“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I shared this proverb in the summer of 2023 with an interdisciplinary planning group who was tasked with reviewing our financial status. I used this line to explain why the President’s Cabinet and I had formed this group and why we felt input, feedback and ideas from these individuals and others throughout Cleveland State University were essential to our success.

In truth, we must do both — go fast and go far — so that our University will be well positioned to thrive in today’s market. We must meet our students’ new needs and concerns, and we must also adapt to an era of declining enrollment and other challenges which colleges and universities across the country are now facing. The work of the above-mentioned planning group is one part of our progress toward Organizational Resilience and Financial Stability, which will continue beyond this year and will include the often uncomfortable and difficult process of self-examination and change.

As a timely reminder of the importance of this work, the year 2024 is an anniversary for CSU. We are commemorating 60 years as Cleveland’s public research-active university. This anniversary is giving us a great deal to celebrate, and it is also a unique motivator as we secure CSU’s future. We can learn from the past six decades of students, alumni, faculty, staff members and benefactors who contributed so much to affirm CSU’s position as a pillar of Northeast Ohio, even as we change and adapt to thrive long into the future.

We must go fast and go far.

The accomplishments mentioned here are some of the many ways we are serving our students and advancing our University in alignment with the goals ratified by the Board of Trustees last spring. No accomplishment described below is mine alone, and I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude to the members of the President’s Cabinet. These senior leaders have spearheaded critical efforts and provided counsel to me and each other along the way. I also express my appreciation for the many staff members and faculty who worked with Cabinet leaders on these initiatives.
 

Student Belonging and Success was developed to reflect a growing body of research indicating that a student’s sense of personal connection and belonging to their college or university is a critical factor in their academic success. This sense of connection can take many forms, and all can provide support while a student is making progress toward their degree. Students may find these connections with their peers, student organizations, faculty mentors or staff members. Once students feel they belong, they are more likely to strive toward success in their coursework, more likely to persist semester to semester and more likely to graduate on time. These are the critical priorities of a well-grounded university.

With this new division, staff offices previously in disparate units of the University can better coordinate their efforts to foster belonging and can align their efforts when students appear to disengage socially or academically. As loneliness becomes a primary concern for this generation’s students, CSU can now more effectively identify and assist students who may need this support.

Together, we are helping our students go far.

When we were in the initial planning phases of this division, I was grateful to see that Dr. Tachelle Banks was as passionate about this goal as I was. Dr. Banks’ range of experience at CSU, from her role as professor of special education to her administrative duties as associate chief diversity officer and associate dean, positioned her well to lead this new division, bring together these offices and align efforts toward a shared goal. Dr. Banks’ appointment to this role is a foundational milestone in establishing CSU as the university that puts the student at the center of all we do.

We must go together.
 

On July 25, 2023, we held our first forum to discuss the newly announced Organizational Resilience and Financial Stability (OR/FS) plan with CSU faculty and staff members. During the hour-long Zoom meeting, we explained the national challenges to colleges and universities and provided concise data to show how these challenges have impacted us at CSU. This town hall and the other OR/FS communications in July 2023 effectively launched OR/FS Phase I.

At this same time, we also assembled an interdisciplinary Planning Group of faculty, staff members and administrators to begin reviewing data related to expense and revenue sources. Co-led by Chief of Staff Patty Franklin, Vice President for Development Julie Rehm, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Andy Kersten, this Planning Group met frequently throughout the summer to consider the two aspects of their charge, which was to recommend cost-saving measures that would address our current and future budget deficits and ideas for growth in existing and/or new revenue streams.

In late September, I received the Planning Group’s report, which included detailed lists of recommendations for both parts of their charge. The Cabinet and I were appreciative that this group provided not just their ideas but also those of their colleagues. When we began Phase I, we created an online forum where faculty and staff members could share their own input into which areas we should examine as part of the OR/FS process. Many of these ideas were included in the final report. In total, the Planning Group submitted more than 60 recommendations, which were further sorted based on the timeframe for implementation and potential for savings.

