Assessing Communications to Enhance MSU Denver from the Inside Out

A Top 10 university in Colorado—Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver)—realized its communications functions and needs had changed significantly coming out of the pandemic leading to a decentralized approach to communications within the MSU Denver ecosystem. MSU Denver turned to The Fletcher Group to help identify ways it could streamline and better manage knowledge and information sharing among and between the University’s 3 distinct stakeholder groups: Administrators/Staff (approx. 1,800), Faculty/Affiliates (approx. 1,200) and Students (approx. 17,000).

To help inform MSU Denver on what was going well and what could be improved regarding communications to administration/staff, faculty, and students, TFG led a full-scale internal communications audit inclusive of:

• One-on-one interviews with 5 distinct groups of leaders and communicators within MSU Denver
• 2 Surveys: Communications effectiveness survey for Students and University employees
• Focus groups with select students and faculty/staff members
• Evaluation of existing communications vehicles and channels

The Results.

Data assembled and analyzed in a comprehensive report provided MSU Denver with actionable, short-term and longer-term recommendations that the MSU marketing and communications department used as a linchpin to identify new resources to better work with its faculty and students in 2023.