April

A look inside the President’s Cabinet

A warning to hackers, rock-solid work from the admin division and so much more in the April 17 meeting recap.

By Dan Vaccaro

April 18, 2017

Couldn’t make it to the April 17 President’s Cabinet meeting? The Early Bird has you covered.

Below are the highlights.

Hackers beware: new ITS security policies unveiled

A draft of ITS security policies was presented to the President’s Cabinet by Megan Jones, policy administrator for Team DELTA, and Mike Hart, director of security, infrastructure and network.

These policies were created by the ITS Strategic Oversight Committee and reviewed by the University’s Policy Advisory Committee, per the new standardized policy review process. The document was posted online for public comment and adjusted to address feedback.

Hart characterized the policies as having two main areas of focus: classifying data and letting people do their jobs securely. He also noted that the revised document clocked in at fewer than 20 pages, whereas its predecessor was more than 100.

The document needs some minor revisions before being officially reviewed by the President’s Cabinet and sent to the Board of Trustees for its May 5 meeting.

A policy on policymaking

Team DELTA has been overhauling the policymaking process at MSU Denver. The team created a comprehensive policy website, which serves as a resource for those hoping to develop policy and a repository for existing policies.

President Jordan characterized the change in the policy process overall as “a huge improvement.”

Jones has been a leader in this effort and presented on the latest policy revision project, a foundational one in that it establishes the rules for how to establish policies and who has the authority to approve them. The revised policy also creates roles and responsibilities for each group involved in the decision-making process. The revision shifts much of the day-to-day responsibility to Team DELTA and delegates some approval authority to the president, rather than needing every decision to go through the Board of Trustees.

The cabinet approved this policy and moved it along to the Board of Trustees.

Admin branch rocks it

The Division of Administration and Finance is focused on getting back to basics.

“Our theme for the coming year is ‘rock solid,’” said Steve Kreidler, vice president for administration and finance. “Instead of creating a new plan, we’re focusing on fundamentals … If we have those right, we can support everyone else on their lofty goals, the dreams they want to chase on behalf of students.”

Members from the different admin units presented their recent successes and plans for moving forward. The through line for all presentations was a goal to become more efficient in processes and customer service.

Some examples included streamlining the hiring process, implementing a better system for travel reimbursement and making resources clearer, simpler and more user friendly.

A summary of the division’s impressive work is available online.

And other updates

• President Jordan will be recognized by the Colorado legislature this Wednesday for his work on many crucial bills. He’ll be honored on the floor in the morning and at a reception that evening.
• The Faculty and Staff Appreciation Barbecue is May 2 at 11:30 a.m. and will be held in Ninth Street Park. The Distinguished Service and Faculty Teaching awards will be presented at the event. More info to come.
• The Higher Learning Commission accreditation visit was a major success. We’ll know the results this summer, but President Jordan reported that the HLC reviewers were very complimentary. They were impressed at how many people showed up at each of the open forums. Thanks to everyone who participated, with a special shoutout to Bernice Harris, associate vice president for curriculum and academic effectiveness, and Nate Grimm, budget and financial analyst, for leading the process.
• The University’s brand journalism efforts were highlighted in an article by Ragan Communications.
• The Budget Task Force has its last meeting of the semester this week. At that meeting, the task force will come to a conclusion on the range for a tuition rate increase to recommend to the Board of Trustees.
• The Campus Climate survey had an impressive 63 percent participation rate from full-time employees, an increase of 20 percent since the last survey. Results will be ready to share at the end of May and open meetings will be held to present and discuss the information in the fall.
• The Higher Education Diversity Summit is happening this Friday in the King Center. Rosemarie Allen, from the School of Education, is the keynote speaker.
• Commencement is coming soon. Specialty celebrations start as early as this week. Keep an eye out for more information in the Early Bird.
• President elect Janine Davidson, Ph.D., was on campus last week to meet with various stakeholder groups. She’ll continue that work during her next visit, May 15-17, and during the last two weeks of June.
• Tenure decisions will be made at the May Board of Trustees meeting.
• Keep up with the latest info on the phone system update.
• Elections for the Council of Administrators will be held in May. More information to come.

The full minutes from the April 17 meeting will be available online this Friday. The next gathering of President’s Cabinet will take place on May 1 from 9-11:30 a.m. in SSB 400. All members of the campus community are welcome.