Strategic Plan 2009-2014:Background
Old Dominion University's Strategic Plan 2009-2014
Mission Statement
Old Dominion University, located in the City of Norfolk in the metropolitan Hampton Roads region of coastal Virginia, is a dynamic public research institution that serves its students and enriches the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world through rigorous academic programs, strategic partnerships, and active civic engagement.
Vision Statement
Old Dominion University will be recognized nationally and internationally as a forward-focused metropolitan university with a collaborative and innovative approach to education and research that spurs economic growth, focuses on student success, engages civic and community partners, and uses its connections with the military and maritime industries and its exceptional strengths and leadership in related areas to provide practical solutions to complex, real world problems.
Who We Are
Old Dominion University is a comprehensive, multicultural, and student-centered university whose central purpose is to provide our students with the best education possible. We seek to provide access for a more diverse array of student populations, elevate our standing among the nation's public research institutions, make innovative use of modern learning technologies, and insist on an arts-and-sciences-based general education for all undergraduates. We explore ways to address critical needs in the professions, increase our service to the Commonwealth of Virginia, find practical solutions for modern needs, and be a resource for the citizens of the Hampton Roads region and beyond. We have developed Innovation Research Park to facilitate synergistic partnerships with regional, national, and international businesses and agencies. We enrich the university campus and local communities through arts, athletics, and cultural events, and we celebrate the diverse and profoundly multicultural community that is Old Dominion University. At the same time, we work to evaluate and constantly improve the ways we help students, faculty, staff, and the many constituents we serve through rigorous self0examination, assessment, and efficient use of resources. An emphasis on development, alumni relations, and marketing is imperative to achieving private funding and public support for all of our Strategic Plan initiatives.
Institutional Environment and Context
Location
Old Dominion University (ODU) is a comprehensive, multicultural, and student-centered residential university that enjoys tremendous advantages from its unique coastal location within a thriving metropolitan region adjacent to major maritime and military installations and within easy reach of the nation's capital. Metropolitan Hampton Roads' location provides a rich living laboratory for many of ODU' academic and research pursuits, including environmental, marine, and natural sciences and engineering associated with the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The region is host to an extensive and comprehensive public education system and several community colleges and universities, with which ODU has long-standing and strong collaborations. ODU's co-location with an exceptional array of major local and federal government facilities and organizations presents opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships, such as with the Jefferson National Laboratory, NASA Langley, Virginia Port Authority, and teaching hospitals such as Eastern Virginia Medical School and Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, among others.
Recent Accomplishments
Building on its history and inherent advantages, the Old Dominion University Strategic Plan: 2005-2009 guided the direction of the University over the previous planning period while allowing the University to take advantage of additional unanticipated opportunities.
Academic program quality and offerings
During the past five years, a complete review and revision of the University's undergraduate general education program was accomplished, focusing on the targeted learning outcomes for each academic area. The University conducted a program evaluation that culminated with an indepth Academic Program Review process. Programs with waning demand and low productivity have been reduced. A number of doctoral programs have been added in high-need areas, including: Ph.D. programs in English; public administration and urban policy; health services research; education; criminology and criminal justice; chemistry; and professional doctorates in nursing practice and engineering. Several of these programs offer multiple options that doctoral students may pursue. The 2008 US News and World Report guide to university graduate programs ranked Darden College of Education as a Top 100 graduate school of education; the College placed for the first time at #96. New bachelors programs include: Asian Studies; African American Studies; Maritime and Supply Chain Management; and, most recently, Modeling and Simulation. An increasing number of departments are providing the opportunity for undergraduates to write a senior honors thesis.
Academic support programs
To better coordinate academic advising, career management, and other student services aimed at retention, University College was established in 2006 through reorganization and merger of several separate services into a single unit. Planning for a Student Success Center was completed and construction scheduled for 2009-10. It will be co-located with a new Learning Commons in the Perry Library to form a campus focal point for students that provides academic support, including academic advising, testing, and tutoring services, and access to technology in support of out-of-class assignments. Online tools have been purchased to facilitate efficient and accurate advising for students. On the graduate level, enhancements include implementation of dissertation fellowships that include travel awards, and a doctoral mentoring award.
Faculty quality, recruitment, and retention
Between 2005 and 2008, the number of research and teaching faculty positions increased by 90 to approximately 720 full-time equivalent positions, of which 40% are female. Endowment funded chairs for distinguished senior faculty were established and start up funding to recruit new research faculty has been increased. Several nationally-recognized faculty have been recruited to work in multi-disciplinary clusters and teams in modeling and simulation, biomedical sciences, bioelectrics, and computer sciences. University and external awards in teaching and research excellence were emphasized and in the past five years, 11 faculty members have earned the competitive and prestigious Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award. External faculty awards also included National Academy appointments, Fulbright Awards, and Fellow status in various professional societies for mechanical engineering, counseling, kinesiology and physical education, electrical and electronics engineering, ergonomics, engineering management, geoscience, human factors, physics, nursing, and speech and hearing. Faculty retention efforts were enhanced by increasing faculty salaries to the 60thpercentile of peers by 2007. The number of faculty who serve in leadership roles in national and international professional organizations continues to increase each year. Faculty publications in peer-reviewed periodicals, books, and conference presentations have increased substantially. Faculty articles have been accepted by prestigious journals, such asNature and Science, and are attracting positive attention from the national media, such as theNew York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Research profile and awards
The University's research profile has improved substantially by a number of measures. Overall research expenditures have nearly doubled between 2002 and 2008. ODU's ranking increased among public universities in federal source Research and Development expenditures for NASA, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Substantial federal and state funding was obtained for the multidisciplinary Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center (VMASC), which is managed through the Office of Research, and the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium (VCERC), headed by ODU faculty. Individual program areas that increased their research expenditure rankings include aerospace engineering, economics, education, electrical engineering, humanities, mathematics, oceanography, political science, sociology, and visual and performing arts. Interdisciplinary research efforts were greatly strengthened in modeling and simulation, bioelectrics, teacher education/K12 education, coastal energy research, and molecular medicine. Emphasis increased in the areas of alternative energy sources and health sciences research. Recognizing ODU's particular strengths in physics, a new Center for Accelerator Science has been developed in partnership with the Jefferson Lab.
