CEU’s short- & long-term goals

This archived article was written by: Gypsie Delgado

President Ryan Thomas outlined his short- and longterm goals that he hopes will improve campus morale, budgetary matters and student success.
“We are at the point now that we’ve got documents from that planning process that indicate what are goals are. We’ve got some near term goals consistent with the long term goals which we hope are all consistent with the college’s mission statement. We’ve been in a planning process for about 18 months,” he continued. Thomas’ short term goals include focusing on improving morale by developing a culture of caring among faculty, staff and students; continuing to implement outcome assessments throughout campus and integrate the results of that process into planning and budgeting processes; focusing on a balanced budget with particular emphasis on elimination scholarship deficits; developing four-year programs with senior institutions in areas of higher demand; and developing a renewed program in energy development and industrial safety.
He hopes to develop recreation programs in collaboration with county and community leaders, utilize continuing education more effectively as a program incubator, expand the financial base of the college through enterprise development and increase grant writing, continue to review academic programs to identify programs that can become regional centers of excellence, expand opportunities for student involvement in intercollegiate and intramural athletic programs, and review campus facilities on both campuses to ensure highest levels of environment. “These are the things that we have identified as areas of emphasis for this year.”
Thomas identified his long-term goals as affirming CEU as a broad-based community college, developing departments that exploit the outdoor opportunities, focusing on student success through fostering student learning, enhancing student satisfaction and implementing effective strategies to retain students and facilitate their graduation, maintaining a campus environment that enhances the learning experience and reflecting our commitment to environmental sensitivity, etc.
“These are drafts, we are still seeking input on these ideas,” Thomas continued, “we are going to distribute the to faculty staff and students.”
Both the sort term and long term goals tie together with the draft of the new mission statement, which reads:
College of Eastern Utah is a comprehensive community college committed to the highest standards of instruction and learning in its academic and applied technology programs. It is committed to respond to the educational needs of the communities it serves. It strives to help instill the curiosity and skills necessary for a student to continue learning throughout life. The college prepares students through certification, degree and transfers programs and seeks to provide a complete campus experience for both traditional and non-traditional students.
The college will work with senior state institutions to provide access for a limited number of on-campus four-year programs. “If you think there are other areas we should be focusing on, let us know, he continued, these are not the final goals sealed in blood.”