Goals and Objectives to Support Each Strategy

Task forces were developed to work on each of the six strategy statements, involving a total of 69 campus community members. Over a seven-week period, these task forces developed and approved a comprehensive set of goals and objectives to deliver on each of the strategy statements. These were reviewed by Executive and President’s Council, subjected to campus community comment, compressed for overlap, and reduced for focus on accomplishment within the time frame of 2016-2021. The final set of goals and objectives are presented below.

Strategy 1. Academic Excellence and Instructional Quality Foster academic excellence through a teacher-scholar model with enhanced and supported effective teaching and scholarly/creative endeavors, expanded learning opportunities, and engagement of all campus community members.

Coastal Carolina University’s first commitment is to deliver excellence in instruction to students through high-impact engagement. Grounded in the teacher-scholar model, the University expects its faculty members to be excellent teachers who are current in their fields and passionate about engaging students actively in the creative, research, and/or scholarly developments of their discipline so that graduates are effective critical thinkers who are well-prepared to contribute meaningfully to their professions, artistry or research. Since its founding, the University has recognized the teacher-scholar model as a fundamental element of this institution’s identity. Faculty conducting research can use that research to become better teachers. Scholars who teach discover new applications and audiences for their discoveries.

Under the teacher-scholar model, faculty are expected to conduct research and seek professional experiences that enrich teaching and learning; faculty are also encouraged to seek opportunities to demonstrate to students that teaching and research can be integrated processes of discovery.

The teacher-scholar model allows for learning to occur and be shared through dissemination of knowledge in discipline-appropriate venues, not only modeling for students the processes by which knowledge is produced, but also inviting students to participate in knowledge production. To that end, Coastal Carolina University is committed to the support, recognition and celebration of the teacher-scholar, and affirms the teacher-scholar model as essential to the success of this academic community. In fulfillment of this commitment, this task force discussed the need to continue to enhance support for effective teaching that promotes active engagement both on and off the campus, the need to support and celebrate research/scholarly/creative endeavors that promote both student preparation and enhances community well-being, the need to support balance within expectations for the composite set of activities expected of faculty and staff, and the need to develop and deliver innovative curricula and programs, both in credit and noncredit areas, which enhance student success. The results of this discussion included the following goals and objectives.

Goal 1.1:

Support and enhance effective teaching that promotes high-impact engagement.

Goal 1.2:

Enhance and celebrate research/scholarly/creative endeavors that contribute to effective student preparation and community engagement.

Goal 1.3:

Support a balanced faculty model that promotes the teacher- scholar ideal which values the combined impact of outstanding teaching and exposure to research, scholarly and creative activities to enhance student learning and engaged experiences.

Goal 1.4:

Promote a range of diverse learning opportunities, innovative curricula and programs that enhance engagement, assure high-impact credit and noncredit programs, and enable student success.

 

Coastal Carolina University is committed to making a substantial value-added contribution to the overall welfare, intellectual development and personal development of each student. The students, staff, faculty and administration of the University recognize that this is best achieved by a partnership of learning, in which the student is held accountable to demonstrating personal responsibility and accountability for learning while empowered by the guidance and expertise of a talented staff and faculty. As such, this task force considered several attributes to student excellence, including knowledge and skills development through active engagement in the totality of the learning environment, the freedom to thrive in an environment that supports safe and healthy behaviors and sustainability, the expectation and respect for personal accountability and responsibility by each student as a partner in the learning process, and the engagement of citizenship behaviors that help all students develop a lifelong appreciation for and action in a global society. The following goals and objectives resulted from that deliberation.

Goal 2.1:

Ensure a supportive, high-quality learning environment that produces knowledgeable and skilled graduates prepared for future success.

Goal 2.2:

Create a health- and safety-conscious living learning environment.

 

The staff and faculty of Coastal Carolina University are the lifeblood of the University. They comprise the expertise, professionalism, commitment to personal attention and positive attitude that makes it possible for the University to thrive. This task force carefully considered the conditions and focal areas needed to help support our staff and faculty, especially during the growth period envisioned for the University. Attention was given to bringing together institutional focus on professional development for all staff and faculty, recognizing and celebrating the achievements and contributions of our staff and faculty on the campus and in the community, arriving at clear staffing plans and salary progression to support high engagement for all staff and faculty, and engaging broader cross-collaborative community problem-solving opportunities and improved campus communication to enhance transparency and inclusion, support a more deeply felt mutual respect for the roles of all to make the University great, and encourage better use of staff and faculty time and institutional resources. The following goals and objectives resulted from that deliberation.

Embracing the values of truth, respect, integrity and excellence, Coastal Carolina University aspires to be an institution noted for its active commitment to catalyzing the engagement of all constituent groups to understand the world more fully and to make better decisions. Grounded in the liberal arts tradition, Coastal Carolina University seeks to create informed thinkers who can solve problems in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world. This aspiration means that the University will commit to developing an institutional environment that is absent of arbitrary barriers that limit access to students, faculty, staff and community members and to encouraging inclusivity as a standard of practice that empowers deeper and more expansive thinking, promotes action beyond understanding, and engages advocacy when that is the right thing to do. The following goals and objectives resulted from the deliberations of this task force.

Coastal Carolina University’s future is dependent upon the ability to communicate effectively, both within the institution and with all the University’s constituencies on a dynamic basis. The University’s story must become clear both as a basis for common understanding, mutual respect and appreciation among peers within the University and as an unequivocal identity for the institution in all venues. This task force reviewed feedback from a broad range of constituents and evaluated current practices to arrive at a set of goals and objectives that challenge the University to re-evaluate and adjust interaction to enhance cooperation and mutual respect, support transparency and advance efficiency, to embrace and enact a clear identity in all internal and external communication that captures the value of a Coastal Carolina University education, and to collect and celebrate more effectively the accomplishments of the University’s students, faculty, staff and alumni. The following goals and objectives resulted from that deliberation.

Managing University resources in a fiscally sustainable and transparent manner is crucial to the success of Coastal Carolina University. This task force evaluated the current institutional models of funding, support and coordination, and identified process improvements in several areas that can support the growth, maintenance and resiliency of Coastal Carolina University over the long run as it enacts its mission. To this end, attention was given to generating innovative streams of revenue, evaluating systems and processes to enhance efficiencies where possible, engaging the campus community more extensively in infrastructure processes, and ensuring a more transparent sharing of the complex interplay among resources, including state funds, tuition, grants, athletics, etc., and cost management areas. The following goals and objectives resulted from that deliberation.

Goal 6.1:

Expand the range of innovative revenue streams and fundraising development to increase the institution’s endowment and support for ongoing and new programming initiatives in fulfillment of the University’s mission and teacher-scholar model.

Goal 6.2:

Support streamlined processes that encourage efficient stewardship of the institutional resources and effective progress on institutional initiatives.