Dear Lynx community,

I hope the spring semester has started well for each of you. I want to begin by recognizing the importance of Black History Month. This month asks us to learn from our past and to apply those lessons in ways that improve the world we inhabit today. I encourage you to take part in one of the many campuswide Black History Month events.

In addition to our Black History Month events and celebrations, February also marks the close of my first year as chancellor. Last spring, I quickly came to deeply appreciate each of you, our collective community, and our university's incredible purpose. The warmth, support, and patience you have extended during my first year have made it feel much longer—in the best of ways! While I typically look forward with an eye toward action and impact, anniversaries have a way of inviting reflection. I've shared a few memorable photos from the past year below.

In my first Lynx Link, I shared a vision for our university grounded in uplifting and empowering learners: “The most central objective motivating our shared work is the success of every individual who chooses to build and strengthen the foundation of their future with us.”

Since then, we have refined our focus on learner outcomes, investing thousands of hours through our Student Success Transformation Initiative and Academic Transformation Working Groups. This work has driven coordinated action across nearly every unit on campus—strengthening academic advising, early action efforts, and program alignment—to better serve learner needs.

Within these broader efforts, our DFWI (D and F grades, withdraw, or incomplete) working group will soon implement a series of targeted recommendations, including dashboard improvements that will strengthen data management and help identify policy and training needs. Complementing this work, our academic program viability efforts continue to progress forward. Over this past year, every academic program completed a self-study to ensure that our offerings remain market-competitive, meet the high expectations of our students, and align with the workforce needs of those who will employ our graduates.

Last fall marked the university’s first enrollment growth since 2020, which included an increase of nearly 6% in first-year undergraduate enrollment. First-to-second-year retention reached a record-tying high of more than 76%. Small but strategic interventions instituted last spring and summer in our enrollment activities yielded impactful results, and I expect additional gains as our transformation efforts outlined above mature.

Expanding access was also a central theme of this past year. With the launch of CU Denver Direct​ and the three—and counting—guaranteed admissions agreements with Denver Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools, and Jeffco Public Schools, we are opening doors for hundreds of local high school students who may not have previously seen a place for themselves on a college campus. As I shared at each announcement, this underscores that our commitment to access will be sustained through action.

This past fall we also launched CU Denver Homecoming,​ another reminder that campus affinity, like our academic progress, is built over time. Across nearly 10 campuswide events, we celebrated the distinctive character that defines CU Denver. Highlights included a Lynx Live event that drew more than 1,600 attendees, making it one of the university’s largest ever student events. Earlier in the week, more than 300 students joined a day of service, during which participants delivered more than 1,200 sandwiches to Denver Rescue Mission and removed nearly 500 pounds of trash from Cherry Creek. I was so proud of these activities, and I invite you to join me as we continue to build community through this event in the coming years.

Although these examples represent only a portion of our efforts, they share a common thread: Every success has been shaped by representative working groups that sought broad campus and community feedback. This approach is not easy. It requires a willingness to listen, empathize, and engage in honest, and sometimes difficult, conversations. It also reflects a belief that durable progress takes time and requires transparency, consistency, accountability, and shared ownership.

These foundational investments also naturally feed into the goals of our 2030 Strategic Plan Refresh​. Much of the momentum that will carry us forward is already underway, shaped by years of work that predate any single milestone. As we look forward, my focus will be to continue scaling and showcasing our impact, so that all learners can benefit from the transformational excellence that currently exists across our university. In doing so, we will define what CU Denver will be in 2030 and beyond.

I look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday, Feb. 18, as we gather for our hybrid event to celebrate our 2030 Strategic Plan Refresh. I'm excited to share that the event will feature a panel discussion on how we will create impact within the Denver metro area and the communities we serve, with insights from:

• Adeeb Khan, Executive Director, Denver Economic Development & Opportunity
• Alex Marrero, PhD, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools
• Lorii Rabinowitz, Chief Executive Officer, Denver Scholarship Foundation

This has been the most transformational year of my professional career. To serve at a university that cares so deeply for its students and community is a privilege I will never take for granted.