Narrative (Continued)

Current Status of Institution-Wide, Integrated Planning and Assessment

Since 2010, LSU planning and assessment policies and procedures have evolved toward an institution-wide, integrated planning and assessment model (see Figure 1). With the 2003-2010 timeframe for the Flagship Agenda ending, the UPC began an intense effort to develop the next strategic plan for the university. Responding to challenging economic conditions at that time, the UPC determined that the strategic goals for Flagship 2020 should ensure that LSU maintained its mission as the state’s comprehensive, research-intensive flagship institution [1]. Flagship 2020 includes the vision and mission of the institution and articulates goals related to discovery, learning, diversity, and engagement [22].  Additionally, the document identifies measures of evaluation, described as performance indicators that are specified for each of the four goals. 

In the summer of 2011 the Deans’ Council approved a process for annually evaluating and reporting the progress of the colleges and academic departments on their strategic plans. The University Strategic Annual Planning Report builds from those strategic planning reports and on similar reports from the university support units.  The 2013 Flagship 2020 Strategic Planning Annual Report will be finalized in September 2013. The report includes three sections, as do the other reports: The Year in Review, The Strategic Plan Update, and Priority Planning for the Upcoming Year. The university report draws from the college and division reports and incorporates the results of the provost’s Leadership Planning [17].  The annual university report provides the overall progress made on Flagship 2020 goals.

Below are examples of the performance indicators used in the Flagship 2020 annual report for each strategic goal.

DISCOVERY:  Expand discovery through transformative research and creative activities addressing contemporary and enduring issues that shape the way we live in the world.

 

Table 2. Federal and Total Research Expenditures (in thousands)
Expenditures	2006-2007	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
Federal	46,579	46,756	50,354	57,816	58,048
Total	134,114	136,006	147,652	146,748	145,625

 

Table 3. Dollar Amount of Research and Development Expenditures in Louisiana's Key Economic Development Industries (Five-year average for FY 2007-08 through 2011-12 (in thousands)
Year	Federal	State	Industry	Institution	Other	Total
2007-2008	$78,208	$84,792	$10,694	$88,113	$12,305	$274,112
2008-2009	$87,4769	$79,217	$11,046	$93,188	$17,055	$287,975
2009-2010	$94,621	$74,624	$20,110	$92,394	$1,008	$282,757
2010-2011	$95,167	$71,747	$22,132	$91,253	$1,101	$281,400
2011-2012	$90,001	$73,461	22,572	$92,396	$647	$297,007
Average	$89,093	$76,768	$17,311	$91,469	$6,423	$281,064

 

Table 4. Comparison of LSU Technology Transfer Metrics with Peer Institutions (Standardized to LSU Research Expenditures)
	Research Expenditures	Invention Disclosures	Patents	Licenses Options	Start-ups
Peer Average	$389,321,182	149	28	53	5
Peer Average Standardized to LSU Expenditures	$143,567,000	55	10	20	2
LSU – 2012 Data	$143,567,000	38	5	5	2

LEARNING: Enhance a faculty-led and student-centered learning environment that develops engaged citizens and enlightened leaders.

 

Table 5. Number of Degrees Conferred by Level (excluding specialist and post-master’s)
Degree	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011	2011-2012
Bachelors	4,600	4,734	4,388	4,440	4,600
Master’s	967	968	1,043	1,094	1,234
Doctoral	231	240	300	255	322
Veterinary	83	81	81	75	82
Total	5,881	6,023	5,812	5,864	6,238

 

Table 6.  First-to-Second-Year Retention Rate and Six-Year Graduation Rate
Cohort	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Retention Rate	85.4%	83.6%	84.1%	83.8%	83.0%
Cohort	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Graduation Rate	58.9%	58.9%	58.7%	59.9%	65.0%

DIVERSITY: Strengthen the intellectual environment by broadening the cultural diversity of the LSU community.