Economic Development
The University's economic development activities have been focused in three areas: partnership with business; workforce development; and, regional business attraction, expansion, and creation. Some of the University's efforts such as the development of modeling and simulation technologies, extend across all three categories and form an important economic development platform. The University is committed to working with local companies through the Innovation Research Park (IRP), which offers tenants Class A office/wet lab/dry lab environments and easy access to ODU's research faculty. Tenants are specifically selected to provide leverageable research, commercialization, and translational opportunities for companies and organizations. The Virginia Applied Technology and Professional Development Center offers translational and consulting relationships to companies to help solve their business problems. Beyond its main campus, ODU maintains three higher education centers and the TELETECHNET distance delivery network, through which a variety of undergraduate and graduate academic programs are offered. The directors of the higher education centers reach out to local businesses with training classes and continuing education offerings that can be customized for employees.
Improved academic and other campus facilities
Dramatic growth in academic facilities has been accomplished in recent years, including: complete renovations of the Batten Arts and Letters and Health Sciences buildings; major additions to the Oceanography and Physical Sciences Building; the completion of the Engineering and Computational Sciences Building in 2004 and the Kaplan Orchid Conservatory in 2008. Substantial increase in research and business entrepreneurial space has been realized by the opening of Innovation Research Park (IRP) Buildings I (in 2007) and II (in 2009) in the University village. A variety of additions and new constructions were completed to support the University's growing athletics program, including the Powhatan Sports Complex, the new Folkes-Stevens Indoor Tennis center, and construction of the Ainslie Football Complex in tandem with a full renovation to the Foreman Field at SB Ballard Stadium in preparation for the start of ODU's new Monarch Football season in Fall 2009. A state-of-the-art Sports and Recreation Center that includes an indoor pool, track, and climbing wall, opened in summer 2009 adjacent to new student residence halls and the Roseann Runte Quad. The University's Tri-Cities Center was constructed in Portsmouth adjacent to the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center in Chesapeake. In support of the computational infrastructure, the National Lambda rail and Hampton Roads research grids have been implemented. Other infrastructure projects include the addition of several new parking structures and storm water management constructions.
Growth of a vibrant residential campus life
With the completion of construction in the University Village, along with a major investment in residence hall accommodations (from 2,285 to 4,610 beds) on both the east and west sides of Hampton Boulevard, the plan for the emergence of a truly residential campus has been realized. In addition to the new residence halls, the campus area now boasts a full-service Recreation Center, a new campus bookstore, a variety of restaurants, the Gordon Art Gallery, and regularly scheduled events in the highly successful Ted Constant Convocation Center. Additional housing development by a private entity is anticipated in the next two years in the University Village area.
Enrollment management
A formal Enrollment Management structure was implemented in 2008, to allow for University wide coordination of recruitment, admission, orientation, enrollment planning, financial aid, retention and graduation processes. After thorough study, the University elected to target a less aggressive enrollment growth position than in prior years. However, the recent dramatic downturn in the economies of the Commonwealth and nation has encouraged more students to seek degree completion programs, alternative careers, and advanced degrees, all of which will make enrollment planning more challenging for the next few years.
Financial Planning
A series of budget cuts beginning in FY 2007-08 reduced the state portion of the University's operating budget by about 14 percent, from $106 million to $94 million in FY2009/10, and further reductions are anticipated. During the same period, student headcount and FTE enrollment will have increased by more than 1,200. Despite the decline in state funding, annual tuition increases have been kept in the five to seven percent range. A four-year financial plan was developed and approved by the Board of Visitors in June 2009 that included use of one-time federal stimulus money to allow University units to engage in long term resource planning despite the cuts in state funding. The continuingly uncertain external financial environment will provide the University its biggest challenge in realizing its plans for 2009-2014, and the strategic planning process took this challenge into consideration.
Continuous Institutional Assessment
Coordinating the planning function
The University has reaffirmed its commitment to a regular, data-based process of self-assessment and improvement, through the coordination of internal planning processes including academic planning, enrollment management, space and capital planning, and budget and resource planning. For example, planning for the Student Success Center/Learning Commons involved a broadly based planning group and culminated in a significant, highly functional redesign of facilities. The Enrollment Management process, coupled with the Strategic Planning process, regularly brought faculty and staff into discussions regarding the future of the University, including recommendations for resource allocation.
Assessment plans
Regular assessment of the University's performance relative to its documented plans will be incorporated into the 2009-2014 planning and budgeting processes. All programs of the University will have assessment plans with measures to determine success over the first and subsequent years of implementation, the results of which will be used in documented improvements and to inform future budget decisions. The effectiveness of each program will be summarized and annually disseminated and best practices in each area will be used in documented improvements. Existing programs that are shown to be ineffective by institutional effectiveness measures will be discontinued, in accordance with SACS and SCHEV procedures for program discontinuance to ensure that already enrolled students are give the opportunity to complete their declared program of study in a reasonable timeframe.
