University Announcements

Even though we’re just beginning to feel the first heat waves of summer, CSP continues its daily focus on our near- and long-term strategic plans. We want to provide an early summer high level update about the ongoing work.

Early indicators for Fall enrollment at CSP continue to show overall positive signs. Our growth in recent years has happened largely in our online and graduate programming, which comes out of regional and national demographic trends in higher education. CSP sees growth potential, despite the fact we face the same types of headwinds confronting virtually all higher education institutions today. Many of our counterparts at other private universities and state colleges and universities are not as fortunate, as they face continued staggering declines.

CSP is never immune to these challenges. However, by holding to our strategic plans, providing valuable career-relevant academic offerings, and maintaining our standing as the most affordable private university in the state, we continue to attract a strong pool of prospective and committed students across our academic tracks, including traditional, non-traditional undergraduate, and our graduate programming.

Toward the end of the 2021-22 traditional academic year, we shared updates regarding long-term plans to solidify and maintain enrollment levels in our traditional programming while setting aggressive growth goals for our non-traditional and graduate programming. These plans include augmented branding of the CSP online programs, combined with adjustments to organizational structures to best support our colleges and program offerings.

Teams continue working through the summer months specifically focusing on areas such as:
Brand identity for CSP’s non-traditional offerings;
Better understanding of the structural realignments and operational efficiencies that will be required for long-term success, which led to the formation of operational readiness work teams;
Alignment of academic programs, affirming clear pedagogical best practices to support those programs, and early budget planning

Internally, we’ve shared the branding/naming construct of “CSP Global” to encompass the higher growth non-traditional online and graduate programming. Our internal CSP marketing and enrollment teams are working closely with trusted and highly credible third parties to develop the final recommendations on naming conventions, branding, public rollout, and many other aspects of this essential growth strategy.

Exact timing and the details are still being worked out, and those leading the process will be tapping expertise and insight from members of the CSP community across our six colleges. We anticipate launching these initiatives more formally at some point in the coming academic year, but much work remains to be done before we finalize timelines.

CSP is blessed to be in a position to be talking about growth – at a time when so many institutions are trying to ease rapid declines in enrollment. The opportunities that lie ahead are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire CSP family. The pathway to serving more and more students over the past decade has required a lot of hard work across our faculty and staff, which ultimately led to greater value for CSP students of all types. The real career value we provide is essential to our growth.

Meanwhile, the internal planning and process improvements underway will serve to put CSP in an even stronger position as we gain greater momentum and relevance in the higher education landscape.

We’ll continue to share updates as these projects progress in the weeks ahead prior to the Fall term. Please also remember that discussions about the CSP Global concept are still in early stages and not yet public. So we ask that everyone keeps this information private within CSP.

In the meantime, we all wish you a blessed summer.

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Nick Schroepfer to the role of Director of Marketing for CSP. Nick has been with the marketing department for four years, most recently heading up digital strategy and social media. He has also been deeply involved in all digital touchpoints that our students, prospects, and the public have with CSP.

Nick describes himself as a “Double CSP Alum” with his undergraduate degree and MBA both emblazoned with the CSP logo. In this new role he will lead the internal team of four marketing specialists and outside vendors and OPM partners that work the spectrum of marketing initiatives for CSP.

Nick has many successes under his marketing belt during his time at CSP. He has led initiatives to transform digital media campaigns and advancing the paid social media, search engine marketing, and programmatic advertising. His work has been essential to expand CSP’s reach and generate interest in our traditional and non-traditional academic offerings.

“Nick’s skills and his leadership style align well with the needs of the departments we support. He also has an innate, keen sense for the students we hope to attract to CSP,” said Dr. Kimberly Craig, vice president of enrollment management for CSP. “He is also a proven collaborator and will work well with all of our stakeholders and partners to do even more to help us reach our audiences across media channels.”

“It’s particularly gratifying to apply the skills I’ve gained as a CSP student and member of the marketing team to advance our brand and let the market know the value of a CSP degree,” Nick noted. “I’m particularly eager to deploy more analytics and data-driven marketing principles within our marketing tools to help us make the most out of every dollar allocated for marketing.”

Nick’s MBA thesis focused specifically on marketing and how it applies to the higher education landscape. His in-depth study of the intersection of marketing with the needs of higher ed will no doubt come into play as a foundational element in CSP’s marketing programs for 2022 and beyond.