ENGAGEMENT: Promote engagement of faculty, staff, and students in the transformation of communities.

 

Table 9.  Academic service-learning and other forms of community service at LSU
	2009	2012
The number of students who engaged in academic service-learning	2850	4295
The number of students who engaged in forms of community service other than academic service-learning	6165	7449
The total number of students who engaged in community service of any kind	9015	11744
The number of students who engaged in at least 20 hours of community service per semester	3100	7110
The number of students whose service was supported by one or more CNCS programs	51	0
The total number of service hours engaged in by the institution's students	90,000	98,175

Following the revision of the Flagship Agenda, each college and division within the university updated and aligned its strategic plans with Flagship 2020, the new institutional strategic plan. Although the goals for the college and academic departments may be stated differently from one another and even from the Flagship 2020 goals, each strategic plan aligns with the Flagship 2020 goals of discovery, learning, diversity, and engagement, to the extent consistent with the mission and vision of the individual unit.  For example, listed below are the goal statements for discovery (research) at the institutional, college, and academic department levels.

The alignment is clear that, at both the college/school level and at the department level, there is a strategic commitment to conducting and expanding basic and applied research consistent with Flagship 2020’s goal of discovery. Additional alignment occurs from the use of common performance indicators at each level. For example, research expenditures and publications are reported at each level (university, college, and department).  It is important that the focus on research extends from the university to the department and that the focus becomes narrower and more discipline-specific as the strategic goals are stated at the college and department levels, as indicated in this example of the related layers of goals:

Flagship 2020

Discovery: Expand discovery through transformative research and creative activities addressing contemporary and enduring issues that shape the way we live in the world.

School of the Coast and Environment

Research: Expand current vigorous and success multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional applied and basic research research program.

Department of Environmental Sciences

Research:  To conduct basic and applied research that is focused on understanding and solving specific environmental problems.

Support areas that may not be directly involved with discovery/research will not include goals related to that Flagship 2020 goal. In these cases, the mission of the support division does not include discovery as a strategic direction and will not significantly contribute to that Flagship 2020 goal. One example is the strategic plan for the division of Finance and Administrative Services. Obviously, the four goals of Flagship 2020 do not directly align with the strategic goals for this division. But the division does contribute to Flagship 2020 through its own mission and goals [23]. Its mission, for example, is the “stewardship and enhancement of the University’s financial, physical, and human resources…to support the University’s mission of instruction, research, and public service” [23], and one of its goals is to “provide first rate campus infrastructure, amenities, and services conducive to the University’s Flagship status” [23].  The role of administrative support services in institutional effectiveness is considered in more detail in Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.2.

Other support divisions’ missions do more directly align with a Flagship 2020 goal in areas such as learning, diversity, or engagement. For example, as shown below, the student success strategic goals for Student Life and Enrollment and its University Recreation Center align with the Flagship 2020 learning goal.

            Flagship 2020

Learning: Enhance a faculty-led and student-centered learning environment that develops engaged citizens and enlightened leaders.

 

Division of Student Life & Enrollment

Student Success: Promote engagement, retention, graduate, and transition to a career.  

University Recreation Center

Create opportunities that foster leadership, teamwork, and enhance learning that contributes to student development.

The role of student support services in institutional effectiveness is considered in more detail in Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.3.

FLAGSHIP 2020 – Strategic Planning Annual Reports

As indicated previously, the active planning, assessment, and budgeting processes and timelines, initiated with the Flagship Agenda and continued with Flagship 2020, provide a systematic and integrated approach to institutional effectiveness. The Strategic Planning Annual Report documents the strategic planning outcomes for each academic and support unit. The report includes three sections:

• The first section is a review of the previous year which highlights accomplishments and challenges experienced;
• The second section is the strategic plan update, which includes the performance on the outcome measures (the performance indicators) for each goal in the unit’s strategic plan along with a brief narrative (analysis) for progress on each goal; and
• The third section focuses on priority planning for the coming year, which requires units to consider budget allocations/reallocations, new initiatives, and other strategic actions to continue progress to fulfill the unit’s mission and achieve its vision [24].

