University President

Strategic Initiatives

Opportunities and Priorities

President Vanya Quiñones has identified the following opportunities on which the Office will concentrate its efforts during this and the coming academic years.

  • Opportunity One - Continue improvement of student success and increase their sense of belonging and engagement.
  • Opportunity Two - Emphasize focus on enrollment goals.
  • Opportunity Three - Ensuring academic quality.
  • Opportunity Four - Serve our internal and external communities, including addressing staff and faculty pressures and investing in their development.
  • Opportunity Five - Ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
  • Opportunity Six - Embrace diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Opportunity Seven - to be a sustainable university.

Learn more about the Seven Opportunities with timeframe and assessment by expanding each accordion below.

    • Our campus needs to be a welcoming place. We have started to work on the first subset of activities under these initiatives, concentrating on streamlining of operations.This includes reorganizing the administration and ensuring that all administrative and academic processes are effective while enhancing communication and reporting structures. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • We will begin assessing process improvements by summer 2023.
        • End of AY 24, road map of implementation, and addressing first phase of improvements.
        • AY 24-27, implementation to be staggered throughout the next five years.
    • We will implement new avenues of communication, including AI, chatbots and a customer relationship management system (that will allow texting to students).

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Identify platforms by summer 2023 with a goal to implement by summer 2024 for AI and chatbots. 
        • New CRM will be implemented in AY 25.
    • We will work to improve the student experience, including increasing amenities such as food services, diversity of food options, and addressing food deserts on our campus by adding new locations of food services such as adding vending machines to our buildings as well as increasing the outside spaces for eating and sitting.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Identified need for food service options during campus closures for on-campus residents (AY 22-23).
        • Created special menus for diversity celebrations in the dining commons and launched rotating food truck vendors in AY 22-23. 
        • Will continue to work on adding high-quality vending machines and other food options across campus by summer 2024.
        • Address space distribution for food services.
    • We will also seek to enhance and make more robust our sense of belonging efforts, including fostering campus traditions and community. 

    Assessment of progress:

        • Implemented Otter Thursdays in spring 2023 to enhance pride in students and attendance at athletic games. 
        • Will make Otter Plunge (dip into ocean off Marina dunes) an annual return to campus event in August beginning in AY 23-24.
        • Will continue to identify additional Otter traditions that can be rolled out in AY 23-27.
    • We need to concentrate efforts and improve our processes that affect our student experiences - and approach this from many angles. To assist in this effort we will engage an external consultant to review our processes across campus. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Hire a consultant in AY 23-24 to assess and recommend areas for improvement.
        • Begin implementation of phase 1 in AY 24-25.
    • We have the opportunity to revamp and increase student support through student services in advising, Title IX, Student Disability Resources, and our Health and Wellness services.

    Assessment of progress:

        • Launch a task force on mental health and well-being in spring 23 to assess current resources and needs on campus with a report due by the end of AY 22-23.
        • Implementation of mental health and well-being task force findings planned for AY 23-27.
        • Complete search for senior director of Title IX, clery position and ombudsperson in spring 2023
        • Implement reorganization to strengthen process on campus in AY 23-24. 
        • Hire a director of the Student Disability and Accessibility Center and rename the department to better reflect services in spring 2023.
        • Assessment of advising will continue into 2023-24. Centralized advising and implementation of new caseload (1 advisor per 300 students).
        • Reorganizing student success division under the Provost. Hire a new Associate Provost for Student Success by summer 2023. 
    • Start a new marketing campaign.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Evaluating marketing firms in spring 2023 with plans to launch the new marketing campaign in AY 23-24.
    • Revamp the Vice President of Student Affair to include enrollment management.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Search for a new VP for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs to begin in spring 23.
    • Some of the ways we will help increase enrollment opportunities include: enhancing reports and templates to communicate progress on how we are meeting retention and enrollment goals and provide training for their effective use; leveraging the digital degree planners to build optimal schedules based on student course needs and improve predictive enrollment models; utilizing waitlists; and running classes at enrollment capacity. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • The VP for EMSA will assess areas for improvement in their first year AY 23-24.
        • Implementation will begin in AY 24-27.
    • A specific major effort during this academic year will be the alignment of orientation with registration in June for first-year students and July for transfer students for 2023.

    Assessment of progress:

