Education courses have been taught at Old Dominion University for more than 85 years. At the Darden College of Education & Professional Studies, we keep pushing toward what we want to become, not simply what we want to maintain. The Strategic Plan was drafted after a year-long process involving consultant facilitated conversations with faculty focus groups and stakeholders. Prior to going before a faculty vote, the proposed Strategic Plan was shared with all faculty for feedback. In January 2017, the Strategic Plan was ratified by a unanimous vote received from the majority of the faculty.
![Helen Crompton holding robot](/sites/default/files/styles/image_text_block/public/images/dcoe-96-crompton.jpg?h=56d0ca2e)
Vision
The Darden College of Education & Professional Studies is dedicated to continually improving the lives of our communities—those groups of people linked by diverse needs, affiliation, or purpose—through culturally-affirming research, teaching, and service. The college will be a premier leader in preparing individuals for professions in education, industry, service and clinical environments.
![Teacher in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/image_text_block/public/images/dcoe-483-teacher-classroom.jpg?h=41f55a5b)
Mission
To advance our communities through research, teaching, and service activities that reflect our commitment to excellence, innovation, and transformation.
Goals
Objectives:
- Develop infrastructure for supporting and rewarding interdisciplinary research and community partnerships to explore relevant and critical problems of practice.
- Create expectations and systems to inspire high quality faculty research that promotes national and international recognition.
- Compete for external-funding that supports and extends our mission through high quality research.
Objectives:
- Ensure that curriculum meets the future professional and career needs of all students by partnering with key stakeholders to ensure relevance of program content and curriculum design.
- Implement state-of-the-art technologies to reach and enrich the broadest number of high quality students.
- Ensure students have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to serve as future leaders in their chosen fields.
Objectives:
- Engage with our key stakeholders to obtain regular and systematic feedback that focuses on assessing mutual needs, evaluating the quality of Darden College of Education & Professional Studies' impact, and collaboratively determining future directions.
- Create sustainable partnerships that serve as spaces for research, reflective practice, and professional renewal.
- Provide added-value learning opportunities for faculty, students, and community stakeholders.