THE COLLEGE OF HUMAN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Mission

The College of Human Environmental Sciences advances and applies knowledge of the interaction of people with their environments to develop effective professionals, engaged citizens, and visionary leaders who promote the physical, social, and economic well-being of people.

Vision

The College of Human Environmental Sciences will become internationally recognized for its discovery of knowledge and for preparing generations of professionals who advance the quality of life. 

Core Values

Excellence – We seek excellence in all our endeavors, and we are committed to continuous improvement.

Intellectual Freedom – We believe in ethical and scholarly questioning in an environment that respects the rights of all to freely pursue knowledge.

Integrity – We are committed to the principles of truth and honesty, and we will be equitable, ethical, and professional.

Service – We believe that serving others is a noble and worthy endeavor.

Diversity – We respect others and value diversity of opinion, freedom of expression, and other ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Stewardship of Resources – We are dedicated to the efficient and effective use of resources. We accept the responsibility of the public’s trust and are accountable for our actions.

Goals, Critical Success Factors, Objectives, and Strategies

Goal One:  Create a collegial environment for students that encourages excellence, prepares for professional careers, enriches personal growth, fosters discovery of knowledge, and promotes leadership development.

 

Critical Success Factors:

 

·         Increase Stillwater faculty FTE from 59 to 69

·         Increase OSU-Tulsa faculty FTE from 2 to 6

·         Increase non-tenure track faculty FTE to 9

·         Average ACT of 25 for entering freshmen. 

·         Average GPA of 2.5 for transfer students

·         Enrollment of 400 undergraduate students in Hotel and Restaurant Administration

·         Maintain undergraduate Stillwater enrollments in nutritional sciences, early childhood education, child and family services, interior design, and apparel design and production, merchandising

·         Increase ratio of graduate to undergraduate students to 20% graduates

·         200 OSU-Tulsa majors

·         Freshmen retention rate of 90%

·         Graduation rate of 70%

·         Transfer student graduation rate of 65%

·         69 full-time Ph.D. students

 

Objectives:

         

Objective 1.1:   Recruit and retain outstanding undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

     
      Strategies

·         Diversity the student body with 300 undergraduate minority students and 35 graduate minority students.

·         Award $500,000 in annual scholarships.

                 


Objective 1.2:   Strengthen student's educational, leadership and professional experiences.

     

      Strategies

 

·         Expand international internship/study abroad opportunities from 7 to 15.

·         Increase scholarship support for internships and study abroad from $33,475 to $50,000.

·         Increase student participation in professional meetings from 15% to 40%.

·         Continue offering and developing relevant educational leadership activities (i.e., Leadership Symposium, The Link, writing mentor, Ambassadors, Student Council).

·         Upgrade core courses.

·         Maintain current accreditations for various academic programs.

 

Objective 1.3:   Enhance learning through discovery and application of new knowledge.

     

      Strategies

 

·         Increase undergraduate research opportunities by establishing scholarship/stipends support for research to $20,000 per year.

·         Insure each graduate student graduates with grant seeking experience.

·         Continue and review doctoral competencies and procedures.

 

Objective 1.4:  Use educational technology to enhance distance education opportunities.             

     

      Strategies

 

·         Develop and deliver an on-line gerontology certificate

·         Grow Family Financial Planning GPIDEA participation at OSU from 11 to 18

·         Grow Gerontology GPIDEA participation at OSU from 1 to 10 

·         Explore Merchandising GPIDEA course

·         Link students with practicing professionals using video conferencing technology to at least 45 per year

·         Use technology to increase participation in advisory board and associate meetings

 

Objective 1.5:    Increase collaboration with professional and industry partners for effective engagement.

     

      Strategies

 

·         Implement and/or maintain functioning industry/professional advisory boards for each department and Gerontology Institute .

·         Increase corporate, professional partners in nutrition, apparel design, interior design, merchandising, early childhood education, hotel and restaurant management.