A sampling of planning and assessment activities as demonstrated in the Flagship 2020 Strategic Planning Annual Reports follows. For each example, one goal statement with performance measures and narratives is provided. The entire 2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report for the unit is included as an attachment.

Flagship 2020 Discovery Goal: Expand discovery through transformative research and creative activities addressing contemporary and enduring issues that shape the way we live in the world.

College of Business [25]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Discovery Goal Excerpt

GOAL:  Increase Research Productivity in Support of Long-Term Economic Development

Research productivity, as measured by the number of high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles, has increased 22% in the past five years, with a marked increase (150%) over the previous year. Presentations at major conferences have increased notably. Additionally, acquisition of research grants has remained robust both in numbers and total amount raised (more than $5 million per year).

Contributing to the research goal is our Division of Economic Development (DED). The DED conducts economic impact studies, program evaluations, forecasting, and a broad range of economics research that supports economic development and public policy decisions. Annually, we produce the Louisiana Economic Outlook which analyzes the state’s economy and that of major metropolitan areas to forecast the state’s employment for the next two years.

Although the Louisiana Business & Technology Center (LBTC) is administratively located in the Office of Research and Economic Development, a strong working relationship exists with the LBTC and the E. J. Ourso College. The LBTC houses more than two dozen small businesses in its business incubator and has counseled thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses in the state through various initiatives.

College of Business

Department of Economics [26]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Discovery Goal Excerpt

GOAL:  Research Productivity.

Data contained in Table 1 clearly reveal that the Department of Economics has maintained a very high level of research productivity. The Department of Economics expects faculty to develop a significant body of scholarship as evidenced by regular publications in high-quality professional journals. Since journal articles are the primary way knowledge is accumulated and transmitted in economics, the focus for evaluation of scholarly performance is based primarily, but not exclusively, on journal publications. Additional measures of an individual’s research activity include editorships, serving as an ad hoc reviewer for major economics journals, membership on editorial boards, conference organizer, and serving as session chair at major economics conferences.

Despite our small faculty size, between 2009 and 2012 we averaged 12 publications per year. During the first 4 months of 2013, the Department has 15 published papers and another 6 that have been accepted but not yet published. Thus, including the acceptances, the Department’s total for 2013 will be a least 21. Additionally, faculty members in the Department are actively disseminating their work at professional conferences, both nationally and internationally. Faculty members were particularly active in 2012, with a total of 23 conference presentations.

A total of 5 faculty members serve in an editorial capacity. Among those editorial positions, two peer-reviewed economics journals and the annual series in econometrics research are edited in the Department. In addition, the Department produces the annual economic forecasting report. They are:

• Journal of Macroeconomics (co-edited by Professor McMillin and published by Elsevier)
• Journal of Labor Research (edited by Professor Newman, with associated editor Professor Mocan and published by Springer)
• Advances in Econometrics (co-edited by Professor Hill and published by Emerald Press)
• Louisiana Economic Outlook (co-authored by Professors Loren Scott and Jim Richardson and published by the Division of Economic Development)

Prior to 2012 the Department conducted a weekly Faculty Seminar Series, which brought to LSU some the leading scholars in Economics. In 2011 the Department hosted a total of 17 seminars. Due to budget cuts, that number fell to 13 in 2012. However, due primarily to recruiting, the Department was fortunate to host 15 seminars within just the first 3 months of 2013.

