CSU, Chico's Strategic Plan for the Future

“Today Decides Tomorrow” reads the inscription above the doors of Kendall Hall at the CSU, Chico campus. It is the motto of a university that focuses on the future while carrying forward the best of its past.

In this extract from the booklet The Strategic Plan for the Future of CSU, Chico, the full text of which may be requested from the President’s or Provost’s offices, we share our vision of that future. We highlight the actions we propose to take today so that tomorrow we may find ourselves in that envisioned future. The Plan is a “work in progress” and represents one phase in our ongoing efforts to position CSU, Chico to meet changing and often elusive internal and external challenges.

The Strategic Plan for the Future of CSU, Chico,
contains both our vision of the kind of institution we hope CSU, Chico can become and a set of reasonable steps to take in getting there. Our first priority is our students.

California State University, Chico sees its unique residential situation as an opportunity to create an intensive, high quality learning environment. We are able to create a vital and collaborative community of active and involved students. We have a well-respected and caring faculty, a superior support staff, and innovative leadership together with cutting- edge learning and information resources—all placed within a beautiful and engaging physical environment. In such an enriched community, we hope to stimulate intellectual rigor, moral development, and creative accomplishment and to evoke callings to imaginative citizenship in the world beyond the university. We aspire to be the university of choice for all those seeking these strengths.

California State University, Chico is a comprehensive university serving Northern California and other regions of the state, as well as the nation and the world, through instruction, research, and public service.

Our first priority is the education of our students by creating and maintaining selected quality undergraduate and graduate programs. We will be known for the purposeful integration of liberal and applied learning that provides our students with the knowledge, skills, and moral and intellectual virtues that form the basis for life-long learning and contribution.

We affirm the importance of scholarship and public service. We support the exploration of the frontiers of knowledge, the integration of ideas, the connecting of thought to action, and the inspiring of students.

We make the results of these academic efforts available for public scrutiny by all our constituents. We will maintain extensive continuing education and public service programs that serve the needs of our varied constituencies.

1 Believing in the primacy of student learning, we will continue to develop high quality learning environments both in and outside of the classroom.
With one of the highest graduation rates in the CSU system, our residential campus has, for many years, attracted and retained students who report high levels of satisfaction with the quality of life they can create while they are students. Opportunities for intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical growth abound, not only for students, but also for faculty, staff, and the community. Our commitment to education as a way of life, both in and outside of the classroom, and our commitment to developing “systems of learning assessment that enable students to demonstrate learning in both courses and programs” (The Cornerstones Report, Principle 1b, page 6) remain our highest priorities.

2 Believing in the importance of faculty and staff, and their role in student success, we will continue to invest in faculty and staff development.
CSU, Chico and the CSU recognize that “faculty scholarship, research and creative activity are essential components of. . . its primary mission” (The Cornerstones Report, Principle 4, p. 8). To that end, we seek to create a community of faculty and staff dedicated to the creation of high quality learning environments in and outside of the classroom.

3 Believing in the value of the wise use of new technologies in learning and teaching, we will continue to provide the technology, the related training, and the support needed to create high quality learning environments both in and outside of the classroom.
CSU, Chico, a pioneer in distance education and a leader in information and instructional technology, has a history of offering faculty, staff, and students up-to-date curriculum, equipment, and technological services. It also has an excellent record of partnerships with corporate leaders that enrich the learning environment and open career doors for students.

4 Believing in the value of service to others, we will continue to serve the educational, cultural, and economic needs of Northern California.
CSU, Chico, an anchor institution in Northern California, has an outstanding record of collaboration with community and regional partners in education and business. We are also known for our contributions to the fine and performing arts and our long history of service to the community.

5 Believing that we are accountable to the people of the State of California, we will continue to diversify our sources of revenue and manage the resources entrusted to us.
CSU, Chico “acknowledges, ensures, and documents that it is fully accountable to the people of the State of California” (The Cornerstones Report, Principle 7a, p. 15) by identifying performance goals and indicators to help build high quality curricula, facilities, personnel, university relations, and a sound financial plan.