Administration

Regents approve compensation and tuition adjustments as part of proposed 2026–27 budget

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 02:05:38 +0000

Regents approve compensation and tuition adjustments as part of proposed 2026–27 budget Megan M Rogers Thu, 04/16/2026 - 20:05

The University of Colorado Board of Regents approved a proposed 2026–27 budget during its meeting Thursday, agreeing to a 3% tuition increase for incoming undergraduate students on the Boulder campus.

Like all incoming undergraduates, these students will have their tuition locked in for four consecutive years of study via CU Boulder’s Undergraduate Tuition Guarantee. There are no recommended increases in mandatory student fees in the proposed budget.

The budget proposal also includes a 1% merit pool and a $15.9 million adjustment pool for faculty and university staff salary. It also includes step increases for classified staff who are eligible.

Earlier this month, the state legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved the framework for the state budget Long Bill, which included decisions on tuition rate increases and compensation for classified employees. Nothing is final in terms of CU’s budget until the Long Bill is considered and approved by the State House and Senate and signed by the governor. This usually occurs in mid-May. The 2026–27 fiscal year begins July 1.

Key aspects of the budget proposal

Tuition rate changes

3% increase in tuition for incoming resident undergraduate students.
The tuition rate for an incoming resident undergraduate student enrolled in 30 credit hours at CU Boulder will increase to $13,973 per year.
A 3% increase in tuition for incoming nonresident undergraduate students. The tuition rate for an incoming nonresident undergraduate student enrolled in 30 credit hours at CU Boulder will increase to $45,019 per year.
Because of CU Boulder’s tuition guarantee, students pay the same rate of tuition and mandatory fees for four years, allowing families to plan more easily.
Up to a 4% increase in tuition for resident graduate students.

Housing and dining fees

4% increase in residence hall fees and 3% increase in graduate and family housing fees.

Compensation expectations

Regents approved a 1% merit pool for eligible faculty and university staff, plus a a $15.9 million adjustment pool.
Under the proposed budget, eligible classified staff will receive a step increase. Eligibility for step increase determined by years of service in the same job series.
Nothing is final in terms of CU’s budget until the Long Bill is considered and approved by the State House and Senate and signed by the governor. This usually occurs in mid-May.

Institutional priorities

$8.5 million, or 5.3%, increase in institutional financial aid, pending final regents budget approval in June.

Student enrollment trends

Total student enrollment projected to increase by 1.3%.
Undergraduate student enrollment projected to increase by 1.7%.
Projected resident transfer students near the highest in history, driven by efforts to improve transfer process for resident students from other Colorado institutions.
Incoming undergraduate class projected to be in line with past three years.
Graduate enrollment is projected to be down 0.8% from fall 2025.
Due to larger prior incoming classes and improved retention, continuing undergraduate students are projected to increase by 2.2%.
Continued uncertainty regarding both undergraduate international (up 1.4%) and graduate international (down 2.3%) student enrollment.
One factor is the projected in-state transfer student numbers rising to near historic levels due to efforts to improve the transfer process for resident students.

Updates from Chancellor Justin Schwartz

Conference on World Affairs

This week, CU Boulder hosted the Conference on World Affairs, which has included more than 60 speakers and panels. Among them, CWA partnered with the Steamboat Institute to host a debate between U.S. diplomats John Bolton and Susan Rice, reasserting the commitment Regent Frank McNulty spoke about in January—to bring the highest level of intellectual capacity to campus from across the political spectrum.

U.S. News & World Report Graduate Program rankings

High rankings in many programs, many moving up, including environmental law, aerospace engineering, physics, clinical psychology and seven distinct programs in the Leeds School of Business.
In the specialty rankings, nearly all of the College of Engineering and Applied Science’s graduate degree programs were ranked in the top 20 among their public research university peers.

