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Strategic Plan

Ray P. Authement College of Sciences

Background

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Ray P. Authement College of Sciences consists of four departments (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics) and two schools (Computing and Informatics, and Geosciences). These units offered 8 B.S. degrees (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Geology, Informatics, Mathematics, and Physics), 9 M.S. degrees (Biology, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Environmental Resource Science, Geology, Industrial Chemistry, Informatics, Mathematics, and Physics), and 5 Ph.D. degrees (Biology, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Earth and Energy Sciences, and Mathematics). Additionally, the College houses pre-professional programs in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, and pharmacy and oversees the program in Military Science. The academic structure of the College as of Fall 2021 is shown in Figure 1. Total enrollment for Fall 2021 was 1902 undergraduate students, 128 M.S. students and 179 Ph.D. students. For comparison, Fall 2012 was 1729 undergraduate students, 131 M.S. students and 136 Ph.D. students. The college attracts students from the Acadiana region and beyond; 2020 enrollment included 1,972 students from Louisiana, 117 from other U.S. states, and 179 from foreign countries. The faculty (Fall 2021) consists of 35 full professors, 29 associate professors, 31 assistant professors, and 24 instructors. While some faculty members’ assignments have a large teaching component, other faculty members have a majority research function. Most of the professorial faculty (74%) hold both regular and graduate faculty appointments. Post-docs, research associates and technicians also contribute to the college’s research mission. In 2020-2021, external-funding awards totaled $27,740,740. For comparison, this total was $3,826,025 in 2002 and $7,964,605 in 2012.

Figure 1: Ray P. Authement College of Sciences Organizational Chart (Fall 2022)

Figure 1: Ray P. Authement College of Sciences Organizational Chart (Fall 2022).

The Vision

The Ray P. Authement College of Sciences will emerge as one of the preeminent colleges of sciences in the United States. The College will be recognized nationally and internationally for its innovative education, scholarly research activities addressing our nation’s grand and societal challenges, and for its diverse faculty and student body with exemplary academic achievements, leadership abilities, and global perspectives.

Our Mission

Science for our students, community, and society

Our mission is to serve our students, the citizens of Louisiana, the nation, and the world, through innovative and stimulating educational experiences and compelling research initiatives that create knowledge, broaden our basic understanding of the world around us, further economic development, and enhance quality of life. In support of our mission, The College of Sciences seeks to:

  • Develop broad-thinking students into mature, ethical professionals, scientists, and researchers with the necessary creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving skills required to make significant contributions to society, including industry, government, and the academic sector.
  • Recruit and support top-notch and diverse teaching and research faculty engaged in scientific endeavors that are recognized for their relevance and impact.
  • Enrich scientific research and education through on-campus collaborations, multidisciplinary programs, large-scale multi-institution initiatives, as well as partnerships with government and industry.
  • Foster scientific literacy within the University, the citizens of Louisiana, and the nation by providing engaging and relevant courses for our students and by partnering with educators at the K-12 and community college level.
  • Provide leadership in the translation, application, and promotion of research into practical solutions that will benefit the local community, region, State of Louisiana, the environment, industries of the Gulf Coast region, and society as a whole.

Target Areas

  1. Research Excellence, with initiatives aimed at establishing state-of-the-art research infrastructure and support, faculty hiring and retention, and processes. Initiatives are focused on the research enterprise itself (e.g., by enhancing collaborations across disciplines and colleges) and on the support structure to retain and grow outstanding researchers.
  2. Educational Excellence, with initiatives focused on undergraduate and graduate education, including enhancement of capstone and research experiences for undergraduates, enhancing recruitment of talented students, and strengthening academic programs through continual improvement.
  3. Visibility and Outreach Enhancement, with initiatives focused on strengthening ties with alumni, professional organizations and other universities, communication with stakeholders, and fundraising.

Initiatives In Support Of The Target Areas, With Actions for 2022-2027

NOTE 1: Action items or initiatives in italics require broader university support

NOTE 2: For planning purposes, the initiatives are grouped by “buckets” provided by Academic Affairs and not by the target areas of the College of Sciences strategic plan.

Academic Affairs themes:

  • Curriculum
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Planning and budgeting
  • Recruitment and student success
  • Research
  • Fundraising
  • Civic engagement and service
  • Governance
  • General/additional ideas

Curriculum

  • Review the academic programs, including concentrations, and ensure they are relevant for the job market and societal challenges. Introduce a measure of how well the education provided matches the needs in the professional/academic world.
  • With data and information science permeating all professions, develop new educational pathways for data science literacy and expertise.
  • Add certificates to increase student interest, enrollment, and professional development.
  • Expand online program and course offerings.
  • Offer non-thesis professional degree pathways to better serve non-traditional students.

