In 2025, CSU launched a new vision for Cleveland’s public research university. Through an inclusive process that included ideas and feedback from current students, faculty and staff members, alumni, trustees and community partners, Cleveland State University created a set of mission, vision and value statements that reflect CSU’s strengths and aspirations.
This strategic plan — Cleveland State United — is centered on the following tenets:
Mission Statement
Cleveland’s University. Infinite Opportunity.
We are in and of the city of Cleveland. We leverage our unique location and strategic partnerships to equip learners with knowledge and future-ready skills. Through innovative research, dedicated service, and exceptional talent, we address the evolving needs of our community.
Vision 2030
“Where Everyone Thrives”
CSU aspires to be a national leader in social and economic mobility. We will be a great place to learn and work.
Values — "CSU"
Collaborating with Community
Serving Students
Unleashing Creativity
Priorities
Through 2030, CSU will focus on three primary priorities. Each priority has three associated objectives.
Advance Academic Offerings, Delivery, and Scholarship to Foster Success
- Expand experiential and work-based learning
- Integrate undergraduate, graduate, exploratory and continuing education for lifelong learning
- Improve the student experience and enhance our culture of student success
Reimagine Community Partnerships to Increase Opportunities
- Enhance relationships with community partners to expand opportunities for prospective and current students/learners
- Build a corporate/community partnership structure that leverages and coordinates all that CSU offers
- Serve as a convenor and thought-partner to help address Cleveland’s most pressing social and economic challenges
Restructure Operational and Financial Model to Enable our Mission-focused Work
- Initiate a comprehensive multi-year stakeholder informed technology digital transformation
- Develop and implement a sustainable financial model and process
- Cultivate a campus-wide culture of transformation and continuous improvement
Commitment Statement
Cleveland State University declares...
- That it will educate students by means of free, open and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth;
- That its duty is to equip students with the opportunity to develop the intellectual skills they need to reach their own, informed conclusions;
- Its commitment to not requiring, favoring, disfavoring or prohibiting speech or lawful assembly;
- It is committed to create a community dedicated to an ethic of civil and free inquiry, which respects the autonomy of each member, supports individual capacities for growth, and tolerates the differences in opinion that naturally occur in a public higher education community; and,
- That its duty is to treat all faculty, staff and students as individuals, to hold them to equal standards and to provide them equality of opportunity, without regard to those individuals' race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
-- Ohio Revised Code 3345.0216