President Bloomberg’s vision for Cleveland State University is centered around CSU 2.0, and she does not plan to move away from it. Bloomberg does plan to start prioritizing other parts of CSU 2.0 because she believes the university can not do everything at once successfully.
The student success parts of CSU 2.0 will be the main priority for Bloomberg and her administration.
“There are dozens of objectives embedded within CSU 2.0. And if we try to do them all at once, we will do none of them well. So we want to prioritize,” Bloomberg said. “All of the parts of CSU 2.0 that are focused on student success will be our top priority this year.
On the priority of college realignment, Cleveland State has already launched itself by naming three newly aligned colleges. Bloomberg said that the alignment infrastructure would take a year to catch up, including building signages and where faculty and students are placed.
Bloomberg is also focused on enrollment growth by concentrating on CSU’s role in Northeast Ohio, across the country, and with CSU’s global priorities.
The university plans to do this by growing online degree program options, having dual learning access online and in-person, and having more housing opportunities as the university bought The Edge and Langston apartments.
“I really do see us as an anchor for this part of the state and this region and is a beacon,” Bloomberg said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to draw people from a wider part of the country and the world. I think that those are great aspirational goals for us to have.”
CSU 2.0 has had a bumpy road receiving criticism from some faculty since it was announced. Bloomberg was non-committal if she would have started CSU 2.0 if she was President at the time, only saying that she would have gotten everyone together to look at the trajectory of CSU at that time and their goals for the future.
“Would I have implemented CSU 2.0? I don’t know,” Bloomberg said. “But would I have, at that point in the trajectory of CSU, said, let’s get together and think about what are the goals that will lead us into the future? Absolutely yes, I would have done that.”
Bloomberg was also non-committal on comparing her leadership style to her predecessor, believing she was not the best person to characterize it herself. She did mention that she was grateful to former President Sands for hiring her as provost at the time and learning from him.
“I learned a lot from my predecessor. My predecessor in this role led this university through a pandemic. We hadn’t had an experience like this in over a century, and it impacted every person on the planet,” Bloomberg said. “That’s a big darn deal. And my predecessor led the institution through that. He also hired me, and I’m grateful for that. But to speak to how we are different, I’m not sure I’m the best person to characterize it.”
This is Bloomberg’s first time kicking off the academic year as Cleveland State’s president, and she is excited and ready to focus on a successful student experience.