Big Ideas

Update on the Big Ideas initiative, in which campus leaders asked the campus community to consider: What are the next big, audacious ideas that need our urgent attention? What transformative areas should we focus on in the coming years?
More than 600 submissions received so far.

Other business

The board also:

Approved the $6.75 million purchase of the site of a former car dealership at 1799 Exposition Drive in Boulder. The 18,919-square-foot facility will support the campus’s decarbonization goals by providing much-needed maintenance space capable of servicing CU Boulder’s growing electric bus fleet. Learn more about the Exposition Drive plans.
Approved a regent-initiated measure on AI technologies articulating that the university should implement policy promoting responsible, ethical and equitable use of AI, including generative AI, by students, faculty and staff. The measure reads in part: “The university shall appropriately leverage AI while protecting privacy, safeguarding security, and upholding transparency, fairness, and human oversight in alignment with its mission and values.” Read more about the AI guidance approved by regents.
Voted to discontinue the MA degree in journalism entrepreneurship in the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information (CMDI) due to lack of student interest. The last students in the program graduated in 2023 after the program’s three-year run. The primary journalism program in CMDI is unaffected.
Voted to discontinue the ME in electrical and computer engineering due to decline in student demand stemming from redundancy in offerings. The 10 students in the program as of spring 2026 will be able to complete their degrees with no changes in course offerings. The College of Engineering and Applied Science offers a successful non-technical ME in engineering management degree and will continue to do so.

The next regular board meeting will be held June 4–5 in Greeley. Find more information on regents meetings.

At their recent board meeting, the CU Board of Regents approved the proposed 2026–27 budget, which includes 3% tuition increases for new undergraduate students and proposed pay adjustments for faculty and staff.

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Campus Policy Review Project: A conversation with Catherine Oja

Elizabeth Lock — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:44:24 +0000

Campus Policy Review Project: A conversation with Catherine Oja Elizabeth Lock Mon, 04/13/2026 - 12:44

CU Boulder Today recently spoke with Catherine Oja, director of the Office of Compliance, Ethics and Policy (OCEP), about the university’s multi-year Policy Review Project and why it matters for faculty, staff and students.

Catherine Oja

What is the Policy Review Project, and why is it important?

CU Boulder launched the Policy Review Project in early 2025 to take a comprehensive, campuswide approach to reviewing all university policies. While policies are updated regularly, this is the first time we have taken a structured, holistic approach to reviewing every policy across campus.

Policies guide how we operate and ensure clear compliance structures that support faculty, staff and students in their work, studies, research and creative pursuits. They define expectations, clarify responsibilities and ensure compliance with federal, state, regent law and policy, and with CU system administrative policy statements. As the university evolves and grows, it’s important that our policies evolve as well.

This project strengthens our governance framework and ensures our policies are clear, consistent and aligned with how we operate today.

What are some of the key benefits of this effort?

There are several important benefits.

First, we are identifying and addressing gaps or redundancies that have developed over time. In some cases, policies are outdated or no longer necessary. In others, new regulatory requirements require us to formalize guidance. Across all policies, considerations related to equity are important to refresh on a regular review cycle.

Second, we are standardizing language and formatting across policy suites. That may sound simple, but consistency improves usability. It makes policies easier to navigate and understand for faculty, staff and students.

Finally, this project establishes a repeatable, structured review process. Once a policy is updated, it enters a formal five-year review cycle, ensuring we maintain accuracy and alignment going forward.

How does the review process work?

Each policy undergoes consultation with its policy owner, impact and equity review, drafting, legal consultation and constituent engagement before being approved and implemented. That structured process helps ensure policies are thoughtful, compliant and operationally sound.

Policies, by topical suite (e.g., public safety, human resources, IT), are moving through review on a rolling basis through 2028.

What should the campus community expect?

As policy suites are approved, updates will be shared with campus, and current policies will always be posted on the OCEP website.

Our goal is transparency and clarity. We want faculty, staff and students to understand their responsibilities and feel confident our policies support their roles and the university’s mission.

