Goal 4: Connect and Contribute
Be an engaged and dynamic urban university with strong connections locally and globally.
Desired Outcomes
Desired Outcome 1: Lead as an inspiring public campus that enriches San Jose’s economic, cultural, natural and intellectual vibrancy.
- SJSU Loves San José
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To bridge SJSU with the Downtown San José community, SJSU Loves San José was launched. This effort was originally planned to be a single in-person event held in conjunction with the Weeks of Welcome. However, given the pandemic, this effort was pivoted to an online website where new students could learn about their new home (i.e., culture, local businesses).
Additionally, the city joined in welcoming the students by lighting City Hall, Rotunda, and the San José Civic in blue and gold. Events intended to activate those spaces during the lighting were planned but put on hold. The same was true for events planned for outside the Hammer Theatre. Still, businesses from the downtown area and Japantown participated in welcoming students back to campus, with some offering student discounts.
The San José Downtown Association, Team San José, and the Japantown Business Association through their online presence (e.g., email and social media) welcomed back the Spartan community in communications to over 64,000 of their followers. All three organizations and the city have expressed a desire to continue this effort next year and build it up.
Additionally, SJSU is exploring the possibility to economically integrate with the local businesses by allowing students to use their dining dollars at local restaurants.
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Desired Outcome 2: Build broad, sustained connections and relationships with on- and off-campus stakeholders for lifelong engagement.
- H&A in San Jose
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H&A in San Jose is a community-building initiative to foster collaboration between H&A and the rich environment of our surrounding community.
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Desired Outcome 3: Support excellence in athletics and the arts to enrich the community in which we live.
- Cross Promotion
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The Hammer Theatre and Athletics have been cross promoting events at their venues and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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- Hammer Theatre
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Plans are underway to hire a Director of Development/Marketing position to better promote the theatre and build relationships with the community. A crowdfunding campaign is almost complete to equip the theatre with multiple cameras to allow for streaming of events. This will allow the Hammer to reach a broader audience and provide local community arts organizations to also reach a wider audience and at a lower cost.
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- Athletics
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Significant investments have been made to improve South Campus facilities for our student-athletes. CEFCU stadium recently installed the new video scoreboard and the California State University Board of Trustees approved a bond to build the Spartan Athletic Center that will house football and soccer operations.
The new recreation field will open and be operated by the Student Union for general student use. Additionally, a walking path surrounds the recreation field that will be open to the public. The last few years has seen the expansion of South Campus with the following facilities: Spartan Beach (a beach volleyball court; 2020), Spartan Tennis Complex (2018), Spartan Softball Complex (2018), and the Spartan Golf Complex (2017).
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- Beyond Football/Beyond Sparta
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SJSU’s Beyond Football program supports student-athletes in identifying interests that help them cultivate the knowledge, skills, and relationships necessary to establish a professional life outside the playing field. Not only does this program enable student-athletes to develop professional skills that will benefit them after graduation, but also encourages students to get involved with the community. Beyond Football collaborates with and services local community agencies, including Autism Speaks, Family Supportive Housing, YMCA, and Be the Match. In 2018-19, Beyond Football student-athletes provided over 3,700 hours for campus, community, and career development events.
Beyond Football has been so successful that it has recently led to the expansion of the program to all sports, an initiative known as Beyond Sparta. Now, all 470 student-athletes at SJSU can partake in events to help them engage with their community, develop professionally, and make sure they are ready for their careers and lives beyond graduation.
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- H&A in Action Collaboration Opportunities
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H&A in Action offers opportunities for students and faculty to collaborate with community partners on projects such as The Geography of the Arts and the Public Art as Resistance Walking Tour.
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Desired Outcome 4: Engage with the city of San José, Silicon Valley industries, municipalities and civic organizations to enhance educational research, economic development opportunities and enterprise-level solutions.