The Department is the host of the annual Advances in Econometrics Conference co-organized by Professor Carter Hill. Conference papers are published in Advances in Econometrics. In 2009 the Department hosted the NBER Conference on the Economic Aspects of Obesity. The Conference was hosted by Professor Mocan (LSU) and Professor Michael Grossman (CUNY). Papers presented at this Conference were published in a edited book published by the University of Chicago Press. The Department received a $40,000 grant from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana to cover a portion of the conference expenses. Also, the Department has hosted three conferences on network theory. In 2010 we hosted the Conference on Networks: Theory and Applications, organized by Professor Sudipta Sarangi. In 2011 the Department hosted another conference organized by Professor Sarangi—Conference on Bargaining Evolution and Networks: A Conference in Honor of Hans Haller. Papers presented published in a special issue of Mathematical Social Sciences, edited by Professor Sarangi. In 2012 we hosted a conference entitled Networks and Development: Exploring an Emerging Theme. This conference was co-organized by Professors Sarangi and Ying Pan and was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Some faculty members are actively engaged in sponsored research, particularly within the Division of Economic Development. From January 2012 through May 2013 a total of 13 grants have been awarded to faculty in the Department; with a total of 12 current grants. The dollar value of the grants over the past five years has grown from $586,726 in 2009 to $1,975,957 in May 2013—a growth of a little over 300 percent. The lion’s share of these grants is generated by faculty in the Division of Economic Development.

Flagship 2020 Learning Goal: Enhance a faculty-led and student-centered learning environment that develops engaged citizens and enlightened leaders.

(Note: The Strategic Learning Goals are not the Student Learning Outcomes for degree programs. The assessments of those learning outcomes are presented in the Annual Learning Outcomes Reports. See Core Requirement 3.1.1.1)

College of Humanities and Social Sciences [27]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Learning Goal Excerpt

LEARNING

Undergraduate: Teach courses for all of LSU’s students that foster analytical and communication skills and provide them with a better understanding of their own culture and society as well as an appreciation for other societies and cultures.  Provide a rigorous and coherent program for majors in our various departments and disciplines

Graduate:  Improve the quality as well as the national reputation and visibility of our graduate programs.

 

Analysis of learning performance indicators

H&SS student participation in international exchanges has steadily increased since 2008/09, and now almost twice as many students participate.   At the same time, participation in short-term LSU programs has declined significantly.  The College has worked harder at encouraging students to participate, including dedicating some of its limited financial aid resources to students who study abroad through competitive scholarships of $1,000 each.

The number of CxC sections taught continues to rise, dramatically since 2008/09.  The number of students enrolled is also significantly higher.  The increasing number of sections offered may reflect the College’s decision to increase the number of faculty members whose participation in CxC’s summer workshops it funds.   Even some of the participants who do not go on to offer a communication intensive course comment on how the experience improved their teaching. 

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders [28]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Learning Goal Excerpt

LEARNING GOAL STATEMENTS FOR UNDERGRADUATE, MASTER’S, AND DOCTORAL PROGRAMS

Goal: Increase undergraduate students’ critical thinking and research reading/writing skills in the areas of normal and disordered communication as they relate to a diverse set of career options in health and education.

Table 14 reports learning measures for the undergraduate program. Departmental recruitment efforts at high schools and LSU appear to be resulting in an increase in freshmen and sophomores from 84 in fall 2008 to 130 in 2012-13.  Two year retention rates that had been rising from 2009-10 through 2-11-12 appear to have leveled off at 65%. However, this statistic is based upon the relatively small number of students who declare COMD majors as freshmen.  Retention appears to be better considering that there is still an increase in the number of majors into the junior-senior years with the majority of students still being upper class students. The number of graduates of the program continues to rise from 65 in 2008-09 to 80 in 2011-12, the last year for which complete data are available.

The department increased the number of undergraduate seminar and CxC sections. The faculty expects that these increases in quality of undergraduate education will carry over into increased quality of students applying to the master’s program and an increased orientation towards research among students applying to the master’s program. With the arrival of two new tenure-track faculty in the fall, the faculty will consider options to increase the number of smaller class sections either through offering multiple sections of required 4000 level classes or starting to offer more seminar classes.