Catherine Oja, director of the Office of Compliance, Ethics and Policy, discusses the university's multi-year Policy Review Project and why it matters for faculty, staff and students.

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Buff Experience Transformation moves into implementation

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:12:55 +0000

Buff Experience Transformation moves into implementation Megan M Rogers Thu, 04/09/2026 - 14:12

CU Boulder is moving forward with Buff Experience Transformation, a campuswide initiative focused on implementation of a Salesforce Education Cloud-based enterprise student success system that will improve how students experience support, services and engagement throughout their time at the university. The multi-year project, previously known as the Learner Lifecycle CRM (LLCRM), has now entered its implementation phase, following approval of the Phase 1 scope of work and the launch of structured implementation sprints.

Over the past year, campus leaders, subject matter experts and students have worked together to clarify priorities and define what to build first. That work included discovery sessions, working groups and a two-day workshop focused on understanding the student experience and aligning on early needs, particularly within advising and related student success services.

With this foundational work complete, Buff Experience Transformation has transitioned from planning into active implementation. Development sprints are now underway, focused on building core capabilities, confirming priorities and delivering early progress while continuing to center on student needs.

What is Buff Experience Transformation?

Buff Experience Transformation is a campuswide effort to support a more connected, student-centered experience by improving how information, systems and services work together. The initiative builds on work already underway across campus and reflects a shared commitment to making it easier to be a Buff—especially as students navigate advising, student success services and other points of support.

As part of this effort, CU Boulder is implementing a Salesforce Education Cloud-based solution in phases, beginning with a clearly defined first phase and expanding over time.

Staying connected and informed

To support transparency, change management and ongoing engagement, several communications and feedback channels are being activated this month:

Weekly Buff Experience Transformation Q&A sessions are underway and open to anyone interested in learning more about the project or sharing feedback. Add the sessions to your calendar and make plans to join.
A dedicated email communications channel has been established to share project updates with subscribers. Sign up for the emails and stay in the loop.
A project communications plan is in development to guide ongoing updates, sprint summaries, leadership briefings and campuswide messaging.
A new Buff Experience Transformation website is in development and will replace the existing Learner Lifecycle CRM website in the coming weeks.

As implementation continues, the project team will share regular updates and additional opportunities for engagement. Faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in Q&A sessions and subscribe to project communications to stay informed as the Buff Experience Transformation moves forward.

CU Boulder is moving forward with Buff Experience Transformation, formerly known as the Learner Lifecycle CRM. The campuswide initiative is focused on implementation of a Salesforce Education Cloud-based enterprise student success system that will improve how students experience support, services and engagement.

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Campus shared values project moves into authoring phase

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:44:46 +0000

Campus shared values project moves into authoring phase Megan M Rogers Tue, 04/07/2026 - 10:44

CU Boulder’s campus shared values project is entering its next phase, building on the broad community input gathered from faculty, staff and students during the 2025–26 academic year.

Since the fall semester, the campus community has shared perspectives on the values that matter most in shaping CU Boulder’s culture through a survey with more than 300 responses, a series of open in-person and online conversations, and engagement with campus shared governance groups. That input has helped identify common themes reflecting the lived experiences and aspirations of the CU Boulder community.

Authoring committee convened

To translate that feedback into a usable set of shared values, project co-leads Sonia DeLuca Fernández, senior vice chancellor for leadership support and programming, and Jon Leslie, vice chancellor for strategic communications, have convened a Campus Shared Values Authoring Committee. The committee is charged with developing a draft set of campus values and definitions that are inclusive, actionable and grounded in community input.

