Strategic Plan

The 2009-2014 Strategic Plan (pdf file) presents initiatives that, when put into action, will strengthen the College’s ability to fulfill its statutory role and mission and its institutional mission (below). The Plan represents the collaborative work and vision of the faculty, staff, and trustees of the College. The Board of Trustees approved the Plan on June 12, 2009.

The Plan sets forth initiatives grouped into five broad areas: enrollment growth, academic development, student life, facilities and capital planning, and funding. Implementation of these initiatives will be sequenced with the expectation that action in all areas will have occurred by 2014.
 

Statutory Role and Mission (from Colorado Revised Statutes)

23-56-101. College established - role and mission. There is hereby established a college at Gunnison, which shall be known as Western state college of Colorado. Western state college of Colorado shall be a general baccalaureate institution with moderately selective admission standards. Western state college of Colorado shall offer undergraduate liberal arts and sciences, teacher preparation, and business degree programs and a limited number of graduate programs. Western state college of Colorado shall also serve as a regional education provider.

 
Institutional Mission

 Western State College of Colorado fulfills its statutory mission by promoting intellectual maturity and personal growth in its students and graduates citizens prepared to assume constructive roles in local, national, and global communities. Western helps its students to develop the skills and commitments needed to continue learning for the rest of their lives and strives to elucidate the connections unifying academic domains which have traditionally existed separately: the sciences, the liberal arts, and professional programs. The College provides students with a solid foundation of skills in written and spoken communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. Our programs encourage a breadth and depth of knowledge, which will serve as a foundation for a professional career or graduate study, and an appreciation of values appropriate to a liberally educated individual. Western’s distinctive character emerges from its unity among academic and professional disciplines, its high standards of scholarship, and its unique environment in the mountains of western Colorado.