Faculty/staff

  • Provide opportunities for teaching development.
  • Recognize and reward course enhancement initiatives commensurate with the time required.
  • Provide incentives for faculty mentorship and foster college-wide mentoring and faculty support communities.
  • Increase diversity in administration, faculty, and staff.
  • Create effective measures to retain and support faculty.
  • Create an environment that promotes the well-being of the faculty and staff
  • Build a college-level conflict resolution framework.
  • Address growing administrative burden impacting faculty productivity and streamline administrative processes.
  • Address the challenge of vacant positions and increasing reliance on temporary hires affecting all aspects of the university’s mission.
  • Align faculty salaries with market, R1 universities, and inflation rate.
  • Enhance tenure and promotion raises with peer R1 institutions.
  • Develop a plan to increase the number of research-productive faculty to sustain external funding imperative for an R1 university.
  • Revisit policies related to family-related absences.
  • Formalize release time for international research and fellowships.
  • Develop a flexible hiring plan with options for spousal hires and cluster hires.
  • Increase startup funds to levels of R1 institutions and flexibility of startup funds spending similar to policies at other R1 institutions.

Planning and budgeting

  • Develop flexibility systems for lab and course fees to better accommodate maintenance costs.
  • Develop a plan to decentralize budgets to increase the efficiency of achieving the mission of the university and the college.
  • Restart existing indirect return policy to incentivize higher productivity in external funding and research.
  • Reinstitute early career faculty research awards and seed funds to support new research initiatives.
  • Reinstitute funds for instrumentation and lab maintenance.
  • Develop a plan to replace vehicles, computers, and other depreciating commodities on a regular cycle.
  • Work with university administration on developing a master plan for upgrades, renovations, or replacement of academic buildings.
  • Work with university administration on increasing departmental operating budgets and budgets for technology, classrooms, facilities, or updates.

Recruitment and student success

  • Investigate how to improve the retention rate of undergraduate students.
  • Strategize teaching assignments so students in service and entry-level classes receive the best experience to help with recruitment and retention.
  • Provide incentives to actively engage in the ADVANCE program to enhance, advertise, and formalize undergraduate research.
  • Organize graduate student recruitment and advertise graduate programs to attract top applicants.
  • Advertise college successes to increase the recruitment of quality undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Develop an award program for best-performing graduate students.
  • Improve scheduling of courses to reduce schedule conflicts with updated technology.
  • Increase awareness of career training by the Graduate School and add new workshops for job preparation. Ensure that Career Services distinguishes between advice for undergraduate and graduate student needs.
  • Improve availability of office space for graduate students.
  • Create space to build community for undergraduates in each unit with lounge and work space.
  • Expand out-of-state recruitment for undergraduate and graduate programs.
  • Make the competitiveness of graduate stipends a priority to ensure the best candidates into our programs.

Research

  • Provide initiatives and organizational structures to promote interdisciplinary research.
  • Develop joint appointment frameworks between departments and colleges.
  • Form cohesive research groups/clusters to increase research productivity.
  • Increase foundation resources for each program, and create new endowed chairs
  • Expand research areas to meet current demands and funding opportunities.
  • Strengthen ties, in support of the academic vision, between departments/schools, research centers, and the research office.
  • Create staffed interdisciplinary instrumentation centers to support multiple departments.
  • Increase infrastructure for research support.
  • Improve basic services.
  • Work with the library to increase digital access to scientific journals.
  • Consider decentralizing centers that best fit under a unit or college.

Civic engagement and service

  • Maintain a close connection/networking with alumni and industry partners. Establish, revive or strengthen industry-advisory boards in each unit.
  • Encourage students to find outside thesis committee members, making the students/faculty/research/college more exposed to the broader community.
  • Encourage diversity in outreach activities, provide resources, and reward accomplishments.
  • Improve international visibility and student marketing. Track what our graduates do after graduation and use this information to attract potential graduates.
  • Encourage and incentivize faculty and graduate student participation in outreach or science communication activity. Encourage college/departmental presence at all University functions (family day, etc.). Explore recruiting and engagement opportunities with Science Fair, Science Olympiad, etc..
  • Work with the communications and marketing office for improved highlighting of the scientific developments and achievements of the College and the researchers doing the work.

Governance

  • Develop a system by which faculty can contribute information used in evaluating individuals outside of academics, such as SPFAC, Purchasing, HR, Policing, Business office, and Facilities

Strategic Plan Revised: 1 April 2022