Communications and Resources

Dear Campus Colleagues,

We are writing today to introduce you to CSUDH's Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC), to provide you with a brief overview of what the committee has been up to since the Committee members were appointed, and what our next steps are.

We'd like to begin by thanking all who applied to participate on the SPSC. We were overwhelmed (in a good way!) with the number and quality of applicants and nominations; selections for the committee were made to bring a balance of experience, expertise, and perspective to the committee. The committee roster can be found here. ​We thank those on it for agreeing to bring their talents, expertise, and brainpower to this work.

President Parham officially charged the SPSC on September 4, 2020 with leading the campus through a collaborative, inclusive, and transparent process to define who we are as a campus community, where we need to go, and what steps we need to take in order to establish CSUDH as a nationally recognized model for a public, metropolitan university. We have since met weekly to analyze the accomplishments from the last strategic plan and cull any lessons learned from that process, to engage collaboratively in ideation activities related to envisioning CSUDH as THE model for a metropolitan university, and to conduct a SWOT analysis. Over the next several weeks, we will work to develop a timeline and communication plan for the work of the SPSC and to establish subcommittees and workplans for these subcommittees. By mid-late November, we hope to launch a website to keep the campus abreast of our activities and to begin holding focus groups and other data gathering and feedback sessions that will engage the entire campus community in helping us to define the future of CSUDH.

In the meantime, we are in the process of searching for a consultant to assist us in this process. While we, as co-chairs of the SPSC, are committed to facilitating a strategic planning process that is owned and driven by the campus community and our community partners, we are hoping to secure a consultant who can assist us in analyzing the data we collect from our campus constituents and in developing implementation and assessment plans that will chart the path to achieving the aspirational goals we set for ourselves. We will keep you posted as this process unfolds.

Thank you in advance for bringing your passion and perspective to the development of CSUDH's next strategic plan. We, as a committee, plan to be as open, transparent, and collaborative as possible and we are counting you for your engagement and participation. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time. We truly welcome any and all feedback and are looking forward to working with you in the weeks and months ahead!

Best,

Kim Costino and Matt Smith
Co-chairs, CSUDH Strategic Planning Steering Committee

TO: Campus Community

FROM: Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D.
President

We are approaching the conclusion of the current Dominguez Hills Strategic Plan (2014-2020) entitled, “Defining our Future”, and preparing to move forward to define who we are, where we need to go, and what intentional planning will advance us to the University’s next Strategic Plan. Continued challenges and competitive demands will need to be addressed with strategic and creative approaches if the University will succeed in its aspiration of becoming a national model for a public urban university.

As we commence this effort, I have asked Kim Costino, Ph.D., Dean of Undergraduate studies, and Matthew Smith,Ph.D., Interim Dean of Students, to serve as co-chairs of the University Strategic Planning Steering Committee, and they have graciously agreed. We need additional individuals; however, who care deeply about the future of this institution and are prepared to lend their talents, expertise, and brain-power to propel our Toro Nation forward.

All stakeholders—staff, faculty, students, and key external partners and supporters—are critical as we engage in this collaborative effort. Thus, we are soliciting dedicated partners to serve on the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, along with Kim and Matt. If you are interested in serving, or would like to nominate a colleague, with their permission, please complete the attached form and direct nominations to Deborah Roberson, Chief of Staff, Office of the President, at the following email address OfficeofthePresident@csudh.edu.

As the academic year comes to a close, many of you have been focused on end of semester activities. To ensure that students, faculty and staff have an opportunity to submit a nomination, the deadline is being extended to May 26th end of day.