Chancellor Jeremy Haefner Delivers State of the University Address
On Thurs., Oct. 30, Chancellor Jeremy Haefner delivered the State of the University address before a packed audience of trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community leaders. Please find a video recording of the event and the transcript of his speech below. Thank you to everyone who attended the event.
Watch the State of the University address
Read Chancellor Haefner’s full speech
Thank you all for joining me this afternoon.
I have spent my entire career in higher education, as a member of the faculty, as a dean and in leadership roles at several institutions. But the most meaningful role of my career is the one I have right now: as the 19th Chancellor of the 鶹.
It is a privilege to partner with all of you―talented faculty, fellow administrators, dedicated staff and purpose-driven students who inspire me every day.
And it is the honor of a lifetime to lead an institution that stands at the forefront of higher education. DU is set apart by a preeminent student experience and the ability to develop leaders and critical thinkers who excel in a diverse, rapidly changing world. I experience the adventurous, impactful and caring ethos of our community every single day.
The sneakers I am wearing today were created by a student at the Daniels College of Business, Zack Mberko. He saw me walking across campus in my typical Converse sneakers and decided they needed an upgrade. As it turns out, Zack had started a custom sneaker business, and he created this wonderful Mandalorian theme on mine.
The Baby Yoda that sits on my desk was made with a 3D printer by students in the Innovation Labs at the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science. This statue is not just a testament to my love for Star Wars, but to the exciting interdisciplinary, experiential and project-based learning labs and maker spaces DU offers.
These are just two examples of the creativity of our community. And I know that our shared commitments to academic excellence, experiential learning, character development and free expression in a spirit of inclusion will continue to take us far.
But not all the news in the world of higher education is quite so positive. I want to be candid with you about the landscape and headwinds colleges and universities―including DU―are facing. They are unlike any I have seen in the more than three decades I have spent in higher education.
I tell you this not to scare you, but to provide some context for the rest of my speech, during which I’ll discuss:
- The advantages that make DU stand out at a time of increasing competition;
- How what we are doing today fits into the larger strategy known as DU Forward; and
- Finally, how we are going to engage our community and hold ourselves accountable for making progress.
And I promise I will finish before the ice cream melts, so we can enjoy these refreshments, which are generously sponsored by Sodexo.
As many of you know, American higher education is at an inflection point, with colleges and universities facing historic challenges.
First, we are in the midst of a fundamental reshaping of the relationship between the federal government and America’s universities. The scrutiny we face, the prospect of fundamental changes to how we operate and the potential loss of billions of dollars in federal support are all unprecedented. Sadly, many of these changes are likely to persist for quite some time.
Second, higher ed is facing a so-called “demographic cliff.” The total number of U.S. high school graduates peaked this year and will steadily decline over the next two decades.
Third, we are facing a crisis of confidence in the value of a college degree. A majority of Americans recently surveyed agreed with the statement that college is a “questionable investment” and 38% of high school graduates do not enroll in a college or university.
These challenges call for us to respond by demonstrating the value of a DU education―not just relative to other universities but compared to not attending one at all.
The changes we make to address these challenges must be substantive and go beyond how we talk about or “market” DU, because the challenges DU and its students face are not just rhetorical. The demographic cliff is real. So is AI’s transformation of the job market and workplace, a worry shared by many parents and students I speak with.
The changes we make will build on what makes DU great today, because as I engage with our faculty, staff, students and alumni, it is clear to me that not only is DU strong, it was made for this moment. Let me turn to the powerful advantages, or differentiators, DU has in this environment. I see five (a nice prime number).
Our first key differentiator is our faculty.
I start with them because this community of teacher-scholars is foundational to what makes DU stand apart. Our faculty have created an unmatched student experience that leads to serious academic inquiry, meaningful careers and lives of purpose. They not only enhance our reputation and status as a research powerhouse, but they help our students know and feel they are “more than just a number.”
This was something that really stood out to Provost Loboa on her listening tours across campus. She told me that when she was visiting CAHSS for the first time, she noticed how many faculty members knew the students walking the halls by name. She told me she’s never seen anything like that in her career.
The letters students submitted to nominate faculty members as Career Champions this year show how deep these relationships go. Here are a few phrases that stood out to me:
“She recognized my potential… before I fully saw it in myself.”
“[He] is as excited for my future career trajectory as I am.”
“Her empathetic approach fostered a sense of compassion and connectedness among students.”
At the Career Champions awards ceremony, a professor in our Daniels College of Business told me how proud she was to be nominated. With tears in her eyes, she noted that even if she did not win the award, the nomination itself inspired her to want to be a better teacher.
There is an unmistakable human element to education that only our faculty can provide. Our students have consistently reported that they choose DU because it allows them to build personal relationships with faculty and staff, rather than transactional ones. They have also made clear that we should keep DU that way―and I agree.
The second differentiator I want to focus on is the fact that our teacher-scholars have made DU among the only private, R1 research universities in the Rocky Mountains. This status allows many of our students to benefit directly and indirectly from the millions of dollars in research funding that we attract as such an institution. The fact that DU achieved this without a medical school is a testament to our faculty’s diverse research interests and productivity.
