Built for change. Built to last. Built for good.
In 2016, the University of Denver launched IMPACT 2025, a ten-year strategic plan shaped by thousands of voices from across the DU community. It began with a shared commitment to educate with purpose, advance knowledge for the public good, and strengthen our local and global leadership.
DU looks back on a decade of transformation. IMPACT 2025 guided growth, inspired collaboration, and set in motion a lasting culture of innovation and inclusion that continues to shape the University’s future.
"DU IMPACT 2025 was made possible by the DU community’s clear vision and bold ideas. Over the past decade, together, we built an institution that is now ready to model for the whole world what a new kind of higher education looks like—one that’s fully oriented toward an exceptional student experience. That’s our future. That’s DU Forward."
- Chancellor Jeremy Haefner
Our Focus
DU IMPACT 2025 outlined a vision for a more connected, student-centered, and forward-looking University. Across classrooms, research labs, and community partnerships, the DU community worked toward six central priorities.
Student Success and the 4D Experience
Supporting students as whole people — intellectually, personally, and professionally.
Academic Innovation
Expanding interdisciplinary learning and creating flexible pathways that prepare students for complex challenges.
Research for the Public Good
Channeling scholarship toward solutions that serve communities and improve lives.
One DU Community
Strengthening inclusion, belonging, and collaboration across all corners of campus.
The Denver Advantage
Transforming DU’s physical campus into a network of spaces that inspire connection and creativity.
Partnerships and Entrepreneurship
Launching initiatives like Project X-ITE to connect ideas, industries, and innovation.
Our Impact
Over ten years, IMPACT 2025 became a catalyst for change across the University. Students found new opportunities to learn and belong. Faculty deepened their research and partnerships. The campus evolved into a more vibrant, connected, and inclusive environment.
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Enhancing Reputation and Resources
- Earned Top Marks from Both Students and Peers
- #6 “Best College Library” — Princeton Review (2026)
- #10 “Their Students Love These Colleges” — Princeton Review (2026)
- Named one of 75 “Dream Schools” — National college guide by higher education journalist Jeffery Selingo (2025)
- Opened Three Sustainable, Student-Centric Buildings
- Community Commons — to enrich campus culture and community
- Dimond Family Residential Village — to encourage cohort-building for first-year residents
- Burwell Center for Career Achievement — to connect with our global alumni network
- Achieved Record Levels of Fundraising
- $72 million raised in first year of campaign
- $26 million gift of the Kennedy Mountain Campus
- $10 million gift to first-generation program
- $2.5 million gift to the Burns School of Real Estate for career-focused opportunities
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Elevating Research and Academic Excellence
- Earned Research 1 (R1) Status
- 1st private institution in the Rocky Mountain Region to receive an R1 classification (2021), partially the result of providing 2x the funding for faculty research opportunities
- $46.7 million in research expenditures
- $27 million in new research awards
- 33,933 faculty citations
- Innovated for the Human Experience: Examples in Action
- Discovered that treating maternal depression during pregnancy can lead to healthier babies
- Developed a cutting-edge miniature, cancer-detecting spectrometer that’s 300 times more affordable than traditional models
- Secured a $2.8 million grant to study how to slow or even halt dementia and Parkinson’s
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Championing the Four-Dimensional Experience
- Boosted Metrics around Personal Development
- Refocused the student experience around four key dimensions: deepening intellect, developing well-being, discovering character, and designing careers and lives of purpose. Some 2024-25 highlights included:
- 4D Leadership, Community, and Legacy Retreat — Hosted 36 students, 96% of whom identified ways they could apply the teachings to their futures
- 4D Purpose Dinners — Engaged 102 students in quarterly staff-led mentorship and networking events, where 99% of attendees agreed that the event provided a fresh perspective on education and life experience
- Social Justice Education — Trained 492 students on how to critically engage across differences and build inclusive communities
- The Compassion Lab — Immersed 311 students and 30 faculty/staff in a course-based experience that focuses on empathy, awareness, and connection
- Prioritized Student Success
- Put mentorship, student well-being, and career readiness first by introducing:
- Crimson Constellation, DU’s official networking and mentorship platform
- Living & Learning Communities to encourage values-based leadership and civic engagement
- Expanded scholarships to improve affordability and accessibility
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Uplifting Local and Global Communities
- Added Value Across Colorado
- $2.3 billion generated annually
- 54,000 alumni living and working in Colorado
- 11,800 jobs supported
- Became a Hub for Human Advancement and Achievement
- Denver Democracy Summit brings together thought leaders, scholars, and the wider public in discussion of democracy’s future
- Spark focuses on free expression and pluralism to foster open dialogue and critical thinking
- Five national championships — three in hockey and two in skiing — as well as a regional gymnastics championship
- Stimulated Civic Engagement
- In 2018, DU opened the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy, which serves as a neutral hub for discourse to engage students, faculty, and community members in society’s most salient issues. Its goals are to:
- advance interdisciplinary research on democracy, inequality, inclusion, and urban policy
- foster campus-wide policy dialogue and collaboration
- engage diverse stakeholders in shaping and debating public policy solutions
- partner with the community to convene regional and global policy initiatives like Denver Dialogues, which brings together experts from four of the nation’s premier think tanks for timely, robust conversations about the world’s most pressing challenges
Stories of Impact
U.S. News & World Report Ranks DU as Top College in 2026 Rankings
Now 117th on the National Universities list, DU earns high marks for its support of veterans, undergraduate business program, and more.
100% of DU's electricity will be generated from solar power
DU Expands Research Impact With New Centers and Institutes
The University of Denver has officially designated six research centers and two research institutes, fostering collaboration, innovation and thought leadership across diverse fields.
Our Approach
From its inception, DU IMPACT 2025 was powered by collaboration. Over 18 months, thousands of conversations shaped the University’s shared goals. Cross-campus implementation teams translated those ideas into action and kept the work moving forward.
The plan embodied our “One DU” philosophy by building connection, inclusion, and trust across departments and disciplines. It also aligned physical spaces with purpose, ensuring that the campus itself reflected the values of belonging and innovation.
Through it all, DU proved that lasting change begins with community.
DU IMPACT 2025
Launched in January 2016 under the leadership of Chancellor Rebecca Chopp, DU IMPACT 2025 laid the foundation for a decade of transformation and continues to inspire DU’s vision for the future.
Read the Full Plan