Co‑chaired by Julia Zigarelli, deputy director of the Reneé Crown Wellness Institute, and Ashley Grice, senior consultant in Leadership Support and Programming, the committee includes representatives from Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA), Staff Council (SC), CU Student Government (CUSG) and Graduate and Professional Student Government (GPSG) working with five staff members: Carla Anthony (Human Resources), Crystal Cyr (SC), Devin Cramer (Student Life), Michaele Ferguson (BFA), Gianna Guido (CUSG), Dejun “Tony” Kong (BFA), Funda Kus (GPSG), David Martinez (CMDI), Kristi Ryujin (Leeds) and Mike Williamson (Digital Accessibility).

The committee members represent a range of campus perspectives and are working as a comprehensive authoring body—focused on clarity, accessibility and alignment—rather than representing individual units or roles.

What comes next

In the upcoming weeks, the authoring committee will review campus feedback, draft values and definitions, and address community input on language and framing.

A draft set of shared campus values will then be shared with the broader campus community for additional feedback before being brought forward to campus leadership.

The final phase of the project will focus on rolling out and integrating shared campus values into CU Boulder’s culture and practices, with implementation planned for the 2026–27 academic year starting this fall.

Questions about the project can be directed to buffinfo@colorado.edu for routing to the project team.

CU Boulder is beginning the authoring phase of its campus shared values project, building directly from faculty, staff and student input.

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Provost discusses faculty salaries and more during assembly meeting

Megan M Rogers — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:11:04 +0000

Provost discusses faculty salaries and more during assembly meeting Megan M Rogers Mon, 04/06/2026 - 11:11

In their March meeting, the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) heard an update about the Chancellor’s Faculty Salary Task Force’s final report. Provost Ann Stevens returned to the April 2 BFA meeting to discuss what the Office of the Provost is doing to address that report.

The Chancellor’s Faculty Salary Task Force began their work in spring 2025 in response to existing BFA concerns that CU Boulder’s pay for tenured and tenure-track faculty lagged behind that of peer public institutions. Their final report recommended, among other actions, that the university work to remedy that lag.

“I take the task force report as a sign of a very healthy collaboration between shared governance and leadership. That makes all of our work easier when we work together,” Stevens remarked.

Much of the work to address those recommendations is already underway, Stevens said, including:

A proposed campus investment of $6 million over the next three years to address salary competitiveness of tenured and tenure-track faculty with the intention that schools and colleges will match, totaling up to a $12 million investment in faculty salaries
Hiring a director of faculty compensation in the Office of the Provost who will provide advice, training and support to deans, associate deans and chairs in competitive hiring, compression and equity issues
Giving all schools and college leaders, including deans, associate deans and chairs, access to CU Boulder’s AAU faculty salary comparison dashboard
Developing a faculty retention dashboard to track retention actions taken by the units

“Over a few years, I think we’ll make progress on all of these (recommendations) and be in a better place,” said Stevens.

Stevens also emphasized to the group that the report made clear that CU Boulder is not compensating outstanding faculty at a level consistent with its AAU public peer universities. Stevens’s written response to the report will be available soon and posted on the Academic Affairs website.

During her talk, Stevens also encouraged faculty to attend commencement and one of the upcoming visioning sessions for CU Boulder Online, and addressed two resolutions related to collective bargaining, voted on after the meeting. Stevens said, as a member of campus leadership, she’s agnostic on collective bargaining, but she applauds the effort to establish a task force to look into how collective bargaining might interact with shared governance.

“I hope that that (task force) will give us some really clear guidance and fact finding, much like the salary task force, so that we can all make better, informed decisions,” said Stevens.

She encouraged any potential task force that may arise to rely on the work already accomplished thanks to the faculty salary task force, including a page on the HR website that outlines what the university has already accomplished in recent years related to compensation.

Faculty Report of Professional Activities (FRPA) update

Marin Stanek, vice chancellor for IT, updated the BFA on work in progress by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Information Technology to replace CU Boulder’s existing FRPA software. This long process has involved extensive campuswide outreach and a request for proposal (RFP) process that has now resulted in eight promising proposals for new software.

