Purdue University Strategic Plan
Science Strategic Plan (.pdf - 700Kb)
The Strategic Plan was approved by the College of Science faculty on April 22, 2003 and by the University on October 20, 2003.
The strategic planning process for the College of Science at Purdue University began in Spring 2002 when a group of faculty worked together to elucidate the mission, vision, strategies, and assessment mechanisms for the College, within the context of the University mission of discovery, learning, and engagement. At the heart of our vision is a dual philosophy of advancing multidisciplinary collaborations as well as excellence in our core areas. In order to most effectively utilize resources, the fundamental question remained: In what directions should we support and encourage our intellectual pursuits? We decided to identify the most compelling multidisciplinary opportunities as College-wide priorities, and to coordinate their development with the corresponding development of core strengths within our Departments.
During Fall 2002, the seven departments—Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Sciences, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics—each took a long-term look at their respective disciplines and developed a roadmap for how they could most effectively position themselves over the next decade to address their long-term core challenges and opportunities, with an eye to collaborations with other Departments and Colleges.
Using the Department drafts as a base, we then started a College-wide process to identify synergies among the Department plans and collaborative opportunities of strategic importance. After a campus-wide solicitation, in December 2002 we received about 50 white papers proposing potential areas of College-wide focus. Three independent committees—one consisting of our University Faculty Scholars and some other leading young faculty in the College, one consisting of our Distinguished Professors, and a third consisting of the Department Heads and Center Directors—reviewed the white papers and developed a list of 15 potential priorities, which were then fleshed out in more detail by the area participants. The focus area reports were posted on the Web, and in an all-day retreat on March 1, 2003, a group of 140 faculty and some staff met to discuss them and identify College-wide priorities.
This strategic plan is the culmination of all those efforts. It led to the establishment of our seven multidisciplinary priority areas—our so-called COALESCE areas—that are guiding our faculty expansion. Our strategic plan will feed back into the Departmental plans, and it will continue to evolve. We hope to reevaluate our priorities on a regular basis, always with an eye out for long-term significance, so that, at any given time, we make decisions and allocate resources in a coordinated way, with that long-term goal in mind.
Our current efforts in 2007 are focusing on continuing the multidisciplinary momentum from the COALESCE program by identifying compelling priorities for future hiring focus. Assoc. Dean Jeff Bolin and his planning committee are collecting vision papers and meeting with colleagues across campus. An all-day College-wide retreat on May 9, 2007 is devoted to discussion and vetting of these vision papers. Departments will have the opportunity to leverage College hiring slots to build critical mass for addressing major scientific and societal issues.
Department Strategic Plans:
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COALESCE Areas
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COALESCE multidisciplinary priorities for faculty hiring
COALESCE II preliminary planning documents
President's Forum Presentation by Dean Vitter, February 2004
President's Forum Presentation by Dean Vitter, March 2007
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