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Strategic Plan

2024-25 Strategic Plan Highlights

Two years into our strategic plan, Fresno State stands at a defining moment. Budget pressures and accelerating change in higher education demand that we become even more nimble, collaborative, and student-centered.

This past year, we made significant strides—from advancing student success to strengthening our regional impact—all while navigating uncertainty with purpose and intention. As we refine our focus for the years ahead, we’ve made the intentional decision to integrate Goal 5 into Goal 1, embedding inclusivity and belonging as essential drivers of student and employee success.

The next phase will require discipline, alignment, and long-term thinking. By focusing on what matters most and investing in areas of greatest impact, we will position Fresno State—and our students—for enduring success in the years and decades to come.

Thank you for your continued dedication to Fresno State and the transformational work we do every day.

Goal One: Enhance Personal Well-Being and Professional Fulfillment 

A: Students 

This year, we expanded access, removed barriers, and supported students with data-informed strategies

  1. Expanded Bulldog Bound to 94 high schools in 50 districts, and enrolling 17,000 students.
  2. Awarded over $480,000 in emergency housing and grants to support basic needs.
  3. Launched a centralized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool within Enrollment Management to improve student outreach and communication.
  4. Implemented a major restructuring of academic advising under unified leadership, supported by an $8M federal grant to improve student success and persistence.

  1. Goal: Recruitment- To improve graduation outcomes, we must also strengthen the full student lifecycle—beginning with more intentional recruitment strategies that expand access, simplify pathways, and lay the foundation for student success from day one.
    1. Strategy: Expand Bulldog Bound to community college partners, creating clear transfer pathways and enhancing regional degree attainment.
    2. Strategy: Expand the initial success of LaunchPad and monitor the cohort’s retention and academic success
  2. Goal: Create strategic scheduling models that allow more students to maintain their desired academic pace. Enhance retention and graduation by advancing “30 units per year” strategies.  Prioritize support for students who want to enroll in 30 or more units in one year, including summer and winter sessions, that provide needed courses for graduation. Improve course availability and flexible options to resolve scheduling conflicts.
  3. Goal: Retention- Implement targeted retention strategies based on the findings and recommendations of the Retention Improvement Committee, with a focus on high-impact interventions for first-year, transfer, and re-engaged students.

B: Faculty and Staff

This year, we strengthened faculty and staff support through expanded wellness initiatives, needs assessments, and a new staff resource hub — and we’re now focused on deepening belonging, enhancing Title IX awareness, and delivering accessible professional development in collaboration with academic units.

  1. Launched a Dedicated Staff Resource Center: Moved Organizational Development into a new space to house a centralized hub that improves staff-manager engagement, promotes access to resources, and builds awareness of available programs and services.
  2. Hosted the Red Wave Wellness Challenge: A six-week, team-based initiative engaging 94 participants across 24 teams from seven divisions. Participants earned points by completing wellness activities spanning mental, physical, nutritional, and social health..
    Conducted a campus-wide well-being needs assessment to inform future programming:
  3. Engaged the Campus Community: Conducted focus groups and surveys with 101 participants across a range of roles—including clerical, trades, operations, and student services—to gather feedback on professional development and well-being needs.
  4. Promoted Collaboration Across Units: Partnered with the Office of IDEAS to cross-promote wellness and professional development events through newsletters and co-hosted training opportunities, bridging faculty and staff development initiatives.

  1. Expand the Bulldogs Belong campaign to foster a deeper sense of connection, inclusion, and belonging among employees and students.
  2. Launch a comprehensive and continuous campus-wide Title IX awareness campaign to cultivate a culture of care, compliance, and trust — ensuring that the entire campus community understands their rights, responsibilities, and available resources.
  3. Design and deliver professional development programming aligned with well-being needs and in collaboration with academic units, prioritizing training for managers and supervisors, work-life balance resources, and co-hosted workshops that support shared goals across faculty and staff development — with particular attention to accessible formats for operational and frontline employees.

Goal Two: Bridge Campus and Community  

From record-breaking athletic event attendance to ending the fiscal year with the second-largest fundraising total in the university's history, the Central Valley community is the heartbeat of Fresno State. Year two focused on meaningful alumni and community engagement, and spreading awareness of the Fresno Brand, branding efforts, and how the university is perceived, which will inform our work moving forward (strategies 1, 3 and 5).  

  1. Launched Fresno State Today as a unified digital content platform to amplify stories of student success, faculty excellence, and community impact — strengthening both internal communication and public visibility.
  2. Raised nearly $39 million — the second-highest fundraising year in university history — including 13 transformative gifts of $1 million or more, supported by a new coordinated process to track and report alumni engagement across divisions.
  3. Finalized and published the 2024 Economic Impact Report, showcasing Fresno State’s $1 billion annual contribution to California’s economy and reinforcing the university’s value as a regional and statewide driver.
  4. Hosted a sold-out Shakira concert at Valley Children’s Stadium, drawing more than 9,700 out-of-area visitors and generating an estimated $2.1 million in local spending — reinforcing Fresno State’s role as a premier destination for world-class entertainment and community pride. Athletics also recorded record-setting attendance across multiple sports, including over 30,000 student attendees and 14,000 unique students at football games, underscoring the powerful impact Fresno State Athletics has on the student experience and the spirit of the Central Valley.
  5. Completed a comprehensive brand perception study, generating data-driven insights to guide strategic marketing, messaging, and audience engagement across platforms.

