2020: A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY | PRESIDENT’S REPORT | RESPONSE TO COVID-19 RESILIENCE CSU delivered ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF A PANDEMIC the high-quality Over the past year, Colorado State University has successfully responded to the extraordinary challenges of a pandemic. With the pandemic ongoing and many aspects of the future unclear, we have marshaled our academic experience teaching, research, and engagement resources to continue to serve our students, our community, and our state. its students expect As a Colorado public institution of higher education, we have a fundamental responsibility to be accountable and transparent about One of our top priorities throughout 2020 was to continue delivering the how we have accomplished that vital work. And as Colorado’s land-grant high-quality academic experience our students expect from Colorado institution, we also have a unique mission to provide access to higher State and to create a campus and classroom environment designed to education, to meet the evolving problems in our rapidly changing world, keep them healthy while keeping them learning. The best way to do that and to put the knowledge and innovations we create to work on behalf of was to offer as much on-campus, in-person teaching as possible. While those who support us and those whom we serve. Despite the magnitude it was a daunting task, we were successful, thanks to a combination of and complexity of the problems we face, we remain committed and good planning and timely innovations arising from focused, purpose- prepared to do just that. driven research and support from the state of Colorado. This report tells the stories of the action we took on behalf of our most We offer a snapshot of those efforts at the one-year mark of the pandemic. important constituents: CSU students, faculty, and staff. It also illustrates We remain guardedly optimistic. Whatever further challenges may arise, how CSU reached beyond our campuses to engage with the larger we will be prepared to meet them. We will continue to provide excellence community and made key contributions to statewide and nationwide in learning, teaching, research, and engagement. And we will use our projects and initiatives, frequently undertaken in partnership with creativity and our expertise in research and scholarship to seek solutions government and private entities. to our world’s most pressing problems. We are indebted to the Board of Governors of the CSU System and the leadership of Colorado for helping us overcome many of the obstacles we faced this past year; to the CSU community of students, parents, alumni, and friends for coming together to help us through; and to the citizens of Colorado for their ongoing faith and support. Sincerely, Joyce McConnell, President 1 MISSION TOP 10 CSU named among 10 best universities working to solve the pandemic ABOUT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY CSU consistently ranks among the top institutions for veterans, named the second-best university for veterans by Military Times in 2020. Colorado State University, the flagship campus of the CSU System, is Among top public research institutions nationally, CSU set a record with a major public research University in Fort Collins, Colorado. research expenditures of more than $400 million in 2020 and hosts the third-best veterinary medicine program in the nation. This past year, A doctorate-granting institution established in 1870, CSU is the state’s land- CSU was named among the 10 best universities working to solve the grant University. Its mission is to offer access to an excellent education, coronavirus pandemic. provide outreach to the people and communities we serve, and conduct purpose-driven research, addressing challenges facing our state, nation, CSU welcomed some 34,300 students in Fall 2020, 69 percent of whom and world, while playing an essential role in Colorado’s development. are Colorado residents. One in every 4 students at CSU is the first in their families to attend a college. CSU is the largest single employer CSU is known internationally as a leader in sustainability. In 2015, it based in Northern Colorado, with more than 7,600 employees. It indirectly became the first university in the world to earn a Platinum STARS rating supports as many as 10,000 additional jobs in the Fort Collins area. CSU (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, administered by the offers 76 fields of undergraduate study, 136 graduate degree programs Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education). (64 master’s, 21 professional, and 51 doctoral, including a professional CSU earned platinum ratings again in 2017 and 2020. degree in veterinary medicine), and 43 graduate certificates. 2 FALL 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS PRESIDENT JOYCE MCCONNELL Addressing the Challenges of a Pandemic 1 About Colorado State University 2 PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS TEAM 34,300 76 Recommendations and Guidance for Critical Decisions 5 students enrolled fields of FINANCES undergraduate studies Supporting Student Success Amid Financial Challenges 6 ACADEMIC RESPONSE Meeting the Promise of CSU’s Land-Grant Values 10 69% 136 HUMAN RESOURCES Colorado residents graduate degree New Working Arrangements to Meet Changing Needs 14 programs OPERATIONS Keeping CSU Campuses Open, Operating, and Healthy 17 CSU HEALTH NETWORK 1 in 4 43 Responding to the CSU Community’s Emerging Needs 18 first in family to attend college graduate HOUSING AND DINING SERVICES certificates New Ways to Offer the Best in Living and Learning 20 RESEARCH Expertise Provides Leadership in the Fight 7,600+ Against COVID-19 22 employees statewide and largest ENGAGEMENT AND EXTENSION single employer located Adjusting Rapidly to Meet Changing Community Needs 24 in Northern Colorado INNOVATION RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDANCE put travel restrictions in place for all students • Created an extensive communications FOR CRITICAL DECISIONS and employees, including a travel exception network to provide information, education, and application that requires PPT approval. transparency, in coordination with units across The Pandemic Preparedness Team (PPT), a core the University. Through this network, the PPT group of CSU experts selected by President Joyce • Developed a COVID-19 policy that provides has disseminated hundreds of University- McConnell in March 2020, represents the interests the University with recourses to address wide communications about our COVID-19 of faculty, staff, and students, campus visitors, behavior that does not adhere to public response and deployed more than 30,000 and the public in addressing campus COVID-19 health requirements. signs on campuses highlighting public health preparedness. Co-chaired by the executive requirements, behavioral expectations, and director of the CSU Health Network and the • Helped oversee a process for employees and educational resources. associate vice president for safety and risk services students to seek accommodations if they were and chief resiliency officer, the team drives every unable to wear a mask or unable to report to • Built and maintained a website as a central hub aspect of the University’s COVID-19 response. campus to perform their work duties. for CSU’s response and guidelines and public health information, including a dashboard The PPT team has coordinated the following • Worked with CSU Facilities Management of all positive COVID-19 tests of students, comprehensive, COVID-19-responsive activities: and Central Receiving to ensure work and faculty, and staff. learning spaces met strict COVID-19 protocols • Collaborated extensively with county public and that PPE and sanitation stations were • Created an online COVID-19 public health health leadership. Co-chairs and team members widely available. training for faculty and staff and a COVID-19 meet with or converse with Larimer County symptom-reporting platform through which Public Health multiple times a week to ensure • Oversaw the creation, messaging, and results University community members can report that the University and county coordination is of more than 67,000 PCR tests and saliva when they have symptoms, have tested positive knit into every decision and action the team screenings of students, faculty, and staff at a non-CSU site, or are concerned about a takes to manage the University’s response to since August 2020. potential exposure. The COVID-19 reporter the pandemic. Through this partnership, the continues to be a robust means of monitoring PPT also adheres to state requirements. The • Oversaw contact tracing and resulting symptoms. Since the tool was created, there team also communicates regularly with other quarantine and isolation for these screenings have been more than 336,600 submissions. key local entities, including school districts, to and tests as well as for individuals who tested ensure that major decisions that impact our positive at non-University testing sites. • Held numerous virtual Town Halls to answer communities are shared. questions from the CSU and local communities. • Constructed a system through which University Topics have included information for employees • Made public health guidance-informed offices that needed to work in person on who work in direct contact with those who decisions that have formed the foundation of University grounds could apply to do so. The are ill; CSU’s collaboration with community University operations throughout the pandemic: team reviewed hundreds of applications, which health organizations; and education for local We have canceled