DU IMPACT 2025 Implementation Update

The cohort of nine Community-Engaged Student Fellows hosted five events that engaged a total of 36 faculty and staff members, 14 students and seven community organizations. Together, they worked in the following issue areas: Metropolitan Denver Nature Alliance (mDNA), Criminal Justice, Health Equity, Youth Voice, Education Access & Equity, Transportation, Social Entrepreneurship, Writing & the Public Good and Urban Renewal.

We have changed the language of the Professional Research Opportunity Fund (PROF) and proposed to increase the funds available for a multi-disciplinary team from $30,000 to $45,000 for the next application cycle. The proposal is currently under review by the Faculty Senate.

We have created the Diversity Dashboard on the new website for Diversity and Inclusion. The Dashboard gives us a snapshot of student composition, campus climate, student engagement benchmarks and student outcomes.

The University selected Ayers Saint Gross (ASG) to embark on the development of the Campus Master Plan. To get involved and keep up to date with all of the activities, please visit the master plan webpage. You can also have direct input on the development of the campus master plan by attending the open forums. 

We created a new Director of Campus Engagement role to grow career and employer engagement pathways with faculty. Over the summer, we sent out a “Faculty Career Champions” survey to students to identify faculty that have supported student internship, career and continuing education goals. We received over 350 submissions and, as a result, we organized a Faculty Breakfast where over 80 faculty joined us for a career discussion on September 13. After receiving positive feedback from the faculty involved, our team is working on next steps, including reaching out to faculty members individually.

We have established a General Education Review and Inquiry Committee, rooted doubly in DU IMPACT 2025 and in the desirability to critically evaluate general education periodically. They will conduct an inquiry into the philosophy, goals, delivery and outcomes of the DU common curriculum, doing so in relation to other possibilities or opportunities. The process may yield anything from a reaffirmation of the existing program as it is or modifications of the program to significant changes. We have also started the second year of our One Book One DU program.

For undergraduates, we are working on a bold, new fundraising proposal, tentatively labeled the Denver Promise, that will help close the unmet need gap and provide greater access to higher education to hundreds of diverse, talented Denver-area students.

Outreach to undergraduate and graduate students was achieved through campus-wide tabling, attending student organization meetings and sending out an online survey to gather student input on the following topics: What DU traditions are students aware of? What traditions would students like to see on campus?

Faculty and staff input was gathered electronically via an online survey, a Staff Advisory Council meeting and the faculty senate listserv. Over 250 people shared their input during the data collection period.

Building upon the strengths of the current partnership between Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Career & Professional Development, the academic advising working group will engage the campus community as we explore strategies to best advise undergraduate students. The primary goal of this group will be to provide a framework to evolve our current advising model into an integrative approach to student advising for undergraduates.

The University of Denver Board of Trustees has endorsed a resolution encouraging new actions and backing continued efforts to embrace sustainability and address climate change on campus. The resolution reaffirms DU’s commitment and builds upon key principles under its sustainability objective in the DU IMPACT 2025 plan.