Chancellor creates initiative to prepare for future
Could floating classrooms and exchange programs on Saturn be in the future for CU?
Chancellor Bud Peterson has created a comprehensive look into the future dubbed “The Flagship 2030 Strategic Planning Initiative.” The 53-person committee is responsible for determining what the future might hold for CU in the year 2030 and what the university can do to remain Colorado’s “flagship university.”
>>Flagship 2030 prompts |
1. What will our graduating students need to know and be able to do in the year 2030? 2.To what needs of the year 2030 will our research, scholarship and creative efforts respond? 3.What will the state of Colorado need from us in the year 2030? 4.What should our relationship with the Boulder community be in the year 2030? 5.What kind of university community will we aspire to be in the year 2030? 6.What kind of financial and operational models will CU-Boulder need in order to succeed in 2030?
– Jimmy Himes
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“Flagship 2030 is a new initiative to examine what the world might expect of us at the local, state, federal and global levels in 2030, to articulate a vision for the University of Colorado at Boulder that will allow us to meet those expectations and demands, and to develop and implement action plans that will allow us to achieve that vision and fulfill those expectations,” Peterson said in a statement on the initiative’s Web site.
The committee has been divided into six subcommittees. Each committee specializes in different aspects of university life, including how CU relates to the city of Boulder and to the state as a whole.
Other subcommittees address graduate student affairs, research, scholarship and creative work, campus atmosphere and finance. Committees began meetings in December 2006.
The subcommittees will be asked to prepare separate reports specific to their respective categories and collectively compile findings into an integrated final report and plan of action submitted to Peterson on May 4. Findings will be complied into a comprehensive plan during the summer, and will be submitted as the “Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan” to the Board of Regents in November.
In a statement on the initiative’s Web site http://www.colorado.edu/chancellor/flagship2030/input2030.html, Peterson calls for community involvement.
“It seems like the university is making an effort toward being better,” said Danny Costinett, a freshman computer science major. “I would hope the university will be in a better place in 2030.”
Notes and report drafts are available on the site as PDF files for review and even revision. Community members can submit comments via electronic form.
The site also links to an interactive discussion board where the community is invited to discuss the project.
Despite being online since December, the forum has only four registered members and no discussion threads initiated.
“It would be interesting to see what the university will look like in 2030,” said Renee Shure, a freshman pre-journalism major. “But I probably wouldn’t be too interested in the discussion board.”