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| President Ortiz unveiled the results of the Vision and Identity Initiative on May 20. |
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| More than 600 people attended the morning presentation and took part in table-top discussions. |
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| Participants, including Kevin Morningstar (shown), provided additional feedback on the vision and core values. |
After four months of information gathering and speaking with thousands of Cal Poly Pomona faculty, staff, students and alumni, President Michael Ortiz unveiled a new campus vision and core values that better reflect the university's unique identity. These were designed to provide a foundation for a new strategic plan that will begin to take shape this fall.
President Ortiz presented the ideas to the university community on May 20 during a campus-wide meeting that was also webcast. More than 600 people attended the morning session in the Bronco Student Center.
To underscore the need for a new vision, Ortiz displayed the mission statement of three unnamed campuses and challenged the standing-room only audience to determine which one belonged to the university. None of the mission statements clearly indicated Cal Poly Pomona.
“Once I was charged to be more engaged in creating a vision for our community, it became fairly obvious to me that while we each had a perception of what Cal Poly is as an institution, we had never articulated that in a way that reflected that perception,” he said.
To determine the collective vision, Ortiz went about culling the ideas of Cal Poly Pomona faculty, staff, students and alumni through two campus-wide surveys, 21 focus groups, and 12 college/division meetings.
“We facilitated a complex process, but the outcomes were fundamental and basic,” Ortiz had previously stated. “It was these common threads that helped reveal Cal Poly Pomona's strong sense of identity.”
Ortiz noted Cal Poly Pomona embraces six core values that guide all aspects of campus life:
- Polytechnic identity. As one of only six polytechnic universities in the nation, Cal Poly Pomona takes great pride in its unique role in higher education and its responsibilities to its constituents by providing quality instruction in multiple technical disciplines.
- Academic quality. The university is committed to academic rigor and excellence in teaching, learning, and scholarship.
- Learning by doing. Cal Poly Pomona is distinguished by its active, hands-on approach to learning, both in and out of the classroom.
- Scholarly work. The university is committed to producing and supporting faculty teacher-scholars. Our state of the art facilities allow faculty to collaborate with students to generate knowledge and develop real-world solutions.
- Environmental sustainability. The collective campus recognizes its responsibilities to the community and values the importance of applying and advancing sustainable practices in the classroom and on our campus.
- Celebration of diversity. Cal Poly Pomona embraces diversity as a core value, ensuring that the campus community reflects the state and region it serves.
Based on these core values, the university's vision will be: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, will be recognized as a national leader in learning-centered polytechnic education, where hands-on learning is the foundation of a broad-based curriculum. Our graduates are distinguished by their understanding of theory and by their ability to apply that knowledge so they can make a difference. Cal Poly Pomona embraces change. Our teaching, learning, and scholarship will continually address the needs of a diverse culture and a dynamic economy.
Following his presentation, President Ortiz invited the audience to take part in an exercise. Tables were assigned core values. Participants were asked to join a table to discuss the critical steps Cal Poly Pomona must take to become a leader in the universitys core values and determine measurable outcomes that would position Cal Poly Pomona as a leader in those values.
President Ortiz then answered questions and invited representatives from each table to respond to the questions.
Feedback from the table-top exercise, as well as the previous information-gathering surveys and meetings, are available on Blackboard. Participants can also e-mail president@cpp.edu.
A task force to develop a new campus strategic plan will begin to convene this fall.