Academic Affairs Goals

Goals

MSU Denver Goals (taken from the 2015-2020 Strategic Plan Refresh)

Vision

Metropolitan State University of Denver’s vision is to become the preeminent public urban university in the nation.

Role and Mission

MSU Denver is a comprehensive, baccalaureate- and master’s-degree granting urban university that offers arts and sciences, professional and business courses and programs to a diverse student population in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Excellence in teaching and learning is MSU Denver’s primary objective.

MSU Denver’s mission is to provide a high-quality, accessible, enriching education that prepares students for successful careers, post-graduate education and lifelong learning in a multicultural, global and technological society. To fulfill its mission, MSU Denver’s diverse university community engages the community at large in scholarly inquiry, creative activity and the application of knowledge.

Student and Academic Success 

At MSU Denver, we believe excellence in teaching and learning and student success—supported in a collegial atmosphere of academic freedom—must be accorded the highest priority. We evaluate our success by utilizing measures focused on the knowledge and skills students gain during their educational experience with us. MSU Denver students, faculty and staff strive for excellence in all that they do.

Goal 1: MSU Denver strategically grows enrollment in support of student success and in response to market demand, consistent with Colorado’s 2025 college completion goal.
Metric: Develop strategic enrollment plan in Fall 2015. Implement plan in Spring 2016. Metric: Measure enrollment goals as defined by performance contract with the state and as agreed upon by Board of Trustees. (See addendum A).

Goal 2: MSU Denver enhances student success through relevant curriculum and targeted student support services and programmatic innovation.

Metric: Increase first-time, full-time freshman retention rate from 63% to 75% by 2020.

Metric: Improve ratio of credential completion per student FTE from the current 1:4.4 to 1:4 by 2020.

Metric: Achieve a 60%/40% full-time to affiliate faculty ratio across campus. (Baseline for FY 13/14 is 57.63% FT and 42.32% PT. Based on current credit hour production we would need to increase full time faculty by 21.5 positions—and decrease the amount of adjuncts accordingly— to achieve 60%. This number would change annually based on total credit hour production.)

Metric: Achieve AACSB (Association to Advance College Schools of Business) Accreditation by 2016-17.

Goal 3: MSU Denver graduates are civic-minded and ready to meet career and/or graduate school expectations.

Metric: Increase the number of graduates getting jobs within one year of graduation by 5% by 2020. (Current number = 57.1% working full time; 22.7% working part time).
Metric: Increase the number of graduates enrolled in or seeking post-baccalaureate education within one year of graduation by 5% by 2020. (Current number = 39.3%).
Metric: Increase the civic skills of our graduates as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data by 5% by 2020. (New category; base line will be established in 2015-16).

Goal 4: MSU Denver achieves the federal designation of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
Metric: Achieve HSI status by Fall 2018. (Benchmark is Fall 2014 which shows that 19.8% of all FTE students qualify under current HSI standards. Goal by Fall of 2018 is 25%.)

Five Strategic Themes

We will do this with a continued commitment to our five strategic themes:

• Student and Academic Success
• Community Engagement and Regional Stewardship
• University Culture
• University Resources
• Telling the MSU Denver Story

MSU Denver Strategic Plan for 2030

Performance Contract with the State of Colorado