The group is now systematically reviewing the options and has held demo sessions to get faculty feedback. Stanek said the process is on track to roll out a pilot of the new software in the fall 2026 semester, with a full campuswide rollout scheduled for fall 2027.

“No institution has the secret sauce for having this (faculty reporting process) be where faculty love it and it’s really easy or automated. In a way, it’s one of those activities that is a necessary evil that happens,” Stanek said. “We just strongly believe that we can make it much better than it is today, and so that’s what our commitment is.”

In other BFA action

The BFA voted to approve two different resolutions introduced during the March meeting related to collective bargaining: one calling for a BFA Collective Bargaining Task Force, which would examine the relationship between collective bargaining and shared governance and another in support of collective bargaining, introduced in response to the Board of Regents’ call for faculty feedback regarding a potential expansion of collective bargaining rights to university faculty, staff and student workers.
The BFA also voted to approve a motion to add more seats to the assembly for the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information after the recent merger with environmental design.
The assembly tabled a resolution to postpone the rollout of ChatGPT on campus after the resolution was revised in response to the university’s recent delay for the student version.
Three different notices of motion were also introduced: an update of the faculty affairs committee charge, a recommendation to establish generative AI-use guidelines and resources, and a change to the BFA bylaws and standing rules.
The BFA is holding a special assembly meeting on April 16 to discuss AI on campus. The meeting will be hybrid, with an in-person option in the Law School Wittemyer Courtroom, and is open to all members of the faculty senate.
Faculty are encouraged to attend the BFA Excellence Awards ceremony on April 7.

Learn more about the BFA and previous actions on the BFA website.

Provost Ann Stevens joined the first of two Boulder Faculty Assembly meetings in April to discuss progress made following the Chancellor's Faculty Salary Task Force.

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CU Boulder Online—Attend a visioning session April 6–9

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:03:15 +0000

CU Boulder Online—Attend a visioning session April 6–9 Megan M Rogers Tue, 03/17/2026 - 08:03

CU Boulder is launching a campuswide visioning process to define the future of CU Boulder Online, an effort designed to bring together the university’s multiple online models into one holistic approach, strengthening support for online students and faculty and positioning CU Boulder for long‑term impact locally, nationally and globally.

The visioning effort, directed by Provost Ann Stevens and led by Fernando Rosario‑Ortiz, interim vice chancellor and executive vice provost for academic resource management, builds on leadership changes announced earlier this academic year and marks the next phase of a comprehensive review of the university’s online ecosystem

Get involved

Read the charge for the next phase of CU Boulder Online.

Participate in a campuswide survey later this spring.

Stay current; visit the project webpage.

“Through this process, we seek to listen to all campus constituencies as we collectively develop a vision for the future of online education at CU Boulder. We are focused on enhancing our academic mission of serving students, faculty and staff, while extending the reach and impact of our learning resources locally and internationally,” Rosario‑Ortiz said.

An executive committee, representing key campus constituents has been selected and will participate in the visioning process. This committee includes deans as well as key leaders who are actively involved in advancing online education.

Defining CU Boulder’s distinct online identity

“At the heart of the process is a fundamental question: How should CU Boulder shape the future of online education to reflect its unique academic strengths and serve learners on campus and beyond for the long term?” said Stevens.

The visioning effort will explore where CU Boulder can offer a distinct online identity, informed by the university’s research excellence, faculty expertise, creative work and commitment to student success.

“Once we’ve defined that distinct identity, the task will be to scale our programs to serve the specific learning goals of CU Boulder students, alumni and learners across the globe, advancing the research, scholarship, creative work and teaching of our faculty all the while,” Rosario-Ortiz said.

Broad engagement, clear timeline

The visioning process is expected to conclude by fall 2026 and will be shaped by multiple sources of input and analysis. Join the conversation by participating in upcoming forums and surveys.

Four open forums for faculty, staff and students, scheduled during a single week at different times to maximize participation.
A survey distributed to several campus constituencies—including students—to establish baseline information and identify gaps in the current online experience.

