Prepare Students for Leadership in an Innovation-Driven Economy and Global Society

Educating students was the earliest mission of the College and remains the most important way that we enhance the future of the Commonwealth.    Instruction is fully integrated with our other missions – research and extension. The College expects its graduates to become leaders in their professions and their communities. To this end, the College must attract and graduate outstanding students with diverse backgrounds and the skills to meet the challenges of the future.

Most Significant Challenges

• In several programs that have experienced significant enrollment growth during the last several years, additional undergraduate enrollment will not be possible without additional faculty instructional DOE.
• Quality and quantity of classroom space on south campus has become limiting.
• Some classrooms and teaching labs are inadequately equipped.
• University-wide, and in the College of Agriculture, freshman retention and six-year graduation rates are not up to the standards of Top 20 benchmarks.
• Advising and teaching quality is inconsistent in some programs.
• Graduate enrollment could be increased in most College programs.

 Strategies

• Use the opportunities provided by the university changes in general education requirements to develop more efficient and effective curriculum and instruction delivery at the program level.
• Develop plans and actions that will make the College a leader in integrating experiential education into the curriculum.   
• Aggressively promote student participation in personal and professional development opportunities beyond the classroom, including student research, student and professional organization membership, international travel experience, and internships.
• Sustain an active, effective college-level recruitment program, but plan to more selectively target defined student populations and relatively under-enrolled majors.   
• Continue to develop, refine and assess the Student Advising Center and related strategies to enhance retention and graduation.
• Increase opportunities for distance learning and continuing education.
• While sustaining and fostering the identity of the School of Human Environmental Sciences, continue to integrate students and faculty into the College.
• Secure additional support for college-based scholarship and recruiting programs.
• Increase faculty recognition and reward for excellence in academic and extracurricular advising.
• Implement incentives for leveraging graduate student financial support with grant funds.

Key Indicators, by 2014 the College will have:

1. Increased the first-to-second year in-college retention rate to 80 percent.
2. Reduced the ratio of majors to teaching/advising faculty to less than 20/1 in each undergraduate program.
3. Shifted enrollment growth to targeted, higher capacity majors in biological and environmental sciences: Five initial targets are Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering, Food Science, Forestry, Natural Resources & Conservation, and Plant & Soil Sciences.
4. Increased the number of graduate degrees awarded by an average of 5% per year.