December 20, 2023 - In Celebration of a Successful Fall and a Look Ahead to 2024

Dear Campus Community,
 
As we wind down the semester, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the good things we have accomplished this fall. In fact, the list is so long that I have established a webpage(opens in new window) on the President’s website to include as many as possible. I hope you will check it out and celebrate the achievements and accolades. We should all feel incredibly proud of the story they tell about Chico State!  
 
We have talked a lot this semester about our vision for the future, what we are proud of, and what issues or concerns we have. I heard from you in two surveys and in listening sessions. We also heard feedback on the plan the campus Implementation Team drafted and presented to campus (PDF) to respond to recommendations in the Cozen O’Connor Title IX and Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation reports (PDF). 
 
Our 2023 Campus Climate(opens in new window) survey confirmed something I feel everyday: that we have an exceptional campus culture, that we enjoy working together, and care about each other and our community. We also have some work to do to increase trust, improve how we treat each other, and address feelings of being overworked, underpaid, and overlooked shared by staff and faculty. In the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) survey we heard that across the board we take pride in our beautiful campus, our extraordinary and talented students, staff and faculty, the education we provide, and lives we transform. However, we also learned that safety is a concern with students and employees, that compensation, attrition and retaining employees are issues, and enrollment remains an area of focus for all as it relates to budget. 
 
With this information in hand, it is now time to consider where we are heading in the new year. Let’s begin with budget, enrollment, and campus climate. 
 
Budget and enrollment are linked. As our enrollment has fallen so too have our sources of funds. The good news is that the enrollment declines have reversed. Through the tireless efforts of everyone on campus, we now have 1% more students this fall than last. We continue to refine our efforts, invest in marketing and recruitment, and look to grow our success in this area.(opens in new window)  
 
While we continue to expect reductions in our enrollment target and associated funding in the next academic year, the expected reduction has been cut from 5% to 3%, enhancing our ability to continue our successes. However, even with this good news, we must continue to look at ways to increase enrollment and to reduce our expenses. As we saw in the last University Budget Committee meeting, we continue to project using our reserves to cover budget shortfalls. While we can do this for a few years, we need to close the budget gap while using our reserves to bridge the gap. It will be important to get broad-based campus input and feedback on budget decisions and we will enhance the University Budget Committee role as I described in the last University Budget Committee meeting to do just that.   
 
In spring, we will initiate campus-wide discussions about how we expect to treat each other and initiate the work to create a new strategic plan. Based on feedback from the Campus Climate Survey, the AASCU survey, the feedback from the work of our Implementation Team, and from extensive conversations with people from all over campus, I believe we need to talk about, distill, and come together to create a community commitment for how we will treat each other. This can take many forms and there are good examples from other universities. We have a good starting point based on the draft Statement of Expectations developed by our Implementation Team. We now need to go further and set out a positive set of statements that we agree to and hold each other accountable to. I very much look forward to this work.  
 
I plan to work with the Senate and Cabinet to structure a plan for campus-wide conversations to revise our Strategic Plan, exploring and defining: 

• What is our purpose? 
• Where are we going? 
• How will we be successful? 
• What is Chico State committed to? 
• What should we focus on in 2024-25? 

We also need to develop an Academic Plan that integrates with our Strategic Plan and answers the following questions (among others): 

• What new or existing programs do we want to invest in? 
• What existing programs should we transform? 
• How can we restructure ourselves to better support our mission? 

 
Chico State is a great place with great people. I am grateful to be able to work with all of you. I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you who make up our remarkable community and enable us to successfully do the work we do. During the holiday season, I hope you will surround yourself with people you care about and spend time doing things that lift your spirit and bring you joy. I look forward to 2024 and the next chapter we will write for Chico State.   
 
Enjoy the winter break! 
Thank you,
Steve Perez