Goal 1: Academic Excellence

We will advance teaching excellence and innovation in the delivery of high-quality academic programs enriched by scholarship and service.

Objective 1: Build and retain an outstanding, diverse faculty empowered to reach their potential as teacher-scholars.

Key Strategies:

Design an institutional process for identifying and hiring excellent faculty members who can advance the University’s mission.
Develop a faculty mentoring program.
Develop a needs assessment instrument to identify areas for professional development.

Objective 2: Offer high-quality programs with course delivery methods that meet diverse student needs.

Key Strategies:

Implement a required training certification program for online teaching.
Develop an institutional strategy to define optimal course delivery methods and mix.
Identify undergraduate and graduate programs appropriate for 100 percent online delivery or for offering on regional campuses.
Create and implement residential learning communities and campus-wide programming through a collaboration of Academic Affairs and Student Life.
Identify graduate assistant and internship opportunities in Student Life including Intercollegiate Athletics.
Train and support faculty and staff to meet the needs of diverse students.
Develop programs to meet the needs of gifted and talented high school students.

Objective 3: Develop and Enhance relevant, high-Quality academic programs in fields to meet regional and global workforce needs.

Key Strategies:

Develop a systematic way to identify where students are employed after graduation to obtain feedback that will inform program validity and improvement.
Use the Academic Program Needs Assessment model effectively to guide resource reallocation decisions.
Conduct environmental scans annually to inform program strategic planning.
Evaluate opportunities to infuse career planning, job search and readiness into program curriculum using institutional resources.
Expand and enhance experiential program to prepare students for workforce by effectively using on- and off-campus resources.

Objective 4: Communicate and assess learning outcomes for students that promote academic success and career preparedness.

Key Strategies:

Review program outcomes to ensure students are career ready using employer feedback and industry trends.
Create and assess learning outcomes for student life programming.

Objective 5: Enhance the visibility and profile of the University.

Key Strategies:

Develop an annual strategic media marketing plan that focuses on graduate outcomes, academic quality and athletic accomplishments.
Explore strategies to dedicate resources to increase academic program promotion.
Undertake market research to inform enrollment and marketing strategies.
Identify marketing strategies to effectively communicate the quality of the academic experience at MSU.

Objective 6: Focus the University community on the value of teaching, scholarship and service in achieving academic excellence.

Key Strategies:

Improve systematic recognition of excellence in teaching, scholarship and service institution-wide.
Improve support for faculty and students in research and creative productions.
Define expectations for faculty excellence in scholarship, teaching and service that inform faculty evaluations, tenure and promotion.
Explore the process of external reviews for tenure and promotion.
Explore alternative/additional instruments for the evaluation of teaching effectiveness.
Promote the integration of scholarship, teaching and service.

Academic Excellence: Key Performance Measures

Percentage of faculty engaged in scholarship or creative productions
Percentage of students who successfully complete a subsequent course in the same discipline after taking one developmental course (math, English)
Percentage of MSU students scoring in top 25 percent nationally on New Teacher Excellence exam
Results from the NSSE Engagement Indicator of Academic Challenge, which includes higher-order learning, reflective and integrative learning, learning strategies and quantitative reasoning
Results from the NSSE Engagement Indicator of Experiences with Faculty, which includes student-faculty interaction and effective teaching practices