When the next history of the University of Colorado at Boulder is written, Nov. 29, 2007 will mark a strategic turning point.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents Thursday unanimously approved a new strategic plan for the University of Colorado at Boulder that was more than a year in the making, but which will transform the university for decades to come.
Titled "Flagship 2030: Serving Colorado, Engaged in the World," the plan was forged with the help of 16 Colorado communities and hundreds of contributors statewide. It builds on CU-Boulder's current strengths while seeking to literally reinvent the institution over the next two decades through 10 transformational "Flagship Initiatives."
And that, said CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson, was all by design from Nov. 20 of last year, when he kicked off the unique strategic planning process and unveiled an even more unique set of objectives.
"I did not want a traditional five- or 10-year plan full of parochial goals - being ranked 10th in this or fifth in that," said Peterson. "Rather, I wanted to develop a vision for what CU-Boulder could become, and for a future built in full partnership with the public that would reshape the university and better serve the state, the nation and the world."
"Today we possess an exciting new sense of how we can do just that," Peterson said, "and I am honored that the regents are supportive - their support will be vital every step of the way."
Board approval of the Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan is the enabling step that caps the work of a 54-member planning committee, the feedback of hundreds of individuals from inside and outside the CU-Boulder community, and the direct input of "thought leaders" from 16 Colorado communities: Alamosa, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Greeley, La Junta, Lamar, Limon, Longmont, Pueblo, Steamboat Springs, Sterling and Vail.
Beginning in January, the university will form task forces that will begin to identify how the Flagship 2030 plan will be implemented and the funds needed to implement it. The university also will make the plan the center of its fundraising efforts as well as its organizational and transformational activities.
As part of its Colorado outreach, CU faculty interviewed the thought leaders, which included community figures such as the mayor, the school superintendent, the newspaper publisher, the local chamber of commerce executive, the "most significantly involved" parents from the largest local high schools and a "great representative" of the community. "What we heard were a host of creative ideas about what we could become and how we could better support the citizens of Colorado," Peterson said. "We also heard that many of these communities had never been asked for input in this way, helping us to forge some valuable partnerships by doing so."
CU-Boulder Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan approved by regents
Melding ideas and input from CU faculty, staff, students, alumni and administrators with that of "core contributors" -- individuals from inside and outside the university community who offered analysis and suggestions via e-mail and personal meetings with CU leaders - the Flagship 2030 Strategic Planning committee, through six subcommittees, addressed six fundamental questions as a starting point for the plan:
1) What will our graduating students need to know and be able to do in the year 2030? 2) To what needs of the year 2030 will our research, scholarship, and creative efforts respond? 3) What will the State of Colorado need from us in the year 2030? 4) What should our relationship with the Boulder community be in the year 2030? 5) What kind of university community will we aspire to be in the year 2030? 6) What kind of financial and operational models will CU-Boulder need in order to succeed in 2030?
The main features of the plan (which can be viewed in summary form at and which are enclosed for the media in PDF form) are two sets of complementary initiatives. The first eight "core initiatives" are designed to keep CU-Boulder investing in the necessary service areas required for the university to remain competitive in the short-term. These include such items as enhancing education and scholarships, fostering research excellence, enhancing graduate education, ensuring access and serving Colorado, the community and CU-Boulder graduates.
The new Flagship 2030 Web site will be posted today at and a summary is enclosed in PDF form.
The 10 "Flagship Initiatives" are bold innovations that seek to transform the university into a global model of the "new flagship university for the 21st century." The initiatives will extend the boundaries of the university while challenging its current and future leadership and staff to commit to a continuous state of innovation and creativity. Some of these ideas include creating customized learning by formation of an "undergraduate academy," incorporating experiential learning into the curriculum, creating alternative degree tracks that will allow students to earn a master's degree as a primary learning track, year-round learning within a three-semester calendar, expanding partnerships with other Colorado public research universities, and making CU-Boulder a "global crossroads" by establishing a "Colorado Center for Global Education, Research and Advanced Studies."
"The balance of these two sets of initiatives is the hallmark of this plan," said Peterson. "Our core initiatives will keep us focused and accountable for years to come, while our Flagship Initiatives will force us to commit to innovation for decades to come in serving Colorado, the nation and the world. In the end, what we're talking about is a university whose work will be more exciting than anything we can imagine today."
Peterson acknowledged the role of the vice chancellors in shaping the plan - particularly Phil DiStefano, provost and chief academic officer of the campus, and Ric Porreca, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer, who served as co-chairs for the planning effort.
Flagship 2030 Plan features year-round learning and seven other innovations
"Phil and Ric have been important champions of the Flagship 2030 process and outcomes," Peterson said. "Implementation will require substantial resources and academic planning, and these two campus leaders have been, and will be, instrumental to carrying it out and making it work. I am grateful for their efforts over the last year."
Peterson also thanked CU President Hank Brown, who challenged the chancellors of CU-Boulder, CU-Denver and CU-Colorado Springs to develop strategic plans. "President Brown was patient with us as we embarked on an ambitious and completely different planning process," the chancellor said. "I think we are presenting him with a plan unlike any since the initial formulation of the university in 1876."
President Brown agreed. "I am gratified by the vision, hard work and determination to arrive at a strategic plan that is as unique as CU's long history and that so integrally involved the public as a working partner," said Brown. "Any institution that incorporates a public vision into its strategic planning is an institution that I believe will succeed and, indeed, will prevail. I congratulate Chancellor Peterson and the entire University of Colorado at Boulder community on the Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan."
By making the plan the focus of its fund raising efforts, Peterson said its implementation is ensured.
"This is not a plan that will end up on a shelf or buried in cyberspace," said Peterson. "This document is not an end but a beginning: our strategic plan is our pathway to the future and is at the center of who we are and all that we will become. What we are is Colorado's flagship university - the leading comprehensive institution of research, teaching and service in our state. In the next 30 years, that flagship status will take on a dynamic new meaning for Colorado, the nation and the world, and I am eager to see where that new role will take us."