Launching Student Success together this fall

Aug. 29, 2023

MSU Denver Faculty and Staff,

Welcome back! I hope you had an opportunity over the summer to engage in activities that ignite your passion as we launch into the fall semester.

On Thursday, I’ll be delivering my annual Welcome Back address, in which I’ll remind the faculty, staff and students of our redoubled focus on our core mission: to prepare our students to meet Colorado’s workforce needs.

With students, students, students as our three priorities, we will move the needle on our retention, completion and post-grad outcomes by clarifying our guidelines, aligning our systems and processes and improving technical and student support.

As we achieve our student-success goals and the flywheel starts to turn, we will be able to better compensate people for their contribution to the core mission and more Coloradans will be prepared to close the gaps in our workforce, making our economy stronger.

Provost Ad Interim Marie Mora, Ph.D., and Vice President for Student Affairs Will Simpkins, Ed.D., are leading the effort to cultivate a clear flight plan for student success. They are identifying obstacles and removing systemic blocks so we can launch our initiative and move these needles.

At the same time, now that we have recovered and stabilized operations in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic disruptions, we’re ready to truly operationalize our 2030 Strategic Plan, which lays out a road map for MSU Denver’s development over the next few years.

I’d like to highlight some recent wins for us here on the MSU Denver campus:

• Our Advancement team solidified a record fundraising year, bringing in $15.5 million from more than 4,764 donors, 2,303 of whom were alumni.
• We completed upgrades to IT infrastructure in the Science Building, replacing outdated and end-of-life technology with state-of-the-art solutions to improve the wireless experience.
• Renovation also began on the second floor of West Classroom, causing some shuffling that will ultimately leave us with state-of-the-art health care and lab space.
• The campus is also embarking on an update to the Master Facilities Plan that will help guide the design and construction of new buildings on our campus in coming years.

We have the best leadership team in MSU Denver’s history, and I’m looking forward to partnering with you as we launch our student-success initiative. Working together, we can achieve the outcome that will serve our students, support our people and grow Colorado’s workforce.

Sincerely,

Janine Davidson, Ph.D.
President