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As the academic year opens, the Academic Futures committee has submitted a draft report (PDF) offering a new academic vision for the CU Boulder campus to consider.

Generated from a year-long effort involving more than 150 community and unit-based meetings, 158 submitted white papers and hundreds of hours of conversations by the 21-member committee and by individuals and groups across campus, the report offers five projects designed to transform CU Boulder to be a leading public research institution for the 21st century.

“The Academic Futures report asks the campus to revitalize our commitment to being a public research university, committed to the common good and to shared knowledge,” said Jeff Cox, vice provost for faculty affairs and convener of the Academic Futures initiative.

“Building on our considerable strengths, our shared values and our strategic priorities, the report sets forth projects that will take our mission of learning and discovery to new places, addressing a changing society and equipping our students, faculty and staff to build a better world.”

The draft report offers five projects fueled by five “big ideas” around: student-centered learning; interdisciplinary teaching, research and creative work; internationalizing the campus; online and distance education; and sustaining, supporting and inspiring our community.

“This report comes straight from the collective mind of the CU Boulder campus,” said Emily CoBabe-Ammann, facilitator for Academic Futures. “It represents a process in which we asked people to think without limits and barriers, imagine the university they wanted and need to fuel their goals and visions, and they did.”

The draft report is now posted on the Academic Futures website where members of the community can review it and provide feedback over the next 30 days. Feedback is also encouraged in a series of town halls throughout September.

Provost Russ Moore, Senior Vice Chancellor Kelly Fox and CU Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano will review the report’s recommendations and identify priorities for implementation that they will announce to the campus at a date later this semester.

“I am grateful to Jeff, Emily, the members of the committee and to our entire campus community for its tireless work to bring forward this vision for our future,” said Moore.

Fox said, “I am looking forward to reviewing the report and receiving feedback on these ideas from the campus community.”

Read the spring 2018 initiatives update on Academic Futures.