           


Objective 1.6:   Enhance physical infrastructure in order to provide an environment that enhances the instructional experience.

     

      Strategies

 

·         Acquire 50,000 sq. ft. of new or renovated space to accommodate growth.

·         Add additional nutritional sciences laboratories as new faculty are hired.

·         Renovate Taylor’s Dining Laboratory.

·         Renovate Interior Design Senior Studio.

·         Renovate State Room Grille into Rancher’s Club.

·         Design/build Children’s Institute building at OSU-Tulsa.

·         Identify space and establish a Coding and Research Laboratory.

·         Upgrade computer laboratory in HES 202.

·         Enhance graduate assistants’ office spaces.

·         Add one new 50+ station computer lab.

·         Identify and renovate office space for new faculty.

·         Increase space for Gerontology Institute.

·         Renovate/reconfigure Early Childhood Education Teaching/Learning Center [including Resource Room and Classrooms].

·         Update Lighting & Technology Laboratory.

 

Goal Two:  Develop a learning environment for faculty and staff that fosters creativity and problem solving through the discovery, dissemination and application of knowledge.

 

Critical Success Factors:

·         Increase number of faculty with extramural funding to 50%

·         Increase number of faculty who provide peer/jury review service (i.e., journal editors/review panels, etc.)

·         Increase average number of refereed publications/juried exhibits to an average of at least 1-2 per year.

 

Objectives:

 

Objective 2.1:  Strengthen and develop human resources as they relate to scientific, outreach and instructional capabilities.

     

      Strategies

 

·         Increase number of tenure-track resident faculty from 54 to 69 to meet instructional needs and to provide greater opportunity for scientific and outreach endeavors.

·         Continue “Faculty Scholars” program for new faculty with expectation of at least one proposal submitted per participant during 1st two years.

·         Continue to offer two faculty in-service programs per year identified through faculty input.

·         Achieve travel support for all faculty to attend professional meetings.

·         Increase number of non-tenure research faculty from 2 to 10.

·         Increase number of non-tenure teaching faculty from 4 to 8.

·         Increase diversity of faculty from 12 to 15.

·         Increase diversity of staff from 1 to 5.

     

Objective 2.2:   Increase knowledge discovery.

 

      Strategies

 

·         Provide opportunities [and encourage participation] for professional development related to grantsmanship at least every other year.

·         Achieve and maintain a 2/2 teaching load for all tenure-track faculty participating in externally funded projects.

·         Pursue changes within university scheduling structure (through OSU Faculty Council) to consider changing course schedules to allow faculty to have larger blocks of time to pursue scholarship endeavors

·         Increase number of faculty and staff with specific expertise to contribute to research productivity of the college.

·         Increase college graduate assistantship stipend to a minimum of $12,000 per year.

·         Increase graduate scholarships/fellowships/assistantships from 85 to 125.

·         Develop procedures to promote and encourage graduate students to complete graduate theses, creative components and dissertations appropriate for refereed/juried dissemination.

                       

Objective 2.3:  Encourage holistic development of faculty.

     

      Strategies

 

·         At least one faculty per year will take a sabbatical leave.

·         At least two faculty per year will take a Big 12 Fellowship or other short sabbatical.

·         Achieve ongoing extramural support for faculty development from 0 to $40,000.

·         Establish mentoring program for development of associate professors to full professors.

 

Objective 2.4:   Enhance staff members' professional competencies.

 

      Strategies

 

·         Develop staff professional development program.

·         Increase percentage of staff attending on-campus professional development opportunities, with a goal of 75% of staff attending at least one opportunity per year.

                                            

Objective 2.5:  Continuously develop an environment that encourages optimal productivity.

 

      Strategies

 

·         Continue to acknowledge outstanding performance through various awards (Outstanding Staff, Outstanding Advisor, Regents Distinguished Teaching Award, Regents Distinguished Research Award, Marguerite Scruggs Research Award, etc.).

