April 30, 2025
Dear Students and Colleagues,
A great deal of very good work has gone into our coordinated effort across several initiatives over the past few years to clarify and strengthen our institutional identity. Thank you to all who led and/or participated in one or more of these initiatives, which have included the creation of an Academic Master Plan that will allow us to grow our portfolio in academic excellence and better serve regional workforce needs; the creation of cultural centers and a strengthened student-life experience; significant investments in Enrollment Management; creation of a Digital Marketing Plan; a visual rebrand for the University; the redesign of our website; and identification of our vision, values, and goals for our next strategic plan, CI for 2030+.
Each of these endeavors is a major accomplishment on its own, but taken together, they will create a collective impact that is greater than any single effort. We are on the verge of seeing this collective impact in action – positioning us to respond creatively and confidently to the challenges we face.
While most of the specific initiatives named above are complete, two will continue in Fall 2025:
- CI for 2030+: I am very pleased to announce that we achieved the goal this year of identifying our vision, values, and goals for our next strategic plan (i.e., Phase 4 is complete). These have been formally adopted, allowing Phase 5, the creation of strategic goal action plans, to commence in the Fall.
- Website Redesign: By late Fall, we will have completed the first phase of our redesigned website, which will include many pages in both English and Spanish, for prospective students and families. The next phase will involve each area/department across campus reviewing existing webpages and transitioning those webpages with updated and relevant content to the new, student-friendly site for migration completion during 2026.
To take full advantage of timing, we will launch the visual rebrand and redesigned website simultaneously in November 2025. Keep in mind, the visual rebrand is not just about logos and other visuals; it also communicates the values and aspirations of our community through our brand messaging and as defined together through the CI for 2030+ process. Launching our visual rebrand in November will unify with our website redesign, strategic plan, and all we do – ensuring that our message is clear, consistent, and grounded in who we are. This unified approach will strengthen our ability to welcome and engage new students as we look forward to Fall 2026 and beyond.
Again, I thank you all for this work which has spanned the past few years, much of it behind the scenes, in building up to where we now are – on the verge of claiming and proclaiming our singular, strong, and clear identity in all the good work that we do.
Sincerely,
Richard Yao, Ph.D.
President