Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication Strategic Plan

Download the Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication Strategic Plan for 2016-2021
(PDF 534KB) Strategic Plan PDF

Executive Summary

The Department of Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication has committed significant thought and effort developing this aspirational plan, Address Global Challenges, Educate-Empower-Enhance, to focus and guide our efforts for the next five years. This plan reflects our commitment to Purdue Agriculture's goal to be "the world's leading land-grant college of agriculture, food, life, and natural resource sciences serving Indiana and the world through sustained excellence in, and integration of, our land-grant missions of learning, discovery, and engagement."

ASEC faculty use research- and theory-driven pedagogies that develop 21st century skills, preparing students for a range of professional and academic careers in STEM education and science communication with high impact. The learning continuum fostered through thoughtful mentoring and instruction integrates social science education with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, science communication, public engagement, and educational applications. Our undergraduate and graduate instruction also address principles of social responsibility and global problem-solving to help enhance quality of life in the contemporary spirit of the land-grant mission.

The plan incorporates a spectrum of experiential learning methods across ASEC graduate and undergraduate programs, including service-learning courses, student-centered approaches, domestic and international internships, and multi-semester research projects in cooperation with partner initiatives. ASEC will offer more courses and opportunities for the professional development of all students. With a robust international and intercultural faculty, staff and student perspective, our education, research and outreach will provide solutions to global challenges in agricultural, food, and natural resource sciences while strengthening partnerships with alumni, community leaders, industry, academicians, and diverse stakeholders.

My thanks to the steering committee and to all our stakeholders whose input helped inform and shape this roadmap for the department's future. Our mission to Educate-Empower-Enhance is central to Purdue Agriculture's ability to facilitate informed decision-making for communities and industry to develop solutions that increase economic vitality, build human and social capacity, and develop sound policy. Through strategies identified in this plan, ASEC will become more inclusive of human and intellectual diversity with a well-recognized and widely communicated departmental brand identity and a climate of expectation for increased productivity, accountability and impact. In so doing, ASEC will be an international leader in the application of interdisciplinary social sciences.

Mark Russell
Professor and Head