By December 2023, we announced the conclusion of Phase I and the kick-off of OR/FS Phase II. As part of Phase II, we knew we needed assistance in collecting and evaluating large swaths of institutional and market data. With this data available, we would then be able to evaluate the viability of the Planning Group’s recommendations and conduct a comprehensive review of strategies to grow revenue. To assist with this task, we partnered with consultants from the firm EY-Parthenon, who have extensive experience in higher education.

To drive the work of Phase II, we created a Steering Committee, which included members of both the President’s Cabinet and the CSU Board of Trustees. The Steering Committee met six times from January to April 2024 with a focus on reviewing the data, information gathered from interviews, focus groups and other means of assessing the public’s perception of our University, as well as extensive market research.

The OR/FS Phase II work with EY concluded with the receipt of their final report on April 23, 2024. We have now moved into the implementation phase, which will continue over the next year to close the remaining budget deficit and to start the revenue-generating activities that are also included as part of the final plan.
 

At this time last year, Caryn Candisky had recently joined CSU as our executive director of government affairs and special assistant to the president. With more than a year under her belt, Ms. Candisky has led efforts to re-establish our relationships with regional, state and federal legislators. As a result, we have raised awareness of CSU among key officials and organizations and advanced public policy initiatives, including our new Center for Computing Education and Instruction.

To strengthen these relationships with officials, CSU has participated in many visits to Columbus in the past year for key events, like the IUC Day at the Capital, when we brought CSU students to Columbus so that they could share their stories and accomplishments. In turn, we have also invited legislators to our campus, offered tours of our academic spaces and created opportunities for them to see students in action. Legislators who attended a roundtable discussion in early fall had the opportunity to visit our Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD) labs. In addition, CSU was the proud host of an academic forum with Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova and former U.S. Senator Rob Portman.

Officials and the staff in their offices now see CSU as a resource on matters of higher education and other areas, and they appreciate our efforts to provide them with helpful information, such as the legislative district maps we have distributed thanks to the help of Dr. Mark Salling from the Maxine Goodman Levine School of Urban Affairs.

With these expanded efforts to build relationships, we have been able to secure funding for many programs, including our Sullivan-Deckard Scholars program, the CSU Center for the Advancement of Women in Public Service, merit scholarships and the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), to name a few. With these strengthened connections, we are well positioned to participate in critical conversations surrounding higher education in the state of Ohio. We have added our voice to discussions of Senate Bill 83 (Enact Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act) and House Bill 164 (Establish Foster-to-College Scholarship Program), advocating for students and our University.

Also, we have submitted our Board of Trustees-approved appointees to serve on the Advisory Council for our new Center for Civics, Culture and Society. Per the requirement of the legislation establishing this center, the Board of Trustees submitted their list of appointees to the Ohio Senate in December 2023 and then provided an updated list in April 2024.  
 

On February 1, 2024, we officially unveiled the exhibit “Protest to Progress” on the ground floor of Berkman Hall. “Protest to Progress” served as the first commemoration of CSU’s 60^th anniversary — the first of several events this calendar year. The exhibit also marked the beginning of Black History Month nationwide and on our campus. Its position in Berkman Hall meant that many students, faculty, staff members and guests would come across it easily on their walks around campus, and we hoped that this would create curiosity and the desire to learn more.

Assembled by our University Marketing Office with assistance from the Department of Africana Studies, “Protest to Progress” covered key events and people in the 60-year history that CSU and the Civil Rights Act share. When studying our University’s history, it’s nearly impossible not to consider the change that the City of Cleveland was undergoing as the Civil Rights Act was newly enacted. As a university in and of Cleveland, CSU was growing as a university while also reacting to significant cultural shifts.

Later this year, we will host more celebrations of our legacy. There will be more events that remind us of how CSU began and where we are today — the programs, departments, experiences and classes of alumni that were only a dream in 1964. We will see how far we have come and how fast we have moved together.