“These engagement opportunities are intended to ensure the online education vision reflects lived experiences across campus and supports both campus‑based and online learners,” said Rosario-Ortiz.

The visioning process to define the future of CU Boulder Online kicks off this month, with four opportunities for campus input.

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@cuboulderpolice social media handle changing to @CUBoulderDPS

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:59:05 +0000

@cuboulderpolice social media handle changing to @CUBoulderDPS Megan M Rogers Fri, 03/13/2026 - 10:59

The Division of Public Safety today launched a process of transitioning its social media channels from CU Boulder Police Department (@cuboulderpolice) to CU Boulder Division of Public Safety (@CUBoulderDPS).

For more information about DPS and campus safety resources, visit @CUBoulderDPS on social media.

The change reflects DPS’s ongoing work to enhance communication, increase transparency and help the campus community better understand the full range of safety services available at CU Boulder. It also aligns to the university priority of aligning resources and infrastructure to our mission.

While CUPD has represented the university’s public safety presence on social media for over a decade, the evolution of public safety on campus through DPS drives this change. DPS is an integrated organization that includes CUPD, Public Safety Operations, Security Services, Threat Assessment, Flight Operations and a range of safety education and prevention programs.

“�鶹��Ժ and employees interact with DPS in many ways beyond traditional policing,” said Marlon Lynch, vice chancellor for public safety. “This change allows us to communicate more clearly about who we are, what we do and how our various teams work together to support campus.”

The renaming process is taking place across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X. While the process for X, Facebook and YouTube are complete, the process for Instagram is still underway because of technical difficulties, with a resolution time potentially being lengthy.

Current followers will automatically remain connected, and the content will remain familiar—including timely information, safety education, community engagement and updates from across the division.

Importantly, emergency alerts will continue to appear on X and Facebook, along with other non-social media channels, ensuring the community maintains uninterrupted access to fast, critical information during urgent situations. The channel names will change, but its role in emergency communication will not.

DPS will introduce a short educational series on the newly named accounts to help the community learn more about its departments and programs. Topics will include how campus building access is managed, how emergency alerts are issued, what the threat assessment team does and what safety tools—such as the CU Boulder Safe app—offers students and employees.

The goal of the transition is to make it easier for students, faculty and staff to understand the resources available to them and to strengthen awareness of the teams working behind the scenes every day within DPS.

The CU Boulder Police Department’s social media handle is transitioning to @CUBoulderDPS to better reflect the broader work of the Division of Public Safety and its integrated public safety model.

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Campus values project moves forward with broad community input

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:24:22 +0000

Campus values project moves forward with broad community input Megan M Rogers Tue, 03/10/2026 - 10:24

CU Boulder’s campuswide values project is entering its next phase, following strong early engagement from students, faculty and staff and continued opportunities for the campus community to help shape a shared set of values.

Launched in fall 2025, the project seeks to build consensus around values that will guide how CU Boulder communities advance the university’s mission, vision and institutional priorities. The effort is cofacilitated by Sonia DeLuca Fernández, senior vice chancellor for leadership programming and support, and Jon Leslie, vice chancellor for strategic communications, and is part of the broader framework for engaging CU Boulder’s mission, vision and objectives that began in the 2025–26 academic year.

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff have shared input through a campus survey and a series of virtual and in‑person sessions held in November and December. Those sessions engaged shared governance and campus leadership groups, including CU Student Government, Graduate and Professional Student Government, the Boulder Faculty Assembly and Staff Council leadership.

That feedback is informing a draft set of shared values now under collaborative review with campus leadership and shared governance groups. A formal authorizing committee is also being formed to help synthesize input and guide the values toward campuswide adoption.

What’s next

Randomized outreach: �鶹��Ժ, faculty and staff will receive a randomized email inviting additional feedback on the draft values.
Ongoing review: Leadership and shared governance groups will continue refining the draft.
Spring input: Additional opportunities for campus feedback will be offered throughout the semester.
Toward adoption: Input will shape revisions as the values move toward broader use.

