Article written by Derek L. Davis
From looking at the Valley City State University classrooms, it may not be easy to decipher what the next five years is going to bring to the academic departments. The same situation could definitely be implied in the campus’s past, from the start of the college in 1890 by President James Sifton to 2010, headed by President Steven Shirley.
On October 18th, President Shirley gave the State of the University address, in which he discussed in great detail, the new five-year strategic plan for 2010 to 2015. This strategic plan is known as Success 2015: Moving Forward and Implementation. Each academic department is affected by this five year plan. Gary Thompson, the Dean of the Education Department, cited documents that describe how this particular department is affected by Shirley’s five year plan. The document he provided has two goals for this five year plan. Goal one is to make informed decisions to improve the teacher education program. This will be done by collecting, sharing, and analyzing data, implementing Bush Grant Strategies, and implementing teacher support and the placement system. Goal two is about promoting growth and retention of candidates within their units. In order for goal two to be successful, strategies such as improving student retention and recruiting prospective students to the Education department will be done.
Though these goals are the goals for the Education department, the goals can definitely be applied to the Communication and Social Science department. Shannon VanHorn, the department chair, mentioned in an email interview how Success 2015 will impact her teaching. “The goals give me a grounding point upon which to shape my courses. I need to be accessible to the students, as does my course. I need to learn new things, try out new innovation, and I need to be up-to-date and current in pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings of each course to provide students with strong experiences at VCSU,” she wrote.
The Science Department is also experiencing some impact from Shirley’s strategic plan. Donald Hoff, M.S., an associate professor for the science department, reported about the main goal for the department. “Because of the expanded number of students, we really need improved facilities. The main focus of most of the different science divisions is supporting a new building,” Hoff says. Planning for these improved facilities is underway. Images of what the addition will look like can be found on the second floor of McFarland. Another thing the science department will be looking at for the next five years is environmental factors. Hoff, who is on the environmental committee, reports that they are “spearheading the paper recycling in the departments.” During the interview, he pulled out a box with the label “Paper” written on it. They are no doubt getting environmental awareness out, as Hoff discusses their work with Sodexo. Hoff reports,
 |
| Proposed image of the new Rhoades remodel. Used by permission |
“We’ve encouraged the lunchroom to cut the things they have to wash and diminish the amount of throwaway materials.”
As the VCSU campus is impacted by President Shirley’s five-year plan, there will be many more changes and innovations happening to the departments. As Rhoades Science Building goes through their changes, many more changes will be taking place. Even as the Education Department implements their goals, there is no doubt that by 2015, even more changes will be taking place for each and every five year strategic plan. Though the college will go through many new presidents, changes in academics and student life will always be taking place.
No comments:
Post a Comment