President Laura Bloomberg, Ph.D. addressed the community Jan. 28, unveiling CSU’s new strategic plan, "Cleveland State United." 

The plan was first announced in November 2024, and went through many revisions throughout the fall semester following ideas and feedback from current students, faculty and staff members, alumni, trustees and community partners. In her first address to the university this semester, Bloomberg said the plan would serve as the framework for the university’s priorities, programs and initiatives through 2030. 

The plan’s mission statement is short and simple: “Cleveland’s University. Infinite Opportunity.” 

“It speaks mightily to what differentiates this plan,” Bloomberg said, “Which is not, ‘We're going to grow to this amount of students,’ or ‘We're going to have – you know – this amount of reach.’ It's to say, ‘Who is it that we serve?’” 

With the plan, Cleveland State hopes to anchor a community “Where Everyone Thrives,” the tagline of the vision guiding the plan. 

“We set a vision that is a lofty vision, simple in its wording, but lofty in its intent,” Bloomberg said. “I am aware that this has been a hard time, that we have said goodbye to people, that we have reduced our budget. I am aware of all of those things. I'm also very aware that we're the people who can make this a place that can thrive.” 

To achieve its vision, Cleveland State United has three core values, creating the acronym “CSU:” “Collaborating with Community,” “Serving Students” and “Unleashing Creativity.” 

“We’re animated by a mission statement, a vision statement, three values and simply three priorities,” Bloomberg said. 

The plan’s three priorities each have three associated objectives. 

The first priority is to, “Advance Academic Offerings, Delivery and Scholarship to Foster Success.” 

Cleveland State United will do this by expanding its experimental and work-based learning, integrating undergraduate, graduate and exploratory programs, improving the student experience and enhancing Cleveland State’s culture of student success. 

The next priority is to, “Reimagine Community Partnerships to Increase Opportunities.” 

Cleveland State United will work towards this priority by enhancing relationships with community partners to expand opportunities for prospective and current students, building a corporate/community partnership structure leveraging and coordinating all that CSU has to offer to help address Cleveland’s social and economic challenges. 

The final priority is to, “Restructure Operational and Financial Model to Enable our Mission-focused Work.” 

“This is a big, heavy lift, but we will,” Bloomberg said. 

This initiative aims to accomplish this priority by creating a comprehensive, multiyear stakeholder-informed technology digital transformation, developing and implementing a sustainable financial model and cultivating a campus wide culture of transformation that continuously improves. 

“I want to give a big shout-out to Nicole Addington, our [chief financial officer], and Wesam Helou, [our chief information officer], who are leading the transformation of how we think about our financial design and model,” Bloomberg said. “We will go to our board of trustees with a balanced budget this year and you should all be proud of that, despite the pain it took to get there.” 

The university has given itself six years to achieve its plan, focusing on its first and third priorities right now, with plans to circle back to its second priority in two to three years. 

Cleveland State United’s webpage will feature a dashboard where anyone will be able to track its progress with data, updates, a timeline and hopes for what’s next. 

The webpage also includes a place for people to provide their feedback regarding Cleveland State United. 

“Cleveland State United was built with so many of you involved and it sets a framework for us between now and 2030,” Bloomberg said. “It’s designed to be adaptable and flexible so that we can do just that."