  1. Advance the public phase of the Lead with Pride comprehensive campaign, engaging alumni, philanthropic partners, and the community to champion Fresno State’s impact and join us on this journey to position Fresno State to thrive in this ever changing landscape of higher education. Campaign efforts will center on four pillars–Pathways of Pride, Moments that Matter, Knowledge in Action and Partners with Purpose, elevating student access and success, enhancing campus infrastructure, and expanding opportunities for innovation and engagement.
  2. Research and create an implementation plan for a university-wide CRM system and targeted email marketing strategy to unify advancement, alumni relations, fan and communications workflows. This includes identifying a new email marketing vendor and leveraging segmented audiences and dynamic content to personalize outreach, strengthen philanthropic partner engagement, and deepen connections with alumni, fans, and the broader community.
  3. Grow community partnerships and sponsorships through athletics, the arts, and regional events that elevate Fresno State’s visibility and impact. Examples include expanding access to the arts through community collaborations such as Wings of the City, Vintage Days, and Ideas Fest—the largest Fresno Unified art showcase. Continue to position Valley Children’s Stadium as a premier regional venue that brings world-class entertainment to campus and the community.

Goal Three: Be an Innovative Driver of Regional Progress with a Global Impact

A. Instruction

Fresno State continued advancing instructional innovation by aligning academic offerings with workforce needs, expanding career readiness efforts, and increasing access to experiential learning opportunities.

  1. Reviewed regional workforce data and conducted employer focus groups to align academic offerings with labor market needs — confirming that Fresno State graduates are contributing meaningfully to the regional economy.
  2. Launched the Career Readiness Digital Badging Program, with 65 students completing pilot badges across seven classes, and two additional badges set to launch in Fall 2025.
  3. Expanded experiential learning opportunities, with 49 faculty engaged in redesigning capstone experiences and new tools developed to track high-impact practices across departments.
  4. Introduced INTD 194i, a new internship course that offers academic credit to students whose majors lack embedded internship options.

  1. Establish a data-informed academic program review process focused on student and graduate return on investment (ROI), social mobility, and institutional sustainability. This effort will align and streamline academic programs by reducing duplication, clarifying degree pathways, and identifying areas for consolidation or growth — with a focus on improving student outcomes, reducing time to degree, and ensuring that university resources are invested in programs that meet labor market demand and serve the region effectively.
  2. Expand participation in the Career Readiness Digital Badge Program, including the rollout of two additional badges and recruitment of more faculty champions across disciplines.
  3. Improve tracking and classification of HIP/experiential learning courses to ascertain impact on student success rates. 

B. Research

Fresno State reaffirmed its R2 status and increased R&D spending by 27% through expanded grant activity and faculty-led initiatives — with continued focus on scaling interdisciplinary research and infrastructure to reach our long-term goal of $22 million.

  1. Reaffirmed Fresno State’s status as an R2 (Doctoral University – High Research Activity) institution, reinforcing our growing reputation for applied, impactful research and our commitment to faculty and student scholarly engagement.
  2. Increased research and development (R&D) spending by 27% from $8.9 million in 2022–23 to $11.3 million in 2023–24 and by an additional 22% to $14.5 million in 2024-25. These increases reflect expanded grant activity, new faculty-led initiatives, and greater investment in cross-disciplinary research opportunities.
  3. Completed a comprehensive NCURA (National Council of University Research Administrators) peer review and began implementing key structural improvements based on its recommendations

  1. Continued upward trajectory in research and development (R&D) spending toward our institutional goal of $22 million.
  2. Enhance transparency with regard to indirect costs (IDC) and with the aim of increasing support.
  3. Improve and enhance research achievement data collection and tracking.
  4. Adopt the new research administration platform (Cayuse).
  5. Initiate Public Voices Project to elevate faculty research to a broader audience.

Goal Four: Modernize Facilities, Infrastructure, and Technology 

Fresno State strengthened its physical and digital infrastructure — from breaking ground on new affordable student housing to expanding AI-powered tools and modernizing campus networks — with continued focus on aligning resources to institutional priorities, improving student support, and addressing long-term maintenance needs.

  1. Broke ground on a new Affordable Student Housing project, which will add 228 beds — including dedicated units for student parents — to increase access to safe, stable, and affordable housing that supports academic success.
  2. Advanced Fresno State’s AI Initiative, establishing a campus-wide governance structure, launching official guidelines, and enabling AI tools such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Zoom AI Companion, and Bulldog Genie — a campus-built, agentic AI platform designed to support digital transformation and operational efficiency.
  3. Enhanced the digital backbone of the university by replacing over 300 network switches and more than 1,000 wireless access points through the Common Network Initiative (CNI), ensuring reliable, high-speed connectivity for the campus community.
  4. Improved device management and cybersecurity by launching a Unified Endpoint and Device Management (UEM) system to centrally manage and secure all university-owned laptops, desktops, and mobile devices, in alignment with zero-trust strategies.

  1. Advance efforts toward a structurally balanced budget by aligning resource allocation with institutional priorities, investing in innovation and student success, and setting aside dedicated funding to begin addressing the university’s growing deferred maintenance backlog.
  2. Prepare to open the Affordable Student Housing complex and establish operational plans that prioritize student support services, safety, and family-friendly resources — positioning the facility as a model for housing-insecure students and student parents.
  3. Expand AI-powered student success tools and streamline administrative processes by developing personalized dashboards for tracking degree progress, financial aid, and graduation milestones; leveraging predictive analytics to enhance early alert systems and outreach; and collaborating with departments and the Office of IDEAS to improve course availability through strategic, flexible scheduling.