Goal: Prepare master’s students to provide evidence-based assessment and treatment of communication disorders utilizing state-of-the-art methodology and technology in a variety of job settings through academic coursework and clinical experience.

Table 15. Master’s Program Learning Goal Measures
MA	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
Majors	41	41	36	42	49
2 Year Retention	100	83	95	96	88
Graduates	22	16	16	19	25
Percentage Theses	14%	13%	19%	16%	40%
Authors	10%	3%	19%	13%
Passing Praxis	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%*
Professional Employment	100%	100%	100%	100%	**

The department’s decision to increase the number of master’s students it accepts has resulted in an increased number of enrolled students from 36 in 2010-11 to 49 in 2012-13.  The number of graduates also increased from 16 to 19 during that time period. This increase in master’s student enrollment has been enabled by the maintenance of the number of instructors by the college paying for the instructors who are no longer supported by outside contracts. This effort was also supported by the college’s hiring two new assistant professors who enable the departmental tenure-track faculty to teach the 4000-level classes currently being taught by the instructors, thus freeing the instructors to do more clinical supervision. Most of the workload of the instructors is devoted to running the LSU Speech and Hearing Clinic.  The clinic and its off campus programs provide the masters students with the 400 hours of supervised clinical practicum that are required of each student over their two year programs.  To maintain an enrollment of 50 masters students demands that the department’s instructors supervise 10,000 client contact hours each year.

The percentage of students conducting theses more than doubled to 40% in 2013.   The faculty is committed to continuing to encourage the thesis option.  With two new faculty members joining the faculty in the fall, there will be a renewed discussion on how to encourage theses, perhaps through creating some smaller class sections through offering multiple class sections.

Goal: Develop PhD students who collaborate in research, disseminate research findings through publication and presentations, and develop skills to meet the immediate and future needs of the profession. 

Table 16. PhD Program Learning Goal Measures
	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
Number of Majors	20	21	19	20	13
Number of Graduates	2	5	2	5	3
Percentage Authors		60%	65%	60%	62%
University Employment	100%	60%	100%	60%	66%

The number of PhD students has fallen from 19 in 2010-11 to 13 in 2012-13 in response to an increase in the number of students graduating in 2011-12.  There appears to be a two year pattern in which 2 or 3 students graduate in one year followed by 5 graduates in the next year.  In part, enrollment fluctuates with grant support.  Five students are supported each year by university teaching assistant funds.  For the past four years another 6-7 were supported by grants.  The faculty will continue to submit grants to both support their research and the enrollment in the doctoral program. While a large NIH grant is ending, another is starting and the new faculty will be submitting Board of Regents grants this fall. Sixty to 65 percent of the students participated in convention presentations or journal article submission over the five year period. This 60% of the students are typically those who have been in the program for two years and therefore have had a chance to be involved in a faculty research project.  Over the past five years 70% of the graduates took faculty positions in academia.

Flagship 2020 Diversity Goal: Strengthen the intellectual environment by broadening the cultural diversity of the LSU community.

College of Human Sciences and Education [5]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Diversity Goal Excerpt

Goal: Diversity: The College commits to developing and nurturing the cultural competence of students, faculty and staff by creating vibrant and diverse educational and professional environments.

The diversity goal is in no way limited to race, ethnicity and gender. The College is equally interested in diversity with regard to socioeconomic status/class, age, physical/mental ability, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression and national origin. It is the College’s belief that interaction among faculty, staff and students from different backgrounds and with different life experiences enriches the learning environment by improving understanding and appreciation of the differences among individuals and social groups. The College supports the University’s Equal Opportunity Policy (PS-01) and the Policy for Persons with Disabilities (PS-26). The College will increase diversity among faculty, staff and students by recruiting applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups (UPI).

Performance Indicators:

The College will increase diversity in regard to socioeconomic status/class, age, physical/mental ability, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression and national origin.

