August 19, 2021

To our campus community,

Since the release of the CSU 2.0 Final Report in late March and the supportive votes by our Faculty Senate in late April, we have continued to engage our broad campus community to build support and solicit further guidance on how to best implement our exciting blueprint to drive us forward. Today I am pleased to provide you with an update on how we will execute on our plan and track progress.

To ensure we stay focused with our intended outcomes, we will establish a CSU 2.0 Implementation Team led by Forrest Faison, Senior VP for Research, Innovation and Health Care Strategy, and Allyson Robichaud, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Their primary charge is to develop and synchronize deliverables, metrics, milestones, timelines and a communication plan that will keep our campus community updated on progress. They will be assisted and advised by outgoing Provost Jianping Zhu; Richard Freeland, President Emeritus of Northeastern University; and Nigamanth Sridhar, Professor of Computer Science.

Two working groups will be established to address each of the 24 strategic priorities outlined in the CSU 2.0 Final Report: an Academic and Student Success Working Group and an Administrative Working Group. The teams will include students, faculty and staff to draw upon the expertise of our community. Each group will work collaboratively with key campus constituencies to develop a set of cohesive and measurable goals and objectives to help guide decisions on institutional activities and investments.

The Academic and Student Success Working Group will be co-chaired by Laura Bloomberg, SVP of Academic Affairs & Provost; Marius Boboc, Vice Provost for Academic Planning; and Jonathan Wehner, VP of Enrollment Management & Student Success. Their work will include detailed execution plans for key academic priorities listed in CSU 2.0, including realigning our colleges, strengthening our faculty and programs, growing undergraduate and graduate enrollments, enhancing retention and progression rates, reviewing and updating curricula, reducing costs, expanding internships/externships that provide pathways to careers, addressing disparities in student outcomes and expanding our research footprint.

The Administrative Working Group will be co-chaired by David Jewell, SVP for Business Affairs & CFO, and Jeanell Hughes, VP of Administration & Chief of Staff. Their work will focus on strengthening CSU’s financials, enhancing revenue opportunities, reducing university-wide administrative costs, improving operational efficiency, improving campus-wide administrative support services, advancing staff career development pathways, enhancing our internal financial distribution model, developing our campus master plan to support growth and providing a framework for our next capital campaign.

Oversight and ultimate responsibility for executing CSU 2.0 rests with me and the President's Cabinet, and this group will serve as the Steering Committee for the CSU 2.0 implementation process. The Steering Committee will oversee and provide guidance on key implementation components, ensure strategic alignment across its various priorities, make decisions on major investments and allocate resources as needed to ensure targets are met.

When fall semester begins next week, we will convene the Steering Committee, Implementation Team and Working Group leaders, advisors and other contributors to build a framework to sustain and support our efforts.

Thank you in advance for your continuing commitment to our ambitious goals and I am very much looking forward to working with each and every one of you as we continue to move Forward Together.

Sincerely,

Harlan M. Sands
President
Cleveland State University

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