Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future

The organization’s allocation of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

The university has efficiently utilized its limited resources to ensure support for the mission. Recent improvements to planning and budgeting processes link them more closely to the strategic plan. Planning has allowed CSU-Pueblo to address difficult economic challenges and remain effective in meeting its core mission. The planning process has become increasingly integrated, linked to the strategic plan, and developed by all stakeholders, both internal and external. Planning processes allow for effective evaluation of budgets and resources in relation to the mission, and CSU-Pueblo is likely entering a period of greater economic stability that can lead to even more effective long-term planning. Further, assessment and evaluation of planning processes are improving and providing reliable evidence of the institution’s effectiveness. Electronic resources for data management have been improved. Decisions for substantive university change are made by units and individuals with designated authority, and this authority is cited in formal university documents. As a result of planning, innovation and change have occurred in all areas of the university, even with increasing external demands, and major policy changes have been reviewed by constituent groups before adoption.

Recommendations for the Future

• Follow-up and implementation of plans should be improved, so that planning will more fully drive future action.
• CSU-Pueblo should continue reviewing its policies and procedures to ensure they are up-to-date and reasonable.
• Communication of policy changes and decisions to the campus community should become more effective.
• Two important decision-making bodies (University Leadership Team and Deans and Directors Council) should keep records of their meetings and communicate decisions to the university.
• The university should publish a new Administrative/Professional Handbook, publish all policies on the Web, and ensure policies are readily available to all employees.
• CSU-Pueblo should continue to set budgetary priorities to meet the strategic goals of the institution and use resource allocations in areas such as recruitment of diverse faculty, staff, and student populations as measures of success.