              The College will increase both out-of-state and international enrollment.

Narrative:

Approximately 25% of the faculty and staff fall into categories identified as race or ethnicity other than white. The areas of most significant growth have been Black/African American and Hispanic. Seventeen percent of the undergraduate students fall into these categories, with graduate students mirroring faculty and staff percentages.

The College planning committee reviewed college enrollments and demographics, policies and procedures, programs and services and made recommendations that have been incorporated into the strategic plan.

A committee has been formed to monitor progress in meeting the goal and will give their report to the dean in May. To date, committees have updated  the College annual diversity report, outlined college activities, reviewed view books, recruitment materials and hiring materials to identify and eliminate discriminatory practices.

The Dean’s Circle provided funding to support a conference for black men who have been successful in higher education to learn from their experiences and to support travel to Chile for elementary teachers to gain experience in another culture.

The Peabody Society increased diversity by expanding membership.

The College made a number of strategic hires that increased the diversity of the faculty and is carefully monitoring its internships, student placements and programs to ensure that they offer exposure to diverse populations. See section below on Recruiting and Retaining Faculty.

The College has filled a number of vacant lines with tenure-track faculty and professional practice positions, strengthening targeted programs (reading, elementary education, higher education administration, kinesiology, human resource education); some searches are still pending.

College of Human Sciences and Education

School of Education [29]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Diversity Goal Excerpt

GOAL: Broaden the efforts of faculty, students, and staff to expand diversity, and support vibrant environments that enhance cultural inclusiveness in the department through the recruitment and support of underrepresented populations.

Goal Narrative: Student diversity continues to be a primary focus of the school. There has been more success at the graduate level than the undergraduate, but the department continues to emphasize the importance of expanding diversity, and creating a safe environment for our students.

Flagship 2020 Engagement Goal: Promote engagement of faculty, staff, and students in the transformation of communities.

School of Coast and Environment [30]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Engagement Goal Excerpt

ENGAGEMENT GOAL- Improve effectiveness of outreach to society with an emphasis on Louisiana.

SC&E has not traditionally done broad outreach, gotten much media exposure, or worked with local schools.  However, it has always done a great deal of service for state and federal agencies and NGO’s, which it continues to do.

The BP Macondo oil spill, however although tragic, represented an enormous opportunity for SC&E to engage the public.  Both SC&E and LSU garnered unprecedented media exposure, which has been generally quite positive.  While the furor and interest of the media have worn off, what SC&E has done continues to make us a trusted source by the media and reflects well on LSU.

In addition, SC&E continues to increase its K-12 outreach when it successfully established a chapter of the national EnvironMentors program at LSU.  With incredible initiative from several of our outstanding graduate students, we were awarded a small seed grant to get this program started and in its first year of operation, it had already become one of the top programs in the nation.  Student participation continues to garner top honors at the science fair in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the national organization.  We have established a strong working relationship with the Scotlandville Magnet High School.  Over our three years, we intensively mentored on average 15 promising students who were all minority and many come from very challenging backgrounds.  Our success with the academic achievements of these bright students has been remarkable.  One student received a “full ride” scholarship to the highly-selective Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Given Scotlandville High School’s historical graduation rates, in the 60% range, it is notable that so many EM students are graduated and go on to higher education, especially in STEM areas.  Many students have received scholarships and awards—the most notable a $10,000 Emerging Environmental Leader Award.  Several students have received sizeable scholarships, covering all college expenses. The following table describes the impact on Scotlandville High students who have participated in previous cohorts for the past two full program years (i.e. not students currently enrolled in the program).

School of Coast and Environment

Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences [31]

2013 Strategic Planning Annual Report

Engagement Goal Excerpt

OUTREACH:  To improve the distribution of our findings to the public and resource managers for the good of society.