Once finalized, CU Boulder’s shared values will serve as a reference point for strategy, prioritization and decision making, while helping clarify the behaviors and outcomes the university seeks to support in alignment with its public research mission.

The CU Boulder campus community is encouraged to continue participating this spring to help ensure the shared values reflect the experiences, aspirations and responsibilities of the CU Boulder community.

CU Boulder's shared values project is entering its next phase, with continued opportunities for campus input.

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Justin Schwartz addresses ChatGPT partnership, more with faculty assembly

Megan M Rogers — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:25:43 +0000

Justin Schwartz addresses ChatGPT partnership, more with faculty assembly Megan M Rogers Mon, 03/09/2026 - 11:25

Chancellor Justin Schwartz addresses the Boulder Faculty Assembly during its meeting Thursday, March 5. Photo by Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder.

We are in an AI world, so now's the time to figure out how to best implement those tools for our students.

That was one of the main points discussed during Chancellor Justin Schwartz’s first presentation to the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) this year. As part of his remarks, he stressed the importance of the CU system’s recently announced partnership agreement with ChatGPT to allow the university to not just get ahead of the rapidly changing AI landscape but to help define it going forward.

“We cannot ignore the existence of the rapidly growing prevalence of AI in our society,” said Schwartz. “This is not something we can choose to have exist in American society or around the globe, or not. It is here, and so either we will deal with it together as a community or we won’t.”

Schwartz did not shy away from the sustainability drawbacks of this new partnership, nor the related academic integrity and security concerns he said are shared by the administration, but argued that the university also can't ignore the 30,000 members of the CU Boulder community already using the ChatGPT platform with their colorado.edu email address.

“This (ChatGPT) is not something new to us,” Schwartz added. “This is already here.”

Schwartz said that by partnering with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, the university can ensure everyone has equitable access to the product, if they want to use it, and that everyone who uses the product receives training designed by the university to set expectations and educate potential users.

“We need to embrace, in my view, that preparing our students for a world of AI is just as much a part of ethical AI as the challenging issues that we have to address in the process,” said Schwartz. “When we talk about preparing our students for life and the workplace, this is that. Their lives, their workplaces, are going to be inundated with AI, and we’re either preparing them for that or we’re not.”

In addition to AI, the chancellor touched on subjects including CU Boulder’s shared values project, the university’s 150th anniversary, the new Carnegie Elective Classification for Sustainability and a call for faculty to join this year’s commencement ceremonies. He also previewed the report of the Chancellor’s Task Force on Faculty Salaries and the rollout of the new CU Boulder common curriculum, both of which were also addressed during the meeting.

Other topics discussed

Faculty Salary Task Force final report

Full and associate professor salaries at CU Boulder are not competitive compared to our public university peers, according to the final report from the Chancellor’s Faculty Salary Task Force.

During the October BFA meeting, task force co-chairs Shelly Miller, professor emerita of mechanical engineering and past BFA chair, and Ann Schmiesing, senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives, presented on the working group and the charge that they were given. They returned to present the group’s final findings and encouraged everyone to read the report.

“It’s packed with good information, and we were very concise. You can probably read it in 20 minutes. It’s really worth it,” said Miller.

The task force found that the typical CU Boulder annual compensation pool is not in line with the university’s peer institutions and insufficient to address the fact that CU Boulder’s faculty salaries lag those of our peers, with the gap largest at the full professor level, though it’s also felt at the associate level. Approaches to addressing faculty salary issues are also highly fragmented across campus.

“The approach that we’ve been using for decades is not working, obviously,” said Miller.

The report’s many recommendations include developing a faculty-specific compensation strategy, investing in faculty salary competitiveness and equity, and developing a plan to eventually raise all affected faculty salaries so that they match the university’s public peers.

