All over campus right now I hear, “can you believe our beautiful fall?” The light, the weather, the leaves and just a hint of frost in the mornings. We are all so eager to grasp these final pre-winter moments. It is perfect dog-walking weather.
Last September, I shared with you all our college strategic plan process and promised the unveiling of our plan in the new year. Well, technically we are still in the new year, but we are nearing the end. We have been rightfully and fully sidetracked with preparing for an early November American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education accreditation site visit. Every seven years our professional veterinary medical education program is evaluated — the self-study document alone was 110 pages! And we have been preparing for and enjoying our college’s 125th anniversary celebration. For this momentous occasion, we hosted a wonderful party that included cake, the dedication of a time capsule, college tours, a showing of an award-winning documentary, “War Tails,” and a tour and champagne toast at the WSU Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Check out our amazing 125th anniversary webpage to see photos, read stories, and watch a truly spectacular “Then and Now” video complete with old footage discovered while cleaning out McCoy Hall!
Now, back to the strategic plan. Our plan is for six years, and it has four pillars: Teaching and Learning; Research Enterprise; College Community; and Partnerships, Outreach, and Community Engagement. These pillars are all supported by an additional strategic foundational priority to “Tell our Story by Fostering a Culture of Storytelling” throughout our college. I think these pillars will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with an academic professional land grant-based program. What is lovely is each of these pillars is comprised of goals that have a distinctive WSU flavor and feel. For example, our five focused goals for this year include: investing in holistic student success; supporting research-focused, hands-on learning for our undergraduate students; incentivizing and resourcing collaborative interdepartmental research; promoting workplace equity with a focus on salary structures and processes; and expanding our community presence with public talks and workshops on relevant animal health topics. And there is activity on many additional goals that were in process before the strategic plan, like developing an undergraduate-to-professional bridging program within the college. I am very proud of what our team created — there are so many touchpoints for all members of our community. Check out our full strategic plan and monitor the progress on this fiscal year’s goals here: College of Veterinary Medicine Strategic Plan. Happy fall.
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Be safe, healthy, happy, and stay hopeful.
Take care, Dori Borjesson