Cal State Fullerton’s new 2018-2023 Strategic Plan was announced during the university’s Academic Senate meeting on Nov. 15.
Various members of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee reviewed the mission, values and four goals of the new plan. The process began in October 2017, said Mary Ann Villarreal, associate vice president for strategic initiatives.
President Fram Virjee stressed the efforts made to create the strategic plan as a collaborative effort. The committee met with more than 200 different campus groups and in town hall meetings. Such efforts led to the emergence of a draft plan, “but we weren’t done with gathering input and we received more robust responses and more feedback.
“We knew we needed to dig deeper and we did exactly that,” Virjee said, noting that the committee covered the breadth of the campus, included faculty, staff, administrators, and students, and worked hard to bring to fruition this plan, these values, this mission.
“This is not a laundry list of what we do well, it’s not a laundry list of what we don’t do well and it’s certainly not everything that we’re going to be doing,” he stressed. It is, he noted, where “we want to emphasize our focus and commitment over the next five years.”
That effort begins with the plan’s mission statement, a concise 58 words: California State University, Fullerton, enriches the lives of students and inspires them to thrive in a global environment. We cultivate lifelong habits of scholarly inquiry, critical and creative thinking, dynamic inclusivity, and social responsibility. Rooted in the strength of our diversity and immersive experiences, we embolden Titans to become intellectual, community, and economic leaders who shape the future.
Collaborative work led to many shared accomplishments during the university’s previous five-year plan beginning in 2013. In those five years, CSUF achieved a 27 percent improvement in six-year graduation rates and a 47 percent improvement in four-year graduation rates for first-time freshmen. The university also erased the equity gap for transfer students and made tremendous strides in decreasing it for first-time freshman, and nearly tripled annual gift commitments to help ensure the future success of our students.
The 2018-2013 plan continues with seven values that include student success; scholarly and creative activities: diversity, equity and inclusion; civic engagement; collegial governance; integrity; and service to the region.
Then came the plan’s four goals:
- Our Commitment to a Transformational Titan Experience
- Our Commitment to Student Success and Completion
- Recruit and Retain a High-Quality and Diverse Faculty and Staff
- Our Commitment to Our Learning Environment and Legacy
Each goal, its objectives, and strategies are listed on the Strategic Plan website.
“We are collaborative, collective partners in this plan,” Virjee stressed. “It is audacious. … but it is achievable. Every day, let’s get out there and make this happen.”
