Strategic Plan 2035

A. Deliver rigorous, robust, and relevant academic programs as the foundation of the College of Agriculture Experience, which will position all graduates for lifelong professional success while preparing them to lead purposeful lives and make significant contributions to society.

Action Items:

1. Deliver high-quality academic curricula that reflect current disciplinary innovations.
2. Provide career development resources to faculty for use within their courses.

KPIs:

1. Student placement rates at graduation and student satisfaction with placement at graduation
2. Curricular updates and innovations
3. Career success post-graduation

B. Attract, hire, mentor, reward, and retain world-class faculty educators who contribute to the College of Agriculture Experience by inspiring students through an appropriate combination of substantive and practical knowledge, employing the most effective pedagogies, and utilizing technologies that enhance learning.

Action Items:

1. Recruit and retain faculty with targeted expertise to advance and enhance instructional programs, curricula, and student opportunities.
2. Encourage and recognize faculty development and scholarship in instruction.
3. Employ instructional technologies to support student learning.

KPIs:

1. Instructional faculty recruitment and retention
2. Faculty participating in professional development and scholarship focused on instruction and curricula
3. Instructional technology use

C. Provide an extensive array of high-quality student success services and programs that are signature contributors to the College of Agriculture Experience.

Action Items:

1. Ensure proactive and consistent academic and peer advising.
2. Ensure delivery of high-quality career and professional development opportunities.
3. Foster participation in leadership, networking, and social events in the college.
4. Recognize and celebrate student performance and achievement.

KPIs:

1. Student awards
2. Student retention and time to graduation
3. Students engaging with academic and professional development opportunities
4. Students involved in co- and extracurricular activities 

D. Emphasize that every student creates their own distinct College of Agriculture Experience through participation in high-impact practices such as internships, cooperative education, research, student and professional organizations, programs of study beyond and study abroad, leadership, social impact projects, and service learning.

Action Items:

1. Increase number of students completing at least one high impact experience.
2. Connect career development and high impact experiences to professional success.
3. Support student reflection regarding benefits of high impact experiences and career competencies.

KPIs:

1. Students participating in internships, research, student competitions, study abroad, Extension, STEM outreach
2. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry partners engaging in student mentoring
3. Student reflection and articulation of learning experiences and competencies

E. Make the College of Agriculture Experience accessible to exceptional graduate and undergraduate students from the state, the nation, and the world by strategically recruiting, enrolling, retaining, and graduating students who demonstrate high levels of academic achievement and other indicators of ability.

Action Items:

1. Offer innovative pathways for recruitment that reduce barriers to attendance.
2. Build upon the reputation of faculty and departments to make the College of Agriculture a top choice for graduate education.
3. Provide student financial support, opportunities for professional and career development.
4. Support faculty investments in quality mentorship.

KPIs:

1. Student applications and enrollment
2. Overall student retention rate and first year student retention rate
3. Scholarships, assistantships, fellowships, grants, stipends awarded
4. Student mentoring by faculty

A. Significantly increase the College of Agriculture overall research, scholarship, and creative works and increase their impact while building leadership in focused areas of distinction.

Action Items:

1. Enhance infrastructure to accommodate increased research funding.
2. Enhance and expand sources for seed funding for research and cost-share support for equipment and facilities that could be leveraged to secure large grants.
3. Develop mechanisms for securing funding for building new and upgrading current research infrastructure and facilities that support research, design, production, measurement, and high-performance computing to allow faculty to compete at the highest levels.
4. Enhance training opportunities for proposal preparation.

KPIs:

1. Research space per faculty member
2. Total R&D expenditure per faculty member
3. Modernized research space
4. Capital projects involving research laboratories
5. Proposal preparation workshops 

B. Leverage the College of Agriculture’s unique strengths through team science and collaboration with local, regional, and national agencies to address the most pressing challenges impacting quality of life, economic prosperity, and security. 

Action Items:

1. Support collaborative research teams by providing funding to address established stakeholder needs through research.
2. Provide support for developing multi-institution convergence research proposals to boost extramural funding.

KPIs:

1. Research projects off-campus and at AAES centers
2. Transdisciplinary, multi-institution, and large grants (>$1.0 million) 

C. Attract, mentor, reward, and retain exceptional faculty scholars and research professionals of national and international renown who are considered subject matter experts by the public, organizations, industry, government, and academia. 

Action Items:

1. Establish areas of interdisciplinary expertise with depth and breadth by connecting departments and disciplines across the college and university.
2. Utilize existing and establish new endowed professorships to attract and retain faculty scholars of national and international renown
3. Establish student and post-doctoral fellowships to attract highly qualified undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral fellows.
4. Showcase research programs and infrastructure to industry partners and government agencies.

KPIs:

1. Research personnel (Research FTE, Joint Appointment FTE, Endowed Fellows, Undergraduate Fellows, Graduate Students, Post-docs/Visiting Scholars, and Research Staff)
2. Extramural Funding (Federal, State, and Industry)
3. Scholarly products (Articles, Citations, Books and Book Chapters, Conference Proceedings and Creative Works) Researcher progression (Tenured, Promotion, Faculty/Industry Position, Graduation)

D. Amplify the translation of research by commercializing novel products and services for economic growth across the state, region, and nation.

Action Items:

1. Educate faculty on commercialization pathways to translate faculty and student research into innovation and economic growth.
2. Sustain and develop new public-private partnerships to address existing and emerging challenges in agriculture and life sciences.