The third differentiator also stems from the work of our faculty. Their focus on direct engagement with students has allowed us to introduce the 4D Experience, which aims to “systematize” the delivery of a preeminent student experience that integrates academic, personal and professional development.
As a reminder, 4D consists of four dimensions: deepening intellect; designing careers and lives of purpose; developing well-being and discovering character. One of our students described it as being “about developing your whole self [and] creating experiences that build every aspect of our person.”
Of course, this work has been done for years by many of our strongest teacher-scholars and staff members. 4D aims to make our system of supporting students more effective by making student success a shared responsibility, rather than one that falls upon individual faculty and staff. It is also about delivering the DU experience consistently to every student, not just to those who know where and how to ask for it.
This work has real momentum thanks to the faculty, staff and students who have collaborated to create this constellation of support for each student across the University, under the leadership of Laura Perille, our Executive Director for the 4D Experience. Here are just a few examples of how these efforts are taking root across DU:
- In our last Student Experience Survey, two-thirds of students reported participating in a class or program that has guided them to find meaning in their work.
- Our focus on character development has become a collaborative, University-wide effort that includes minors and micro-credentials as well as the work of our Compassion Lab under the direction of Dr. Cris Tietsort, which aims to help individuals understand compassion and incorporate it into their lives.
- In recognition of our innovative approach, DU was recently admitted to the LearningWell Coalition, a group of leaders in higher ed dedicated to evidence-based foundations for lifelong well-being. Funding from LearningWell allowed us to launch the 4D Faculty Teaching Fellows program.
I firmly believe the skills and traits we aim to encourage through 4D are essential to giving our students the tools they need to adapt to a world that is transforming before our eyes.
DU’s fourth key differentiator is the fact that we benefit from two incredible locations that allow us to provide an experience no other university can replicate. Our urban campus is not just beautiful, but strategically located in a fast-growing, high-energy metropolitan area. Our entire community benefits from the region’s economic growth, with our students having access to excellent internship opportunities while they are in school and job opportunities when they graduate.
But it is our Kennedy Mountain Campus that allows us to provide an experience that is truly unique. The KMC is unmatched in scale by any other university, with 724 acres of land at 8,100 feet of elevation, backing up to 612,000 acres of National Forest.
We know that spending time outdoors is not just enjoyable, but therapeutic and important to personal development. Our students come down from the mountain with an understanding of not just their well-being and the role nature plays in it, but of themselves. The KMC brings students out of their comfort zones, and I have seen firsthand how it helps build character and resilience. Two stories illustrate the power of the KMC.
My wife Maurin and I recently joined students at the KMC on one of DU’s First Ascent weekends, where incoming students participate in an array of wilderness activities. I met one new student on Saturday night after dinner, who admitted initially feeling homesick and anxious about finding her place at DU.
She told me that her time at the KMC, away from the pressure of academic or campus social life, made her feel like she could make friends and build a community here at DU. Two weeks later, I ran into the same student in Denver, and I was delighted to hear that the optimism she felt at the KMC had continued and that she was still feeling much more confident in her DU journey.
Another story comes from a student’s reflection in a First Year Seminar hosted by Professor Heather Martin from our Writing Program. This student chose to attend DU specifically because she had never seen the Rockies before. At First Ascent, she chose to rock climb for the first time and had a spectacular trip up the wall. Unfortunately, when she saw how high she had risen, she froze and couldn’t make her way back down without some patient, empathetic counseling from another student serving as the belayer.
In that moment, she learned the value of trust and overcoming fears; her belayer gained valuable experience of spontaneous peer mentorship. Both gained a friend, and I learned that the students became roommates.
Both campuses are essential to delivering the DU experience. While our urban campus focuses strongly on career and academic development, the KMC delivers the focus on well-being and character development that benefit our community.
As our final major institutional differentiator, I want to highlight two efforts that together demonstrate our ability to be nimble and adapt to emerging needs – these are our commitment to free expression and creating an inclusive community.
Lately, the need for civil discourse and an environment where people can engage with each other and disagree in a respectful and constructive manner has become especially apparent.
The work of fostering and encouraging free expression and civil discourse on campus is inseparable from our scholarly mission. Higher-level education is simply impossible in an environment where everyone agrees and thinks the same way, or in one where people feel inhibited or are restricted from disagreeing with each other.
That leaves one path forward―a culture of open inquiry and free expression―and that is exactly what I am focused on advancing. Learning to disagree constructively is a key part of our mission as a university and essential to building an inclusive community. To live up to the meaning of the term, “inclusiveness” must mean that there is room for people with whom we disagree in our community.
But the skills required to engage in respectful civil discourse―listening, considering and responding constructively―do not always come naturally. My life is enriched by engaging with those with whom I don’t agree, because they help me see the world with a different perspective. We are focused on providing our students with the opportunity to develop these skills, including through our soon-to-launch John and Sandy Miller National Academy for Free Expression and Pluralism and our Debate Across the Curriculum program, led by Dr. Darrin Hicks. Now in its third year, this program uses debate as a teaching tool to support perspective-taking and pluralism.
