaboration while reducing silos and duplicative work.  

Jeffers will present regularly at future President’s Cabinet meetings. 

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Announcements and reminders

  • If you know a Roadrunner who solves problems, positively impacts the community and constantly goes above and beyond to achieve goals, share their Changemaker story at MSUDenver.edu/changemakers. 
  • The University Communications and Marketing Digital Team has improved top-line navigation on the University website and invites feedback. 
  • Visit msudenver.edu/brandcentral to see a variety of marketing, communication and web-author tool kits. 
  • University Advancement has raised $43 million toward its capital campaign goal of $75 million. 
  • The Cross Functional Task Force on Faculty Workload steering committee is transitioning to an oversight-and-implementation advisory committee. The initiative will also move under Pillar V of the 2030 Strategic Plan. 
  • The Energage Workplace Survey is now live. All eligible employees should have received a personalized, secure link in an email from [email protected] Sept. 18. 
  • Roadrunners Who Soar nominations are open through Nov. 30. 
  • Check out all the upcoming athletic events at RoadrunnersAthletics.com. 
  • Starting Oct. 2, all campus buildings will move to Phase III of the 2023 Auraria Secured Campus Initiative. All Roadrunners are strongly encouraged to carry their campus ID badge at all times when on campus. 

Hiring and search updates 

  • The 12-member provost-search committee has completed the first round of candidate reviews, resulting in the selection of 14 highly qualified semifinalists. Stay tuned to the Early Bird for more details and next steps. 
  • The School of Hospitality dean search is underway, and Roadrunners can expect an update soon. 
  • Ann Obermann, Ph.D., LCSW, associate professor of Social Work, is the newly elected faculty trustee. Watch the Early Bird to learn more about Obermann. 

Upcoming events

  • Today, MSU Denver will dedicate the Charlie Papazian Brewing Education Lab housed in the School of Hospitality. Watch RED for more details. 
  • Next week, the University will officially break ground on the Nursing Simulation and Skills Labs.  
  • The Board of Trustees will meet Thursday-Friday. Read the recap in next week’s Early Bird. 
  • Join in Homecoming festivities Sept. 25-30. 
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