        • First-year and transfer orientations for summer 2023 will include registration for students to ensure higher probability of attendance in the fall.
    • Similarly, great progress is being realized and efforts continue to align our curriculum with all four neighboring community colleges. This academic year, we will complete the build-out of the Monterey Bay College Pathways Partnership to improve visibility for transfers.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Transfer student taskforce is working on finalizing pathways for transfer students that will be implemented for AY 24-25 transfer applicants.
    • Sustaining peer-mentoring and expanding it to the transfer student experience.
    • Implementing more high-impact practices for Internships and Career Service. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Create the President’s Workforce Development Task force in spring 2023 to evaluate current internship opportunities on campus and assess workforce needs in the community.
        • Implement a Scholars Program with local partners in AY 23-27 to expand access to education and internship opportunities.
    • Implementing the Long-Range Academic Master Planning process.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Assess potential programs for growth and development of new programs in AY 23-24.
          Create a roadmap for strategic growth of targeted programs in AY 23-24, with phased implementation in AY 23-28.
        • Transition summer to stateside for summer 2023 and create a plan to ensure course offerings in winter and summer terms meet student need/demand in AY 23-24.
          Increase average credit hour enrollment through advising and marketing from 12.3 to 14 units per semester by AY 24-25.
        • Promote finish in 30 messaging to ensure students are on target to graduate and enrollment targets are met by AY 23-28.
        • Expand enrollment in nursing AY 24-25 and develop additional master’s programs in health-related fields for AY 25-28.
    • Working with faculty to develop an Academic Technology Plan to improve remote and in-person learning opportunities.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • The Academic Senate Tech committee will be tasked with creating a plan during the 2023-24 academic year.
    • CSUMB supports economic development through business incubation and entrepreneurial support, strengthens our population health through service and research from our thriving healthcare programs and medical students, partners with K-12 schools to incubate innovative programs for young students, and much more. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Presidential Workforce Development Task Force will assess opportunities in spring 23 and will provide a report to cabinet by summer 2023.
    • Internally we will focus on strengthening our own community: boosting the retention of faculty and staff, ensuring we are addressing their needs and meeting them as they emerge and change–including revising tenure and promotion procedures; developing a center for faculty professional development and developing a Staff Council. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Staff council launches in spring 2023.
        • The Chief Diversity Officer will establish best practices for recruitment of diverse faculty that will be used in searches beginning in spring 2023.
    • We will continue to look for ways to expand and refine our curriculum to support regional needs - for example our new Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Supply Chain Management, mechatronics, Ag and Soil Science. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Based on industry and regional partner feedback assess industry needs and where curriculum can be adapted to support it in AY 23-24.
        • Create a roadmap for strategic growth of targeted programs in AY 23-24, with phased implementation in AY 23-28.
    • For our fiscal health we will be concentrating on a few areas including: creating a multi-year budget process; building out dashboards to help staff with budget development, planning and management; improving data integration; and working to better model the cost of instruction as part of a project between the Divisions of Academic Affairs and Administration and Finance.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Assessment of the current budget is underway in spring 2023, with the goal to implement phase one of a new budget model beginning in AY 23-24, with full implementation by AY 24-25.
    • In order to ensure that our decisions are transparent and inclusive, we will charge a new Budget committee by Spring 2023. Composed of all division budget representatives plus elected representatives from our faculty and staff, the overall aim of this group is to discuss budgets, provide input on major budgetary decisions and ensure that we have transparent communication related to the health of our financial footprint. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Budget Committee formed in spring 2023, goal is to create a balanced budget for 23-24 fiscal year and for the next five years.
    • We will develop a new budget/financial model based upon Responsibility Center Management (RCM) concepts, which will allow us to align budget priorities to university strategic priorities. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Working with a consultant to implement phase 1 of a new budget model for AY 23-24, with full implementation by AY 24-25.
    • With the use of technology, we also aim to expand and modernize data warehouses to provide enhanced data analysis tools for decision making. The key to these changes relies on easy access to reliable data for informing our decisions. 

    Assessment of progress:

        • Assess data analysis tools in fall 2023 with implementation planned for AY 24-25.
    • From hiring staff and faculty, to student support, we need to have inclusion as part of our goals. We are revising hiring practices to current national best practices to ensure equality. We will look at all practices to ensure that we embrace diversity, equity and inclusion in all we do. We know that retention and graduation pressures affect individuals differently according to race and gender - and we need to institute processes that address these disparities in order to address them effectively - and make our institution more equitable. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • The Office of Inclusive Excellence and Sustainability working in conjunction with other divisions will assess current recruitment and retention practices for both students, faculty and staff with a goal of implementing best practice guidelines by fall 2024.
        • The Chief Diversity Officer will be consulted on all faculty and staff searches to ensure a qualified and diverse pool of applicants.
    • Each data set will be analyzed according to gender and race, to ensure that we have equality and inclusivity in all major university initiatives. 

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Assessing existing data and dashboards in spring 2023 to determine what needs to be implemented in the future.
    • We are continuing to make progress on our three primary goals by 2030:
      1. Reducing greenhouse gasses and achieving carbon neutrality;
      2. Planting 2,030 trees;
      3. Diverting 90 percent of waste from landfill.

    Assessment of progress: 

          • Assessing current carbon footprint and processes on campus to determine ways to reduce greenhouse gasses in spring 2023, with implementation to begin in AY 24-28.
          • Sustainability staff continues to lead planting events on campus with a goal to plant 2,030 trees by 2030.
          • Facilities and food vendors are assessing best practices to divert more waste from the landfill, including implementation of SB 1383 (reduction of organic food waste in landfills)
    • I am pledging no plastic cups at campus events and activities, as well as working with vendors to have zero single-use plastic initiatives by 2025.

    Assessment of progress: 

        • Working with the Office of Inclusive Excellence and Sustainability to assess the use of single-use plastic on campus and to evaluate alternatives. Will implement zero single-use plastic by fall 2025.