- Community and Government Relations
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A new Community and Government Relations team was formed comprising of four individuals. The team represented a significant investment by the Office of the President in creating and fostering relationships with the community and government offices. The four members oversee four areas: community and non-government organization relations, local government, state government, and federal relations. They help create strategic partnerships and to promote SJSU.
Additionally, one staff member has specific oversight for facilitating partnerships with community organizations to advocate for racial justice.
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- Research and Innovation Leadership
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An Innovation Director and a Marketing and Communication Specialist were hired. The Director of Innovation will lead the definition and implementation of a comprehensive strategic plan supporting innovation, technology transfer, commercialization and economic development activities. The Marketing and Communications Specialist is responsible for strategic outreach, marketing, and communications to external stakeholders.
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- Innovation Council
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The Division of Research and Innovation recently formed their 13 member Innovation Council. Its membership consists of business leaders and successful entrepreneurs with expertise in business, venture capital, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurship support.
The purpose of the SJSU Innovation Advisory Council (IAC) is to advise the Vice President for Research and Innovation on solutions critical to building and growing innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization support for SJSU students, faculty, and staff. IAC serves as a vehicle for ongoing dialogue between SJSU leadership and community leaders to help inform SJSU’s innovation agenda, strategy, goals, and programs.
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- Research and Innovation Collaborations
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Research & Innovation is working with the colleges to expand the impact of their events. With the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business, they are working to expand the partnerships and presence of corporate partners at the Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge (student business pitch contest) and the Silicon Valley Business Plan Competition (student business venture contest). They are partnering with Davidson School of Engineering to expand both the audience and speaker mix of the Silicon Valley Leadership Symposium as a method to promote interdisciplinary collaboration.
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- Research and Innovation Initiatives
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Plans are currently underway to review and revise SJSU’s intellectual property policies. Additionally, a virtual Celebration of Research was held in spring 2021 where over 400 individuals attended or participated in.
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- Industry Partnership
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Leveraging SJSU’s location in Silicon Valley gives students and the university a unique advantage. Specifically, SJSU partnered with entities such as IBM, LinkedIn, Cisco, and PayPal. Students are learning industry-specific skills first-hand. Conversely, industry leading organizations have access to eager, hardworking, and mailable future employees.
By working with IBM, SJSU has access to $5 million worth of advanced cloud technology at no cost. With LinkedIn, SJSU affiliates have access to LinkedIn Learning, an eLearning platform that faculty can incorporate into their courses and students can use to study, refresh, or build skills. LinkedIn also provides insights on workforce development, leveraging LinkedIn’s data on our alumni’s career outcomes to better prepare our students for the job market upon graduation.
These workforce development strategies increase the success of our students as well as the companies that mentor and employ them. The partnership with Sophos, our campus antivirus vendor, allowed SJSU to secure no-cost Sophos Home Premium licenses for faculty, staff, and students; its estimated value is $800,000. Sophos Home Premium is an industry-leading, AI-enabled antivirus tool with features like real-time antivirus monitoring, ransomware protection, privacy and identity protection, and more.
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Desired Outcome 5: Grow philanthropic support from alumni and friends of the university.
- Leadership
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To expand SJSU’s capacity for philanthropic endeavors, two new senior level administrators were hired to lead the effort: Theresa Davis as the Vice President of Advancement and the Chief Executive Officer of the Tower Foundation; and, Daniele LeCesne as the Chief Operating Officer of the Tower Foundation.
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- Capital Campaign
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The groundwork is being laid for SJSU to launch an ambitious $350 million capital campaign to fund the transformative growth of SJSU. All divisions and colleges have submitted their fundraising priorities. The cabinet will work with a consultant to finalize the campaign priorities. During this “quiet phase” of the campaign, not only are priorities established, but relational work is ramped up to secure early commitments before the official launch of the campaign.
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- College-level Development
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In parallel to the capital campaign, University Advancement has been working with directors of development for each college to create development plans, promote relationship building to expand their support base, and identify key funding priorities.
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