The primary goal for Service and Outreach was to more widely distribute our findings to the public and resource managers for the good of society.  These efforts take many forms and are generally more difficult than teaching and research metrics to track and quantity in easy summaries (Table 3).  Thus these efforts are underestimated and conservatively assessed. 

An important goal of our outreach campaign is to increase the visibility of our faculty research activities and discoveries in media outlets so that our expertise and accomplishments can reach a wider segment of our stakeholders.  In 2012-2013 DOCS faculty research was featured prominently on the LSU main webpage. DOCS faculty also communicated their expertise in coastal issues to the public by participating in public forums on and off campus, such as commenting on the scientific background of the Oscar-nominated movie “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Honors and awards received by DOCS faculty and students were also widely publicized by LSU and the media, such as the LSU Boyd Professorship and the Rainmaker award, and a prestigious appointment to the National Academy of Sciences’ Gulf of Mexico Program.

Advisory Group  for faculty, and the Udall Scholarship for CES student. 

Faculty, staff, and students make hundreds of presentations at scientific meetings, interact with resource managers, and are in contact with the public in many ways. Faculty, staff, and students also contribute to their professions by serving as editors or editorial board members for journals, review panel members for funding agencies, and external reviewers for institutional program reviews and tenure and promotion reviews.  DOCS faculty reviewed numerous manuscripts and proposals for journals and funding agencies each year. 

DOCS and ENVS student volunteers participated in many outreach events such as OceanCommotion and Louisiana State Science Fair.  DOCS students continued to produce episodes of the monthly science radio show “Louisiology” that focuses on coastal issues and processes.  Through the EnvironMentors program, we work to attract new African-American students to the sciences and hopefully into the undergraduate program in the SC&E.  We also continued to co-sponsor annual seminar events with the Links’ LIFE Institute program via Dr. Joyce Marie Jackson, Director of the African & African American Studies Program on campus.

Observations on Colleges’ and Departments’ Strategic Planning Annual Reports

The above selections from colleges and departments document the progress made by these individual units on the performance indicators toward specific the goals of Flagship 2020. The entire annual report for each college/department (see the attachments) includes two other sections. The first section, Year in Review, provides an overview of the accomplishments and challenges that occurred during the previous year. This section is a detailed analysis of the overall performance of the academic unit, drawing in part from the performance indicators presented in the Strategic Plan Update section. The last section in the Strategic Planning Annual Report is the Priority Planning for the Coming Year. This section identifies those programs and services that will be the focus for the upcoming year and helps guide the academic unit in terms of allocations of resources and the implementation of specific strategies to advance the college or department.  The repetitive and integrated process of planning and assessment across the multiple layers of the university ties the work and performance of each academic and support unit back to the Flagship 2020 strategic plan.

CR 2.5 Conclusion - Achieving Institutional Effectiveness through Institution-Wide Planning and Assessment

Based on the evidence provided, LSU demonstrates that it engages in integrated and institution-wide research-based planning and evaluation processes. From 1997 through this year, formalized planning has been a constant feature in the administration and management of LSU. These processes incorporate a systematic review of institutional mission and vision, goals, and performance outcomes. Through the repetitive application of these processes, continuing improvement in institutional quality is ensured. Beginning with the Flagship Agenda in 2003 and continuing with Flagship 2010, LSU has been successful in moving the university toward specific strategic goals through the implementation and assessment of programs and services focused on discovery, learning, diversity, and engagement. The annual reporting system for strategic planning from academic and support units, coupled with the cyclical program review, demonstrates that the institution is effectively accomplishing its flagship mission. The institution’s participation in the annual reviews tied to the LSU Metrics and GRAD Act Report not only demonstrates to our constituents the productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency of the institution but also reinforces the internal planning and assessment activities that flow from Flagship 2020. Additional specific examples of achieving institutional effectiveness through planning and assessment are presented in Comprehensive Standards 3.3.1.1-3.3.1.5.

NOTE: A full list of attachments is available in the first half of the narrative.