The following are suggestions for academic departments on common operational goals and outcomes. Appalachian's current strategic goals [3]could be used as departmental goals, especially the first three as the focus is on the traditional academic areas of teaching, research, and service. There are suggested outcomes under each goal that would be appropriate for academic departments. This is not meant to be an all-encompassing list. A printable PDF version of this list is available here .
- Strategic Priority 1: Providing Exceptional Educational Experiences
- Enhance academic quality
- Improve graduation rates (or other student success measures)
- Increase student satisfaction with the quality of instruction in the major
- Increase student satisfaction with the quality of advising in the major
- Enhance online course offerings
- Increase number of degrees awarded
- Increase the number of students reaching their first destination within 3/6/12 months of graduation
- Decrease time-to-degree within the major
- Increase the number of internship opportunities for students
- Strategic Priority 2: Advancing Research, Innovation, and Creativity
- Increase number of student research/ scholarly projects
- Increase the number of peer-reviewed publications/ presentations/ scholarly products
- Increase the number of grant proposals submitted
- Increase the number of funded grant proposals
- Strategic Priority 3: Advancing Local, Regional, and Global Engagement
- Increase participation in community service
- Increase the number of service-learning courses/ hours
- Increase number of community partners
- Increase outreach to rural and underserved communities
- Strategic Priority 4: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Increase recruitment/retention of historically underrepresented students
- Increase the recruitment/retention of historically underrepresented faculty and staff
- Increase study abroad opportunities for students
- Increase scholarship related to diversity, equity and inclusion
- Strategic Priority 5: Investing in Faculty and Staff Excellence
- Improve faculty/ staff retention
- Increase faculty/ staff satisfaction with department
- Increase cross disciplinary collaborations among faculty
- Increase professional development opportunities for faculty/staff
- Strategic Priority 6: Strengthen Resilience and Sustainability
- Increase course offerings with a sustainability focus
- Increase online course offerings
- Increase space utilization
- Reduce paper or other resource consumption
[3] For more information see: https://www.appstate.edu/about/strategic-plan-2022-2027/