Our Beach 2030 Journey
Beach 2030 began in 2018 as a grassroots, campus-centered effort to imagine ºÚÁÏÍø’s future. Through Imagine Beach 2030, the campus used a future-focused, game-based process to surface ideas, priorities, and possibilities from across the university community. That work became the foundation for the strategic plan completed in 2020 and reflected an ambitious, hopeful vision shaped by broad participation, creative thinking, and shared ownership.
Despite the significant disruption of the pandemic, ºÚÁÏÍø was able to pivot, maintain momentum, and continue advancing meaningful work in student success, wellbeing, career readiness, faculty and staff development, technology access, future-focused learning, regional partnerships, and student support. These accomplishments show that Beach 2030 was more than a planning document; it helped the campus work together, adapt, and accomplish significant milestones during a period of extraordinary change.
Beach 2030 also strengthened ºÚÁÏÍø’s foundation for the future. It showed that broad engagement matters, that the campus community has a deep capacity for imagination and problem solving, and that bold ideas can become practical initiatives when supported by structure, communication, and shared ownership. It also reinforced that strategic planning works best when it is flexible enough to respond to changing conditions while still providing clear direction.
In April 2026, ºÚÁÏÍø convened a Strategic Alignment Taskforce that included representatives from multiple campus divisions and constituent groups for broad perspective. The taskforce reviewed how the work completed through Beach 2030 connects with the CSU systemwide plans - CSU Forward, the Student Success Framework, and the Strategic Enrollment Management Framework - as well as selected priorities from the City of Long Beach’s strategic plan that directly impacted our campus. The review found meaningful alignment and reaffirmed that Beach 2030 has positioned ºÚÁÏÍø well by building a strong foundation in areas such as student success, career readiness, economic mobility, regional partnership, and ºÚÁÏÍø’s role as an anchor institution, workforce contributor, and community-engaged institution.
The world is also fundamentally different than it was when Beach 2030 was developed. Higher education is facing mounting pressures, and new CSU planning frameworks are emerging. Taken together, the taskforce findings and the changing external environment make clear that ºÚÁÏÍø needs to reassess its goals and build on the strong foundation Beach 2030 created. The first step in that process will be the Presidential Listening Tour, which will invite the campus community and key stakeholders to share what they value most, where meaningful change is needed, and what shared goals should guide ºÚÁÏÍø’s future.
For more information, please visit the Presidential Listening Tour website.
