Strategic Plan 2024-2029

Reinforce and Expand Successful Practices

Through the previous planning cycle, Humphreys University engaged in a number of initiatives, many related to marketing, that proved to sustain the University and that continue to show promise in support of University efforts to strengthen its operations in the future. Additionally, a couple of areas of deficiency were noted that must be reinforced. The following tactics are targeted to receive further development, enhancement, and/or reinforcement to prepare the University to be ready for future challenges.

Tactic 1

Invest in the development of the Humphreys website to increase transfer student recruitment through a more personalized digital admissions experience and to clearly convey career options, educational costs, and to match specific needs of new students.

Tactic 2

Expand participation in calendared/scheduled events that target prospective students at community colleges, businesses, high schools, and community organizations.

Tactic 3

Form partnerships with external entities to build bridges to our educational pathways.

Tactic 4

Expand program specific advertising efforts geographically throughout California and across the United States.

Tactic 5

Focus on branding HU careers and not programs.

Tactic 6

Increase video marketing on social media and Humphreys website.

Tactic 7

Improve data collection and tracking to improve evaluation of recruitment data and to drive marketing decisions.

Tactic 8

Increase student-centered outreach activities to promote community on and off campus.

Tactic 9

Engage with consulting services to provide market demand analysis.

Tactic 10

Update and maintain hardware and software on a consistent basis. Provide training and technical support to students, faculty, and staff. Hire more personnel in the technology department.

Tactic 11

Ensure that vacated full-time faculty and chair positions are filled in a timely manner, with department placement based on need and strategic considerations.

Cultivate Structures and Revenue Streams

A cursory glance at previous strategic plans will show that the tactics below have been previously proffered in one form or another. In previous plans, however, the structures that would provide and sustain momentum were not developed. Having these structures in place will strengthen the University by providing the organizational framework to address emerging threats and to develop participatory decisions and solutions to guide operations during difficult times.

Tactic 1

Re-envision the Academic Review Committee as the Viability & Feasibility Committee (VFC) to carry out a continual data- and mission-driven review of programs and their viability and to use data to examine the feasibility of new programming. The VFC will help manage the Provost’s budget for new program initiation.

Tactic 2

Initiate and empower an Enrollment Management function as part of the Executive Committee that comprises two standing subcommittees: the Tuition & Scholarship Funding Committee and the Student Success Committee.

The Tuition & Scholarship Funding Committee will develop tactics toward the goal of making HU more affordable for students. Of immediate concern are:

• Tuition Matching. Align HU UG tuition and fees with the UG tuition and fees of area CSUs, specifically CSU Stanislaus. Begin by freezing undergraduate tuition rate immediately (currently at $410) and then lowering the rate proportionately each year of this plan until by the end of this plan, if not sooner, Humphreys UG tuition and fees are no more than CSU tuition and fees.
• Develop website links to allow for donations from interested parties. Utilize Populi to track donors and funds.
• Develop guidelines for deans and others to create discounts for specific types of students and for specific reasons (i.e., discounts to law students likely to pass the bar).
• Organize, manage, and award current and future scholarships (such as the program scholarship via link donations mentioned above) and review and manage discounts to 4 special groups, such as ABLE employees and graduates. Scholarships and special discounts should be used to promote specific goals, such as enrollment and retention of students likely to graduate.
• Develop a policy and use facilities rent funds from outside groups, excluding ABLE, to fund an existing scholarship, such as the Rowena Walker Scholarship.

Comprised of stakeholders from the academic, administrative, and student services sectors, the Student Success Committee will:

• Analyze retention/attrition data by program and ethnicity and data on the reasons students stop out.
• Use data to develop and provide retention strategies, including communication strategies, to deans, chairs, and faculty.
• Receive contact information of each year’s graduates to build out an Alumni Outreach function by contacting graduates annually to update their contact information and to track their successes in education and work.

The members of the 2024-2029 Strategic Planning Committee:

• Cynthia Becerra, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Liberal Studies Department Chair
• Erin Black, Student
• Jess Bonds, Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies
• Carrie Castillon, Director of Administrative Services
• Richard Chabot, Professor Community Studies
• Lisa Kooren, Dean of Institutional Research, Director of Modesto Campus
• Susan Lofthus, Member of the Board of Trustees, Co-Chair of Strategic Planning
• Zoey Merrill, Humphreys Drivon School of Law Alum, Adjunct Instructor, ABLE Board Member
• Linda Rahmoller, Professor, Coordinator of Hybrid & CPT Programs
• Matt Reynolds, Dean of Law School
• Donna Roberts, Associate Dean of Academic Administration, Professor
• Julie Walker, Admissions and Career Counselor, Modesto Campus, Co-Chair of Strategic Plan, Adjunct Professor Liberal Studies