CSUDH President Thomas Parham (giving hug), AVP of Student Life and Dean of Students Matt Smith (left) Dean of Undergraduate Studies Kim Costino (right), and CSUDH student Caleb Padilla (center), talking after the event. Photo by Ben Verbrugge.
By Ben Verbrugge, Staff Reporter
Since May of 2020, California State University, Dominguez Hills has been working on a eight year Strategic Plan. This month, two years after its announcement by President Thomas A. Parham, the university held a rollout event that served as the official launch for the plan. Some of the key findings from the previous phases that the project will look to focus around are equity, social justice and community.
The plan consists of “five pillars of success”: “Thriving Students”, “Thriving Educators”, “Equitable Access”, “Culture of Care”, and “Pillar of the Community”. According to the campus website the plan’s vision is to be a model urban university when it comes to addressing the most pressing challenges in the local and global community.
Each of the five pillars established as focus points, contain goals that the university would like to accomplish and fully establish the Strategic Plan by 2028.
Phase III of the plan, titled “strategic framework rollout and celebration” launched this March. This phase is considered a a big milestone, as the plan’s committee can now focus on implementation of their findings from Phase I, “Engaging the Community in Designing our Future” and Phase II, “Crafting, Testing, and Finalizing the Strategic Framework.”
Equity is one of the main focuses of the plan, “the rising cost of college in our area is a real concern.. We really wanted it to highlight the return on investment our students get… (make sure that) access to academically enriching and culturally enriching experiences on our campus (are) equitable,” said Matt Smith, Assistant Vice Principal of Student Life and Dean of Students.
Social justice and community are also essential parts of the emphasis for this new plan.“One of the things we heard… (was the) sense of community on campus… we want to be a team that has closeness and cares for the community even as we grow,” said Kim Costino, Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
Once he took office in 2018, President Parham started reviewing the existing plan in order to see which parts of the plan lived up to expectations..“That process was important because in order to be inclusive you have to hear every voice, and you have to listen more than you speak”, President Parham said.
Caleb Padilla, a CSUDH student at the event, thinks this plan motivates him.“Sometimes I think of myself as a come and go kind of student, and I have never really participated in (something like this)… I can relate to the pillar “Thriving Students”. I feel like sometimes I’m not thriving as (much) I should (be)… having more opportunities available, not thinking about it as just a job, (rather) something that can build your character.”
Phase IV is titled “Development of Strategy Execution Work Plan” and emphasizes “goals, major milestones, measures and key indicators, year one priorities, accountabilities, progress and reporting schedules.” As the final phase of the CSUDH Strategic Plan, this is the part of the process where we should see the implantation of the overall vision.