I also want to reiterate our commitment to inclusion and belonging, values that are core to who we are as a community. We have had to make changes to our approach, and they have been difficult for many of us. But what has not changed is our commitment to celebrating and supporting the rich diversity of our community and ensuring that every student, including those from under-represented communities, has the support and resources they need to feel included and to thrive.
To that end, we launched our new Community Support and Engagement Division to centralize and evolve our community-building and inclusion efforts. Although I know and recognize some concerns have been raised about the changes, our commitment to these values has not diminished.
In fact, we are raising the bar on the kind of community we strive to build. We must ensure that every student knows they have a place at DU, that they belong and that they are seen for who they are. This means ensuring that every DU student knows that their identity―whether it’s based on their race, ethnicity, gender, how they pray or find spiritual meaning, where they come from, who they love or how they navigate the world―is welcome on campus and that we will help them find the community they need to thrive. This is hard work. It requires consistent, intentional action, and we are determined to get there.
As I said when we announced the new division, these efforts are not the end of a process to build a more inclusive DU; they are just a beginning. I will continue to work with my Cabinet to strengthen our efforts to support our students and achieve the high standards that our community should expect. I also welcome your collaboration on additional steps we can take to build a more inclusive community for everyone.
To summarize, I have just outlined the five key advantages that we carry with us into this new environment:
- Our community of teacher-scholars
- Our status as an R1 research institution
- Our 4D approach to creating a preeminent student experience
- Our dual-campus approach to education; and
- Our work to create an inclusive environment through free expression, civil discourse and belonging.
These advantages sit as the foundation of our long-term ambition to be a research university with a best-in-class student experience, known for reflective, experiential learning, a community of care and high-impact, world-class research. This larger framework is called “DU Forward.”
DU Forward builds on our strong academic and research foundation and brings together our historic strengths based on arts, athletics, location and experiential learning, as well as our academic ambitions and strategic initiatives.
While DU Forward aims for specific and important outcomes related to enrollment, retention, reputation and student success, let me frame our vision this way.
We will be a University where:
- Our graduates are flourishing in their careers and lives, having succeeded in a world completely transformed by Artificial Intelligence.
- Where we are highly regarded for our world-class faculty made up of teacher-scholars who excel in the classroom, where relationships matter.
- Where our staff know and feel they are contributing in exceptional ways to the success of our students and our university’s mission; and they feel supported by a caring University that values them and their well-being
- Where more prospective students than ever dream of attending DU because they see a caring community that will help them achieve their dreams through intellectual, professional and personal development.
- Where our alumni and friends are proud, highly engaged and providing unsurpassed levels of support.
- Where we embrace difference―not because we have to, but because we want to and because it makes us better and stronger.
- And finally, where we are widely known and respected for academic and research excellence, a preeminent student experience, and the very positive impact we have on the world around us.
As in so many areas, our faculty and staff are taking the initiative to identify needs in our community and create offerings to address them. To better understand the role they play in enhancing the 4D experience, look no further than the 19 proposals we selected for first-year funding as part of DU Forward.
The proposals were faculty- and staff-driven. The proposals are tied to three key metrics―enrollment, student and faculty success and student experience―and they represent a down payment on our commitment to unleash the energy and innovation of our faculty and staff.
I would like to ask all those included in these awards to stand up and be recognized. We look forward to seeing how these exciting projects unfold.
By now, I hope two things are clear: first, that the immediate and long-term environments demand we act with urgency. Second, that our advantages―which are thanks to the hard work and care of our faculty, staff, alumni and student leaders―should give us confidence that we are up to the challenges ahead.
Each of us must take an active role and an owner’s mentality in advancing DU’s strategy and achieving our long-term ambitions. For my part, I will maintain an intense focus on the priorities of culture, enrollment and reputation, but I cannot work alone; I am committed to including perspectives from across the University.
Going forward, you can expect us to focus on measurable criteria to evaluate our performance and hold each other accountable. We will continue to invest in the student, faculty, and staff experience, such as the 19 DU Forward projects I just highlighted and our recent decision to improve our staff paid time off policy. In the coming days, you can also expect another significant announcement of an initiative aimed at elevating our profile and cementing our reputation within our aspirational peer set.
Consistent with DU’s proud tradition of shared governance, every one of us has a role to play and an opportunity to help write DU’s next chapter at a pivotal time in the history of the University and the history of American education.
As I noted at the outset, the environment is challenging, and I cannot guarantee that the changes ahead will be easy. At the same time, we are more than up to the task―not just to react to a tough environment, but to successfully navigate through it. I am asking for your participation—that owner’s mindset―to help DU achieve its full potential.
DU’s future is in our hands at a crucial time that should cause us all to refocus on our purpose and that of this University. As I return to my conviction that DU is not just ready for these times―it was made for them―I’m reminded of a poem that narrates the difficult decision to choose risk and challenge over comfort in pursuit of heroism and achievement. I can think of no more relevant work for the time we are in.
The poem is Lord Tennsyon’s “Ulysses,” and it concludes:
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
I am privileged to lead DU at this moment, and all of us are fortunate to be partners in strengthening this University. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to helping DU thrive.