About
Mission
Our mission is to discover, preserve, and promote arthropod diversity of the Rocky Mountain region and beyond through research, teaching, and extension.
Vision
Our vision is to foster innovation in insect biodiversity science, be recognized as the most prominent research collection of Rocky Mountain arthropods, be a source of inspiration to students and members of the public, and advance Colorado State University’s land grant mission.
Values
- Curiosity: we are driven to know, protect, and educate about the natural world around us.
- Excellence: we strive to do our best while learning, growing, and evolving.
- Inclusion: we celebrate diversity, not only biological, but also diversity of abilities, backgrounds, experiences, races, nationalities, and religious beliefs among our stakeholders.
- Community: we value and respect all our stakeholders, including the museum team, students, and the general public; we are committed to team-building, communication, and problem-solving.
Strategy
C. P. Gillette Museum will leverage its resources for excellence in research, teaching, and extension and communicate the importance of arthropods to the ever-expanding audience of CSU administration, students, and community of Fort Collins, Colorado, and beyond.
Maintaining Strengths
Our core strengths include dedicated staff and volunteers and being the largest collection of Colorado arthropods. Carrying out the collection’s goals and objectives involves nurturing a healthy work culture to improve and maintain staff morale, striving for best practices in specimen curation and digitization, continued expansion of holdings in focal taxa and regional arthropods in general, and maintaining student volunteer and researcher engagement.
Capitalizing on Opportunities
Large space, active volunteers, and pledged financial support make the museum well positioned to grow in terms of holdings and impact. We will expand our capacity to engage students and the general public through recruitment and special traveling exhibits. We will also work to bring in external funding for a compactor system that would house our large and growing Lepidoptera collection. We will strengthen our relationships with federal agencies and extension agents for improved research and extension capacities.