Steven Michael Abbath

This document outlines a Strategic Enrollment Management plan, titled '(Re)Design for Belonging,' to address evolving student demographics and educational needs. The plan identifies challenges such as declining traditional-aged students, increased student diversity, and post-COVID learning variability, emphasizing the need to reduce friction and redesign systems for diverse learners. It is structured into three phases: Stabilize Operational Systems, Rebuild Curriculum & Modalities, and Transform Learner Expansion. Key focus areas include simplifying complex processes, enhancing transparency, ensuring coherence in policies, fostering flexibility in curriculum design, making outcomes legible, and expanding access and relevance for a broader range of learners.

The meeting involved joint session discussions between the Board of Trustees and the UNC Foundation Board of Directors. Key topics included updates on the relationship and agreement between the University and the Foundation, highlighting the Foundation's support for the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM), including a $2M commitment and bridge loan assistance. Discussions also covered the Monfort College of Business SAFF Class Presentation. University Marketing Priority Updates focused on the UNC website rebuild, timelines, and key features for the anticipated December 2025 rollout, alongside marketing efforts for COM, using 'Education Personalized, Dreams Realized' as a core tagline. The 'Together, With Purpose Campaign' update indicated $105M raised toward the $200M goal, setting the stage for a public launch in March 2026. Finally, insights on current (Gen-Z) and future (Gen-Alpha) student populations were presented to inform institutional strategies regarding academics, technology integration, values, and well-being.

This report summarizes UNC's HLC Quality Improvement Initiative (QII), a two-year effort (July 2022 - June 2024) embedded within the university's 10-year strategic plan, "Rowing, Not Drifting 2030." The QII's primary objective was to enhance undergraduate retention and graduation rates by addressing academic barriers, improving curricular design and inclusive pedagogy, and fostering a stronger sense of belonging among students. Key accomplishments include establishing college-level student success committees, developing robust support for Culturally & Linguistically Diverse/English Language Learner (CLD/ELL) students, improving transfer student services, expanding student success data insights, and institutionalizing promising practices to create a student-first environment.

The Finance and Audit Committee meeting agenda included discussions on FY2025 audit reports, preliminary financial statements, the FY2024 annual debt management report, the Composite Financial Index (CFI), the FY2026 Q1 forecast, overall financial drivers for FY2027, and enrollment updates. Key discussions covered the preliminary FY2025 audit findings by Crowe, LLP, variances in the operating budget, debt portfolio status showing a $5.7M overall decrease in debt, and the healthy CFI metrics. Enrollment management updates focused on fall 2025 highlights, retention trends, and the Strategic Enrollment Management Redesign for Belonging plan, leading to a request for a strategic investment proposal for enrollment recruitment. The Q1 forecast addressed budget adjustments, reserves, and the impact of recent layoffs, with continued analysis of economic factors and funding models. The meeting concluded with an executive session to receive legal advice regarding pending legal and personnel issues.

The meeting commenced with approval of the revised agenda after one item was removed. Key reports highlighted the College of Osteopathic Medicine receiving pre-accreditation status, the announcement of the upcoming legislative session starting January 14, 2026, and updates on budget reduction processes, including personnel and non-personnel cost reductions. Faculty Senate and various staff councils reported on their current priorities, including graduate enrollment, AI in higher education, faculty compensation, and campus morale efforts following layoffs. The University of Northern Colorado Foundation Board reported on investments and scholarship awards. Action items included the approval of the employment contract for the Head Men's Wrestling Coach and authorization to negotiate the placement of a conservation easement on the Old Man Mountain property, with proceeds directed to the capital reserve fund. Discussion items focused extensively on the strategic plan phase III progress, the COM pre-accreditation, and an in-depth review of Artificial Intelligence, covering institutional priorities, ethical considerations, bias in Large Language Models, and next steps for AI integration and training across campus. The Board concluded the meeting by entering an Executive Session to receive legal and personnel advice.