“We believe the correction should begin as soon as possible, because the longer we wait to address some of these issues, the more they compound,” said Schmiesing.

Common Curriculum Faculty Working Group update

The BFA Common Curriculum Faculty Working Group recently submitted their final report to Provost Ann Stevens, who has accepted the report and its recommendations.

This group, chaired by teaching professor of history and BFA Chair Elect David Paradis and working in partnership with Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment Katherine Eggert, began their work last fall. Eggert and Interim Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education Erika Randall gave a general update during the December BFA meeting. They returned to present the working group’s recommendations, as well as to give a general common curriculum implementation update to the group.

The working group was charged with examining the common curriculum’s learning outcomes and providing determinations for how the university will teach them across all colleges, schools and majors, including in a course required for incoming students. The common curriculum is set to roll out in fall 2027.

Eggert, Randall and members of their teams will meet in March with college and school leadership to align the common curriculum learning outcomes further with existing degree requirements. Meetings with academic programs offering undergraduate degrees will follow and will continue into the fall 2026 semester.

Other work that will support the implementation of the common curriculum includes drafting a policy for a new standing Campus Curriculum Committee, which will serve an advisory role for the provost, and crafting an assessment plan for common curriculum learning outcomes.

“I have undying gratitude to David Paradis for chairing (the BFA working) group, and to those faculty whom David assembled to serve, representing all schools and colleges, and all three divisions of the College of Arts and Sciences,” said Eggert.

New business

There were three notices of motions introduced during the meeting:

A call for a BFA collective bargaining task force
A motion in support of the Board of Regents allowing collective bargaining on every CU campus
A motion to increase the amount of seats in BFA for representatives from the newly expanded College of Communication, Media, Design and Information (CMDI)

After the formal agenda concluded, there was also a resolution introduced that urged the administration to delay the rollout of the ChatGPT partnership until after Maymester, so that faculty concerns can be ironed out before the tool is widely available. A straw poll was held that indicated widespread support for such a delay among the BFA representatives present.

Learn more about the BFA and previous actions on the BFA website.

During a recent address by Chancellor Justin Schwartz to the Boulder Faculty assembly, he discussed AI, the shared governance project, the university's 150th anniversary and more.

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Video: Employee Health and Well-Being launches partnership with American Red Cross

Megan M Rogers — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:36:54 +0000

Video: Employee Health and Well-Being launches partnership with American Red Cross Megan M Rogers Mon, 03/02/2026 - 09:36

A new partnership between Employee Health and Well-Being and the American Red Cross will provide ongoing resources, onsite training and volunteer opportunities that deepen our shared commitment to service and community well‑being.

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Administration

Regents approve compensation and tuition adjustments as part of proposed 2026–27 budget

Key aspects of the budget proposal

Tuition rate changes

Housing and dining fees

Compensation expectations

Institutional priorities

Student enrollment trends

Updates from Chancellor Justin Schwartz

Conference on World Affairs

U.S. News & World Report Graduate Program rankings

Big Ideas

Other business

Related Articles

Campus Policy Review Project: A conversation with Catherine Oja

What is the Policy Review Project, and why is it important?

What are some of the key benefits of this effort?

How does the review process work?

What should the campus community expect?

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What is Buff Experience Transformation?

Staying connected and informed

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Campus shared values project moves into authoring phase

Authoring committee convened

What comes next

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Faculty Report of Professional Activities (FRPA) update

In other BFA action

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CU Boulder Online—Attend a visioning session April 6–9

Defining CU Boulder’s distinct online identity

Broad engagement, clear timeline

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@cuboulderpolice social media handle changing to @CUBoulderDPS

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Campus values project moves forward with broad community input

What’s next

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Justin Schwartz addresses ChatGPT partnership, more with faculty assembly

Faculty Salary Task Force final report

Common Curriculum Faculty Working Group update

New business

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Video: Employee Health and Well-Being launches partnership with American Red Cross

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