·         Streamline procedures to eliminate duplication of effort (and where appropriate carry that information forward to the University level) [e.g., publication requests, catalog copy, schedules, curricular requests, etc.].

·         Achieve an advising plan that reduces stress on faculty time.

·         Continuously involve faculty in planning (through Faculty Advisory Council, Academic Affairs Committee, Technology Committee, Graduate Council, etc.).

 

 

Goal Three:  Generate resources in support of mission through sponsored programs, fundraising, and engagement with the broader community.

 

Critical Success Factors:

·         Increase endowments from $4.7 million to $5.8 million

·         Increase private gifts by 30% annually

·         Maintain an annual 12% increase in support of research focus areas

·         Increase generated income from teaching laboratories from $1.1 million to $2 million

 

Objectives:

 

Objective 3.1:   Continue to strengthen image and public recognition.

 

Strategies

 

·         Continually monitor and modify marketing/communications plan to achieve ongoing connections with alumni and friends.

·         Increase visibility by enhancing College magazine and explore options with OSU Today; maintaining photo updates, displays, etc; identifying, writing and disseminating appropriate and timely stories.

·         Update recruitment materials annually.

·         Submit three publications annually for awards/recognitions at the state, regional and national level.

·         Upgrade, evaluate and maintain current website.

·         Develop a method of retention and access for college/departmental press clippings, publications, and photo library for optimal use of information/materials.

 

Objective 3.2:    Increase extramural support.

 

Strategies

·         All non-tenure track research faculty and all tenure-track faculty will seek external funds to support their scholarship programs.

·         Increase number of non-tenure track research professors through extramural funding.

 

Objective 3.3:   Increase private support through development.

 

Strategies

 

·         Continue to expand the number of first time donors to the College through Senior Legacy, Direct Mail and Telemarketing Programs.

·         Expand the number of Associates-level Donors from 170 to 258.  This represents a 10% increase each year for five years.

·         Increase the number and level of involvement of corporate donors by initiating a corporate gift club and by continuing to work with College and Departmental Advisory Boards.

·         Increase the number of major gift prospects through prospect research and the number of contacts and solicitations as monitored by the OSU Foundation.

           

Objective 3.4:   Continue to strengthen alumni, friends, and community involvement.

 

Strategies

 

  • Expand Alumni & Associate involvement through Speaker Series, Career Horizons, Salmon Professorship, and other avenues.
  • Increase and maintain Associates program.
  • Develop strategies to better educate students on involvement as alums upon graduation.

Goal Four:  Strengthen community engagement for the enhancement of human & economic impact.

 

Critical Success Factors:

·         Develop tracking method for economic impact/quality of life impact related to College programs (i.e., early childhood education, marriage & family therapy, Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, Gerontology outreach, Tulsa Public Schools, jobs created, etc.)

·         Two patents will be established

·         Increase private/corporate partnerships from 116 to 225

·         Increase economic related contracts with the public and private sector by 20%

 

Objectives:

 

Objective 4.1:  Increase partnerships with industry constituents to develop human capital and further enhance economic development/technology transfer.

 

      Strategies

 

·         Reorganize and restructure College outreach function.

·         Reposition current aging-related outreach into the Gerontology Institute including reassigning staffing to this focus.

·         Develop new partnerships for gerontology outreach.

·         Continue to develop outreach partnerships related to early childhood education (Tulsa Public Schools, Stillwater Public Schools).

·         Develop the implement model classroom/best practices outreach function for the Early Childhood Center for Teaching and Learning at OSU.

·         Pursue new outreach programming related to nutritional science research on obesity; develop partnerships in support of this venture.

·         Explore developing a research/outreach center related to functional foods in nutritional sciences.

·         Continue working with private partners in the design and development of functional clothing.

·         Increase research/outreach partnerships in developing tourism in the State and region.