KPIs:

1. Intellectual property (provisional patents, patents, and revenue)
2. Creative work (policy documents, standards)
3. Public-private partnerships

E. Communicate our research, scholarship, and creative work achievements to internal and external stakeholders, enhancing Auburn’s stature as a preeminent College of Agriculture.

Action Items:

1. Amplify and recognize high-impact faculty research accomplishments (grants and publications) through a variety of media types (articles, press releases, podcasts, etc).
2. Increase public relations for successful research products with proactive communication through state, regional, national, and international outlets.

KPIs:

1. Engagement and inquiries associated with featured media pieces
2. Private and industry funded research
3. New collaborations and partnerships

A. Cultivate a culture that promotes excellence, innovation and continuous improvement in all mission areas of the College of Agriculture.

Action Items:

1. Evaluate the relevance of policies and efficiency of processes and update as needed.
2. Maintain and upgrade infrastructure and facilities in the college and outlying units.
3. Elevate safe operations and a culture of safety in all aspects of the college.

KPIs:

1. Stakeholder engagement satisfaction
2. Employee engagement survey – satisfaction with services and operations including business processes, employee benefits, human resources, information technology
3. COACHE Faculty Survey: Overall Job Satisfaction (Biannual)

B. Foster an environment where all employees and students perform at their best and are welcomed, valued, respected and engaged. 

Action Items:

1. Strengthen programs and structures that incentivize and reward innovation and excellence.

KPIs:

1. Awards to Faculty, A&P and Staff
2. COACHE Faculty Survey: Would Work at Auburn Again
3. Employee Engagement Survey – College Climate

C. Enhance programs to effectively attract, mentor, reward, and retain high-performing employees and create opportunities for continuing education, leadership development, and career advancement.

Action Items:

1. Invest in programs that enhance the leadership of and provide growth opportunities for staff.
2. Improve access of Agricultural Experiment Station staff and other non-campus employees to Auburn University benefits and privileges.

KPIs:

1. Employees participating in career and professional development programs
2. Employee career advancement

A. Be a premier resource for providing impactful solutions to social, health, technological, economic, and environmental challenges through our deep bench of subject matter expertise and our far-reaching network of Extension assets.

Action Items:

1. Utilize the AAES Regional Centers and ACES County Extension offices to increase the College’s reach and impact.
2. Generate meaningful bidirectional community engagement to solve complex problems and facilitate sustainable growth.

KPIs:

1. Community-based programs (field days, workshops, events)
2. Utilization of solutions for behavioral change
3. Businesses (including farms) adopting solutions for growth

B. Build synergistic partnerships where the College of Agriculture’s strengths contribute to and are complemented by strategically selected industries, organizations, research centers and institutes, universities, and governmental and non-governmental entities.

Action Item:

1. Develop and enhance stakeholder group relationships and engagements through college-wide coordinated collaborative programs.
2. Continuous development of synergistic partnerships
3. Community engagement

KPI:

1. Partnerships developed with stakeholder groups (in-kind, sponsored proposals, cooperative agreements, etc.)

C. Drive innovation and economic advancement in the region by applying new knowledge and technologies, supporting new enterprises, promoting workforce advancement, and catalyzing overall economic growth.

Action Items:

1. Increase communication between faculty/staff and stakeholders to identify emerging needs and gaps.
2. Empower stakeholders with knowledge, skills, and technologies that facilitate the adoption of economically sustainable practices.

KPIs:

1. Programs developed addressing emerging needs or identified gaps
2. Stakeholders adapting or adopting new practices
3. Enterprises established

D. Employ next-generation Extension and outreach approaches to increase the delivery of forward-looking programs that inform and educate the public and engage with the citizens of Alabama and beyond to advance education and lifelong learning. 

Action Items:

1. Invest in faculty and staff professional development for next-generation approaches in Extension and outreach.
2. Integrate co-development of knowledge and solutions in programming targeted towards existing and new audiences.

KPIs:

1. P Faculty and staff professional development program participation
2. Programs co-developed and delivered incorporating new or adapted Extension approaches
3. Regional Extension personnel utilization and adoption of new approaches
4. Faculty and staff recognition for excellence in Extension and outreach

A. Honor, preserve, and celebrate the values and rich traditions that distinguish the College of Agriculture and are foundational to an enduring college experience.

Action Item: 

1. Enhance and amplify signature College of Agriculture events.

KPIs:

1. Diversity and number of stakeholders involved: students, faculty, staff, alumni, industry partners, grower organizations, community members, friends, and families
2. Media coverage and social media engagement
3. Participant/attendee feedback

B. Build national and international visibility through comprehensive branding, marketing, and communications that articulate the College of Agriculture’s identity, reputation, and influence.

Action Item: 

1. Enhanced strategic communication and marketing initiatives.

KPIs:

1. Social media impact, engagement
2. Features in state, regional, national or international publications
3. College website reach 

C. Invest in our College of Agriculture priorities by completing a transformational philanthropic campaign that energizes our stakeholders.

Action Item: 

1. Expand and diversify philanthropic efforts.
2. Connect on- and off-campus employees with philanthropic opportunities

1. Steward our philanthropic resources and share the benefits that accrue from them.

KPIs:

1. Number and diversity of new and continuing donors
2. Increased funding for endowments, funds for excellence, named items, facilities (e.g., AG-STEM, Comer Hall, Transformation Garden)
3. Employee engagement with philanthropic campaigns
4. Philanthropic stories told to stakeholders